Download the Glossary with diacritics [PDF, 346KB]
halava- a sweet dish made from roasted grains, butter, sugar, and water or milk.
- Hamsa
- Lord Vishnu’s incarnation as a swan, who gave instructions to Brahma and his sons.
- Hanuman
- Lord Ramachandra’s most faithful eternal servant, who has the body of a kimpurusha, a humanlike monkey. Hanuman, son of Anjana, was minister to Sugriva in the monkey kingdom Kishkindha.
- Hara
- Lord Siva.
- Hare Krishna Land
- name of the ISKCON temple in Mumbai, India.
- Hare
- the vocative form of Hara, another name of Radharani; refers specifically to the internal spiritual energy of the Lord.
- Hari
- The Supreme Lord, Krishna or Vishnu.
- Haridasa
- “Krishna’s servant,” an epithet both for Uddhava and for Govardhana Hill.
- Haridasa Thakura
- a great devotee of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu; known as the namacharya, the master who taught the chanting of the holy names by his own example.
- Haridvara
- One of the seven sacred cities capable of granting liberation. It is located where the Ganga descends from the Himalayas to the plain of central India.
- Hariloka
- Vaikuntha, the world of the Supreme Lord.
- hari-nama
- The holy names of Krishna and the process of chanting them in pure love.
- Harinama
- Used in ISKCON to refer to public chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.
- hari-nama-diksha
- formal initiation of the disciple by the spiritual master into the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.
- hari-namamrita
- The nectar of chanting Krishna’s names.
- Hari-varsha
- One of the nine divisions of Jambudvipa, the central part of the earthly planetary system. Lord Nrisimha and Prahlada reside in Hari-varsha.
- Hastinapura
- The capital of the Kurus, located on the banks of the Ganga, east of what is now Delhi.
- hatha-yoga
- the system of practicing sitting postures for sense control.
- Hayagriva
- Lord Vishnu’s incarnation with the head of a horse. He spoke the lost Vedas to Lord Brahma.
- Himalayas
- The tallest mountains on earth, on India’s northern edge, described as the residence of sages, demigods, and incarnations like Lord Siva, Nara-Narayana, and Vyasadeva.
- Hiranyakashipu
- One of the first great demons in the universe. He and his demonic brother Hiranyaksha were previously doorkeepers of Vaikuntha but were cursed when they refused entrance to the four Kumara sages. Hiranyakashipu’s son Prahlada was a fully surrendered devotee of Vishnu. For persecuting Prahlada, Hiranyakashipu was killed by Lord Nrisimha.
- Hiranyaksha
- The demonic older brother of Hiranyakashipu. When Hiranyaksha tried to obstruct Lord Varaha from lifting the earth from the depths of the Garbha Ocean, the Lord killed him.
- hridaya-grantha
- lit., “the knot in the heart.” Refers to material bondage of the living entity resulting from sexual attraction.
- Hrishikesha
- The Supreme Lord Vishnu, or Krishna, master of everyone’s senses.
