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Articles from santosh krinsky | Selfgrowth.com
- The Power of Concentration is the Key to Realization in All Fields of Life - by Submitted on Jan 28, 2023 from santosh krinskyEvery major accomplishment in human life involves some form of concentration. We live in a modern world that systematically distracts and disperses the mind, thus making it more difficult to achieve a state of concentration. Cell phones, internet surfing, music, flashing lights, entertainment, ...
Views: 361 - An Inward Concentration Is Necessary for the Seeker of Knowledge - by Submitted on Jan 27, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe ability to concentrate the mind allows us to function in the world in a coherent manner and to create results in whatever field the concentration takes up. Without concentration, the mind would jump from one perception, one impression, one idea to another randomly and instantaneously as new ...
Views: 360 - Focusing on the Signal While Eliminating the Noise: Concentration and Purification - by Submitted on Jan 26, 2023 from santosh krinskyConsider briefly that you have a television set that receives all the available channels, but you cannot tune the set, so that all picture and sound from the entire frequency range come in at the same time and mix up with each other, along with the static that occurs between various station ...
Views: 343 - Changing Outer Actions Is an Essential Aspect of Inner Development - by Submitted on Jan 25, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen an action takes place in the world, it has a number of effects both in the world, and in the psychology of the individual carrying out the action. Each action creates a formation, a rhythm, or a solid result that tends to perpetuate and repeat itself on an ongoing basis. Thus, the more we ...
Views: 482 - Setbacks in Sadhana Due to Incomplete Purification of the Nature - by Submitted on Jan 24, 2023 from santosh krinskyWith careful observation we can understand that an individual’s greatest weaknesses and difficulties represent the opportunity and specific need for progress for spiritual growth. Each individual faces his own unique challenges. In many cases, the confluence of the soul’s pressure, the outer ...
Views: 353 - Trapped by the Social and Moral Code, or Beyond Good and Evil? - by Submitted on Jan 23, 2023 from santosh krinskyFriedrich Nietzsche wrote that certain individuals, by virtue of their innate status as superior beings, could not be bound by social rules or morality or ethics. While the implication may be understood to apply to those who have evolved beyond the ‘need’ for such contextual social rules, the ...
Views: 374 - Purity from the Moral Standpoint or the Spiritual Standpoint - by Submitted on Jan 22, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna poses the question to Sri Krishna as to how to identify the realised soul, asking how does he act, how does he speak, etc. Sri Krishna responds that it is not through outer action that one can identify the liberated individual, as this is something that can only be ...
Views: 331 - The Concept of Spiritual Purity in the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 21, 2023 from santosh krinskyFor most people, purity is connected with a moral precept, and for most, this has eventually been related to the question of sexual relations. The question of chastity, and withholding of sexual activity until the socially sanctioned relationship of marriage has been put in place, holds a ...
Views: 362 - Purification of the Being Is More Essential Than Extraordinary Spiritual Experiences - by Submitted on Jan 20, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe vital nature revels in having extraordinary experiences that arise as a result of spiritual practice or some type of opening to other planes of being. These experiences support the ego, making the individual feel special, uniquely qualified and selected for spiritual progress, and they are ...
Views: 333 - Integral Purification of All Parts of the Being Is a First Preparation for the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 19, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the context of the practice of yoga, purification is not the enforcement of some kind of moral code or precepts. This is a common perception based on religious tenets that have abounded through the ages that set forth a moral code and try to both control the actions of people and judge them ...
Views: 328 - First Foundations for the Practitioner of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 18, 2023 from santosh krinskyPatanjali’s Raja Yoga outlines a series of steps or stages in the development of that particular path. The first two are Yama and Niyama, which outline certain purification actions to prepare the practitioner for the later activities and experiences in the yogic practice. These two ‘limbs’, ...
Views: 390 - The Sunlit Path of Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 17, 2023 from santosh krinskyFor many people, the religious life or the spiritual path is considered to be extremely serious and cheerfulness is considered to be some kind of frivolity, not becoming to the serious nature of the endeavour. They make spiritual practice into a harsh discipline and struggle with difficulties ...
Views: 403 - Focusing on the Dedicated Action, Not the Immediately Visible Results - by Submitted on Jan 16, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna teaches Arjuna that he has the right to action, but not to attachment to the fruits of the action, i.e. the results. In our world today we are fixated on the destination, not the ‘journey’ and we measure everything by the immediate results we obtain. This ...
Views: 350 - The True Condition of Progress in the Spiritual Path - by Submitted on Jan 15, 2023 from santosh krinskySri Krishna taught Arjuna the lessons of the Bhagavad Gita on a battlefield. The setting is an important aspect of the teaching itself. The inner growth is not dependent on outer events or circumstances. Conditions will always be ‘imperfect’ if not absolutely terrible! Sri Aurobindo and the ...
Views: 348 - Impatience and the Practice of Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 14, 2023 from santosh krinskyImpatience is endemic to modern day society. We expect everything immediately. If it does not come, we exhibit frustration, annoyance, anger and a disturbed energy which impacts the the body, the life-energy, the nervous envelope and the mental state. Impatience, therefore, creates an energetic ...
Views: 357 - Is It Realistic to Expect Instant Transformation of Human Nature? - by Submitted on Jan 13, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe live in a time where we expect everything to happen instantly. We want to take a pill and achieve ‘instant enlightenment’. Life is speeding up with enhancements to communications, travel, and devices that make us react faster every day. Life itself seems to have speeded up and days disappear ...
Views: 400 - Faith In and Receptivity to the Guru - by Submitted on Jan 12, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn Essays on the Gita, Sri Aurobindo notes that every scripture has both a ‘temporal’ and an ‘eternal’ aspect. The temporal aspect is transitory, changes from time to time and from culture to culture, based on the societal background within which the scripture has been produced. The knowledge ...
Views: 441 - The Western Mind and the Relationship to the Guru - by Submitted on Jan 11, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe cultural background of the West clearly differs from the background found in India, which has a history of spiritual development stretching back thousands of years. Westerners tend to have difficulty with the concept of surrender to the Guru’s guidance, whereas in India, this is an accepted ...
Views: 383 - The Role and Function of the Guru, the Teacher - by Submitted on Jan 10, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere are a number of ways that a teacher, or Guru, impacts the student or disciple. To the extent there is a method or science involved, that science can be described, organised and taught to the disciple. We see this frequently in the sciences of Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga, as the teacher takes ...
Views: 383 - The Limitations of Religious Worship for Spiritual Growth and Development - by Submitted on Jan 09, 2023 from santosh krinskyWorship of an external deity, an avatar, savior or enlightened being is recognised as a sign of religious dedication on the part of an individual. In many instances, however, this form of worship is a more or less empty ritual that is part of a societal expectation or norm, or operates as a ...
Views: 408 - The Human Need for an Intermediary to the Divine Brings About the Presence of the Avatar, the World-Teacher, or the Human Guru - by Submitted on Jan 08, 2023 from santosh krinskySpiritual experience is not realised through following a manual or cookbook. There is not an actual way that any prescriptive documentation can both tune the consciousness to the spiritual plane, nor avoid the many chances of confusion that can arise through mistake or through misapplication or ...
Views: 635 - The Human Need for an Object to Venerate and to Be Guided By in the Spiritual Path - by Submitted on Jan 07, 2023 from santosh krinskyFor the vast majority of individuals, the idea of confronting the vast consciousness without any discernable or identifiable form is overwhelming. Anything that is undefined or unlimited breeds discomfort and fear in our being. in the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna is confronted with a vision of the ...
Views: 379 - The Value of Mental Preparation for the Practice of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 06, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe mind can be a powerful tool for spiritual growth, or it can become an obstacle under certain circumstances. Many devotees take the position that aspiration, devotion, surrender to the Divine is the only way forward. For those individuals that may indeed be true. Not everyone is capable of ...
Views: 339 - The Mind as a Helper, the Mind as an Obstacle for Spiritual Development - by Submitted on Jan 05, 2023 from santosh krinskyIf we view the vast array of methods recommended by spiritual paths of the world, we find that many of them utilize various forms of mental focus or concentration in order to achieve specific results along the way. Tibetan yoga, for instance, has intensive visualisation techniques along with ...
Views: 344 - To Read, or Not to Read, That is the Question for the Spiritual Seeker - by Submitted on Jan 04, 2023 from santosh krinskyIntellectual development is not the same as spiritual realisation. The essence of spiritual development lies in the living experience of the truths of the spirit, not in the mental understanding of concepts. Thus, preeminence is placed on experience, not reading. The sages of the Vedic and ...
Views: 358 - General Limitations and Options for Methods and Applications for Spiritual Development - by Submitted on Jan 03, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn any technical field, there are both a general statement of goals and principles, as well as specific steps that should be applied to achieve those results. In many endeavours, particularly those involved in dealing with the physical world and the science that operates in that world, the ...
Views: 357 - Spiritual Realisation Goes Beyond All Scriptures - by Submitted on Jan 02, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe live in a dynamic, evolving universe, not one that is static and unchanging. All teachings of the past, therefore, have their limitations. In his Essays on the Gita, Sri Aurobindo reminds us that all scriptures have both a temporal element, specific to their time and their circumstances, and ...
Views: 365 - Aids in Attaining Spiritual Realisation: the Scripture and the Guru - by Submitted on Jan 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyA written scripture or teaching may help direct the focus of the mind and the heart toward the realisation to be gained. No book, however, can replace the experience, and an intellectual understanding does not constitute spiritual knowledge. Spiritual experience comes through receptivity to the ...
Views: 335 - Opening to a New Consciousness Through the Revealed Word - by Submitted on Dec 31, 2022 from santosh krinskyA seed in the plant kingdom remains inert and non-developing until such time as it is placed in the proper conditions and pressure from outside, in the form of heat or moisture primarily, is exerted upon it. A corollary process takes place in the animal kingdom, of course. Once the encoding ...
Views: 356 - All Knowledge Is Within, Awaiting the Time and Circumstance to Manifest in Our External Being - by Submitted on Dec 30, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe ancient Greek philosopher Plato described the method of teaching utilized by Socrates, known today as the “Socratic method”. Socrates understood that education was not the process of stuffing knowledge into an individual, but rather, as the root of the word ‘education’ implies, a drawing out ...
Views: 366 - Guarding One’s Faith - by Submitted on Dec 29, 2022 from santosh krinskyFaith, as described by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, is not a dogmatic acceptance of a system of ideas or ‘articles of faith’; rather, it is a form of knowledge that arises from deeper within, from the soul and its connection with the universe, which provides a certainty that goes beyond the ...
Views: 471 - Overcoming Negative Suggestions Through Faith in One’s Spiritual Destiny - by Submitted on Dec 28, 2022 from santosh krinskyHow many times in the course of an individual’s practice of yoga do thoughts of failure and lack of capacity or ability to succeed intervene and work to create doubt and despair? If allowed to dominate the being, the quest fails, at least for the time being, or for the rest of the current ...
Views: 393 - The Meaning of Faith - by Submitted on Dec 26, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe mind is not an instrument of knowledge. It is an analytical and organising tool, but is unable, on its own, to establish truth or certainty. It also maintains a certain arrogance in its own powers, and thus, when confronted with something beyond its own capabilities, it doubts the veracity ...
Views: 445 - The Nature of Faith - by Submitted on Dec 25, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhat is faith? Faith has generally been associated with belief in a religion and its specific tenets, or ‘articles of faith’. We are educated within our religion of choice about the basic beliefs that underlie that religion and we are asked to accept them ‘on faith’. In some cases, these ...
Views: 412 - The Meaning of True and Complete Sincerity in the Spiritual Path - by Submitted on Dec 24, 2022 from santosh krinskyJust about every individual, including those practicing a spiritual discipline of some sort, creates an image of himself that he then projects out into the world. This image is something of a stylized and idealized version of himself that attempts to present the highest and best of his ...
Views: 366 - The Complexity and Difficulty of Achieving Complete Sincerity in the Spiritual Path - by Submitted on Dec 23, 2022 from santosh krinskySincerity is not as simple as believing in and meaning what we say to others. This is what we ordinarily consider to be sincerity. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have a much more far-reaching idea of sincerity relating to the practice of yoga in the furtherance of spiritual growth. Sincerity ...
Views: 337 - Sincerity Is the Only Protection in the Development of the Spiritual Life - by Submitted on Dec 22, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we consider what the most important quality is for progress in spiritual growth, we generally come up with a number of different ideas, including devotion, strong mind or will, faith, dedication, aspiration. We rarely name ‘sincerity’ as the quality most required. Yet, the Mother stresses the ...
Views: 329 - The Complementary Aspects of Aspiration and Prayer - by Submitted on Dec 21, 2022 from santosh krinskyJust as there is a debate between science and religion, there is a corollary argument that encompasses aspiration versus prayer. Aspiration for growth, development, knowledge, progress, expansion is acceptable to those in the “science” camp. Prayer is relegated by these individuals to the ...
Views: 355 - Aspiration and Prayer - by Submitted on Dec 20, 2022 from santosh krinskyMany people confuse aspiration with prayer. They are however, actually two different things, and while they may support one another when they align, it is not necessary that aspiration lead to prayer. Aspiration refers to the inner state of consciousness that arises from the psychic being in a ...
Views: 360 - The Aspiration Must Be Kept Alive and Constant - by Submitted on Dec 19, 2022 from santosh krinskyChanging human nature is a process of time and effort and is therefore subject to periods of waxing and waning of effort. Human beings tend to relax and enjoy their lives when all things are going well. Thus, it is primarily in times of difficulty and stress when we remember to focus on the need ...
Views: 350 - The First Movement of Aspiration for the Divine - by Submitted on Dec 18, 2022 from santosh krinsky“Seek thou to know that from which these creatures are born, whereby being born they live and to which they go hence and enter again; for that is the Eternal.” Thus goes the teaching of Varuna to his son Bhrigu in the Taittiriya Upanishad (translation by Sri Aurobindo in The Upanishads, pg. ...
Views: 342 - Kindling and Increasing the Psychic Fire - by Submitted on Dec 17, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe flame of aspiration is the force that powers spiritual growth. Many people believe that the association of a fire or flame with the psychological stance is purely some kind of poetic device, without any underlying reality. Yet, human experience shows us that various modes of emotion, for ...
Views: 357 - The Need for Intense Aspiration for the Divine Realisation - by Submitted on Dec 16, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe time and effort needed to overcome the numerous impediments along the way for those seeking the Divine realisation implies that the seeker must have an intense inner drive to carry on through all difficulties and delays encountered. This inner drive is known as aspiration. It is called the ...
Views: 314 - The Nature and Power of Sincerity in the Practice of Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Dec 15, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhat exactly is the meaning of ‘sincerity’ in the context of the integral yoga, and what makes it so essential to the successful practice of this yoga? For most people, sincerity is a quality defined by adherence to a specific idea or belief and a direct translation of that belief into the ...
Views: 368 - The Soul’s Faith Is a Precursor to Attainment of the Truth of Existence - by Submitted on Dec 14, 2022 from santosh krinskyFaith is generally put in opposition to Knowledge, underlying the long-term dispute in the West between ‘religion’ and ‘science’. This debate has religion requiring belief in the tenets of the religion based on pure faith, and denying the validity of a science-based knowledge approach that may ...
Views: 419 - Four Instruments for Attaining the Perfection of the Practice of Yoga - by Submitted on Dec 13, 2022 from santosh krinskyPeople frequently seek for a very specific, directed form of practice which will provide liberation and spiritual perfection. They ask ‘what is the best form of practice’? Sri Aurobindo takes a much more flexible approach which is based on the need and development of the individual practitioner, ...
Views: 324 - The Beginning of Liberation from the Limitations of the Mental Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 12, 2022 from santosh krinskyAs long as the mental consciousness remains insulated within its own range of awareness, it believes it has a power of knowledge and action that can be made practically infallible. Even when its shortcomings are made patently obvious, it believes that an improvement in its processes, or the ...
Views: 329 - Overcoming the Static, Self-Satisfied Rigidity of the Mental Consciousness Is a Precondition to Development of a New Mode of Being - by Submitted on Dec 11, 2022 from santosh krinskyAs long as we are blinded by the light of the mental consciousness, we fail to recognise the greater consciousness and power of the spiritual consciousness. We look upon human existence as static. The stories and myths held by large numbers of people in the world place the human being at the top ...
Views: 318 - Signs of Entering the Spiritual Path - by Submitted on Dec 10, 2022 from santosh krinskyMost children focus on their need for food, emotional comfort and play, which is a means of gaining knowledge and power of action for them. As they move into later stages of life, they can get fixated on attaining good grades in school, making friends, hobbies and sports. As they reach puberty, ...
Views: 420 - What Is the Purpose? Why Am I Alive? Is There a Meaning to Life? - by Submitted on Dec 09, 2022 from santosh krinskyModern day civilisation suffers from an epidemic of ’emptiness’, a feeling that life has no meaning or purpose. This leads to various coping mechanisms such as dissipation through use of drugs or alcohol, or through consumption of mindless entertainment. For those who do not choose these ...
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