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Consciousness and Awareness Articles
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- Understanding the Cycles and Phases of Spiritual Development - by Submitted on Nov 14, 2022 from santosh krinskySeveral days ago a seeker raised a question, rephrased here: “I read Sri Aurobindo’s writings regularly and for a time they stay active within me, but then, it falls away and I feel blank inside. Am I losing the benefit of Sri Aurobindo’s teaching, and if so, how can I ensure that it stays ...
Views: 392 - Understanding the Defense Mechanism of Projection - by Submitted on Apr 12, 2022 from santosh krinskyDue to what we may call ‘observational bias’ we tend to attribute intention and motive to others that we ourselves have internally and project our internal response onto the other party, without knowing exactly what the cause of their action may be from their standpoint. Some of this is due to ...
Views: 455 - Understanding the Defense Mechanism of Rationalization - by Submitted on Apr 11, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe can clearly see the influence of the vital on the mind when we understand the lengths to which the mind will go to justify satisfaction of the needs, desires or actions of the vital nature. The defense mechanism of ‘rationalization’ is a clear example. We understand, intellectually, that ...
Views: 479 - Understanding the Difference Between Psychic and Spiritual - by Submitted on Jun 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyEvery language has its limitations, particularly surrounding areas of development that were not central to the people who developed and utilized that language. This makes it difficult to translate concepts that are self-evident in one language easily or effectively into another language. This ...
Views: 470 - Understanding the Differences Between the Vital Desire Soul and the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Mar 05, 2025 from santosh krinskyWe can observe, in our own lives and in the lives of various individuals we see on the ‘world stage’, the difference between those who are driven primarily by the impulses of the external vital nature and the ego-personality, and those who have made contact with the inner being and has developed ...
Views: 44 - Understanding the Existence of and Interaction With the Higher Ranges of Consciousness Above the Mind - by Submitted on Sep 08, 2023 from santosh krinskyJust as all energy operates along a spectrum of vibration from shorter wavelength to longer wavelength, and this spectrum can be perceived within certain limited ranges based on the capacity of our sense instruments (or tools we develop to extend our range of perception), so also consciousness ...
Views: 260 - Understanding the External Medium of Communication and the Inner Force Within the Communication - by Submitted on Mar 14, 2024 from santosh krinskyThere are hidden forces, vibrational patterns that move between people that remain unseen, but have their effect, similar to the way that we do not observe electricity, but we do observe its effects. These vibrational patterns operate without any overt, external medium, simply through ...
Views: 185 - Understanding the Higher Guidance That Directs Our Actions Towards Our Spiritual Destiny - by Submitted on Mar 15, 2025 from santosh krinskyWhen we rely on our surface impressions, which are very much based on and influenced by our background, family, society and the values inculcated into us by those relationships, we only are able to truly understand a fraction of what is actually occurring, and generally this is conditioned by ...
Views: 32 - Understanding the Higher Guidance That Directs Our Actions Towards Our Spiritual Destiny - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2025 from santosh krinskyWhen we rely on our surface impressions, which are very much based on and influenced by our background, family, society and the values inculcated into us by those relationships, we only are able to truly understand a fraction of what is actually occurring, and generally this is conditioned by ...
Views: 39 - Understanding the Inner Being - by Submitted on Jul 30, 2021 from santosh krinskyAs long as we remain on the surface of our being, and rely entirely on the physical senses and the nervous system of the vital being and the mental processes focused on these outer sensations, actions and phenomena, the inner depths of our being remain hidden from us, occult, and not quite ...
Views: 494 - Understanding the Issues of Mastery Over Vibrations Inwardly and in the External World - by Submitted on Nov 24, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe try to control or dominate other people generally through various methods. It is customary in many cultures to subject children to strict discipline and education so that they do things the way the parents or educators like, or they get subjected to some kind of punishment, whether it be ...
Views: 118 - Understanding the Larger Being of Man and the Process of Transformation of the Subconscious - by Submitted on Nov 16, 2021 from santosh krinskyWestern psychoanalysis focused on a specific segment of the overall human psychological makeup, an area that deals with vestigial instincts and suppressed desires and urges. Obviously any opening and examination of this aspect is fraught with both concerns and dangers for the individual seeking ...
Views: 450 - Understanding the Limitations of the Mechanical Mind - by Submitted on Jun 11, 2022 from santosh krinskyAt a very basic, rudimentary level, less developed in the evolutionary scale than the physical mind, lies what is termed the ‘mechanical mind’. This level relies heavily on programmed repetition. It is programmed to have a simple instruction set, to repeat continuously whatever ‘sets off’ its ...
Views: 453 - Understanding the Limitations of the Physical Mind - by Submitted on Jun 10, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe are used to superimposing our higher intellectual control on the physical mind and its operations. The physical mind still acts, but we generally limit its application through this process. At the same time, however, we do not consciously pay attention to its action or the impact of that ...
Views: 458 - Understanding the Limiting Frames of Our Existence and the Process for Breaking Free of the Bonds of those Frames - by Submitted on Dec 07, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs long as we live within a certain frame of understanding, we cannot truly understand who or what we are, or why we do what we do, as we are bound by the limitations of that frame. Thus, as we are born in a particular culture, or a particular society, or a particular religious persuasion, or ...
Views: 225 - Understanding the Meaning of Vital Formations and Beings That Arise During Meditation - by Submitted on Apr 28, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhen people take up the practice of meditation, they generally do not know much about it. They follow a set of guidelines on ‘how to meditate’ and just let things happen. The result is very much dependent, then, on their state of conscious awareness, and their focus of attention. Meditation is ...
Views: 216 - Understanding the Mechanism of the External Nature and the Way to Overcome Its Limitations - by Submitted on Jun 25, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs the seeker attempts to follow a spiritual path, he frequently finds that he struggles with old habits, desires, feelings, cravings, emotions and ideas. He believes these are part of ‘who he is’ and he thus cannot find a way to overcome them, In some cases, he is deeply attached to some of ...
Views: 266 - Understanding the Moods of the Vital Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 25, 2021 from santosh krinskyWhen we are busy fulfilling our desires or ambitions, we notice that the vital energy is generally plentiful and positive, we forget about fatigue and want to carry on with exuberance. This is the normal status of the vital energy carrying out its habitual functions in human life and society. ...
Views: 435 - Understanding the Multiple Personalities Within the Being - by Submitted on Nov 20, 2023 from santosh krinskyWestern psychologists have identified extreme cases of what they call ‘multiple personality disorder’. This is when an individual has divergent personalities that take over the frontal being and manifest themselves in different ways, in most cases suppressing the others to such a degree that the ...
Views: 258 - Understanding the Nature and Role of Spiritual Experiences in the Yogic Process - by Submitted on May 09, 2021 from santosh krinskyWe bring to the spiritual quest all kinds of mental ideas, emotional expectations and preconceived notions about what is supposed to happen, how it is supposed to happen and what it signifies. All of these things, however, are based in the mind-life-body complex and act as limiting factors in ...
Views: 465 - Understanding the Nature of Fear and Its Effects on the Being - by Submitted on Jun 27, 2022 from santosh krinskyWherever we focus attention, we create a direct relationship with the object of that attention. It may be through aspiration towards a higher consciousness, devotion to an ideal or through love for a revered guide or teacher; or it may be through the reaction of fear about some person, event or ...
Views: 612 - Understanding the Need and Limitations for Rules and Guidelines in Social Interactions and Activity in the World - by Submitted on Jun 07, 2021 from santosh krinskyFinding 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: 537 - Understanding the Operating System of the Human Mind - by Submitted on Apr 01, 2012 from Sheela MasandI made up my mind last month that I was going to live more simply, stop complicating my life and making it so hard. I had an insight that showed me just how much I was complicating things for myself. Well, you know how the best laid plans don't always work out......... that's what happened to ...
Views: 1414 - Understanding the Path of Devotion, Bhakti Yoga - by Submitted on Mar 10, 2023 from santosh krinskyDevotion 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: 360 - Understanding the Physical Body in its Gross and Subtle Aspects - by Submitted on Jul 07, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen 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: 293 - Understanding the Physical Mind and the Process of Change - by Submitted on Aug 11, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere 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: 292 - Understanding the Quality of Sincerity in the Practice of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on May 10, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe 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: 463 - Understanding the Relationship of Various Parts and Planes of the Being to Our Current External Mental, Vital and Physical Consciousness - by Submitted on Jun 07, 2023 from santosh krinskySri 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: 302 - Understanding the Role and Nature of the Gods in the Universal Creation - by Submitted on Apr 08, 2021 from santosh krinskyIt 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: 593 - Understanding the Role, Nature and Action of the Vital Mind - by Submitted on Oct 18, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe 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: 467 - 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: 321 - Understanding the Stage of Development of the Vital Man - by Submitted on Jan 01, 2025 from santosh krinskyHuman 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: 81 - Understanding the Stage of Striving and the Role of Instincts in Response to External Events - by Submitted on Feb 19, 2025 from santosh krinskyBeyond 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: 50 - Understanding the Stages of Coping and Mastery in Response to External Events - by Submitted on Feb 20, 2025 from santosh krinskyAt 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: 48 - Understanding the Stages of Panic and Inertia That Arise When Facing Difficulties and Obstacles in Life - by Submitted on Feb 18, 2025 from santosh krinskyBoth 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: 57 - Understanding the Transmission of Our Vital Inheritance - by Submitted on Nov 28, 2023 from santosh krinskyFew 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: 267 - 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: 323 - Understanding the Various Causes of Visions of Deities, Saints and Sages - by Submitted on Aug 23, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe 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: 573 - Understanding the Witness Consciousness — the Separation of Purusha and Prakriti - by Submitted on Jul 27, 2021 from santosh krinskyWe 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: 518 - Understanding Violence - by Submitted on Feb 25, 2024 from William CottringerUnderstanding Violence By William Cottringer, Ph.D. "Violence in an uncontrollable animal, which usually ends up attacking its own master." ~Renny Yagosesky. There are two main problems standing in the way of understanding violence. One roadblock is that the violence trauma event ...
Views: 316 - Understanding Vital Dissatisfaction and Withdrawal of Energy - by Submitted on Oct 25, 2021 from santosh krinskyThere 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: 465 - Understanding Words, An End To Conflicts and Anger - by Submitted on Jul 19, 2010 from David SamuelWords are our main form of communication. Words have the greatest power to make us happy or sad, aggravated or elated. How can something that has no actual material reality have such a powerful effect over us emotionally and physically? Here is a very old thought that gives an idea of how we ...
Views: 2891 - Understanding Your Needs - by Submitted on Sep 02, 2015 from Maria Khalife“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” ~ Søren Kierkegaard Abraham Maslow pioneered the concept of a Hierarchy of Needs. The concept helps us to articulate the most important areas of our life where we can concentrate in order to be healthy and satisfied, ...
Views: 1029 - Understanding, Utilizing and Balancing One’s Vital Energy Reserves - by Submitted on May 19, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen 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: 428 - Unifying the Entire Being Around the Aspiration for the Divine - by Submitted on Jun 27, 2023 from santosh krinskyA 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: 330 - Universal Forces and the Subconscient - by Submitted on May 10, 2024 from santosh krinskyThere 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: 188 - Universal Forces, the Aura and the Individual Consciousness - by Submitted on May 09, 2024 from santosh krinskyMany 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: 194 - Universal Forces, the Chakra Energy Centers, and the Utilization of the Forces - by Submitted on May 27, 2024 from santosh krinskyEach 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: 177 - Universal Laws-Understanding How They Affect Your Life - by Submitted on Feb 28, 2013 from Dr. Carolyn PorterThere are laws that govern the universe and consequently affect your life every single day. Take for instance the Law of Gravity. This law allows you the ability to walk firmly on the ground and not float around aimlessly in space. You know this law because if you drop something it falls ...
Views: 1640 - Universal Minds - by Submitted on Jun 18, 2012 from karen mc dermottIt has become more widely recognized that ‘Our thoughts create things’. Those of us who open ourselves up to the possibility of being more than just one physical being in one lifetime, then we are becoming more of a universal thinker. It may seem out of this world initially but when you open ...
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