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- Badarayan--See
VYASADEVA.
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- Bahiranga-sakti-
- the material, external potency of the Supreme Lord.
-
- Baladeva--
- (bala - strength, deva - god) The Supreme original
Spiritual master, one who gives strength for advancement
in spiritual life. The older brother of Krishna, See JAGANNATHA,
BALADEVA, AND SUBHADRA.
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- Bhagavad-Gita
-
- the paramount scripture of the Vedic tradition, embodying
the teachings of Lord KRISNA
to His devotee ARJUNA
and expounding devotion to the Supreme Lord as both the
principal means and the ultimate end of spiritual
perfection.
-
- Bhagavan -
- the Supreme Lord, who is
the ultimate possessor of all varieties of opulences. The
opulent one, the living being who is the fountainhead of
all energies. The possessor of six opulences in full -
i.e. all strength, all knowledge, all beauty, all wealth,
all fame and all renunciation
-
- Bhagavatam,
Bhagavata Purana--See SRIMAD-BHAGAVATAM.
-
- Bhajana-kriya--
- the practice of devotional service.
-
- bhakta--
- a devotee of the Supreme
Lord.
-
- bhakti
(bhakti-yoga) --
- the practice of devotional
service to the Supreme
Lord. Loving devotional service unto Krsna- the natural, eternal
activity of the pure spirit soul.
-
- Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu
--
- Rupa Gosvami's
definitive explanation of devotional service
to the Supreme Lord,
beginning with the most elementary practices and ending
with the ultimate perfection of personal relationships
with the Lord.
-
- Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati-(1874-1936)
- the spiritual master of His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
-
- Bhaktivedanta--
- a title meaning "one who has realized that devotional service
to the Supreme Lord is
the end of all knowledge."
-
- Bhaktivinoda
Thakura--(1838-1915)
- a VAISNAVA spiritual
master, father of BHAKTISIDDHANTA
SARASVATI, who started the movement to spread Krishna
consciousness in the West.
-
- Bharata--
- a name of ARJUNA
meaning "descendant of Bharata
Maharaja."
-
- Bharata Maharaja-
- a great devotee king under whose rule India was named BHARATA-VARSA.
-
- Bharata-varsa--
- the traditional, scriptural name for India.
-
- Bhava-
- Attachment, the preliminary stage of love of God.
-
- Bhisma--
- the most powerful warrior in the Battle of KURUKSETRA; he is
recognized as one of the chief authorities on devotional
service to the Lord.
-
- Bhukti-kamis-
- persons interested only in material happiness.
-
- Brahma--
- the first created living being in the universe; he
creates the multiplicity of life-forms, planets, and
living conditions under the supervision of the Supreme
Lord. the presiding deity of this universe.
-
- brahmacari,
brahmchari--
- one who has taken the vow of Brahmacarya,
a celibate student under the care of a spiritual master. See ASRAMAS.
-
- Brahmacarya-
- the vow of strict abstinence from sex indulgence.
-
- brahmajyoti--
- the spiritual bodily effulgence of the Supreme Lord which
illuminates the spiritual world.
-
- Brahman--
- the impersonal, all-pervasive aspect of the Supreme Lord.
-
- Brahmana-
- the intelligent class of men, first of the four Vedic social orders. a person
wise in Vedic knowledge, fixed in activities in the mode
of goodness, and knowledgeable of Brahman,
the Absolute Truth; a member of the first Vedic social
order. One is brahmana by qualities not by being born
into a family of born brahmanas. If one is born in the
family of brahmanas and behaves like a sudra, he is understood to be a
sudra. Whereas someone born into a family of outcasts who
exhibits the qualities of a brahmana should be understood
to be a brahmana. See also VARNAS.
-
- brahmanya-- see
brahmana
-
- Brahma-pada --
- Occupation of the post of Brahma.
-
- Brahma-randhra--
- Hole on the topmost part of the skull. By lifting the
vital force to the brahmarandhra, a yogi can leave the gross and
subtle bodies and reach the transcendental Vaikuntha planets.
-
- Brahma-samhita--
- a description of the glories of the Lord, including
prayers to the Lord by BRAHMA.
-
- Brhan-naradiya
Purana-See PURANAS
-
- Buddha--
- a disguised incarnation of the Supreme Lord who preached
atheism in order to divert the people of that time from
misusing the ritualistic sacrifices of the VEDAS as a license for animal
slaughter.
-