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''raga'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''raga'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260915190735-00-⌔

raga - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

raga (countable and uncountable, plural ragas)

  • (countable, music) Any of various melodic forms used in Indian classical music, or a piece of music composed in such a form.
    • ✤ Coordinate term: ragini
    • ✤ ‘The song is composed in a raga appropriate to the present hour, which is the evening.’1
  • (uncountable) Passion, love, lust.
    • ✤ The conditions of asmita, raga, dvesha, and abhinivesha have a physical basis: they function to inhibit the normal pulsatory rhythms of the physical body.2
    • ✤ We get tired of the slipping and sliding between raga and dvesha and we seek something more permanent - so instead of looking outward we begin to look inward. This is Yoga - the heart of Yoga.3
    • ✤ In order to increase security, desire (raga, trishna, lobha) appears in all its forms, and one accumulates more and more of that which establishes one’s position in samsara.4
    • ✤ * Raga and dvesha, attachment and hatred, are two sides of the same coin.*5

Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit राग (rāga, “dye, colour”).

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɑːɡə
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊

Printed 2026-09-15.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 72: ↩

  2. 2009, Jennifer Schwamm Willis, The Joy of Yoga, →ISBN: ↩

  3. 2009, Swami Ambikananda Saraswati, Healing Yoga, →ISBN, page 18: ↩

  4. 2010, Chogyam Trungpa, The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa, →ISBN: ↩

  5. 2012, Swami Rama, Sadhana: The Path to Enlightenment, →ISBN, page 80: ↩

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Secondary

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