Finding and holding the right balance between the inner life and the outer action is one of the constant difficulties facing the seeker. In the ordinary human life, focus on the outer world and its demands takes precedence and there is little or no emphasis on an inner life. During this phase, ... Views: 531
Devotion is not something measured externally by how an individual sings, dances, prays or manifests various signs such as ‘speaking in tongues’, although any one of these activities may indeed be expressions of a deep inner devotion. The measure of devotion is one that reflects the internal ... Views: 352
When a particular power of consciousness is intended to participate in the evolution in the external world, it utilizes the physical body as the foundation or anchor of its action. This fixes its action in the world, while at the same time, imposes limits on the power due to the watering-down ... Views: 284
There is in Nature, a conservative force that resists change. There is a benefit inasmuch as it ensures that life does not devolve into chaos, and there is a further benefit that it forces the change-process to become much more solid and effective in order to eventually bring out the intended ... Views: 285
The general definition of sincerity as understood in society is the quality of unifying one’s intention with one’s words or actions. This definition is a good starting point for understanding sincerity in the yogic sense. The major difference between the two is the level of inward review and ... Views: 456
Sri Aurobindo frequently describes going inward to discover the deepest inner being, the psychic being, or soul, as one way to come into contact with the truth of one’s existence and unify one’s being with the Divine. This is a way to overcome the artificial wall of separation that we set up ... Views: 292
It is quite natural for human beings to extrapolate the nature of the universe and the meaning of existence from the limited set of facts and information that we perceive and organize in our normal mental-logical process. Yet there is so much that falls outside the scope of these perceptions and ... Views: 582
The vital mind is the dominant process for most people in the world today who live an external life and work toward some form of fulfillment, success, progress or development in their lives and in their relations to family, friends, community and their society. Very few, comparatively, are those ... Views: 458
Most 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
Human beings are not all at the same stage of evolutionary development. We can see this clearly when we observe the different interests, ways of responding and directions that people take as they grow and begin to participate in the life of the society and the world at large. We see some people ... Views: 73
Beyond the stage of “flight or fight” we see in panic and the eventual recoil into inertia, where we see the initial reactions of instinct at play, the stage of ‘striving’ begins to harness energy of response by the vital being, albeit still very much under the influence and control of the power ... Views: 38
At some point in life, the individual becomes aware that the former methods of reacting to circumstances and events are not only counter-productive, but actually harmful to their own health and well-being and the successful resolution of the situation. Struggling and striving, fighting and ... Views: 38
Both panic and inertia are responses to situations that arise in the life of individuals. They come about when something new or unexpected comes forward to challenge the individual. In the case of panic, there is clearly a perception of danger, and the rising of fear in the being. This drives ... Views: 46
Few are those individuals who were conceived through a consecrated and conscious act of prayer and dedication by the parents. Those individuals are blessed with the opportunity to live a life of dedication and devotion.
Most people, however, are conceived without much thought or consideration ... Views: 255
Western 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
The transcription of inner events and experiences into our mental framework will generally utilize symbols, images and personalities which fit into our background, education, and experience, so as to build a link and acceptance through use of familiar images. We frequently find recounted the ... Views: 565
We tend to identify with the perceptions, sensations, desires, feelings and thoughts we experience and through the ego-consciousness, we take ownership of them and believe that they are what makes up our unique individuality. When we sit quietly, and turn our attention away from the outer world, ... Views: 508
There are times when we feel a total lack of inspiration and energy. Dullness pervades, there is no initiative or interest in anything. These times come in the ordinary day to day life, but they are covered up with distractions, entertainment, intoxication, and vital forms of enjoyment. The ... Views: 459
When we consider the way we take in and expend energy in our lives, we start by looking at food as the source of energy. Food represents the conversion of solar energy into biological energy through the medium of photosynthesis and (for those who eat animal foods), the conversion of the plant ... Views: 419
A spiritual seeker identifies with his aspiration and the focus and actions that come about as a result of that aspiration. It may be acts of prayer, acts of giving, acts of consecration, acts of meditation, or dedicated works. During the moments that he is engaged in these acts, he feels like ... Views: 321
There are many functions of our existence that take place without the conscious awareness or intervention of the mind. All of the complex functions of the body and its organs, for instance, are very much independent of control by our conscious mind and will, although some of these functions may, ... Views: 179
Many people hold that the truth of existence is an “either/or” proposition. If the universal forces create all of existence, then the individual is essentially an illusory conception; and on the other hand, if the individual is a real and separate entity, then the universal is somehow denied or ... Views: 186
Each individual has his own unique types and levels of receptivity, and these too can vary over time. The universal forces are constantly there, but if an individual is closed off, unresponsive, then he does not gain the full benefit of that force. The ancient description of the energy centres ... Views: 169
As long as an individual is locked within a framework of understanding, he is unable to truly recognise or exceed the limits of that framework. The ego-consciousness is such a frame of awareness. It creates the sense of a separate individual, apart and having his own autonomy in ... Views: 321
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
We find that our state of physical health clearly impacts our minds. In cases of severe pain, the mind may actually be fixated on the pain signals and be unable, for that period of time, to focus on virtually anything else. But the connection is more subtle than simply reacting to acute pain. We ... Views: 71
Most people are confused about what meditation is. One of the causes of this confusion is the variety of forms of meditation that are recommended and practiced by various traditions. Some forms of meditation require strenuous efforts and considerable time to bear fruit. The Mother provides ... Views: 388
The question arises as to what exactly the science of jyotish, Indian astrology, is able to calculate and incorporate. Looking at the line of karma, the antecedents, direction and trajectory of energy in a particular stream, it can help to determine the life-path and major challenges facing an ... Views: 292
As we take up the next chapter in the Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo cites, in the headnotes, some revealing passages from the Rig Veda and the Upanishads to indicate the 7 types of Ignorance that needs to be overcome, and to point out the 7 forms of Knowledge required to achieve realisation. Before ... Views: 369
When we are fixed in the external consciousness and perceive things with the external senses, we treat material objects as ‘solid’. We do not see that they are actually energy that has been condensed to appear solid to us, while in fact, they are a form of energy. Western scientists, however, ... Views: 151
‘The law of the jungle.’ ‘Dog eat dog’. ‘Survival of the fittest.’ ‘Darwinian evolution.’ These ideas illustrate the way we understand life on earth, and its requirements for survival and success in worldly life. When Jesus proclaimed ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’, he expressed an idea that ... Views: 412
Through ambition or impatience, the spiritual seeker may try to rush the spiritual progress, and in many cases, this is attempted through various forms of overt or sublimated violence. The overt forms include various extreme penances or even self-punishment, while the sublimated forms may ... Views: 421
For those who are anchored in their outer external awareness of the world and of themselves, there is no understanding or acceptance of the reality of inner occult states of awareness. Thus, they deny the reality of the inner experiences, until perhaps they happen to have a near death ... Views: 357
For those who have the power of visualisation and who are ready and willing to concentrate in this way, there can be tremendous progress in developing the relation to the psychic being. The mind transcribes the energetic relationships of the various parts of the being into different rooms and ... Views: 355
We scour the galaxy for signs of intelligent life elsewhere. The reality is that unless an extra-terrestrial race has found a way to circumvent the constant of the speed of light, through some method of ‘folding’ space or creating “wormholes” that truncate the distance to be travelled, setting ... Views: 153
According to sages and rishis who have investigated the issue deeply, the earth, the material manifested world we live in, is the place where evolution of consciousness takes place, and thus, where the psychic being develops to carry the progress in this evolution at the individual level through ... Views: 194
Vital beings, by their very nature, take advantage of our ambitions, desires, greed, and fears to convince us to interact with them, and they then use these responses for their own enjoyment or nourishment. The more we are motivated by these vital drives, the easier it is for such beings to toy ... Views: 153
In The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo explores the boundaries of the Ignorance and a framework for attaining knowledge. He describes at some length, the ‘circumconscient’ influence on what we believe are our own internal actions and reactions. We view ourselves through the ego-consciousness and ... Views: 409
We generally do not question the movements of the vital nature in our ordinary daily life. They are so much a part of what we consider to be human nature and human experience that we simply accept them and treat them as inevitable. It is true that human society has developed a framework within ... Views: 260
Individuals become famous as great philanthropists. Some pledge their wealth to a great cause, such as solving the climate crisis, others undertake to build hospitals or feed large numbers of people. These individuals are looked up to and used as examples of selfless individuals. Yet, a deeper ... Views: 227
Every individual has all the long-established vital movements embedded deep in the nature. When the force of the yoga begins to open up the various energy centers, particularly the vital centers, these movements are stirred and use the opportunity to capitalize on the new energy and try to ... Views: 378
We are able to perceive and respond to specific frequency ranges. Anything above, or below the frequency ranges to which we are attuned, does not register with us consciously, although there may be some subtle impact and energetic action that takes place, even so. We see that in the case of the ... Views: 171
During daytime, we see the sun, the atmosphere and the world around us, and our thoughts and activities, for the most part, are focused on the life of the world. At night, we see the vast ranges of space and the myriad of stars, and can thereby recognise that our world is a small part of a much ... Views: 448
When we are feeling weak or limited, we become unhappy, we react with frustration and are discontented with our lot. We feel in many cases oppressed by circumstances. We can become depressed if things are not going the way we expect or want them to go. We can become angry with ourselves, with ... Views: 3
The question is frequently raised as to whether Westerners, with a background and culture grounded in materialism, the fulfillment of the vital ambitions and desires, and the development of the mental faculties, can truly enter into the spirit of yoga and obtain the fruits of the yogic practice ... Views: 472
When a Westerner takes up a serious yogic practice, they frequently hear that they must be Hindu souls born into Western bodies. They are then viewed as somehow anomalous to the cast of mind, vital force and emotions that tend to develop through life-long exposure to Western culture, educational ... Views: 455
If we look at the qualities required for bringing about the emergence of the psychic being, the development of a devotional attitude, and support for the idea of focusing on the Eternal through subordination or even abandonment of the relations of the outer life, it is clear that India has ... Views: 380
All human beings, regardless of whether they are born in the West, the East, or elsewhere, find the challenges of taking up yoga to be daunting and requiring of them unstinting efforts to understand the obstacles, and identify and implement ways to overcome them. With its long history of support ... Views: 388
The objective of the integral yoga is to support the evolutionary process of the development and integration of the next stage of consciousness, beyond the mental consciousness. This step is necessary to overcome the limitations of the current mental framework which have helped create the ... Views: 445
In 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