The importance of the development of a habit of quietude and reflection cannot be over-emphasized. The preliminary purifications of Patanjali’s yoga works to create this kind of foundational support to avoid imbalances and dangers that can arise when the seeker experiences openings to forces ... Views: 177
When an individual turns his attention to the spiritual path, he may experience along the way certain doubts as to his suitability, his capacity, and his ability to attain the truth described by those who have experience along the path and who describe various steps and stages. The way is long ... Views: 196
We like to have certainty, safety, and fixed map that provides us directions, steps, milestone markers and which will lead us to the goal of our seeking. Spiritual development, however, is not quite the same as an automobile or train trip from one city to another. The complex nexus that is ... Views: 184
In order to evolve, a power or principle must be first involved. When we say that life evolved out of inanimate Matter, we have to reflect, “how is this possible?” When we examine Matter at the sub-atomic level, we see an incredible power of consciousness at work with very precise and ... Views: 439
Nature takes a long time to effectuate substantive evolutionary progress in manifesting higher, more complex and more powerful forms of consciousness. The shift from the realm of Matter took countless millennia. The first appearance of Life was simple and, again, the time required was far beyond ... Views: 214
We observe an outer fact of existence, but we do not see the motive force behind it, nor the intention behind the motive force. Thus, Darwin identified an evolution of species, and researchers have identified families of species, development of specific characteristics within those families and ... Views: 293
There are many ideas about rebirth, how it works, and the relationship of suffering to an individual’s life and, through operation of karma, potential future lifetimes. Much of this is based on an underlying implicit assumption that the self-awareness that an individual holds in this lifetime ... Views: 335
There is a long tradition in the West that does not accept evolution in any form as an acceptable explanation for life on earth. This view is set forth in the creation story in Genesis where God created each form and being of its own kind and created human beings to act as stewards of the ... Views: 446
Evolutionary changes take place in what we may call “evolutionary time”, which measures major changes over millennia, certainly far beyond the span of any individual human lifetime. Thus, when we look at any attempt to modify human nature, not to speak of physical characteristics that are ... Views: 256
There remains considerable confusion about the role of will-power in the development of the spiritual life of the individual. On the one side, the seeker is asked to not give in to the force of vital desire, and the will is often confused with desire. Thus, the idea of acting without desire is ... Views: 247
When we experience something in the physical body, it is a sensation that carries a nervous impulse to the brain, which interprets whether it is cold or hot, dry or wet, painful or pleasurable, etc. Similarly, vital reactions and emotions are experienced through the release of various hormones ... Views: 315
While a spiritual experience is a subjective event, we can reference the accumulated reports from around the world and throughout human history to provide an accurate picture of the types of experiences and the reality of the experience. Sometimes these experiences come after undertaking various ... Views: 415
When we are rooted in the body consciousness, we experience intensely the reactions of the physical body to circumstances and events. We may experience a feeling of pleasure, or pain, and as the intensity of that experience captures our focus, we are generally unable to pay attention to vital ... Views: 26
There is a complete reversal of consciousness that occurs when the inner being opens and the awareness shifts inward. It may be experienced as a separation of an observer watching all the actions and events in the outer world, including the thoughts, feelings, perceptions and outer stimuli that ... Views: 472
The Vedic Rishis sought the Truth, the Right, the Vast. (satyam, rtam, brihat). They understood that the awareness limited to the ego-personality, the individual body-life-mind complex, was incomplete and could not comprehend the truth or meaning of existence. They sought to identify with the ... Views: 227
While a segment of humanity does not accept the idea of rebirth, choosing instead to either suggest that this one lifetime is the entire frame and limit of an individual’s existence, or else, that after death they will be resurrected to go before a seat of judgment and either be assigned to ... Views: 170
Dreams have kept researchers awake for the entire history of mankind. Where do dreams come from? Of what substance are they made? What significance do they have? The ancient Greek culture had oracles who interpreted dreams. The Old Testament of the Bible recounts the rise of Joseph in the land ... Views: 325
When we read Sri Aurobindo’s aphorism noted below, we tend to focus on the second part of the equation, the “bar” to achieving the higher result. There is an implication thereby that we have already achieved the first part and that we are thus ready to proceed to the next phase or stage of inner ... Views: 192
Swami Vivekananda, in his lectures on Raja Yoga, describes what we may call the “mind stuff”, citta, which tends to be always disturbed as impressions, perceptions, thoughts, feelings, emotions create ripples, as a breeze will create ripples on the surface of a lake. He goes on to describe the ... Views: 386
Practitioners of mainstream religions are very familiar with ritual worship. Much of the activity of religion is scripted around a set formula of external worship that has developed from perhaps an initial experience or, over time, as a result of habitual action. The intended purpose of this ... Views: 299
Many people are abandoning formalized religions while saying that the external rituals are simply missing any inner spirit or force, that they are simply empty and do not get to the heart of the matter. There is a keen insight here that is useful for those who wish to practice the yoga of ... Views: 178
As the spiritual seeker develops the internal witness awareness, viewing the actions and reactions of the various parts of the being, it is frequently noted that the closeness of the view leads the aspirant to become overly critical of one’s own flaws, weaknesses, habits etc. This same type of ... Views: 349
In 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: 224
At some point in their spiritual quest, seekers are generally confronted with the question of ‘fasting’. Some paths recommend fasting as a method to lighten the heaviness of the ‘earth consciousness’ and make the being more receptive to higher vibrational energies. Some point out that fasting ... Views: 273
Fear arises in the lower vital, in some instances, as a direct vital response to an energy that threatens health and safety of the individual; in other words, it is part of the survival instinct. But it also arises through social acculturation, such as in issues of stage fright, or through ... Views: 288
In The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo describes the sevenhold ignorance which limits the human being. We live in a world about which we know very little, and we lack a complete understanding of the significance of our lives, the meaning of existence, or the processes of Time. As a result, we act as ... Views: 290
If the drive towards progress is fueled by dissatisfaction and anxiety felt by the individual, we are left with the concern that achieving peace must come at the cost of giving up the active life and the development of consciousness in the world. We either have to sink back to the level of the ... Views: 242
Practitioners of the integral yoga are confronted daily with the task of balancing between the individual effort required, and the call to surrender to the divine force that actually is undertaking the changes in the nature that are required. We all start with the ego-consciousness and all of ... Views: 326
Patanjali’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: 212
The transformation of the individual is not something that occurs magically overnight. Even if someone is awakened out of their habitual routines by some extraordinary experience, such as a sudden spiritual opening, or even a near death experience, the ongoing effort is still required to bring ... Views: 433
In 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: 176
Consider 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: 188
We very easily fall into the mistaken idea that the path we follow is the best way to approach the Divine or achieve spiritual realisation and that other paths are either less effective or do not provide the complete liberation from the ego-personality. We also tend to accept the idea that ... Views: 204
It is a somewhat difficult concept for most people to accept: that each individual has his own spiritual path and realisation before him, and that it is therefore neither appropriate nor fruitful to spend time trying to either criticise or convert others to one’s own path or view, or to attempt ... Views: 230
The study of human history is one of externalities generally. We memorize dates of important events and try to lay the responsibility for certain subsequent actions at the door of those events. To hear historians tell it, the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand was the trigger that set off ... Views: 24
Sri Aurobindo considers yoga to be, in a certain sense, applied psychology. The review and understanding of one’s own actions and deeper motives and motivations is essential if one is going to overcome the limitations and habits of the lower nature and eventually receive and manifest new ways of ... Views: 301
People 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: 192
Many people suppose that it is impossible to avoid suffering, as it is an inherent aspect of life on earth. Their strategies for dealing with suffering may vary, but they all believe that suffering is inevitable.
When we consider, therefore, the idea of avoiding suffering, we are either met ... Views: 254
There is a third factor that intervenes in the debate about free will and determinism and that is ‘random chance’. In that concept, there is basically no plan, no framework and no way to manage or control events, which thus can occur through random occurrences with no predetermined end. Both the ... Views: 24
Human relationships are subject to eventual disappointment in almost all cases. Friendship and affection are generally based in the ego and its gratification and at some point, the needs and goals of the individuals may diverge, they may be separated due to distance, illness or death, or there ... Views: 295
As we experience relationships in the world, whether family, friend or significant others, we begin to appreciate how complex, demanding and ‘messy’ they are. To cultivate and support relationships takes time, effort and understanding. When we don’t agree 100% with someone, we find that even ... Views: 423
Sri Aurobindo cites the Vedic Rishi of Mandala X, Canto 129, verses 1-5 at the beginning of Chapter 25 of The Life Divine, titled The Knot of Matter: “Then existence was not nor non-existence, the mid-world was not nor the Ether nor what is beyond. What covered all? where was it? in whose ... Views: 67
It is one thing to gain an intellectual understanding of the concept of the subliminal consciousness. However, this does not provide a real experience of nor true knowledge about the action, influence and impact of the subliminal consciousness on our lives. The question then arises, whether and ... Views: 95
Western psychology is in its infancy as a science. It is, as is all mental knowledge, a form of ignorance, seeking and grasping for knowledge, while not actually able to see the entire picture nor understand the complexity of all the elements that go into human psychology. Thus, Freud gained a ... Views: 95
The mechanical mind encompasses some of the most basic, most rudimentary activities of the mind. It lies below the faculties of higher logical reasoning, and forms a foundation for the most simple and automatic mental processes. It is like the core computer language upon which all kinds of ... Views: 115
Many people, over the years, have told me that reading Sri Aurobindo’s writings is difficult due to the complexity and wideness of the concepts he presents. I have heard, or experienced, similar issues reading Kant, Leibnitz, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Joyce and others. For those engaged in technical ... Views: 210
An important step in the practice of yoga is to attain true detachment from the surface nature through the shifting of the standpoint from the surface to the ‘witness consciousness’, the Purusha. The separation of Purusha from Prakriti, the active nature, is needed in order to effectuate change ... Views: 237
One of the issues that every spiritual seeker eventually faces is what to do about the vital nature. The vital being is an essential element of life on earth. Normally however it is distracted with its needs and desires, the seeking for pleasure and enjoyment, the avoidance of pain and ... Views: 252
In 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: 190
Genetic engineering. It is everywhere in our lives, whether we recognise it or not. The question arises as to how humanity responds to it, and what, if anything, we can do about it. In the past, genetics was involved with attempts at selective breeding. Over multiple generations certain ... Views: 498