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Conceptual Vocabulary
मूल विचार

Core Concepts

The foundational ideas of Sanātana Dharma — the vocabulary in which the entire tradition thinks. Master these and every text, school, and practice becomes legible.

Canonical Definition
The core concepts of Sanātana Dharma are the small set of interlocking ideas — dharma, karma, saṃsāra, ātman, brahman, mokṣa, and their relatives — that recur across every school and text. They are not the doctrine of any single tradition but the shared conceptual language within which all the traditions argue, agree, and differ.
Etymology: From Sanskrit philosophical vocabulary developed across the Vedas, Upaniṣads, and darśana literature (c. 1500 BCE onward).
Cradle to Mastery · 6 stages · 47 concepts
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Dharma → Ātman & Brahman → how the world is built → the yogas → the inner instruments → the subtle summit.
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A shared vocabulary, not a single creed

Sanātana Dharma is often described as less a religion than a family of traditions. What holds that family together is not a single creed or a single God but a shared set of concepts — a vocabulary that every school, from the ritualists of Mīmāṃsā to the non-dualists of Advaita Vedānta, uses to think.

These concepts form a tightly interlocking web. Dharma (the order that sustains) frames karma (action and its consequence), which drives saṃsāra (the cycle of rebirth), from which mokṣa (liberation) is release. The nature of the self that is bound and then freed — ātman — and its relationship to ultimate reality — brahman — is the central question over which the schools divide.

How to read this sectionTo understand any single concept fully, you need a few of the others. Begin with the six foundations — dharma, karma, saṃsāra, ātman, brahman, mokṣa — and the rest will fall into place around them.

This Codex documents 47 concepts in total, from the most foundational to the technical vocabulary of the philosophical schools (vivartavāda, pariṇāmavāda, sphoṭa) and the inner states of practice (turīya, kaivalya, jīvanmukta).

The concepts everything rests on

Six concepts carry the weight of the whole tradition. Understand these and the entire literature opens.

1
Dharma — "that which holds." The ethical and cosmic order that sustains the world, and the duty incumbent on each being to uphold it. The single most central concept in the tradition.
2
Karma — action and its consequence. Every intentional act leaves a trace that shapes future experience, across lifetimes. Not fate, but moral causation.
3
Saṃsāra — the beginningless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, driven by karma. The condition from which liberation is sought.
4
Ātman — the innermost self, the witnessing awareness that the tradition asks each person to truly know. Distinct from body, mind, and ego.
5
Brahman — the ultimate ground of all reality. Whether the ātman is identical to it (Advaita) or eternally distinct (Dvaita) is the great question of Vedānta.
6
Mokṣa — liberation: the permanent ending of saṃsāra and the highest of the four aims of life. The goal toward which all the paths point.
The thread that connects themDharma orders life; karma records it; saṃsāra continues it; ātman is what travels through it; brahman is what it ultimately is; mokṣa is freedom from the whole cycle.

How the 47 concepts group together

Beyond the six foundations, the concepts cluster into recognisable families.

The metaphysics of nature — Sāṃkhya's analysis of reality: puruṣa (consciousness) and prakṛti (nature), the three guṇas (sattva, rajas, tamas), and ahaṃkāra (the ego-principle). This vocabulary underlies the Bhagavad Gītā and most later philosophy.

The paths of practice — the four yogas as concepts: karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, bhakti-yoga, and rāja-yoga, together with sādhana (disciplined practice) and the qualities it requires: viveka (discrimination), vairāgya (dispassion), and brahmacharya (disciplined conduct).

The states of realisation — what liberation actually is: turīya (the fourth state beyond waking, dream, and sleep), kaivalya (the aloneness of pure consciousness in Yoga), sat-cit-ānanda (being-consciousness-bliss), and jīvanmukta (one liberated while still living).

The technical philosophy of language and causation — the precise tools of the darśanas: vivartavāda (apparent transformation), pariṇāmavāda (real transformation), sphoṭa (the burst of meaning from sound), and vāk (the philosophy of sacred speech).

Why this matters for accuracyMany of these terms are routinely mistranslated. Karma is not "fate." Māyā is not "illusion" in the sense of unreality. Mokṣa is not "heaven." Each entry documents the precise scholarly meaning.

Explore the entries

Dharma Karma Mokṣa Ātman Brahman Saṃsāra Māyā Guṇa Sphoṭa

Sources

  1. Tier 1: Patrick Olivelle, The Early Upaniṣads (Oxford University Press, 1998)
  2. Tier 2: Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
  3. Tier 2: Wilhelm Halbfass, India and Europe & Tradition and Reflection (SUNY Press)
  4. Tier 1: Bhagavad Gītā, trans. Edwin Bryant / R.C. Zaehner (for guṇa, yoga vocabulary)

All Entries

Dharma Karma Mokṣa Ātman Brahman Ātman–Brahman Māyā Saṃsāra Ahiṃsā Guṇa Avatāra Prāṇa Tantra Ahaṃkāra Citta / Vṛtti Kaivalya Jīvanmukta Oṃ Mantra Guru Prapatti Ṛta Puruṣa Prakṛti Puruṣārtha Svadharma Īśvara Brahmacharya Vairāgya Viveka Sat-Cit-Ānanda Neti Neti Turīya Vivartavāda Pariṇāmavāda Sphoṭa Triguṇātīta Brahmavidyā Ṛṣi Devatā Vāk Dharmic Ecology Karma Yoga Jñāna Yoga Bhakti Yoga Rāja Yoga Sādhana