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Articles from santosh krinsky | Selfgrowth.com
- What’s the Use of Seeking to Have Spiritual Experiences? - by Submitted on Apr 02, 2023 from santosh krinskyPutting aside the ‘allurement factor’ of having some kind of special, unusual, extraordinary type of experience, which is clearly a way to feed the ego-personality, we come to the actual benefits of such experiences. There are cases where an individual is leading a perfectly ordinary life in the ...
Views: 321 - The Formation of Human Nature and the Character of the Individual and the Basis of the Resistance to Change - by Submitted on Mar 14, 2023 from santosh krinskyA yogic practice focus on transformation of human nature must necessarily address issues differently than one that has ‘liberation’ as its sole goal. This brings in the need for an understanding of the human instrument, the various elements of the being, the development of those elements through ...
Views: 320 - What Are Spiritual Experiences? - by Submitted on Apr 08, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn our normal human lives, we live in an externally focused standpoint and we create a distinction between ‘objective reality’ and ‘subjective reality’. Because we are so dependent on the body-life-mind complex and its relation to the outer world, we tend to assign a greater truth and reality to ...
Views: 320 - A New Birth Into a Spiritual Life - by Submitted on May 21, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere is a considerable amount of talk about being “born again” in the modern-day Christian tradition. When we explore what is meant, it seems like it is a matter of accepting in one’s heart a certain belief set central to the denomination that espouses this idea. There does not seem to be any ...
Views: 319 - The Intense Opposition of Basic Human Nature to Any Attempt to Change or Grow into a New Status and the Need to Persevere - by Submitted on Mar 19, 2023 from santosh krinskyUntil an individual takes up the issue of inner growth and development, whether this is for spiritual progress, mental development, emotional growth, vital discipline or some kind of physical control, he tends to take very little notice of any inner conflict or struggle. He just acts ‘naturally’ ...
Views: 319 - Attaining Certainty About the Actuality of the Reversal of Consciousness - by Submitted on May 24, 2023 from santosh krinskySeekers wonder how they can be sure that the true shift of consciousness to the divine standpoint, or even a soul-centric standpoint has occurred. The status is so ‘real’ that it permits no doubt whatsoever. When one combines this sense of reality with the way in which one reacts totally ...
Views: 318 - 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 - The Connection to the Psychic Being Minimizes the Dangers of the Intermediate Zone - by Submitted on Apr 13, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe process of the yogic sadhana inevitably begins to shift the consciousness inward and upward, and exposes the seeker to powers, forces and energies that are not easily seen or understood from the standpoint of the external mind and life. Thus, there is what we may call a natural opening to ...
Views: 318 - A Primary Difference Between Traditional Understanding of Yoga and the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother - by Submitted on Jun 03, 2023 from santosh krinskyYoga has historically focused on liberation of the individual soul from the illusion of the outer world. The seeker is advised to see through the transitory nature of all external rewards, undertake practices that help him to discover his true self, and once that is done, live a life, free from ...
Views: 317 - Illumined Mind - by Submitted on Jun 15, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen we study the functioning of the mind, we see that the essential nature is one that can receive sense perceptions, analyze, organize and then subject the objects so developed to a process of reasoning using systematic application of rules of logic. We can also see a process of recall of ...
Views: 317 - The Reality of Worlds of Existence Other than the Physical World - by Submitted on Jul 04, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe have a strong bias in favor of accepting things that we can perceive with our physical senses, and we tend to disbelieve or discount anything that is not directly, physically available to our experience. Yet if we reflect on the totality of our life experience, it becomes clear that there are ...
Views: 316 - Environmental Consciousness — the Circumconscient - by Submitted on Jun 10, 2023 from santosh krinskyA feeling, an emotion, a thought arises within us. Do we ‘manufacture’ these, or are we the recipients of them from elsewhere? If we manufacture them, how exactly do we do that? Where does the basis for that thought or feeling come from? What causative factors are there for a specific feeling or ...
Views: 314 - The Limitations of the Reasoning Intelligence and the Need to Maintain It During the Spiritual Practice - by Submitted on Aug 05, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe mental knowledge we acquire is mostly a form of ignorance reaching out to try to acquire knowledge. In The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo describes the various forms of knowledge. With one exception, they are set up in the paradigm of subject, object and the process of knowing, and treats the ...
Views: 314 - 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 Shift from Ego-Personality to Divine Standpoint - by Submitted on May 19, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe generally tend to believe that if we focus intensely enough, if we undertake serious spiritual disciplines, we will achieve the goal of spiritual liberation or realisations that we may be seeking. There are no doubt many benefits from practicing spiritual disciplines, undertaking tapasya, and ...
Views: 314 - The Status of the Purusha in the Individual and in the Universal Manifestation - by Submitted on Jul 03, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe see pattens repeating from the macro-level to the micro-level. The study of fractals shows us that there are indeed certain patterns and relationships that repeat themselves in every smaller configurations as we drill down toward the micro-level. The macrocosm and the microcosm reflect the ...
Views: 314 - The Yogic Practitioner Experiences a Reversal of Consciousness Compared to Most of Humanity - by Submitted on May 14, 2023 from santosh krinskyIt is said that for the yogic practitioner, day and night are reversed when compared to the vast majority of human beings. This statement has many possible implications that can be explored. “Day” and “Night” are representative of opposite concepts, different ways of seeing and reacting to ...
Views: 314 - Understanding the Separate Aspects of Being That Make Up the Human Individual’s Personality - by Submitted on Jun 23, 2023 from santosh krinskyMost people look at what they consider to be their personality in a very simple and straightforward manner. The mixture of ideas, thought-process, emotional responses, vital reactions, desires and physical needs and cravings is simply ‘who they are’. When they conclude that something needs to ...
Views: 314 - Understanding the Various Aspects of Mental Activity - by Submitted on Jul 31, 2023 from santosh krinskyWestern medical researchers have invested a considerable amount of time and attention on gaining an understanding of the way the brain functions, mapping the regions of the brain responsible for various types of activities, and monitoring the function of neurotransmitter chemicals and nervous ...
Views: 314 - Heightening the Force of Consciousness is the Trend of Evolution - by Submitted on Apr 09, 2023 from santosh krinsky“All evolution is in essence a heightening of the force of consciousness in the manifest being so that it may be raised into the greater intensity of what is still unmanifest, from matter into life, from life into mind, from the mind into the spirit. It is this that must be the method of our ...
Views: 313 - The Awakened Psychic Being Attracts What It Needs for Its Growth and Development - by Submitted on May 12, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere has been a lot of publicity about what is called generally the “law of attraction”. This holds that an individual can focus on something and thereby cause it to be attracted to him. People have used it to try to attract wealth, romance, and other things they desire to themselves. There is, ...
Views: 313 - The Supramental Evolution Represents the Fulfillment of Life, Not the Abandonment of Life - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2023 from santosh krinskyFor much of human history, spirituality has been looked upon as a contradiction of an active life in the world. The anchorite in the desert, the renunciate, the Sannyasin, the monk or nun in the cloister are held up to us as the examples of dedication to spiritual growth and purpose. All of ...
Views: 313 - The Two Most Powerful Levers to Enter Into Contact with the Divine in One’s Psychic Being - by Submitted on May 04, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen an individual begins to recognise the existence of his soul, and seeks for a way to come into contact with it, and begin to thereby understand the purpose and significance of his life in the larger creation, the first question that comes to mind is ‘how do I do that?’ This leads to a ...
Views: 313 - Complex Interaction of the Gunas Can Bring About Opposite Responses from an Individual Under Various Circumstances - by Submitted on Apr 28, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs we take our standpoint primarily in the external nature, we are clearly subject to the action of the three Gunas, or ‘qualities’ of Nature. These qualities do not remain constant and are ever-changing, and they then determine the type of reaction and action an individual has in any particular ...
Views: 312 - Habitual Responses and the Process of Auto-Suggestion Arising from the Action of the Subconscious Level - by Submitted on Mar 30, 2024 from santosh krinskyThere is a complex interaction between the external mind-life-body complex and the subconscious level of our existence. As we experience various things in our lives, including illness, accidents or various circumstances, our mind tries to build a pattern of recognition and develops a memory. ...
Views: 312 - The Play of the Gunas and the Difficulty of Effecting True Change in Human Nature - by Submitted on Mar 20, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe do not generally recognise that it is virtually impossible to hold one thought, one idea, one form of concentration, one energetic status for long periods of time. As time goes on, the balance of the Gunas changes and we lose the intensity, shift our focus to something else, and we find that ...
Views: 312 - The Essential Process of Ascent and Integration of Spiritual Progress - by Submitted on Apr 24, 2023 from santosh krinskyBy putting emphasis on ‘headline’ spiritual experiences and attempting to hold onto them or repeat them, the seeker is potentially losing sight of the larger process that is taking place to effect the transformation of the nature. All progress represents what may be called a ‘vertical ascent’ to ...
Views: 311 - The Jivatman, the Soul and the Evolutionary Process Through Birth and Death - by Submitted on Sep 19, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe soul makes choices along the way and in so doing, it builds up the psychic being as it grows, evolves and passes through a series of births and deaths of the physical existence. The Jivatman represents the Divine Consciousness presiding over each individual formation within the manifestation ...
Views: 311 - The Source and Nature of the Mental Substance - by Submitted on Aug 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyHow does Mind evolve out of Matter? Some scientists will tell you that through random chance, chemicals and electrical forces and heat led to the development of beings capable of reflecting, thinking and contemplating deep thoughts, exploring the nature of life and the universe, etc. They do not ...
Views: 311 - The Spiritual Call Comes… Then What Needs to Happen Next - by Submitted on Nov 30, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe have a vision. We get inspired. We have a near death experience. We come back from the spiritual experience and we are sure it is meant to change our lives, as we suddenly have a whole new vista open up before us, a realm of truth, beauty, harmony, light. Then we come back into our normal ...
Views: 311 - How to Recognise the Awakened Soul - by Submitted on Aug 07, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asks how the ‘liberated soul’ can be recognised. How does he walk? How does he talk? What distinguishing characteristics can we find that identify such a person? Sri Krishna responds that there are not external signs, but only the inner standpoint of the individual ...
Views: 310 - So-Called ‘Spiritual’ Experiences and True Spiritual Development - by Submitted on Apr 04, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe tend to associate experiences of various unusual powers as either evidence of high mental development or perhaps spiritual development. Most of what gets mooted about, however, may be seen as experiences of entering into various occult vital planes and bringing back the experience from those ...
Views: 310 - The Nature and Action of the Overmind Gradation of Consciousness - by Submitted on Sep 12, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the Kena Upanishad, the various gods Agni, Vayu and Indra each are confronted by the Supreme and asked to use their utmost power to destroy what was presented before them. They each failed as their power was insufficient to meet the force of the Supreme. Indra eventually discovered that there ...
Views: 310 - The Nature of the Reversal of Consciousness Cannot Be Fully Grasped by the Ordinary Human Externalized Consciousness - by Submitted on May 18, 2023 from santosh krinskyIf we reflect for a moment that a being who does not have a highly developed abstract mental capacity, perhaps a fish or a honeybee, or even a cat or dog, is unable to truly appreciate and understand the functioning of the higher reasoning and logical capabilities that human beings consider to ...
Views: 310 - The Growth of the Soul - by Submitted on May 11, 2023 from santosh krinskyIt is the normal process of Nature that each being, each individual experiences life, interacts with his environment and with other individuals and forms thereby his physical being, his vital being and his mental being through these interactions. What is not easily recognised, due to the unseen ...
Views: 309 - The Subconscient Is the Repository of Habits and Atavistic Behaviour That Must Be Cleared During the Yogic Process - by Submitted on Apr 02, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe bring into this life many propensities as well as genetic tendencies, which are compounded and accentuated by early learning that takes place in the family and in the society. Prenatal influences as well as learning that takes place after the birth process and in the very early childhood ...
Views: 309 - Understanding the Consciousness of the Body - by Submitted on Jul 13, 2023 from santosh krinskyIf we reflect on how many actions or operations of the physical body take place without our mental intervention, it becomes clear that the body has its own highly developed, and essential, form of consciousness that operates independently of the mind. One common example is widely experienced. An ...
Views: 309 - Work That Aids the Aspiration and Work That Dulls the Aspiration of the Seeker - by Submitted on Mar 02, 2023 from santosh krinskyIt is a constant complaint that we have to take on boring, distasteful, mechanical or otherwise unpleasant jobs in order to survive. Then we create a bifurcation in our minds between “work time” and “personal time” or “sadhana” (if we happen to be practicing any form of yoga). We thus spend a ...
Views: 309 - The Maturation of the Soul Across Lifetimes in Fulfillment of Its Evolutionary Role - by Submitted on May 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe Maturation of the Soul Across Lifetimes in Fulfillment of Its Evolutionary Role Posted on May 2, 2023 There is a considerable amount of time, amounting to innumerable lifetimes, when the spark of the soul, the psychic being, is subordinated, hidden, virtually unseen and unheard in the ...
Views: 308 - The Nature and Role of the Soul - by Submitted on Sep 21, 2023 from santosh krinskyMuch of the confusion about the nature and action of the soul, the psychic being in man, is due to the loose and varied way the terms are thrown around in everyday parlance. We have ‘soul food’ and ‘soul mates’. We treat the soul as the seat of morality. At the same time, soul is used to ...
Views: 308 - The Subliminal, the Subconscient, the Superconscient and the Circumconscient Forces That Impact Our Responses to Life - by Submitted on Mar 22, 2024 from santosh krinskyOur surface awareness is basically the ‘tip of the iceberg’. Most of what takes place in our being occurs outside of the range of our active external perception of the senses and mental awareness. Even the interactions with the external reality we experience represent only a small fraction of ...
Views: 307 - Is the Mental Consciousness an Aid or an Obstacle for the Spiritual Seeker? - by Submitted on Aug 03, 2023 from santosh krinskyEvery level of consciousness is limited by the frame within which it operates, as well as by the mechanism of its action within that frame. In its own field of action, with its own native operation, the mind can be a powerful tool and aid to the individual. Yet, when it tries to assert for ...
Views: 306 - The Divine Grace By Any Other Name… - by Submitted on Mar 12, 2023 from santosh krinskyIt is human nature to want to categorize and pigeon-hole what happens and make developments fit into definitions of our choosing. This same thing occurs when we look at openings of the spiritual nature and the development of or transformation of consciousness. Not only do we want to define and ...
Views: 306 - The Spiritual Experience Gets Watered-Down or Lost As It is Transcribed into the Mental Framework - by Submitted on Apr 21, 2023 from santosh krinskyHuman beings are essentially dependent on their mental perception in order to function in the world. This mental perception frames what we see, how we experience it, and our interpretation. We thus try to transcribe anything provided to us by our senses (or provided directly to the mind without ...
Views: 306 - The Experience of Samadhi - by Submitted on Apr 19, 2023 from santosh krinskyIt is impossible for the mental consciousness to imagine what the state of Samadhi actually is. If we try to sit for meditation, we find all kinds of perceptions, feelings, nervous impulses, random thoughts and emotions flitting across our minds. We can observe an almost endless stream of inner ...
Views: 305 - The Role and Importance of the Ego - by Submitted on Oct 12, 2023 from santosh krinskyIf we view the development of the ego through the lens of the evolution of consciousness, we can see the importance that this evolutionary step plays. The process of individuation opens up the potentiality of new, complex interactions, creative development and faster evolutionary change. The ...
Views: 305 - The Science of Living - by Submitted on Oct 20, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe wisdom seekers of past ages essentially set forth one overriding dictum “Know Thyself”. Simple enough! We then, however, begin to understand the difficulties involved. Sri Ramana Maharshi poignantly asks us to inquire ‘who am I”? Who, indeed…. For those who live primarily in the external ...
Views: 305 - Becoming Conscious of the Multiple Sheaths or Planes of Our Being - by Submitted on Jul 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the Taittiriya Upanishad, the seeker discovers, through intensive tapasya that there are multiple layers, or sheaths, of consciousness that make up the human being. His seeking first discovers the material body, or ‘food sheath’. As he continues he recognises the vital body, or ‘prana ...
Views: 304 - The Limits of Mental, Vital and Physical Efforts to Change Human Nature and the Need for a Shift of Consciousness to a New Evolutionary Principle - by Submitted on May 16, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn his epic poem Savitri: a Legend and a Symbol, Sri Aurobindo writes: “Heavy unchanged weighs still the imperfect world; The splendid youth of Time has passed and failed; Heavy and long are the years our labour counts, And still the seals are firm upon man’s soul And weary is the ancient ...
Views: 304 - The Complex Make-Up of the Human Personalities - by Submitted on Apr 29, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe tend to look on ourselves as being of a specific nature and having a specific personality. We see main lines of understanding, of reaction, and of action and look upon these as ‘who we are’. If we take a closer look, however, we soon begin to see that we are not as simple and homogeneous as ...
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