Audio Glossary: K

Kabir
(c1440 - 1515 CE) A wandering Hindu holy man who promoted monotheism and was sympathetic to Islam and other religions; some of his compositions are to be found within the Guru Granth Sahib.
karah prashad (or parsad)
In Sikhism, specially cooked sweet pudding which having been blessed through prayer in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib is then distributed to worshippers.
karma
In Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism the word can mean 'action' or 'deed' (especially a religious observance), but generally it refers to the idea that all actions bring about future effects and that these effects influence one's spiritual progress.
Khalsa
The company of Sikhs who have undergone the amrit ceremony and are fully observant of the code of conduct laid down in the Rahit Maryada.
Khalsa Aid
Sikh charitable organisation.
khums
A tax paid by Shi'a Muslims to their Mujtahid who collects it on behalf of the hidden Imam.
kipa [kapel / yamulke / kippur]
Skull-cap warn by Jewish men (also known as a yarmulke or a kapel).
kirat karni
In Sikhism, honest hard work.
kirtan
In Hinduism and Sikhism the singing of the words of scripture (the Guru Granth Sahib in the case of Sikhs and the Ramayana, Gita or other holy book for Hindus).
Korzcak (Janusz born Henryk Goldszmit)
A Polish Jewish doctor, writer, founder of orphanages, and pioneer of humane and liberal upbringing of children. When, on August 6, 1942, during the early stages of the Nazi liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto the Germans ordered his famous orphanage evacuated, Korczak was forced to gather together the two hundred children in his care. Despite being offered a chance to save himself Korzcak led them with quiet dignity on that final march through the ghetto streets to the train that would take them to "resettlement in the East" - the Nazi euphemism for the death camp Treblinka.
(Lord) Krishna
To most Hindus an incarnation (avatar) of the god Vishnu, but to members of a sectarian movement (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) Lord Krishna is the supreme God.