A Yoga Dictionary of Basic Sanskrit Terms

I'm not unhappy with this Sanskrit dictionary, but to be honest, it's not what I thought it would be. It appears limited and incomplete. I bought it to look up Sanskrit words related to Advaita Vedanta and non dualism teachings. The dictionary is missing what I would consider some rather basic Sanskrit words such as, advaita, vedanta, Jnani, puja, swarupa, samvit and even Bodhisattva. It does contain, avidya, i.e. forgetfulness or ignorance, but not vidya the opposite, i.e clarity or knowledge. I'm not sure what other important words are missing, but will probably find out soon enough. On a more positive note, the Sanskrit words that are included appear to be well defined, and the book's price is very reasonable compared with some others.

I was looking for a book that would give the Sanskrit for yoga poses (Warrior One, Warrior Two, Down Dog, etc.) and maybe some related terms like different kinds of breathing. What would have been even better would be a thumbnail picture of the pose.This book does have the names of a few poses but does not contain many of the most common, mostly it has what appear to me as random terms like "A celestial woman born of Kashyapa...", the term for "Colon cleansing."A quick Internet search yields: Virabhadrasana I = Warrior I. Virabhadrasana is not listed in the book, I did read through the book and never found a term for Warrior anything pose.Even if the book did have the terms I was looking for the book is ordered by Sanskrit name not by English word so you have to sequentially search through the book to try and find a name for a pose or any other term. That's backwards of the way you write a translation book. The book does have an English word section but it just has a definition of mystical terms i.e. "Absolute" but without equivalent Sanskrit term.The only value of this book for me is to help prevent others from making the mistake, of buying this book, that I did.I cannot understand why the other reviews are positive.

This book is extremely informative, definitions of Sanskrit words and poses. In my training they did not go over any of the pronunciations of Sanskrit words and the book really helped me.

This is an excellent Sanskrit reference book. It is clear and consise, but not lacking in explanation. The definitions are not to technical and esoteric. They are clear, simple and to the point. The printing in the book is very clear, making for easy reading. I would recommend this book to students of yoga and Indian philosphy to gain an understanding of basic Sanskrit terms.

Well written.

What I wanted.

If you are looking for a simple dictionary on sanskrit terms, this is it. The price is also reasonable.

So far this book has been a great reference for an aspiring yogi. I was on the fence about getting more serious about the practice, but this book lends a great way to ease yourself into the study. I highly recommend it.