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L

 

Lāghava: (dexterity, swiftness, lightness, thoughtlessness, disrespect) to lose one's value because of adharma. Also called cowardice.

Lakshmāna: brother of Rāma who went with Him into the wildernis at His exile. Is considered an incarnation of Sankarshana.

- Spelled Lakshmanā: Name of a wife of Krishna and of a daughter of Duryuodhana who each were kidnapped by Krishna and Sāmba at their svayamvara (see 10.83: 17; 10.68.1).

Lakshmī: or the goddess of Fortune; the eternal female companion of the Lord in His Nārāyana -form, with which he resides in the Vaikunthha-worlds.

- Other names for her are: S'rī: the beautiful one and Ramā, the wife, the splendor, the fortune and Kānti, the female beauty, the brightness of the moon.

- Also the name used for money engaged in devotional service.

Liberation: normally is this term understood as referring to escaping the stingent laws of nature (of birth, disease, old age and death) or also (with the mayavadīs) the identification of oneself with Brahman, in which one wants to destroy the ego through unification with the Absolute Brahman (which should be considered an unrealistic approach).

- The ultimate liberation consists of the restoration of the original bond that binds us eternally to the Absolute, namely Krishna, the Supreme Lord (see also svarupa, svadharma and mukti).

Līlā: the transcendental game, the pastime, the adventure of the Lord.

Līlā-avatāras: countless incarnations like Matsya, Kūrma, Rāma and Nrisimha sometimes called kalpa-avatāras since they appear in each kalpa, who descend in the material world to unfold the pastimes of the Personality of Godhead (see avatāra, l ī l ā).

- "There are also līlā-avatāras, and these include (1) Catuhsana (the Kumāras), (2) Nārada, (3) Varāha, (4) Matsya, (5) Yajńa, (6) Nara-Nārāyana, (7) Kardama Kapila, (8) Dattātreya, (9) Hayas'īrs'ā, (10) Hamsa, (11) Dhruva priya, or Pris'nigarbha, (12) Rishabha, (13) Prithu, (14) Nrisimha, (15) Kūrma, (16) Dhanvantari, (17) Mohinī, (18) Vāmana, (19) Bhārgava  Paras'urāma, (20) Rāghavendra ('chief of the Raghavas' or Rāma), (21) Vyāsa, (22) Pralambāri  Balarāma ('enemy of Pralamba'), (23) Krishna, (24) Buddha and (25) Kalki" (Caitanya-caritāmrita, Madhya līlā 20:244 Purport).

Linga: the subtle body; that part of one's being that is taken to one's next life, it contains the person in his material identifications and mind (see 4:29).

- Mind, intelligence and false ego in one (7.2:47).

- One of the sixteen forms S'iva is worshiped by according the sixteen elements to obtain the opulence belonging to that element. Formerly 12 principal S'iva-lingas existed, but the number of lingas in India is estimated at 30 millions .

- The linga, also as a symbol of the male phallus, is in stone in combination with a yoni from which he then rises worshiped as the union of the cosmic energy in the culture of S'iva (see also tantra-yoga).

- A mark, spot, sign, token, badge, emblem, characteristic; a symptom, mark of disease; having anything for a mark or sign; any assumed or false badge or mark, guise, disguise,a proof, evidence; a sign of guilt, corpus delicti; the sign of gender or sex; the image of a god, an idol; the invariable mark which proves the existence of anything in an object as in the proposition "there is fire because there is smoke"; inference, conclusion, reason; anything having an origin and therefore liable to be destroyed again.

- The crude base or uninflected stem of a noun; an indication, a word that serves to fix the meaning of another word.

- The order of the religious student.

Lobha: greed, possessiveness, avarice (see anarthas).

Logic: see nyāyika.

Loka: planet, star, world, abode. Divided in fourteen: five higher ones, one of the atmosphere, the earth and seven lower ones.

- Tri-bhuvana: the three worlds of heaven, hell and purgatory.

- In three the worlds of the earth, the atmosphere and heaven: Bhūr, Bhuvah Svah.

- Svah: The five celestial worlds: Svarloka, Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka.

- Bhuvarloka, the areal region, the atmosphere, the life-force.

- Bhūrloka or earthly regions, the middle, madhya or martyalokas including the seven lower, ādo, viz. Pātāla, Rasātala, Atala, Vitala, Nitala, Talātala, Mahātala en Sutala (see S.B. 2-5:36-40; 2-1: 26-39 and 11.24: 11-14).

- Siddhaloka, the place of no return beyond the first three where the ones of perfection go to.

- In seven they are: bhūh, bhuvah, svah, mahah, janah, tapah and satya. Their invocations are called vyāhritis (see 12: 6: 44).

- Caitanya Mahāprabhu by His mercy promotes the most fallen souls of Kali-yuga to beyond these planets and even beyond Vaikunthha, to the supreme planet of Lord Krishna in the spiritual sky, called Goloka Vrindāvana.

- 'A brahmacārī who practices celibacy perfectly in some particular stage of his life achieves Maharloka, and one who perfectly practices lifelong celibacy achieves Janaloka. By perfect execution of vānaprastha one may achieve Tapoloka, and one in the renounced order of life goes to Sathyaloka' (pp. 11.24.14).

Lokāyatikas: ('a man experienced in the ways of the world') a group of philosophers related to the Buddhists, who were present at earth when Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-Gītā.

Lotusfeet: of Pāda, feet. One says that Krishna, has lotusfeet to indicate that:

1) His feet will never leave Krishnaloka, that has the form of a lotus.

2) His feet look like lotuspetals.

3) The soles of His feet are red and on top of that show the mark of the lotus.

4) The beauty, softness, freshness of His feet reminds one of the same qualities as that of a lotus.

One also says that Krishna, but also His expansions and pure devotees, representing Him, have lotusfeet, to indicate that, like the lotus that within the water is never wet, they, although being in touch with māyā, are never contaminated by the material energy. In that context the term refers to the protection of the Lord, the refuge one seeks in spiritual need.

 

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Sanskrit Dictionary

 

S'rīmad Bhāgavatam | Bhagavad Gītā | Nederlandse versie

 

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