Notes


angel hair: a pasta sold in the U.S. which U.G. sometimes cooks and eats for lunch.

ashram: Sanskrit for a spiritual retreat.

bhakti: Sanskrit for religious devotion.

butcher's heart: U.G.'s grandmother described U.G. when he was young as one with a butcher's heart.

calamity: a cataclysmic change in U.G. when he literally died, his "self" withered away, and he somehow, for some unknown reason, regained his life.

Central Park: a large public park located in the heart of New York City.

E.F. Hutton: famous stockbroker firm in the U.S., now defunct.

E.T.: abbreviation for Extra-Terrestrial. Title of a popular movie in the U.S. about an alien-looking affectionate extra-terrestrial being and his visit to Earth

Gucci shoes: expensive shoes made by the famous Italian clothing manufacturer, Gucci

Heart Sutra: one of the Mahayana Sutras recited in some Zen Buddhist temples. Short for Maha Prjna Paramita Hridaya Sutra (The Sutra of the Heart of Perfection of Wisdom)

"I just got off the turnip truck": from one of U.G.'s common expressions "I haven't just gotten off the turnip truck," meaning he is not ignorant

Jivan-Mukta: Sanskrit term meaning a person who is liberated while still alive

K-Mart: a discount department store in the U.S. which U.G. frequently visits

Kali Yuga: the last of the four "Ages" in Hinduism when virtue and righteousness rule only on "one foot"

King's horses and KIng's men: allusion to the Mother Goose children's nursery rhyme, "Humpty-Dumpty," in which all the horses and men "couldn't put Humpty together again"

koan: a Zen riddle used as a vehicle for meditation; it does not have a fixed answer reachable through the intellect

kriya: the convulsionary changes in energy one goes through in spiritual practices in Hinduism

mantra: a formula usually Sanskrit, used for meditation or in rituals and worship

Naxalite: a Member of the terrorist version of the Communist Party in India

neti neti: "not this, not this," one of the descriptions of Ultimate Reality in the Upanishads, the ancient Hindu scriptures

nirvikalpa: (nirvikalpa samadhi) the highest state of samadhi (see below) in which a person is no longer conscious of the object of meditation

Oy veh: Eastern European Yiddish expression meaning "Oh no!"

Price Club: a discount warehouse in the U.S.

samadhi: the spiritual condition of "Absorption" in the Infinite in Hinduism

satori: Japanese Zen Buddhist term for the breakthrough experience of enlightenment

Shiva: the god in charge of the dissolution of the universe in the trinity of gods in Hinduism

Sikhs: followers of the Sikh religion in India

"sinking": a change which U.G. periodically goes through when his senses fade and/or he becomes "dead" for all practical purposes that generally lasts about 45 minutes

sponsor: a sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous (an institution in the U.S.) acts as a guide who supports the alcoholic in his sobriety and recovery

stupa: a monument, generally religious

sunyata: Madhyamika Buddhist term meaning "emptiness", a term for Ultimate Reality as well as for the nonsubstantiality of empirical reality

swami: a spiritual master

Useless Guy: Mr. Brahmachari (a friend of U.G. in Bangalore) humorously amplified "U.G." as "Useless Guy"

white chocolate: Swiss or Belgian white chocolate is U.G.'s favorite candy and is also the favorite of many of his friends around the world

yogi: a practitioner of yoga