| Word | Description |
| Rahu | north node of the Moon; dragon's head |
| Raja Yoga | integral or royal yoga path of Patanjali |
| Raja | a tribal chieftain, local ruler or monarch |
| Rajas | one of the three gunas or qualities in existence, associated with the creator God Brahma and representing the active energy or agitation in the universe |
| Rakhi | a band symbolizing protection which is tied round the wrists of males by girls at the festival of Raksha Bandhan |
| Raksha Bandhan | Hindu festival of tying Rakhi or band around wrists |
| Ram Navami | Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Lord Rama |
| Rama | seventh avatar of Vishnu and hero of the epic The Ramayana |
| Ramayana | Hindu epic scripture dealing with the heroic exploits of Lord Rama |
| Rasayana | Ayurvedic rejuvenation methods |
| Rig Veda/Rg Veda | 'Royal Knowledge', Veda of chant, one of the four Vedas, the major and oldest Aryan Hindu scripture |
| Rishis | ancient Vedic seers, enlightened men who composed Vedic hymns and Upanishads |
| Rta | the Vedic cosmic norm which regulated all existence and to which all had to conform |
| Rudra | terrible or wrathful form of Shiva |
| Sadharana Dharma | what is right in terms of the common duties and obligations to one's fellow human beings |
| Saguna | manifest, referring to manifest aspects of Brahman |
| Saivites | devotees of the deity Shiva |
| Sakara | 'with form', referring to the manifest aspects of Brahman |
| Sakti | the female active energy in the universe |
| Sama Veda | 'Knowledge of Chants', one of the four Vedas |
| Samadhi | absorption, bliss, trance |
| Samsara | worldly life or reincarnation |
| Samskaras | rituals and rites in one's life cycle |
| Sanatana Dharma | what is right for the universe; it is also synonymous with Hinduism |
| Sankhya | Vedic philosophy of cosmic principles |
| Sannyasin/Sannyasa | person at the last of the four stages of life, the stage of the wandering ascetic, stage of life of renunciation and liberation |
| Sanskrit | Vedic and mantric language |
| Santana Dharma | the eternal teaching; traditional name for the Hindu religion |
| Santosi Ma | a modern Hindu goddess of prosperity and wish-fulfilment |
| Saptapadi | the seven steps taken by a couple during their marriage ceremony symbolizing seven different wishes for the future |
| Saraswati | Goddess of speech, learning, knowledge and wisdom |
| Sari | traditional dress for women consisting of a piece of material of five or six metres long which is draped around the body |
| Sat | the Being, Truth and Reality associated with Brahman as opposed to the non-being (asat) of the phenomenal world |
| Sati | consort of the God Shiva, also called Uma |
| Sati | voluntary burning of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre |
| Sattva | quality of truth or light; one of the three gunas or qualities in existence, associated with the preserving God Vishnu and representing light and spiritual evolution |
| Sautrantika | Buddhist philosophy of the momentariness of all things |
| Savitar | Vedic Sun god as the guide of Yoga |
| Savitr | Vedic solar deity |
| Shakti | the power of consciousness and spiritual evolution |
| Shankara | the great philsopher of non-dualistic Vedanta |
| Shiva | form of the Hindu trinity governing destruction and transcendence |
| Shiva | one of the three trinities in Hinduism, the god of Destruction |
| Shudras | people of sensate values |
| Shunyavada | Buddhist philosophy that everything is void |
| Sita | the wife of Rama in the Hindu epic the Ramayana and an avatar of the Goddess Lakshmi |
| Skanda | the God of war |
| Smrti | literally 'memory' or 'remembered': a category of sacred scriptures which contains much popular and devotional literature |
| So'ham | natural mantric sound of the breath |
| Soma | Vedic God of bliss or equated also with a potent hallucinogenic drink |
| Sraddha | ceremonies for the deceased in the twelve days following cremation |
| Srauta | official sacrificial ritual of the Vedic period |
| Sri | the Goddess Lakshmi, consort of Lord Vishnu |
| Srotas | channel systems used in Ayurvedic medicine |
| Sruti | category of sacred scriptures which are 'heard' or cognized by the ancient seers |
| Sudra | the fourth of the Hindu four classes, traditionally the servant class |
| Surya | Vedic Sun God or god of the enlightened mind |
| Svadharma | what is right for an individual |
| Tamas | one of the three gunas or qualities in existence, associated with the dissolver God Shiva and representing the quality of darkness and inertia in existence |
| Tantra | medieval yogic and ritualistic Indian texts; esoteric, mystical teachings |
| Tara | the Goddess in her role as savior |
| Tat Tvam Asi | 'That art thou', the equating of the atman and every being in total identity with That, which is Brahman |
| Theism | belief in a personal god, goddess, gods or goddesses |
| Tilak | the mark (usually vertical) placed on the forehead of a devotee during ritual worship |
| Trimurti | literally 'three-form',the Hindu trinity of three deities, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer, respectively |
| Ugadi | Hindu festival |
| Uma | consort of the male deity Shiva |
| Upanayama | ceremony of the sacred thread undertaken by the top three classes of the Hindu society |
| Upangas | literature concerned with ritual and logical thought |
| Upanishads | Vedic philosophical texts or scriptures occuring at the end of the Vedas characterised by mystical and philosophical speculation on the nature of the self and ultimate Reality |
| Upavedas | additions to the Vedic scriptures |
| Ushas | Vedic goddess of dawn |
| Vaishnavites | devotees of the deity Vishnu |
| Vaishyas | person belonging to the third of the four Hindu classes of society, traditionally an artisan or skilled labourer, people of commercial values |
| Vak | Divine Word, the Goddess |
| Vanaprastha | person at the third of the four stages of life, hermitage or forest-dweller stage of life |
| Varna | literally 'colour', the word for the four social values or class system in Hinduism, |
| Varnasramadharma | what is right for class and stage of life |
| Varuna | Vedic deity of cosmic order |
| Vata | biological air humor |
| Veda | knowledge |
| Vedangas | rules on ritual, astronomy, morals, grammar and phonetics |
| Vedanta | Vedic philosophy of Self-knowledge |
| Vedas | the four Vedic ancient scriptures of India, namely the Rg, Sama, Yajur and Atharva |
| Vedic Science | integral spiritual science of the Vedas |
| Vidya | knowledge |
| Vijnana | intelligence |
| Vijnanavada | Buddhist philosophy that consciousness alone exists |
| Vishnu | God or form of the Hindu trinity governing preservation |
| Yajna | sacrifice, sacred ritual |
| Yajur Veda | 'Knowledge of Sacrificial Ritual', one of the four Vedas |
| Yama | God of Death; ruler of the realm of the dead the 'Land of the Fathers': he was the first man to die and therefore the welcomer of others to his realm |
| Yamas | yogic attitudes |
| Yantra | geometrical meditation designs |
| Yatra | pilgrimage |
| Yoga Sutras | classical text of Patanjali on Yoga |
| Yoga | techniques of developing and integrating energy; discipline or 'yoking' of the senses and the ego more... |
| Yogi | practitioner of yoga |
| Yugas | world-ages |
