One of the greatest difficulties we face in trying to understand the operation of hidden or occult forces in life is the limitations on our ability to perceive and to know what is actually taking place. Each aspect of our being has its own way of “knowing”. For our lives in the external world we ... Views: 207
Isaac Newton identified various forces that operate in the physical external world around us. His work was followed up by numerous others and codified into laws of physical substance. The force of gravity is one such force that impacts the movement and attraction of physical objects. Other ... Views: 201
Chance, coincidence, free will, astrological influences, fate, destiny, karma, chain of causality, predestination, determinism, correlation, causality, foreknowledge, past life influences, fortune telling, divination, omens, predestination, oracles, Divine Plan — these terms all come up when we ... Views: 219
Many people believe that realisation comes from reading specific texts, or practicing specific techniques of posture, breathing, prayer, mantra etc. The Mother provides a counterpoint to this belief by showing how the practice should take up all the actions and movements of life and transform ... Views: 190
When the astronauts left the planet and were able to look back at Earth from outside, it radically changed their viewpoint. It represented a visceral shock that forced them to see things in an entirely new way from a new perspective.
Analogously, when the shift of standpoint occurs for the ... Views: 243
Our educational systems focus on training of the body, the life-force and the mind, essentially fixating the individual on the life in the external world and his role in that world. He is trained on social expectations and customs, and the use of the tools of mind, life and body in the pursuit ... Views: 211
We have the tendency to get caught up in trying to capture a line of thought or to verbalize a perception or idea. When we have an experience of the spiritual realms, the first thing we want to do is to create a thought-form to explain it, to organise it, and to be able to describe it. The very ... Views: 201
As long as we recognise the body-life-mind complex and identify with it through the development of and focus on a specific ego-standpoint, we are able to function in the world, and carry out the basics of existence. Yet, as we easily can appreciate, we do not know the meaning or purpose of our ... Views: 199
A common conception about immortality is that this personality, this individuality that we identify with, will somehow survive intact, maintain its existence and continuity of existence and thus, have a continuous line of memory stretching endlessly into the future. This is not, however, a ... Views: 223
For most people, the trauma associated with the death of the body and the corresponding dissolution of the vital and mental being that formed within the life of that individual, means that there is no realistic way for any memory of past lives to remain intact and carry forward. The psychic ... Views: 234
Spiritual traditions around the world agree that it is on earth, in the physical body, that progress takes place. They treat the soul’s time in the body as the time for growth, for development, for maturation. When the soul leaves the body at the time of death, it goes through a transition that ... Views: 230
For most individuals, the process of birth, death and rebirth is essentially automatic and out of their conscious control. With the death of the body, the vital being and then the mental being eventually lose their integrity and dissolve as well. The psychic being, with its increasing store of ... Views: 201
We grow and develop our physical body and its capabilities. We may undertake various training regimens and refine the body’s ability to perceive, and to respond. Yet the body dies and that training is left behind with the dissolution of the body. We can see an effect within the larger framework ... Views: 215
There are quite a few anecdotes and statements by individuals about remembering past lives, and there is an entire field of study dealing with what is called ‘past life regression therapy’. Some of the more intriguing incidents involve young people who can describe a village in some distant ... Views: 212
The human lifetime is extremely short in the context of Nature’s evolutionary development. This leads us to several possible explanations or conclusions. We can posit that life is just random chance and there is no real significance or meaning to our lives, or the fact that we have developed ... Views: 194
As we are basically fixated on the physical world within which we reside, we tend to look at the development of forms and the relationship of form to function on the physical level. Scientists such as Darwin studied the evolution of species. Mendel looked at the genetic factors that have later ... Views: 221
Sri Aurobindo describes in The Synthesis of Yoga, the long, slow process of evolution that occurs in nature, long before human beings become conscious of this process. He indicates that through the conscious participation of the spiritual aspirant, this process can be made conscious and speeded ... Views: 229
The earth is the locus of the evolutionary principle. It is said that when the gods themselves want to grow and evolve, they must consent to take birth on the earth. It is therefore important to understand that the beings who take birth on the earth-plane are, for the most part, taking part in ... Views: 215
Enthusiasm and gratitude. They represent the powers of aspiration and receptivity in the being, along with the impulse to surrender of the ego and widen to embrace the Divine. For those interested in the transformation of life in the world, it is not sufficient to simply have a direct connection ... Views: 194
The Rishis of the Rig Veda focused, first and foremost, on kindling the mystic fire as the key to the reception and utilization of higher powers of consciousness. The altar for this flame is in the secret heart of the being, deep within, behind the physical organ, where the psychic being is ... Views: 204
First, we must remember that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother relate the term ‘psychic’ to the soul, the aspect of the individual that maintains a direct connection with the Divine. The soul is an organising principle within the earth-consciousness and, while it maintains a connection to the Divine, ... Views: 236
It is first necessary to distinguish pleasure from joy. Pleasure may arise from the most insignificant, external factors, a sense impression, a lucky or fortuitous turn of events, or some passing vital response to a circumstance. Pleasure is a response of the surface being to something which has ... Views: 221
Once we acknowledge the ability of the vital desire nature to influence and manipulate the mind in its judgment process, biasing the interpretation and understanding of the motives behind the actions, it is incumbent on those who aspire to spiritual growth to find a way to root out this inherent ... Views: 204
Another type of deception may either be conscious fraud, or may be another instance of the process of self-deception manifesting also as deception in relation to others. If the individual is purposely trying to take advantage of people, and knows that to be the case, it is an instance of ... Views: 199
Self-deception can take the form of a judgmental attitude regarding the thoughts, feelings or actions of others. Particularly if an individual has worked to try to eliminate certain things within himself, he has a very close relationship to those things, he can feel the vibration and a lot of ... Views: 228
The habit of self-deception is so deeply ingrained, and so automatic, that we tend not to see or recognise it when it is occurring. And it occurs constantly throughout each day. How can we overcome this habit of self-deception? This is where a yogic discipline, an effort in the practice, becomes ... Views: 235
What we frequently fail to recognise is that much of the vital interaction and mental self-justification that supports it takes place more or less without active intervention or reflection by the mind. A vital desire or concern is prodded and the mind instantly jumps to self-justification ... Views: 233
We tend to have a more or less hidden bias in favor of our own view or position in various matters, which carries out at each level of the ego-standpoint, individual, family, community, religion, country, etc. as it expands its scope. We tend to see things from our unique viewpoint and not take ... Views: 232
When we are interested in something we naturally focus on that to the exclusion of other distractions. Time passes and we do not notice it. Things that would ordinarily engage our attention are disregarded. This power of ‘one pointed’ concentration is however elusive when it arises just out of ... Views: 243
Whatever experience an individual has in life, there come moments when he determines that he needs to exercise his will-power. it may be related to overcoming habits of laziness or procrastination, or overcoming a form of addiction, undertaking a diet to manage his weight, restraining the ... Views: 216
Once we distinguish the lower forms of spontaneity that stem from the vital nature and its instincts and desires, from the higher form of spontaneity that is linked to unification of the being with the higher spiritual purpose, the question arises as to how the individual can develop this higher ... Views: 213
There is an ‘innocence’ of the instinctive vital nature. It acts according to its impulses, habits, instincts, without interference of any mental considerations, whether termed self-dealing, planning, calculation, conscience or ethical and moral constraints. The famous example is that the tiger ... Views: 217
There are two types of spontaneity and each of them proceeds from a different cause and has a vastly different effect. Spontaneity is generally understood in the context of responding ‘naturally’ to situations without a lot of thinking, planning or detailed consideration of one’s actions or ... Views: 236
When most people think about ‘sincerity’, they focus on the truth of the speech aligning with the actions of the individual. They expect this alignment to manifest itself in actuality. Expressions of good will or condolence, for instance, are sincere if they align with the true feelings of the ... Views: 219
As we have noted, there are some who believe that intuition is simply a very fast reasoning process that moves directly to a determination. This is clearly not intuition as the Mother explains below. It is a separate mental process that still follows the laws of the mental plane in its ... Views: 292
We tend to treat intuition as something amorphous and difficult to define. We want to somehow fit it into the framework of a mental process, possibly one that is very fast, but nevertheless works through the logical steps to arrive from a set of facts to a decision. At the same time, we try to ... Views: 294
Possibly it is a result of our relatively short span of life during which we are active and capable of conscious observation, insight and action. The period of childhood is mostly involved with development of the body, the vital force and the mind to the point where they can become functional ... Views: 205
The voice of reason, the urging of desire, the warning of what we call the conscience, all of these are aspects of the inner dialogue that takes place within the individual as he determines his direction and his response to life situations. None of these are, however, the voice of the soul. How ... Views: 238
In a chapter titled ‘Knowledge by Identity and Separative Knowledge’ in The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo describes true knowledge as coming through identity, where the knower and the object of knowledge are one and unified. This occurs through the direct relation of the soul with the Divine in a ... Views: 230
Large numbers of individuals have reported the experience of being conscious outside of their physical body. This frequently happens within the context of a near death experience. The individual reports his awareness up above looking down on the body, or outside observing what is taking ... Views: 221
Philosophers, scientists and religious leaders argue about the existence of the soul. Some say the soul does not exist. Some scientists have tried to conduct measurements by weighing the person immediately before and after death to determine if any difference in weight, representing the soul, ... Views: 261
Most people are rooted in the vital consciousness, and thus respond to the vibrations that occur within the vital realm. Unless they have contact with their soul or at least clear influence by the psychic being on the external parts of the being, they are virtually unable to recognise the action ... Views: 206
Every aspect of life, and every plane of existence vibrates at its own unique frequency. As an individual develops, he can begin to resonate with and respond to the vibrations of various levels of existence. This also gives him the ability to feel and recognise the similar vibration when it is ... Views: 206
There is considerable confusion about the role of the ego and the nature of actions one undertakes. Many believe that charitable actions, altruistic or philanthropic actions by definition are unselfish acts and evidence the elimination of ego from the action. This, however, is not accurate. The ... Views: 236
One of the reasons that a seeker is advised to have the assistance of an experienced guide, or guru, in the spiritual path, is that it is easy to be confused about the real meaning of what is written in the texts. For instance, when we hear about the concept of ‘conscious sleep’ or we see Arjuna ... Views: 249
When we happen to identify ourselves with certain parts of the being, such as those parts that are conscious, or which are aware of the divine Presence, we generally fail to recognise that this is not the entirety of our being, nor that other parts of the being, with different types of needs, ... Views: 194
In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna poses the question of how to identify the spiritual man, the superior individual. Sri Krishna makes it clear that this is not determined by outer signs, but by the inner state of the individual. The Mother takes up this question in a slightly different form and ... Views: 216
The vital nature craves excitement. It also craves recognition and acknowledgement, in the form of vanity, aggrandisement of the ego, and seeking for fame. The vital nature is also quite impatient and wants to see results right away. When the vital nature enters into the spiritual realm, it ... Views: 211
For the seekers who wish to depart the creation through unification with the Supreme, the body is often considered to be an obstacle, something that needs a certain amount of begrudging attention in order to allow the meditation to take place uninterruptedly. These seekers prefer to give as ... Views: 209
Many spiritual seekers in today’s world dismiss the need to develop the mind and its inherent powers. The mind is seen as the obstacle to the attainment of the greater knowledge that accompanies spiritual development. This understanding is rooted in the larger belief that spiritual growth ... Views: 195