Sanskrit K

Question 1

Kaivalya (“isolation”)

Answer 1

the state of absolute freedom from conditioned existence, as explained in ashta-anga-yoga; in the nondualistic (advaita) traditions of India, this is usually called moksha or mukti (meaning “release” from the fetters of ignorance, or avidya)

Question 2

Kali

Answer 2

a Goddess embodying the fierce (dissolving) aspect of the Divine

Question 3

Kali-yuga

Answer 3

the dark age of spiritual and moral decline, said to be current now; kali does not refer to the Goddess Kali but to the losing throw of a die

Question 4

Kama (“desire”)

Answer 4

the appetite for sensual pleasure blocking the path to true bliss (ananda); the only desire conducive to freedom is the impulse toward liberation, called mumukshutva

Question 5

Kapila (“He who is red”)

Answer 5

a great sage, the quasi-mythical founder of the Samkhya tradition, who is said to have composed the Samkhya-Sutra (which, however, appears to be of a much later date)

Question 6

Karman, karma (“action”)

Answer 6

activity of any kind, including ritual acts; said to be binding only so long as engaged in a self-centered way; the “karmic” consequence of one’s actions; destiny

Question 7

Karma Yoga (“Yoga of action”)

Answer 7

the liberating path of self-transcending action

Question 8

Karuna (“compassion”)

Answer 8

universal sympathy; in Buddhist yoga the complement of wisdom (prajna)

Question 9

Khecari-mudra (“space-walking seal”)

Answer 9

the Tantric practice of curling the tongue back against the upper palate in order to seal the life energy (prana); see also mudra

Question 10

Kosha (“casing”)

Answer 10

any one of five “envelopes” surrounding the transcendental Self (atman) and thus blocking its light: anna-maya-kosha (“envelope made of food,” the physical body), prana-maya-kosha (“envelope made of life force”), mano-maya-kosha (“envelope made of mind”), vijnana-maya-kosha (“envelope made of consciousness”), and ananda-maya-kosha (“envelope made of bliss”); some older traditions regard the last kosha as identical with the Self (atman)

Question 11

Krishna (“Puller”)

Answer 11

an incarnation of God Vishnu, the God-man whose teachings can be found in the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata-Purana

Question 12

Kumbhaka (“potlike”)

Answer 12

breath retention; cf. puraka, recaka

Question 13

Kundalini-shakti (“coiled power”)

Answer 13

according to Tantra and hatha yoga, the serpent power or spiritual energy, which exists in potential form at the lowest psycho-energetic center of the body (i.e., the mula-adhara-cakra) and which must be awakened and guided to the center at the crown (i.e., the sahasrara-cakra) for full enlightenment to occur

Question 14

Kundalini-Yoga

Answer 14

the yogic path focusing on the kundalini process as a means of liberation