The Vedic Rishis described a change in conscious awareness as representing satyam, rtam, brihat, the truth, the right, the vast. It is difficult for most people living in the modern world to gain a conception of the vastness of existence. We may know intellectually that the universe is large, we ... Views: 212
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
When we are met with ideas or understanding propounded by others that we do not agree with we tend to create a mental barrier as a defense and then develop our mental arguments to contradict or overturn the proposed ideas. There is very little, if any, true understanding that comes out of such ... Views: 90
As the seeker begins to enter and experience the inner and higher realms of consciousness, he comes into contact with beings, forces, planes and worlds that transcribe experiences into his awareness, yet do not generally function under the same methods and laws that are operative in the normal ... Views: 576
Ideally we want some kind of a pill we can take, some kind of an instant solution, some magic formula that will instantly resolve some difficulty we face when a subconsicent formation has been triggered. We react without any advance warning when this occurs. it is also the source of many ... Views: 254
The Taittiriya Upanishad speaks of the unified field of the conscious universe: “The Spirit who is here in a man and the Spirit who is there in the Sun, it is one Spirit and there is no other.” [Taittiriya Upanishad, Brahmanandavalli, Chapter 8, translated by Sri Aurobindo in The ... Views: 90
We tend to be carried away by the external focus in the work we are doing, and thus, the presence of mind needed to remember and offer is set in the background of our awareness. If we reflect on the state of consciousness we experience when focused on some external work, we soon find that we can ... Views: 323
Much research has been done to monitor the various stages of sleep and to try to determine what is taking place during each stage. People have been experimenting with learning during sleep, and some people actively ‘program’ their minds before they go to sleep to solve certain problems they are ... Views: 496
A number of years ago, a crowd of anti-war protesters in Washington DC were gathered in front of a federal building and were suddenly confronted with a phalanx of heavily armed police wielding guns, batons and potentially tear gas cannisters, arriving with numerous paddy wagons, who surrounded ... Views: 614
As has been shown time and again when individuals have attempted to change the vital nature, the attempt is doomed to only partial success, if not ultimate failure, if the struggle is carried out under the conditions of the vital being. Almost any method, process, technique, control mechanism or ... Views: 438
In 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: 351
It is a virtually universal experience. One sits for meditation, trying to quiet the mind, and the thoughts keep surging and seem to have more intensity than before! Every sensation seems to provoke some activity in the mind, pent up issues or concerns take that time to come to the fore, ... Views: 445
We are trained to think and act from the viewpoint of the ego-personality. When we take up the practice of integral yoga, however, we understand that the standpoint of action must shift so that we can become true instruments of the higher action of the divine force which is working to transform ... Views: 470
In 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
How do we recognise the Divine manifesting through an individual human being? Arjuna poses a similar question in the Bhagavad Gita, when he asks how to recognise the enlightened man. How does he walk, how does he dress, what does he eat, how does he act? Sri Krishna reminds Arjuna that the ... Views: 460
One of the most frequent concerns raised by people generally is their inability to get a good night’s sleep. Insomnia, as well as restless sleep, seems to be a widespread concern. Among practitioners of yoga, the concern goes even farther, in that they desire to convert sleep into a luminous, ... Views: 499
Once we have recognised that we cannot rely on the mental being to truly review, analyse and control the vital desire-soul of the external being, and adopted the principle enunciated by the Mother to hold up each thought, feeling, emotion, action and motivation before a ‘screen’ of one’s highest ... Views: 401
There are no exemptions from the issues, obstacles and difficulties that attend the work of bringing forth a new evolutionary principle and thereby impacting, changing and vastly reorganizing the existing status quo of the mind-life-body complex in the world. The issues must be addressed. The ... Views: 708
Most people have very little idea about how to utilize will-power effectively, because they don’t fully understand what will-power actually is and how it needs to be focused and concentrated. Essentially will-power is the function that concentrates the ‘signal’ while reducing the ‘noise’ in a ... Views: 116
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
How do we understand the term ‘love’ in the context of spiritual sadhana? We bring to the term a large number of impressions, ideas, and conceptions based on our cultural background, educational upbringing and socialization in our society. We have no direct experience, for the most part, of ... Views: 503
There is a difference between action undertaken with the usual motives in the normal course of human life, and actions undertaken by the spiritual seeker attempting to achieve spiritual growth and realisation of the Divine. The outer form of action, in and of itself, does not make an action ... Views: 502
The play of the three Gunas is active at all times in the life we live here. We may believe that the aspiration, or an act of consecration overcomes this play, but if we examine closely we can see that, in actuality, even the quality of our sadhana, our spiritual effort, is very much controlled ... Views: 14
We tend to label actions and thereby don’t reflect on the implications of them. Thus, for most people, when we use the term ‘hypnosis’ we associate it with a hypnotist using some unique power to gain some control over another individual’s will and actions. Since its introduction in the West, ... Views: 72
We think and plan and harbor expectations as if we are the sole arbiter of what happens in our lives. We then judge the results from the standpoint of our ideal expectations and express either dismay or disappointment that what we hoped for has not come to pass. What we frequently fail to take ... Views: 26
The action of the three Gunas pervades and permeates all action including our response to obstacles, setbacks and concerns that arise during the practice of Yoga. When Tamas is predominant it sends out thoughts and ideas of weakness, failure and limitation. When Rajas is in the ascendent it ... Views: 462
The human being is composed of a number of different forces working along their own lines and attempting to find some kind of harmonious interaction between the parts of the being. There is the physical body, the vital being, the mental being, the psychic being and the spiritual planes beyond ... Views: 682
The body consciousness responds to suggestions whether they come through the mind, the vital or directly act upon the physical level, whether consciously noted or not. This has the potential to cause illness in the body if it happens to be a negative suggestion, or to cure illness if it is a ... Views: 258
There are historical examples of individuals who were caught in the middle of a major epidemic, such as the plague, who worked daily among the infected populace, yet failed to become ill. Invariably we can see that they maintained a strong vital envelope, or aura, around themselves and never ... Views: 176
When 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
Jules Verne, a writer who was not himself a scientist, nevertheless inspired generations of scientists. He did not invent the idea of the submarine, but in his book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, he worked out a number of conceptual issues so that submarine use could become widespread, ... Views: 136
Every great power that humanity discovers and wields in the world has both its negative and its positive side. It can either be utilized to destroy or to support, benefit and create. For example, humanity has harnessed the use of fire. Fire can burn down the house, or it can cook one’s food. ... Views: 140
Most people tend to respond to life circumstances and opportunities based on past experience, training, education and any guidelines or rules they have imbibed from their past, all combined with their basic outlook on their lives, their desires, their needs and their circumstances. We can say ... Views: 137
Many people profess to believe in the existence of God based on the teachings of their religion. Because the belief is based solely on a teaching, rather than actual experience that would support this belief, they may, in many cases, not take their faith in God seriously enough to actually abide ... Views: 195
With the rise of modern technology in the field of film-making, we find an immersive experience in movie theaters engulfs the viewer deeply in the action. This includes high resolution images, 3D technology, giant wide screens, comfortable seating and surround sound. The viewer of such films is ... Views: 88
The “fountain of youth”, the elixir of immortality, attaining eternal life… these are various ways the aspiration of humanity has found expression for the conquest of death. Some who take up the integral Yoga latch on to the eventual idea of the supramental transformation leading to immortality ... Views: 482
Through the use of logical reasoning the human mind can extrapolate along a straight line of development once a pattern is seen and understood. We can also combine things through the use of the faculty of imagination to spin a web of speculation about the future, building on what we already ... Views: 587
There is a verse in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad which illustrates the essential principle of an evolutionary cycle of the development and growth of consciousness, when it indicates a progression ‘from the darkness to the light, from light to greater light.” The Upanishad foresees that ... Views: 569
While at its root impatience has as a primary source the frustration associated with either lack of ability to fulfill a desire, or a delayed gratification of that desire, in the modern world, these root causes are accentuated and provoked through acculturation and the systemic operation of the ... Views: 431
Impatience is endemic to modern day society. We expect everything immediately. If it does not come, we exhibit frustration, annoyance, anger and a disturbed energy which impacts the the body, the life-energy, the nervous envelope and the mental state. Impatience, therefore, creates an energetic ... Views: 357
Our understanding of existence is very much rooted in our own anthropocentric view of things. We generally recognise the awareness we hold within ourselves, and, viewing other beings and forms in our visible environs, we either attribute to them no consciousness, or, at best, lower forms or ... Views: 198
If we observe the trajectory of human development, we can see a very clear direction taking shape. As we have become more conscious of the stages of life, and the processes that accompany those stages, including the increasing weakening and deterioration of the body and the life energy, and the ... Views: 164
If we observe the trajectory of human development, we can see a very clear direction taking shape. As we have become more conscious of the stages of life, and the processes that accompany those stages, including the increasing weakening and deterioration of the body and the life energy, and the ... Views: 180
As the evolutionary pressure begins to develop individuals who undergo the spiritual transformation we have been discussing, there is still the issue of how these individuals can impact the wider life of humanity. Isolated individuals surrounded by an untransformed mass of humanity and the ... Views: 215
As the evolutionary pressure begins to develop individuals who undergo the spiritual transformation we have been discussing, there is still the issue of how these individuals can impact the wider life of humanity. Isolated individuals surrounded by an untransformed mass of humanity and the ... Views: 212
Sri Aurobindo has indicated that the evolution of consciousness is carried out by the gradual and mostly unconscious action of the divine intention within Nature. At the stage of the human being, however, it becomes possible for the individual to “speed up” the slow action of Nature through ... Views: 218
When 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: 231
When 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: 239
The Mother illustrates the difficulty of transforming the vital nature. None of this is either fast or easy, given the complexity of human nature and, in particular, the vital being. There are also deeply entrenched habits of action and reaction and a general force of vital nature that lives in ... Views: 412
The law of inertia holds that it takes energy to move something that is stationary, and the more massive the object is, the more energy required to move it. A similar principle operates in human actions. We have our fixed habits, whether physical habits, instincts, trained responses, ... Views: 158