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Articles from santosh krinsky | Selfgrowth.com
- How to Prepare Oneself for the Practice of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Oct 25, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we find human beings innocent and acting out of their natural instincts, predilections, and their basic intelligence as human beings. They have no social setting or training to which they need to conform. They are essentially ignorant ...
Views: 203 - Interaction Between the Individual and His Social Relationships - by Submitted on Oct 24, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere is a subtle interaction that takes place in any social setting. Even an individual who is awake and conscious of his own thought and expression may, and frequently is, subtle impacted and influenced by the physical, vital and mental forces with which he is in contact. When an individual ...
Views: 153 - Individuation Is Not Isolation from External Influences - by Submitted on Oct 23, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen we reflect on the individuation process for which the ego-consciousness is the instrument of Nature, we oftentimes go to the extreme of believing that we are totally separate, independent and free of outside influence. We believe that our individuality is a wall of separation that keeps us ...
Views: 158 - Individuation Is Not Isolation from External Influences - by Submitted on Oct 23, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen we reflect on the individuation process for which the ego-consciousness is the instrument of Nature, we oftentimes go to the extreme of believing that we are totally separate, independent and free of outside influence. We believe that our individuality is a wall of separation that keeps us ...
Views: 162 - To Be In a State of Attentive Observation - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2023 from santosh krinskySome years ago, a visitor residing temporarily at Sri Aurobindo Ashram in India attempted an experiment. He determined to undertake a period of ‘social’ silence, while remaining active in the community and undertaking various work assigned to him. The rules he set for himself included utilizing ...
Views: 170 - The Exploration of Inner Space - by Submitted on Oct 21, 2023 from santosh krinskyHumanity has developed a method for exploration of the world around us, and in recent times, the exploration has expanded to include exploration under the vast oceans, exploration of the solar system and further reaches of outer space. Attention has now turned to the internal foundations of life ...
Views: 155 - 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: 194 - The Difficulties of Changing Human Nature and the Need for Patience and Perseverance - by Submitted on Oct 19, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen a seeker awakens to the deformations of the body-life-mind complex, the distorted feelings, the misdirected emotions, the incomplete and misguided thoughts, the entire complex focused on and rooted in the idea of the aggrandisement of the ego-personality at the expense of everything else, ...
Views: 155 - The Time Needed for the Transition of the Ego-Consciousness to Become a Conscious Instrument of the Divine - by Submitted on Oct 18, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen the seeker becomes aware of the need for consecration and the aspiration awakens within him, he can become very impatient with the obstacles put up by the ego as it works to maintain and enhance its position. After all, the ego has developed over long periods of time as a stage toward ...
Views: 269 - The Challenges of Merging the Ego into the Divine - by Submitted on Oct 17, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere are several ways to approach the question of consecration of one’s being and life to the Divine. As the Mother makes clear, the need to be an individualised being that can actually have something to offer to the Divine is both paramount, and requires substantial effort to both understand ...
Views: 161 - The Mental Process and Developing Independence of Thought - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe may believe that we create our own thoughts and ideas, but a close examination makes it clear that streams of thoughts, ideas, mental energies are constantly bombarding us, both overtly through what we read, what we hear, what we see and what we experience, and covertly through the subtle ...
Views: 153 - The Role and Benefit of the Physical Body - by Submitted on Oct 15, 2023 from santosh krinskySpiritual aspirants frequently complain about the obstructions provided by the physical body. There is a need to eat, a need to sleep, the constant pressure of physical existence, the wear and tear of the aging process, the potential for illness or injury, and the eventual breakdown and ...
Views: 163 - Precondition for Offering the Ego into the Divine Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 14, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen we think about dissolving the ego and offering ourselves to the Divine, we do not often consider the details involved and the difficulties attendant on that process. What is it we are offering? How are we accomplishing that offering? What does the offering look like in terms of its ...
Views: 146 - is there a solution to the Israel/Palestine Problem? - by Submitted on Oct 13, 2023 from santosh krinskyis there a solution to the Israel/Palestine Problem? There is so much history and so much hatred built up. Acts of overt terrorism, including attacks on civilian targets, women, children, etc. are not justifable. The Israelis righfully point out that they have a right to defend themselves, ...
Views: 218 - 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: 198 - To Become Conscious of the Source of Our Thoughts, Feelings, and Actions - by Submitted on Oct 11, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs we are primarily based in our ego-consciousness, we tend to accept that ideas we have, feelings we have, emotions we express, needs and desires we seek after, are all what make up ourselves, our personality, our persistent individuality. We identify with a specific religion, political ...
Views: 175 - The Ego Was the Helper, the Ego is the Bar - by Submitted on Oct 10, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe spiritual seeker invariably hears, repeated constantly, the requirement to overcome the ego and find his true Self. The Self is one with the Divine and shares the divine consciousness, knowledge and impetus to action. The ego, which anchors the sense of a separate and distinct individuality, ...
Views: 175 - The Surface Vital, Mental and Physical Being and the True Vital, Mental and Physical Being - by Submitted on Oct 09, 2023 from santosh krinskyA frequently mentioned method in the practice of the integral yoga is the separation of the Witness Consciousness from the Nature (Purusha and Prakriti). This separation allows the seeker to recognise the surface consciousness, the play of body, life and mind based in the ego-sense as separate ...
Views: 185 - Confusion About the Reality of the Atman and the Ego - by Submitted on Oct 08, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe frequently allow our mental process and the limitations of language to create confusion within ourselves. The mind’s primary capacities involve fragmentation and classification; thus, we identify different aspects, parts, beings, roles, events and treat them as separate and distinct from one ...
Views: 198 - Confusion About the Reality of the Atman and the Ego - by Submitted on Oct 08, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe frequently allow our mental process and the limitations of language to create confusion within ourselves. The mind’s primary capacities involve fragmentation and classification; thus, we identify different aspects, parts, beings, roles, events and treat them as separate and distinct from one ...
Views: 177 - The Ego Experience and the Experience of the Jivatman - by Submitted on Oct 07, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen we observe the standpoint we inhabit closely, we find that we tend to identify ourselves as a distinct ‘person’ or ‘personality’ with specific traits, habits, relationships and viewpoints about ‘who we are’ and ‘what we do’. This is the ego-personality and we tend to try to associate ...
Views: 158 - The Realisation of the Self and the Realisation of the Psychic Being and the Individual Ego-Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 06, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe generally live, most of the time, within a framework of the ego-consciousness. We look at and experience our lives from this standpoint, and it places limitations on our understanding and our response to circumstances. Those who are called to yoga and spiritual development practices in ...
Views: 163 - Transformation of Human Nature Requires the Action of the Psychic Being Connected to the Higher Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 05, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe external life and its conditions tend to fixate the attention for most people to such a degree, that they are overwhelmed by the needs of the body, the impositions of the life-energy and the force of desire, and the focus and attention of the mind. Just trying to keep up with all the ...
Views: 186 - When the Psychic Being Comes Forward to Direct the External Nature - by Submitted on Oct 04, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere is a considerable difference in effective results from the psychic being having an influence, essentially from ‘behind’ the surface nature, on the actions of the life in the external world, and what Sri Aurobindo and the Mother designate as the psychic being ‘coming forward’. Until the ...
Views: 170 - Time Perspective on Achieving Spiritual Realisations and Change of Human Nature - by Submitted on Oct 03, 2023 from santosh krinskyLife is so short! When one wants to accomplish something extraordinary or difficult, it takes considerable time and focus. If we reflect however, that the first 16 years or more are formative years and are focused on physical growth, development of vital powers of action, and cultivating the ...
Views: 162 - The Purpose and Significance of Life Becomes Clear as the Individual Contacts the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Oct 02, 2023 from santosh krinskyMost people do not understand why it is they are alive, what it is they are here to do in the world. Many simply think that ‘eat, drink and be merry’ is the sum of their purpose; in other words, they do not recognise a life purpose or mission in that sense, and just want to find a way to enjoy ...
Views: 164 - The Supramental Consciousness Is Key To Transcending the Limitations of Mind, Life and Matter - by Submitted on Oct 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe mental, vital and physical levels of consciousness are fundamentally limited by their basis in division and fragmentation. They see and categorize their understanding in a way that emphasizes the separateness of the forces at work and the consequences. This makes it impossible to understand ...
Views: 202 - The Psychic Being and the Evolutionary Principle in Earthly Life - by Submitted on Oct 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere are certain beings that occupy specific positions in the hierarchy of consciousness, who inhabit specific planes with a specific define role in the creation. These are essentially ‘static’ beings as they do not ‘evolve’. It is commonly held that, on the contrary, the evolutionary principle ...
Views: 189 - The Individual Soul and the Divine - by Submitted on Sep 30, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe remain so fixated on the external surface being, that we fail to recognise the divinity within us. Just as we go through our daily lives in the light of the day and do not attend to our world’s connection to the vast galaxies and universe of which our world is a part, so also we do not ...
Views: 161 - Distinguishing Vital Movements from the Expression of the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Sep 29, 2023 from santosh krinskyIt is not easy for most people to distinguish vital responses such as feelings or emotions from the true expression of the psychic being within them. This is primarily due to the fact that just about everyone bases themselves in the external surface being. We see this confusion when people see ...
Views: 183 - The Influence of the Soul on the External Nature or the Direct Relationship with the Soul in the Deepest Inner Being - by Submitted on Sep 28, 2023 from santosh krinskyIt is common for an individual to take some kind of illumination of the mind, or some strong positive emotion in the heart, for instance, as a sign of their contact with the soul. Yet in many, if not most, cases the contact is with a mental or vital movement tinged with the influence of the ...
Views: 173 - Shifting from Focus on the Desire-Soul to the True Soul - by Submitted on Sep 27, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs human beings live primarily in the external consciousness on the surface of the being, their experience of existence is centred around and focused on the body, life-force and mind. They do not generally see nor recognise the true soul deep behind the surface, and they see the coming and going ...
Views: 177 - The Action of the Psychic Being Independent of and in Relation to the External Being - by Submitted on Sep 26, 2023 from santosh krinskyEach level of consciousness acts on its own native level independent of any single individual person or embodiment. There is a subtle physical plane, a vital plane, a mental plane, and various spiritual planes beyond that characterize and represent further levels of the evolution of ...
Views: 169 - The Soul and the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Sep 25, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe soul is a portion of the Divine specifically detailed to each individual being that is created as part of the universal manifestation. The soul develops the inmost being, the psychic being, through lifetimes of experience. This psychic being grows, matures and transitions through birth and ...
Views: 181 - The Soul Provides the Continuity of Consciousness from Life to Life - by Submitted on Sep 24, 2023 from santosh krinskyWithin a particular lifetime we experience a sense of continuity of being, which we normally attribute to the ego-personality. The sense of ego helps us identify with the body, life and mind we currently inhabit and utilize. This ego-sense is held together by the force of memory and by an ...
Views: 192 - The Soul, the Evolution of Consciousness Through Time and the Soul’s Development from Life to Life - by Submitted on Sep 23, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe questions of what happens to us after we die, whether we are reborn, and if so, in what form or manner have occupied human beings from time immemorial. What is the purpose of life and what are we, as conscious individuals, supposed to do with the life we are living? The Tibetan Book of ...
Views: 174 - The True Soul and the Desire Soul - by Submitted on Sep 22, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe confusion about the soul is pervasive at virtually every level of our being. Sri Aurobindo identifies what he calls the ‘desire soul’ which is a formation of the vital being, living on the surface of the consciousness and seeking gratification of desires for the external being. The amalgam ...
Views: 193 - 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: 207 - The Nature and Action of the Psychic Being and the Inner Mental, Inner Vital and Inner Physical Beings - by Submitted on Sep 20, 2023 from santosh krinskyConfusion about the spiritual being and the psychic being is not the only source of misunderstanding about the source of inspirations, feelings, and thoughts that arise as the individual shifts away from exclusive focus on the surface external being and begins to gain experience of the inner ...
Views: 187 - 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: 210 - The Soul, the Psychic Being and the Evolution of Consciousness - by Submitted on Sep 18, 2023 from santosh krinskyMost people live their lives centered around the ego-personality and the external life. Their focus and actions are based in the needs, desires and gratifications that are put up by the body, the vital life-energy and the mind. They do not have a conscious relationship with the soul or the most ...
Views: 180 - The Soul and the Jivatman - by Submitted on Sep 17, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs the seeker proceeds in the path of yoga, it is important that he not misinterpret or misunderstand what he experiences or what the source of the experience may be. Most people confuse the terms Self, Spirit, and soul so that they really cannot appreciate the difference aspects or ...
Views: 200 - The Inner Subliminal Self - by Submitted on Sep 16, 2023 from santosh krinskyHaving now referred to the Subliminal Self in our discussion of the creation of dreams, it is necessary to describe this part of our being more thoroughly, and Sri Aurobindo takes up the question. He points out that the subliminal self is not a creation out of the inconscience, but actually it ...
Views: 211 - Accessing the Inner Subliminal Consciousness - by Submitted on Sep 16, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe Upanishads describe 4 states of consciousness, the waking, the dream, the sleep and the state beyond these 3. Sri Aurobindo points out that these are meant to symbolically represent the state of awareness in the outer world (waking), the state of awareness in the subliminal world (dream), ...
Views: 231 - The Self of the Physical, the Vital, the Mental and the Jivatman - by Submitted on Sep 16, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe Taittiriya Upanishad describes a series of planes or sheathes that are ever more subtle, with the outermost sheath being the physical being, and then the vital sheath and the mental sheath, which makes up our ordinary human existence. Each of these sheaths are connected to a plane of ...
Views: 190 - The Self: Transcendent, Universal and Individual - by Submitted on Sep 15, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn order to distinguish standpoint and nexus of attention, we refer to the Divine Being as either Transcendent, i.e. exceeding the entire manifested universe and containing both the manifest and unmanifest aspects; Universal, i.e. the consciousness that maintains awareness of the universal ...
Views: 192 - The Self, the Spirit, the Soul, the Terrestrial Evolution and the Supreme Divine Being - by Submitted on Sep 14, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs an individual begins to consciously try to understand the yogic path and connect with his soul and discover his true self, and then find and consciously participate in the spiritual purpose of the divine manifestation, he is confronted with a number of different terms and elements that need ...
Views: 177 - The Evolutionary Process of the Manifestation of the Supramental Consciousness - by Submitted on Sep 13, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe gradations of consciousness beyond the human level represent levels of awareness and power that far exceed anything that we can appreciate from the purely human mental level. In the Taittiriya Upanishad, there is a “calculus” of gradations of bliss. “Let there be a young man, excellent and ...
Views: 180 - 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: 198 - The Nature and Action of the Intuitive Mind - by Submitted on Sep 11, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen we generally consider the idea of intuition, we look at some ‘gut feeling’ we may have, or some quick certainty we have about a certain situation and call that ‘intuition’. If we examine the common notions of intuition carefully, we find that in some cases they are embedded responses to ...
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