Created by Yuri D. Wolf and Gabriel Pinheiro

1. prāṇa: in the present context, it refers to out-breath. There is a huge discussion on this topic that since the former traditions of Haṭhayoga and Nātha sampradāya says that prāṇavāyu is related with breath-in downward direction, but in Vijñānabhairava Tantra and some other āgamas is stated that prāṇa is the out-breath - or exhaling vital energy with upward direction associated with the sun energy of prakāsa that is the dissolution into the light.

Obs.: In Āyurveda, prāṇavāyu (प्राणवायु) is a term referring to “respiration”, it is one of the five upadoṣa (sub functions) of Vāta or Vāyu (one of the three doṣas). A doṣa is a basic component of life. The compound prāṇavāyu is composed of the words Prāṇa (‘life’) and Vāyu (‘breath’). It performs functions like controlling the intellect, heart, sensory and motor organs and mind. It also regulates the activities like respiration, spitting, sneezing, belching and swallowing. These terms are used throughout āyurvedic literature such as the Caraka-saṃhitā and the Suśruta-saṃhitā. Āyurveda is India’s classical science of medicine.

2. apāna: In-breath: inhaling vital energy with downward movement. However, early Nātha sampradāya and Haṭhayoga state apāna as the exhalation with upward movement.

Vijñānabhairava Tantra relates apāna movement as lunar nurturing.

In Āyurveda, apānavāyu is one of the five functions of Vāta. Located in lower parts of the body, governs the activities of these parts. Which moves downwards and exits through anal opening.

There are some commentators that says that apāna is the lower breath.

3. vyāna: pervasive vital energy, the movement of vital breath through naḍīs (the energy channels of the subtle body).

This vāyu circulates all through the body and hence is responsible for circulation and distribution of blood, air, nutrients and necessary building blocks needed for the formation and maintenance of tissues from one part of the body to the other. permeates all over the body.

4. samāna: equalizing vital energy, it is related as kumbhaka or the harmonious breath, the equilibrium between prāṇa and apāna force.

Located in the proximity of digestive fire – agni, in the gut (stomach, intestines). It aids in digestion and absorption of food

It moves inwardly and it is specific location in umbilicals area.

5. udāna: up-breath, the ascending vital energy.

In Āyurveda, this function is responsible for speech and moves the vital breath upward, also helping in the movement of the lungs and heart. It is the expression of our vital force, memory and mental strength.

6. ānanda: bliss; the nature of Śakti; the essential nature of Parama Śiva along with Cit.

7. citi: the consciousness-power of the Absolute that brings about the world-process, its sustenance and its reabsorption.

8. samāveśa: prefix sam (“with”, “completely”, “superior junction”) + āveśa (“possession”, “entrance”). It is one of the most common terms in Trika philosophy to indicate a samādhi (“absorption”) experience - terms can be used interchangeably in this context. However, samāveśa is chosen here because it characterizes a very specific experience of double penetration: when, simultaneously, the individual consciousness penetrates the Absolute Consciousness and the Absolute Consciousness penetrates the individual consciousness.

9. mala: “impurities”. A state of wrong knowledge about Reality, that leads the individual soul (jīva) to the misconception of its most essential nature. It is the set of limitations generated by the coverings (kañcukas) of which the Consciousness submits itself in order to become the infinite range of possibilities of the manifold, and which veils the perception of the all-encompassing oneness of the Universe.

10. āṇava mala: the perception of the non-infinitude. The first of the three malas, it is the miscognition that afflicts the individual soul and seems to “detach” it from its indissoluble oneness with the Absolute. It is the fruit of the action of māyā, the differentiating power of the Divine, which creates the impression of incompleteness on the consciousness of the individual.

11. māyā (divine power): the magical power of the Divine that manifests the multiplicity, which makes possible what seems to be very impossible: it allows Absolute Consciousness to constitute the manifold within, and have that multiplicity to delimit itself, and project that as if outside, which impedes the individual soul to apprehend his/her own true form (svatmānam)

12. māyīya mala: perception of duality, which implies in the relations regarding me/not-me and mine/not-mine. It is the second of the three malas, mainly related to ahaṃkāra (the individual ego, in this context), which gives the impression of subject-object differentiation.

13. kārma mala: the grossest impurity, related to the cycle of actions and its consequences. Once the individual soul does not recognize its infinitude (as one with the Absolute Consciousness), it differentiates itself from the universal totality, limits its identity to the embodied consciousness (and its limited impressions of reality), and ends up engaging itself in actions based on attachment and aversion, without realizing the relation between cause and effects, which perpetuates the ignorance of limitation.

14. sakala: from the point of view of saṃhara-krama (the sequence of reabsorption, from multiplicity to unity) it is the first and grossest of the seven stages of the seven pramatṛ (“perceiver”, the one who is in the root of the act of perceiving). In Trika philosophy, the different degrees of the pramatṛ reveal the adept’s lower or higher capacity of perception of Reality. Sakala-pramatṛ is the ordinary embodied human point of view, where all three malas are operating, preventing the individual consciousness (jīva) from realizing the deeper layers of the Absolute. (Obs.: sakala = “affected by all components of the material world”, or “with limited powers”).

15. pralayākala: the second stage of the seven pramatṛ. It is the state of negation of the world. Here, kārmamala is not active, once the perceiver is in a state of deep unconsciousness (suṣupti, the deep sleep state). It is a state of non-duality, but only in relation to the void (śūnya), which is experienced in suṣupti. At this level, āṇava and māyiya mala remain operating. That’s the meaning of the ther that names this stage, pralayākala = “to which mala still adhere”, or “who is free due to dissolution [of the world]”.

16. vijñānākala: the third level of consciousness in the scale of the seven pramatṛ. At this stage, the individual is free from kārma and māyiya mala, and is (almost) beyond the realm of Māyā (the differentiating power of the Divine), experiencing turiyā (the fourth state of consciousness, which pervades all states). Here, he/she also experiences the void, but with full awareness, which corresponds to the experience of non-duality between subject and object of perception. However, once here the jīva is not totally aware of his/her autonomy, this kind of perception may lead the adept to a sense of superiority facing other beings, given that he/she still partially bounded by āṇavamala. Additionally, for having realized him/herself and pure light, he/she may also deny other aspects of his/her being, which may also lead to the relinquish of the power of agency. Then, without the surrendering of individuality to the Absolute, the adept remains stuck on the transcendent, without realizing the totality in all realms of existence.

17. upāya: "means" for realization. As organized by Abhinavaguptācārya, the content of this subject regards the different forms to enter Absolute Consciousness from individual consciousness. In other words, it is a way to categorize practices that deal with different aspects of Consciousness. However, they all will lead to the same goal.

18. śāṃbhava-upāya: Sudden emergence of Śiva-Consciousness without any thought-construct (vikalpa) by a mere hint that one's essential Self is Śiva; also known as Śāmbhava-yoga, Icchopāya or Icchā-Yoga.

19. śākta-upāya: “the mean of potency/power”, one of the 4 means of self-realization (as organized by Abhinavaguptācārya). In this, considering that the adept is dealing with the external movement of consciousness flowing and grasping the objects, and also considering that the mind merges and mixes itself with the externals, it receives the qualities of them. So, in order to reach Consciousness' most pristine form, this upāya comprises the practices that regard purification of the mind in a gradual progression towards dynamic pure Consciousness.

20. āṇava-upāya: the lowest upāya, which concerns practices related with "external"/gross references, like breath, sound, a particular place, the organs of sensation and so on.