Sadhana is a disciplined spiritual practice in both Hinduism and Buddhism. The purpose of sadhana is liberation from the cycle of birth and death, illumination or enlightenment. A person engaged in sadhana practice is referred to as a Sadhu or a Sadhaka. These spiritual practices take a number of forms including many types of meditation, the use of mantras (sacred sounds), mudras (ritualized body movements), yantras (sacred visual images such as geometric shapes), pujas (ceremonial practices offered to a deity or guru), etc.

Demigod – a being that is half god because one parent was a god and the other was human, as in Greek mythology. For example in one version of Greek mythology Dionysus was the son of the god Zeus and the mortal mother Semele.