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K

 

Kāla: eternal Time, cosmic time. The impersonal visible aspect of Krishna. That what moves the material energy. Consecution of moments in relation to the sun, the moon and the stars, known by the rotation of the earth (see also tri-kālika, S'is'umāra and Yuga).

- The paramparā says: 'It is understood from the Vedic science of epistemology, the 'Nyāya-s'āstra', that knowledge of an object (prameya) depends on a valid means of knowing (pramāna)' (pp 10.86: 54). So would to know Krishna in the form of Time as-He-is (I am the Time, the light of the sun and the moon, as He says in the Gītā to be the objective of the universe) - by means of clocks managed validly to His nature, the Sun as with a sundial, and calendars managed validly to His order, the moon, like with its phases - constitute the proper brahminical conduct. With weeks to the moon and clocks to the sun, would standardtime with its mean time deadness, zone time arbitrary false oneness and summertime instability, constitute the time of ignorance in denial of Krishna, the father of Time, even though Krishna affirms the worship of Time with the pragmatical and thus karmic dictate of standardtime, to which He still calls that demigod (...) worship less attractive and wrong (see also cakra, S.B. 1.2: 26 B.G. 9.23, 10: 21, 30 & 33, 7: 8 and the Bhāgavatam time-quotes page).

- There are four ways of settling for the purity of time in reference to something else: by speech, by ritual, by accordance or by telling the difference; thus seen is standard time acceptable provided one is of these four methods (see S.B. 11.21: 10).

- To the body there are of time six phases: birth, growth, maintenance, production of by-products, dwindling and death.

- That time is valid which, either by its own nature (the not-for-profit time of nature) or the same way to the person (the Lord, or the object, the lakshmī, the time for harvesting etc.), is suitable for executing one's prescribed duty; and bad and offensive is the time that impedes one's duty, the time that is unsuitable for doing work (lust- and profit-minded time (see also kālakūta and S.B. 11.21: 9).

- Mathematically the complete of the division of time is described in 3.11 and in 5.20-23. Summarized here: according 3.11 is the time divided to the duration of occupying the space by - or the full of or a part of a cycle of - a combination of atoms. Thus we have as the smallest unit of time the atom of a parama-anu, and are there one after the other a strasarenu (double atom), a truthi or hexatom of three strasarenus (1/16.875 second), that times hundred forms a vedha; three of them are called one lava; three lavas are one nimesha (± 0.53 second) and the time of the three of them is called a kshana (± 1.6 second), the five of them are a kāshthhā (± 8 seconds) of which a laghu consists of fifteen (± 2 minutes). Fifteen of those laghus are named a nādikā (or danda, ± 30 minutes) and the two of them constitute one muhūrta (about an hour) while about three of these are a yāma or prahara, depending on the season or the latitude (in case of irregular hours). Eight yāmas cover a night and day or a pańcānga figuring as a thirtieth of a lunation called a tithi and to the sun is named a kurukshetrin or saura divasa - (with one single saura for one degree of the ecliptic, so that a year next may count360 sauras) and fifteen days (of eight yāmas each) form one paksha or pańca-das'a which being measured is known as being either black or white (sukla or krishna depending whether there is a full or waxing moon or either a waning or new moon). Two pakshas constitute a māsha (solar month) of which the two of them are a ritu or seizoen of which there are six in (resp. 'cold' or hemanta, 'dew' or s'is'ira, 'spring' of vasanta, 'warm' or grīshma, 'rainy' or varshās and 'autumn' or s'arad, counted from the 22-e dec.). A tropical year, described as one solar course from the north to the south and back, is a samvatsara. There are five different types of years depending the heavenly body in question: a samvatsara (solar year of six seasons), a parivatsara (a planetary year, e.g. of Jupiter), an idāvatsara (year to the stars, viz. a galactic year, not to confuse with the optical illusion of the ± four minutes shorter sidereal year - for the stars do not spin around the polar star but around Sagittarius A in the centre of the Milky Way), een anuvatsara (a 'lunar year' or a lunar cycle or lunation) and a common vatsara, a year of celebration like the civil year and other other tropical years measured. A year of the gods is a period of 360 jaren and 12.000 of those divine years constitute a mahāyuga or diviya yuga consisting of four yuga's of respectively four, three, two and one times 1200 years of the gods; 71 6/14 mahāyugas constitute a manvantara of 852.000 years of the gods preceded and followed by a period of of transition called a sandhya-yuga of about the length of a satya-yuga of 4.800 years of the gods; there are fourteen manvantara 's in a kalpa, a day of Brahmā and a night of Brahmā takes about as long, namely ± 1000 mahāyugas, a year of Brahmā consists of 360 of his days and equally long nights, and fifty of Brahmā's years form a parārdha, the duration of 100 years of Brahmā constitutes the total lifespan of the cosmic creation which is called a brahmānda of cosmic egg and thus measured in human years exists for 311.040.000.000.000 years (311 biljoen years 311. 1012 jaren). The life of Brahmā is but one course of breath of Mahā-Vishnu, of which there are, repeating themselves over and over with pralaya's or periods of destruction in between, thus an endless number (see also the vaishnava encyclopedia about the time of the purānas).

- N.B. A religious, subcultural year, in India and with the vaishnavas is usually a luni-solar year which depending the local customs, may start at all sorts of dates; viz. once in the three years is a month leaped to it to realign the calendar with the sun, so that birthdays e.g are celebrated at different dates within the same month. But with the above description one could just as well use a solar calendar starting with the wintersolstice with the lunations separately indicated. The assumption of a 'lunar year' with it's gross and arbitrary way of leaping is, with respect for the lunations, not necessary and thus may the caledaring chaos in India be overcome with the respect for the western tradition to ignore these 'lunar years' which as early as 45 B.C. were abolished by the roman empire.

- We now live in Kali-yuga of the 28e divya-yuga of the seventh manvantara of the twlfth kalpa called Sveta-Varaha (S.B. 2.10.46 p., Skanda P. 2.39-42), in the fifty-first year of Brahmā. This day of began 2.3 billion years ago. thus would the age of Brahmā be settled at 155.521.972.949.000 human years. 12.2: 31 states that Kali-yuga started when the constellation of the seven wise (saptarsi) passed through the lunar mansion of Magha. Hindu astrologers determined that this happened at 2h 27min of the 18th of February 3102 BC. This took place about thirty-six years after the battle of Kurukshetra (see also sat-kāla en asat-kāla).

- The progress of kāla is described as being of a continuous (nitya), occasional (naimittika), natural (elemental or prākrita) and final (ātyantika) type of annihilation or pralaya (S.B. 12.4: 38).

- A name of S'iva (3.12: 12)

Kālakūtha: ('the false, the untruth or illusion of time', 'the peak, body or summit of time') the poison also called halāhala, produced at the churning of the ocean swallowed by S'iva and causing the blueness of his neck (see S.B. 8.7).

- poison in general.

Kāma: lust, avarice. The desire for more plus the unwillingness to let go because of emotional preferences. Reprehensible trait: anartha.

- Term also used to indicate the regulation of desires (see purusārthas).

- That what binds to the material world; the unregulated, undifferentiated, ignorant preference (see avidyā).

- The product of attachment (see rāga).

Kāmadeva: the love god.

Kāmadhenu: the celestial cow giving unlimited amounts of milk found in Goloka Vrindāvana (see also surabhi).

Kālī: goddess unto whom meat-eaters perform their sacrifices (see Durgā).

Kāliya: the snake subdued by Krishna dancing on His hoods see (S.B. 10: 16 & 17).

Kānti: 'the female beauty, the brightness of the moon', a name of Lakshmī mentioned in S.B. 10.65: 31.

Kānda: (sections, departments, chapters, books) see tri-kānda and canto.

Kārana: the original cause, the remote, the underlying cause, the cause of everything, causality to the logic of divinity (see nimitta).

Kārana ocean: the primal waters of God, the causal waters, the corner of the spiritual universe where Lord Mahā-Vishnu lies down to create the complete of the material universes (see esp. canto two of the S.B.).

Kāranodakas'āyī Vishnu, or Mahā-Vishnu: first purusha-avatāra: the plenary expansion of the Lord, fundamental to the material manifestation. From Him originate the mahat-tattva and all universes, who return back to Him at the time of annihilation. 

Kārtavīryārjuna; great king in the yadu-dynasty also called Arjuna who became emperor over the seven continents and obtained all the great qualities (the eight siddhis) of yoga from Lord Dattātreya. There was indeed none to find on this earth who could equal him in his qualities of sacrifice, charity, austerity, yogic achievement, education, strength and mercy. For eighty-five thousand years was his strength without deterioration indeed to be factually inexhaustible. Of his thousand sons only five remained alive in the fight with Paras'urāma: Jayadhvaja, S'ūrasena, Vrishabha, Madhu and Ūrjita (S.B. 9.23: 24-27).

Kār(t)tikeya (Skanda): the younger son of Lord S'iva and his consort Pārvatī; the presiding deity of warfare.

Kātyāyanī: zie Durgā.

Kaivalya: transcendence or the will for liberation; enlightenment, one realizes one's original state of being as being a plenary portion of Him. Spiritual independence. Phase preceding mukti. Aim of ashthānga-yoga.

- Emancipation in/towards Krishna -consciousness (see also kaivalya panthā).

- Final beautitude (see also nirvāna and S.B. 11.9: 17).

Kaivalya-panthā: the path of enlightenment leading to liberation in devotional service; the ability to stand up after falling down; the way back to God that each human being has to figure out for himself (see mukti).

Kalā: a portion of, part of an expansion. E.g. Balarāma is Krishna's first (plenary) expansion and Vishnu is a part, kalā of that expansion.

- S'rīla  Vis'vanātha  Cakravartī quotes the Medinī dictionary's definition of the word kalā as follows: kalāmūle pravriddhau syāc chilādāvams'a-mātrake. "The word kalā means 'a root', 'increase', 'a stone' or 'a mere part'."

Kali-yuga: (iron age) era of quarrel and strife that commenced after Krishna's departure 5000 years ago, eighteenth of February 3102 B.C, and is characterized by the four human weaknesses that form the opposite of the four religious virtues, the four legs of the bull of dharma (sauca, tapah, dayā, satya): free sex, gambling, eating of meat and intoxication as opposed to purity, sobriety, compassion and truthfulness: the regulative principles (see: also vidhi and S.B. 5.6: 10, 1.16 & 17).

- The faithful ones (of spiritual progress) knowing of the value, praise the age of Kali pointing out it's essence that by (mere) congregational chanting as good as all one's goals are attained (S.B. 11.5: 36).

- Last yuga of a mahāyuga with a duration of 1200 x 360 = 432.000 years (see also dharma).

- To this S'rī  Caitanya  Mahāprabhu qouted a verse from the Brahma-vaivarta Purāna:

asvamedham gavālambham
sannyāsam pala-paitrkam
devarena sutotpattim
kalau panca vivarjayet

"In this age of Kali, five acts are forbidden: the offering of a horse in sacrifice, the offering of a cow in sacrifice, the acceptance of the order of sannyāsa, the offering of oblations of flesh to the forefathers, and a man begetting children in his brother's wife."

- Discussed in: S.B. 1.1.10, 1.15: 36, 1.16, 5.6: 9, 7.9: 38, 10.1: 14, 10.52: 2, 9.12: 6, 9.22: 33-45, 10.20: 8, 11.7: 4-5, 11.5: 32-34 and 12: 1 and other chapters of that Canto.

Kalki: the expected incarnation of Vishnu concluding Kali-yuga. At the end of Kali-yuga the Lord appears on a white horse to annihilate the burden of a sura s posing as leaders in the world (see also S.B. 1.3: 26).

Kalpa: a day to the calculation of time of Lord Brahmā, consisting of a thousand cycles of four eras or mahā-yugas or: 4.320.000.000 years.

- Practicable, feasible, possible, proper, fit, able, competent, equal to, competent for duty (see also kalpa-vriksha).

- A sacred precept, law, rule, ordinance (vidhi, nyāya), manner of acting, proceeding, practice, a rule to be observed before any other rule, first duty, in this way.

- The most complete of the six vedāngas (that which prescribes the ritual and gives rules for ceremonial or sacrificial acts).

- One of two cases, one side of an argument, an alternative (paksha; vikalpa); investigation, research.

- Resolve, determination.

- Treatment of the sick, manner of curing; the art of preparing medicine, pharmacy; the doctrine of poisons and antidotes.

- Having the manner or form of anything, similar to, resembling.

Kalpataru/kalpavriksha: desire tree; one of the five trees of Svarga or Indra's paradise fabled to fulfill all desires, the wishing tree, tree of plenty; any productive or bountiful source; a generous person; name of various works; a particular kind of mixture.

Kamsa: king of the Bhoja-dynasty; Krishna's uncle, who constantly tried to kill Him, but in His youth by Him was thrown off the throne and killed (see canto 10 e.g chapter 4).

Kanāda: founder of the vais'eshika darshana or school of indian philosophy (see also Nyāya).

Kandarpa: (love, lust) 'inflamer even of a god'; 'of great wantonness'; name of Kāmadeva or Cupid, the god of love (see also Pradyumna).

- In music the name of a certain rāga.

- A form of time.

Kandu: a sage mentioned in the Ramāyana (IV-48) of whose severe austerities Indra was very afraid; Indra then sent the heavenly girl Pramlocā to break his vows and austerity. The daughter he got was Mārishā, who married later with Daksha.

Kanishthha: immature undeveloped devotion. Name for beginners in Krishna -consciousness or non-spontaneous devotees (see: bhakta and adhikāri).

Kanva: ('praiser') a renown rishi, author of several hymns of the Rig-veda; he is called a son of Ghora and is said to belong to the family of Angirā.

- Born in the dynasty of Pūru as Apratiratha's son. Of him there was Medhātithi of whom came Praskanna and others who were all twice born souls. Of Sumati there was Rebhi whose son was the renown Dushmanta (see S.B. 9.20: 6-7).

- The sage that wed king Dushmanta, an early Pūru-ancestor of B harata, with Vis'vāmitra's daughter S'akuntala, whom he had met in Kanva's ās'rama (see S.B. 9.20: 18).

- According S'rīdhara  S vāmī would Lord Krishna in S.B. 10.70: 6 before sunrise first offering oblations and then doing the mantra follow to the disciplic succession from Kanva Muni.

Kapila: an incarnation (a vatāra) of Krishna, who appeared in Satya-yuga as the son of Devahūti and Kardama Muni (see S. B. 3-22) and expounded the sānkya-philosophy; the analysis of matter and spirit, as a means of cultivating devotional service to the Lord (see S.B. 3.24-33).

Karanāpātava: one of the four weaknesses of man: imperfection of the senses; failing perception (see bhrama).

Karatāla's: cymbals, also called karatalas.

- Little cymbals used in kīrtana.

Kardama: sage who, married to Devahūti, the daughter of Manu, became the father of avatāra Kapila (see S.B. canto 3: 21-24).

Karma: literally: labor. Most of the time the term refers to fruitive labor or the attachment to the result of labor. Is also regarded as the consequence of the deeds in the past or as the consequence of greed. Krishna speaks of three kinds:

- Karma: fruitive labor.

- Akarma: free from karma or devotional service. To work as a volunteer, to work for God.

- Vikarma: unwanted activity, crime.

- See also S.B. 10.1: 39-40 and 10.24: 13-18 where He says '... as their enemy, their friend or impartial judge; that karma alone is their controller, their guru'.

- Law of -: law of cause and effect: all material activities, good or bad give reactions to what one does and not does.

- Each activity according the karma-kānda -rules.

- Activity in the most general sense.

- Rūpa Gosvāmī, in S'rī Bhakti-rasāmrita-sindhu, his definitive treatise on the process of devotional service, explains how with a Vaishnava who is relieved of all karmic reactions, there are those that have not yet begun to manifest (aprārabdha), those that are just about to manifest (kūtha), those that are barely manifesting (bīja) and those that have manifested fully (prārabdha) (see p.p. 10.88: 8 and the verse describing the gradual decline of the attachments in worship: 10.88: 8).

Karma-avaram: horrible work. (see also ugra).

Karma-kānda: the part of the Vedas in which is explained how the heavily entangled material person can turn his fruitive labor into that activity by which he is gradually purified.

Karma-mīmāmsā: see mīmāmsā.

Karma-yoga: connectedness with God through labor that is free from desiring the fruits, characteristic of bhakti.

- By diverse activities to one's ability endeavoring, so that one is released from the bondage to the material world and one's actions get purified; undoing of karma so that one gets closer to Krishna.

- Acting in Krishna -consciousness; another name for bhakti-yoga.

- One of the first steps on the ladder of the yoga-system. By means of karma-yoga rids the karma-yogī himself gradually more and more of all material contamination and learns he to purify his doing and not doing.

- Activity in devotional service.

- Fruitive activity performed in accord with vedic precepts.

- Discussed by Krishna in the first six chapter of the Gītā; in the Bhāgavatam in: 8.1: 14, 11.3: 41-55, 11.20: 7.

Karmendriyas: the working senses of the mouth (de speech), the hands, the legs, the genitals and the excretion organs, see indriyas.

Karmi: fruitive person. Materially determined person. Person who builds up karma.

- The normal nature of the conditioned human being bent upon working and making money.

- Materialist, whose only goal it is to have sensual pleasure. The only result is that he gets more and more entangled in the never ending cycle of birth and death. 

- Karma-yogī, or someone performing karma-yoga.

Karna: son of Kuntī and half brother of Arjuna. In the struggle at Kurukshetra he fought against the Pāndavas.

Karuna: compassion, conviviality.

Kas'yapa: sage tempted by his wife Diti to break with the dharma as a consequence of which he became the father of two of the greatest demons, the fallen gatekeepers of heaven Jaya and Vijaya (see canto: 3.15-16) Hiranyāksha and Hiranyakas'ipu. (see canto 3.14 also Varāha).

- Father of the dwarf-incarnation of the Lord, Vāmana deva.

Katha Upanishad: see Upanishads.

Kathā: stories, anecdotes about Him; the pure of worship.

Kaunteya: the son of Kuntī (Arjuna, see also Prithā).

Kauravas: another name for the Kuru - sons of Dhritarāshthra.

- Those descendants of Kuru who fought against their nephews the Pāndavas in the Battle of Kurukshetra.

Kaustubha: the jewel Krishna wears around His neck.

- The jewel was obtained with thirteen other precious things at the churning of the ocean (see S.B. 8.7).

- A manner of joining the fingers.

- A kind of oil.

Kavaca (nārāyana-): shield, term used for the protection by mantras as decribed in S.B. 6.8: 30-10, see also 6.6: 39 (see also tilaka).

- Krishna speaks of bathing in mantras with the application of clay marks in S.B. 11: 27: 10.

Kes'ava: (killer of Kes'i): name of Krishna as the killer of the demon Kes'i who as a mad horse threatened Gokula.

- Also: He with the fine black hair.

Kes'ī: demon that attacked the inhabitants of Vrindāvana in the form of a wild horse, but who was killed by Lord Krishna.

Kevala-bhakti: the devotion unto Krishna from within the pure love of the gopīs and S'rīmate  Rādhārānī (see also sahajiyā).

Khaga: (a bird, a hawk, falcon or vulture) name used for a type of divine being labeled as a bird of heaven or in relation to birds, possibly denoting excentric personalities in enumerations of societal personalities (used in S.B. 10: 74: 14-16). Also Garuda is a khaga.

- Also: a grasshopper, the sun, planet, air and wind.

Khathvānga: a king born from the famous king Vis'vasaha. He, killing many a daitya, became an emperor, who in loving service gave up on all his wordly interests and reached the Spiritual Abode of Vāsudeva (see S.B. 9.9: 41-49). He was an ancestor of Rāma (see S.B. 9.10: 1).

- Mentioned by Lord Krishna as an example of renunciation at the end of one's life (S.B. 11.23: 30).

Ki: (what?) used to call for an exclamation of joy (jaya). After mentioning the names of the litany it is called out loud.

Kīrtana: loudly chanting together. Second part of the ninefold process of devotional service (see bhāgavata  dharma). Sankīrtan or communal chanting is also used to indicate the preaching of the holy names: Lord Caitanya's sankīrtana movement. (see also Japa, defended in the Bhāgavatam in e.g. the verses: 1.18: 19, 2.3: 24, 3.7: 14, 3.25: 23-25, 3.28: 18, 3.29: 18, 4.10: 30, 6.3: 22-25, 7.9: 12, 10.14: 5, 10.44: 15, 11.2: 39-40, 11.5: 36-37, 11.27: 35 &44 , and 12:3: 51-52).

Kinnaras: the ones of superpower (see also S.B. 7.8: 55) said to be capable of changing their form at will.

Kimdevas: humanoids, human beings living on other planets.

Kimpurushas: the inhabitants of that region, apelike humans (see S.B. 5.16: 9 and 5.19).

Kles'a: obstacle of a mental or emotional nature on the path of selfrealization.

- The substance, the activity and the doer as impurities (see S.B. 12.6: 38).

- To Patańjali (Y.S. 5-9) five in number: avidhyā, a smitā, rāga, d vesha, abhinidves'a,: (resp.) ignorance, I/Mine-illusion or egotism, desire or emotional preference, hate or aversion and death fear or tenacity of mundane existence.

- In three in the preaching of the vaishnava: limitations from within the person, from other people or from external influences of the world (resp. adhiātmika, adhibhautika en adhidaivika-kles'a's) (see S.B. 1.17: 19, 3.6: 9, and 11.22: 30).

- In devotional service hindrances are overcome with the six leaves of the creeper of unfolding bhakti: "When we are beginning bhakti-sādhana, two leaves appear, and they are kles'aghni (relief from distress) and subhada (auspiciousness). When bhāva-bhakti is coming, the second two leaves come, and they are moksha-laghutākrit (elevation beyond the desire of liberation) and sudurlabha (the rarely attained love of Rādhā). When prema is coming, two more leaves appear, and they are sandrānanda-vis'eshātma (special happiness; When the essence of hlādinī and samvit mix together and appear on the platform of sandhinī, or s'uddha-sattva - see sat-cit-ānanda) and s'ri-krishna karshanicasa (to find Krishna Himself attracted) " (Tirtha Mahārāja: lecture june 2001).

Kos'a: (layer, whirl, hole, the inside, the covering, a sphere but also: treasure, scrotum, seedpod and dictionary), there are seven layers, dimensions or departments in the body of a person or the greater universe that must be seen as the body of God. The paramparā in the texts S.B. 2.1-25 and 4.26-1-3, 2.6:1, 6.16.37 speaks of the five elements, the noumenal and the phenomenal. The bhāgavatam speaks of layers each ten times the size of the preceding one after the other consisting of earth, water, fire, air, ether, the totality of energy and the false ego. In other vedānta schools there is also mention of the layers anna-maya kos'a to the earth of the senses of action, prāna-maya kos'a to the water of the senses of perception, mano-maya kos'a to the fire of the spirit, vijńana-maya kos'a to the air of the intellect, ānanda-maya kos'a to the ether of I-consciousness, citta-maya kos'a to the citta, the consciousness of the dual, the total energy of the phenomenal and ātma-maya kos'a to mahat, the total energy of the purusha, the noumenal. It is also associated with the parts of the brain and the stages of samādhi: earth and water kos'as for the frontal areas, the backbrain for the fire kos'a, the air-kos'a the base of the brain and the cortex the ether kos'a (see also dvīpa and dhātava).

- The koshas are by the paramparā explained as being first four material stages before the development of Krishna consiousness: anna-maya, prāna-maya, mano-maya and vijńāna-maya. In the last vijńāna-maya stage, the intellectual one, one realizes to be different from the body. The following fifth ānanda-maya stage is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā as the brahma-bhūta stage wherein one is equally disposed towards all living entities. Thus one, by devotional service expands to the higher stages of blissfulness, consciousness and soul (or ānanda, citta and ātma) in Krishna-consciousness (see pp 10.87: 17).

- There is also mention of seven (layered) constituents or ingredients of the body (2.10: 31): nails, skin, fat, flesh, blood, bone and marrow (chyle and semen are also mentioned sometimes instead of skin and nails).

- The seven measures of this body of the totality of matter, the false ego, ether, air, fire, water and earth 'that surrounds me like a pot'. (SB 10.14: 11).

- The seven layers of the cosmic golden egg as conceived by the five elements ego and mind (Shāstri, 11.6: 16).

- Monier-Williams Dictionary: 'a term for the three sheaths or succession of cases which make up the various frames (or 'bodies') of the body enveloping the soul

1. the ānanda-maya kos'a or "sheath of pleasure", forming the kārana-s'arīra or "causal frame";
2. the vijńāna-maya or buddhi-maya-kos'a or mano-maya-kos'a or prāna-maya-kos'a, "the sheath of intellect or will or life", forming the sūkshma-s'arira or "subtle frame";
3. the anna-maya-kos'a, "the sheath of nourishment", forming the sthūla-s'arīra or "gross frame".

- The eight treasures or nidhis of Kuvera whom is also said to have eight teeth only.

Kratu: (ritual) one of the seven great sages who were born directly from Lord Brahmā. He married Kriyā, daughter of Kardama Muni (S.B. 3.24: 22). With her he fathered the sixty thousand vālakhilyas, the sages surrounding the sungod (see also mahārishi).

- One op the ten sons of Brahmā (S.B. 3.12: 22).

- A descendant of Dhruva begotten by Ulmuka in Puskarinī as one of six very good sons. (S.B. 4.13: 17)

- In the dictionary kratu stands next to worhip and sacrifice for: plan, design, intention, resolution, determination, purpose, desire, will, deliberation, consultation, intelligence and understanding.

- In the worship of Lord Varāha is kratu one of the limbs or functions of the Lord: the Lord is yajńa and kratu, sacrifice and ritual (S.B. 5.18: 35, according to Prabhupāda).

Kripācārya (Kripa): 'the teacher with pity' spiritual master of the Kuru-family later on selected by Emperor Parīkchit as this spiritual master whom he properly awarded at the Ganges were he had three horse-sacrifices performed (see S.B. 1.16: 3).

- One of the seven sages in the eighth manvatara to come (S.B. 8.13: 15-16).

- M.W: A friend of Indra and the son of the sage S'aradvat who performed severe penance upon which the jealous Indra therefore sent a nymph to tempt him, but without success; however, a twin was born to the sage in a clump of grass, who were found by king S'āntanu (see S.B. 9.22: 16) and out of pity (or kripa) taken home and reared; the daughter, Kripī, married Drona, and had by him a son called As'vatthāma.

- M.W.: As the counselor at Hastināpura also named sometimes Gautama and S'āradvata.

Krishna: (written in Sanskrit as Krsna with dots under the r, the s and the n) the All-attractive One. Cowherd, warlord, lover, father, husband, friend and vedic sovereign. Vishnu-avatāra.

- His Life: He took birth in the Yadu-dynasty from D evakī with Vasudeva as His father. According many authorities was that in 3182 B.C. at the eighth day in the dark half of the month Bhādra or S'rāvana (August-September). He was born in the prison where his uncle Kamsa had incarcerated His parents after he heard a voice from the sky predict that their eighth son would kill him. Kamsa persecuted Him for that reason so that already in His childhood many demons were killed by Him as He grew up hidden from the enemy with the cowherds first in Gokula and later in Vraja near Mathurā where he stayed in the forest of Vrindāvana with His foster-parents Nanda and Yas'odā. A village with the same name is to the day of today with Him the place of pilgrimage and the center of Krishna - bhakti in the world. The girlfriend He had there so one says (not directly with her name mentioned in the Bhāgavatam though) is known as Rādhā or S'rīmate  Rādhārānī and the love of those two stands for the purest love of Godhead or personal love for God possible for a human being. The emotionality of that relation is called rasa and offers for each a wide range of human possibilities to relate to Him spiritually (see also jalpa). His relation with also the other cowherd girls, the gopīs, figures for the relation between Him and His devotees in the form of the different rasas. He fought all false rulers on earth and had as His life's mission to take the burden away from the earth. Next to Kamsa whom He defeated first, were later especially Jarāsandha and S'is'upāla and their associates His archenemies. He fought them always together with His half-brother Balarāma also called Rāma, who was begotten by Vasudeva in another wife of his named Rohinī. Balarāma is considered His first plenary portion with the same divine status as Him and seen as an incarnation of Sankarshana. For the sake of His mission, had He build a separate city in the ocean named Dvārakā and developed He, married to Rukminī and the 16107 other wives He mostly liberated from being controlled by the scoundrels that He defeated, an enormous family of over a million members, the Yadus who, when all enemies were defeated, according His will at last fought against each other though, so that also they wouldn't burden the earth. He assisted His nephew Arjuna as his charioteer during the great battle of Kurukshetra when the entire Kuru-dynasty found its demise as a consequence of the injustice caused by family-attachments and favoritism. After the war disappeared Krishna to His heavenly abode after being hit in His foot by an arrow fired by a hunter named Jarā shortly after the battle at Prabhāsa where as good as all the Yadus found their end. His life is described in the tenth Canto and His teaching He expounds in especially the eleventh Canto. The Bhagavad-Gītā He spoke to His friend and nephew Arjuna on the battlefield is very similar to the yoga-teachings explained by Him in the eleventh Canto to His nephew Uddhava. For the former He did so to inspire to fight injustice, for the latter He did so to clarify how one should live on this earth with Him physically not there anymore.

He is recognized as the purusha, the original personality of Godhead from whom Brahmā, the Creator originated. He is considered the most important, most complete and Supreme Personality of Godhead to descend on earth, who during His lifetime already was celebrated as such by His own family because of His great heroism and favorable influence. Literally His name means: dark, because of His dark blue-gray skin. He is, among other names, called Hrishīkesha as the master of the senses; Bhagavān as the Fortunate One of all opulences; as Mādhava, as a scion of Madhu, as the blooming one and as our Sweet Lord; as Madhusūdana, being the one who defeated the demon Madhu; S'auri as the son of the mighty one, - knowing His father Vasudeva - and as the scion of an ancestor called S'ūra; Acyuta as the infallible one; Jagannatha as the Lord of the universe, the living being; S'yāmasundara as the beautiful one with the dark complexion; Kes'ava as the Lord who defeated Kes'i or else the lord with the beautiful locks of hair; Govinda and Gopala as the protector and pleaser of the cows; Mukunda as the Lord of liberation, Murāri as the enemy of the demon Mura, Vāsudeva as the son of Vasudeva and Lord of consciousness, Yogīsvara as the lord of Yoga; Yajńa or Yajńes'vara as the Lord of sacrifice and Hari as the Supreme Personality, the Lord in person. And thus are many more names known of Him.

- Krishna-consciousness (natural consciousness) is that state of consciousness that results from the devotional service to Lord Krishna.

- The name of the hero and teacher in the old vedic times before He was known as the Vishnu-avatāra (see e.g. S.B. 6.9: 44 & 45).

- The name of a King predicted to Rule in Kali-yuga for the Kuru-dynasty in decay then (see 12.1: 21).

Krishna-consciousness: the knowing of Krishna or the condition in which one is aware of Him, knows Him, meditates on Him, works for Him, proclaims His glories etc.

- That consciousness that is brought about by following the principles of yoga (vidhis) and the chanting of the holy names (japa).

- That consciousness that is propagated and practiced by ISKCON, the western branch of vaishnavism as founded by S'rīla  Prabhupāda.

- Natural consciousness. The respecting of Krishna as the Original Personality in His first manifestation: the complete of material nature (see purusha and om-pūrnam)

- Consciousness of true time as presented by the light of the moon, the sun and the celestial sky. Krishna as the impersonation of Time and the order of the luminaries moving around in the sky (see also s'is'umāra, kāla and vāsudeva).

Krishna-Caitanya: another name for Lord Caitanya  Mahāprabhu (see also Gauranga).

Krishnadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī: writer of the Caitanya-caritāmrita about the life and teachings of Lord S'rī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Krishnakarma: to do everything for the sake of, to dedicate all one does to Krishna.

Krishna-kathā: talks in which the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the subject of discussion.

Krishnaloka: Krishna's abode. Goloka Vrindāvana or cintāmani-dhāma: the planet or world wherein Krishna in all eternity associates with His pure devotees; is the supreme planet, the highest goal of all - of both the material and the spiritual worlds.

Krita: fulfillment of duty; satya-yuga is also called krita-yuga because the people in the beginnings of the creation are natural in their fulfillment of the duties (see also 11.17: 10, 12.3: 18).

Kripana: (miser) someone unwilling to invest in his own development, who does not arrive at bhakti; someone hiding his light under the bushel; someone wasting his life not striving for self realization.

Kriyā-yoga: the practical method of cultivating the yoga; union with, or the connecting with, or the religion with the deity by due performance of the duties of every day life, active devotion (see 12: 11).

Krodha: anger from being frustrated about the temporality. Shadow-side of desire. Anartha.

Kshara: transitory.

Kshattā: name of Vidura referring to his being born from a maid-servant (from a s'ūdra mixing with a kshatriya).

Kshatriya: knight, warrior, politician, noble, state official. One of the varnas.

- Someone who from within the system of societal classes and spiritual orders belongs to the class of the rulers and protectors (the second division) (see varnās'rama).

Kshetra (the field): the body as the field of knowledge, as well the soul as the Supersoul are kshetra-jńa, because the human soul is conscious of its own embodiment and the Supersoul is the awareness of all embodied beings. (see Bhagavad Gītā 13-2).

Kshīrodakas'āyī Vishnu: third purusha-avatāra: the form in which Garbhodakas'āyī  Vishnu enters the heart of each separate living being, in the individuality of each atom and even in between the atoms. He is the Paramātmā, the local aspect of the omnipresent Supersoul.

- The divinity of the maintenance of the individual, localized soul.

- Lord Aniruddha (see also S'vetadvīpa).

Kūrma: the Vishnu-avatāra in the form of a tortoise. On His back was the ocean churned with the snake Vāsuki (see 8.7 also nāga).

Kūta-yogīs: fruitive yoga-practicioners, yogīs out for a certain outcome.

Kubjā: the hunch-backed maid-servant also called Trivakrā (three-bent) that was straightened out by Krishna in Mathurā and initimately received by her later on (see 10.41: 1-12 and 10.48).

Kulas'ekhara: a great devotee-king and author of the Mukunda-mālā-stotra, prayers to Lord Krishna.

Kumāras: the four ascetic sons of Brahmā who remained their child-form. Brahmācārīs leading to the four principles of knowledge: sānkhya (analysis), tapas (austerity, penance), vairaghya (detachment) and yoga.

- Sanaka (at the head) Sanātana, Sanandana en Sanat-kumāra (see S.B. 3.15).

Kumbhaka: that part of prānāyāma in which the breath is balanced and retained. Phase between pūraka and recaka (inhaling and exhaling). May not be practiced without āsanas (see also prāna discussed by Krishna in S.B. 11.14: 32 and B.G. 4.29).

Kuntī: queen, wife of king Pāndu, Arjuna's mother also known as aunt Prithā.

Kurarī: popular bird, the female osprey.

Kurta: long shirt. Standard atire of male devotees.

Kuru: the founder of the dynasty in which the Pāndavas, as well as their arch-rivals, the sons of Dhritarāshthra, took birth.

Kurukshetra: a place of pilgrimage that since the earliest Vedic times is considered sacred; close to present New Delhi in India.

- Place, the battlefield where the war described in the Mahābhārata was fought and Krishna spoke His Gītā.

- 'Field of Action'.

Kurus (Kauravas): sons of king Dhritarāshthra, hundred in number of whom Duryodhana was the most prominent. Opponents in the battle of Kurukshetra to their nephews the Pāndavas who actually also were Kurus, descendants of Kuru. (see family tree).

Kus'a: holy grass used with vedic rituals. Long and flat is it used for mats and sittingplaces.

- Name of a son of avatāra Rāmacandra after whom the dynasty that followed, was named the Kus'a-vams'a (see 9. 12).

Kushmāndas: class of demonic attendants of lord S'iva who bring disease and disturb the meditation.

Kuvera: the treasurer of the demigods.

 

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