Glossary
The words the telling leans on
What each word means, and where it appears in the books.
- Bhakti भक्तिभक्ती
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Devotion — loving attention to the Divine. In the Mahatmya she is a young woman whose two sons have grown old.
appears in Book Zero · Why devotion tires: Bhakti’s sleeping sons and an age of distraction · Who is Narada? The wanderer between the worlds
- Dharma धर्मधर्म
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Right order — what upholds a person, a community and the world. Book One opens on the question of where it lives now.
appears in Book One · Satyaṃ paraṃ dhīmahi — the phrase that opens and closes the Bhagavata
- Jnana ज्ञानज्ञान
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Knowledge — understanding of what is real. One of Bhakti’s two sons in the Mahatmya.
appears in Book Zero · Why devotion tires: Bhakti’s sleeping sons and an age of distraction
- Kali Yuga कलियुगकलियुग
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The fourth and present age in the cycle of four: Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali.
appears in Book Zero · Book One · Why devotion tires: Bhakti’s sleeping sons and an age of distraction · Why does the Bhagavata need a preface? The Mahatmya, explained
- Mahatmya माहात्म्यमाहात्म्य
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A text that tells the greatness of another text. The Bhagavata Mahatmya, from the Padma Purana, is Book Zero.
appears in Book Zero · Why does the Bhagavata need a preface? The Mahatmya, explained
- Naimisharanya नैमिषारण्यनैमिषारण्य
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The forest where the rishis gathered and Suta recited the Bhagavata. The press is named for it.
appears in Book One
- Saptaha सप्ताहसप्ताह
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A seven-day hearing of the Bhagavata. The Mahatmya prescribes it, and the eight volumes follow it.
appears in Book Zero · Book One · Why does the Bhagavata need a preface? The Mahatmya, explained
- Skandha स्कन्धस्कंध
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One of the twelve divisions — often called cantos — of the Srimad Bhagavata.
appears in Book One
- Vairagya वैराग्यवैराग्य
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Detachment — freedom from craving for what passes. Bhakti’s other son.
appears in Book Zero · Why devotion tires: Bhakti’s sleeping sons and an age of distraction
- Yajña यज्ञयज्ञ
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A sacrificial rite. At Naimisharanya the rishis were tending a long yajña when they asked Suta to speak.
appears in Book One