O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" {FN36-11}
{FN36-1} Sri Yukteswar was later formally initiated into the Swami
Order by the MAHANT (monastery head) of Buddh Gaya.
{FN36-2} "Great King"-a title of respect.
{FN36-3} A guru usually refers to his own disciple simply by his
name, omitting any title. Thus, Babaji said "Lahiri," not "Lahiri
Mahasaya."
{FN36-4} Literally, "eternal religion," the name given to the body
of Vedic teachings. SANATAN DHARMA has come to be called HINDUISM
since the time of the Greeks who designated the people on the banks
of the river Indus as INDOOS, or HINDUS. The word HINDU, properly
speaking, refers only to followers of SANATAN DHARMA or Hinduism.
The term INDIAN applies equally to Hindus and Mohammedans and other
INHABITANTS of the soil of India (and also through the confusing
geographical error of Columbus, to the American Mongoloid aboriginals).
The ancient name for India is ARYAVARTA, literally, "abode of the
Aryans." The Sanskrit root of ARYA is "worthy, holy, noble." The
later ethnological misuse of ARYAN to signify not spiritual, but
physical, characteristics, led the great Orientalist, Max Muller,
to say quaintly: "To me an ethnologist who speaks of an Aryan
race, Aryan blood, Aryan eyes and hair, is as great a sinner as a
linguist who speaks of a dolichocephalic dictionary or a brachycephalic
grammar."
{FN36-5} PARAM-GURU is literally "guru supreme" or "guru beyond,"
signifying a line or succession of teachers.
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