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- Obtaining a Clear Perception and Understanding of Life Purpose and Significance - by Submitted on Nov 25, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we examine closely our mental state when we undertake activities with which we are familiar, experienced and educated, we see that our minds are sharp, our perceptions are detailed and our understanding is precise. We find it easiest to achieve this status with external things, although some ...
Views: 509 - The Psychic Entity Knows the Purpose and Significance of Our Existence - by Submitted on Nov 24, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen we live primarily, or entirely, focused on our external life via the instruments of the body, life-force and mind, we cannot determine nor recognise the purpose and significance of our existence. We may speculate. We may hold opinions. We may adhere to some doctrine, such as a religious ...
Views: 443 - Do We Know What We Seek in Our Lives? - by Submitted on Nov 22, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe feel like something is missing in our lives. It could be something material, it could be just a pang of hunger or thirst. It could be a sense of emotional emptiness, unattached to a specific object. We may feel like we need to find out something, do something, know something, respond to ...
Views: 438 - The Usefulness of Suffering - by Submitted on Nov 21, 2022 from santosh krinskyDr. Dean Ornish held a webinar on Sunday November 20, 2022 with the Vegan Society of Honolulu, Hawaii, in which he succinctly explained the role of suffering in the progress of humanity. For those who do not know about his work, Dr. Ornish has spent decades studying the impact of diet and ...
Views: 434 - Progressively Becoming Conscious - by Submitted on Nov 20, 2022 from santosh krinskyEveryone believes they are ‘conscious’. Spiritual seekers, especially, having awakened from the purely mechanical, habitual processes of the external life, certainly believe they are conscious. Those who believe in various religious traditions, by virtue of that belief, accept that they are ...
Views: 432 - Exploring the Stages and Phases of Inner Growth of the Human Individual - by Submitted on Nov 19, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen 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: 447 - Habits, Human Life and Achieving Individuality … and Beyond - by Submitted on Nov 18, 2022 from santosh krinskyAs the seeker begins to examine his life, he quickly finds that virtually all his thoughts, emotions, feelings and actions are based on habitual patterns, either ingrained in the human encoding as a species, or developed through socialisation in a society or civilisation, through family ...
Views: 462 - The Benefit of Obstacles and Difficulties for the Development of Conscious Awareness - by Submitted on Nov 17, 2022 from santosh krinskyIt is a quality of human nature. When things are going well, we are happy and contented, we tend not to make extraordinary efforts or focus on change. We feel like things are where they should be in our lives, and we move into ‘enjoyment mode’ rather than ‘change mode’. In some cases, we believe ...
Views: 414 - The Semi-Conscious Life We Lead - by Submitted on Nov 16, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we reflect carefully, we will recognise that much of what takes place in our lives occurs without our conscious awareness, participation or control. The activity of the cells, the nervous system, the internal organs are all virtually automatic functions that elude conscious oversight. Very ...
Views: 380 - The Evolutionary Cycle and the Speeding Up of the Evolutionary Cycle - by Submitted on Nov 15, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen we reflect on the evolution of consciousness, it becomes obvious to us that nothing can evolve out of Matter that is not already involved in some way. We plant an acorn, and an oak tree grows. Someone unfamiliar with the science would treat this as a magical event. We put one form of ...
Views: 429 - 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: 432 - Following the Right Path to Divine Realisation - by Submitted on Nov 13, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe 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: 405 - Elements Common to the Paths of Inner Growth - by Submitted on Nov 12, 2022 from santosh krinskyIn Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, there are 8 limbs, or steps, systematically presented as the basis for the practice of Yoga. The first two of these, known as yamas and niyamas present preliminary practices to purify and stabilize the being to prepare for the practice of yoga. Many people consider ...
Views: 429 - Three Primary Paths of Inner Growth and Spiritual Development - by Submitted on Nov 11, 2022 from santosh krinskyEach individual has a unique way of relating to and developing his spiritual aspiration. Those who are more intellectually inclined may find that they naturally incline towards what is known as the yoga of knowledge. Those who have a nature more inclined to devotion and emotional expression may ...
Views: 411 - The Development of the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Nov 10, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe can identify a systematic evolution of consciousness in the external world. Life evolves out of Matter, Mind out of Life. We do not, however, thereby determine either a significance or purpose to this evolution nor any causative factors that involve mind and life into matter such that they ...
Views: 391 - The Nature, Character and Evolutionary Role of the Psychic Entity, the Soul - by Submitted on Nov 09, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe Rishis of the Rig Veda place Agni at the beginning and in a central role in the spiritual development they described. The flame of aspiration, the ‘knower of all things born’, the mystic fire is the starting point for spiritual growth. This flame resides in the psychic being, the soul, ...
Views: 444 - The Influence of Inner Planes of Consciousness on the Outer Life of the Individual - by Submitted on Nov 08, 2022 from santosh krinskyIn The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo devotes a chapter to the ‘sevenfold ignorance’. While we are fixated on our external mind, life and body and the life we lead in the external world, we remain ignorant of the forces at work, behind the scenes, to create what we call our being and personality, ...
Views: 386 - The Subtle Higher Forces of Existence Create Our External Being and Action - by Submitted on Nov 07, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen looked at from the outside, it seems that Matter came first and out of Matter arose Life and out of Life arose Mind. What is not addressed here is how material forces were able to create life and intelligence, in a seemingly random fashion. This is why some religious traditions posit that ...
Views: 394 - Glimpses and Experiences of the Inner Being, and the Shift of the Consciousness from the Outer to the Inner - by Submitted on Nov 06, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we focus on the experience of our normal, daily lives, we will find that it can be characterised by a specific feeling or quality that we know as our usual experience. While each individual may have a different characterisation of this experience, some happy, some sad, some joyful, some ...
Views: 582 - Inner Growth Differs from Modern Concepts of Growth of Awareness - by Submitted on Nov 05, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe have seen a phenomenal growth of practices that bring attention to our daily actions. Mindfulness training asks us to attend to each movement, each step, each bite of food, and each thought and emotion. Clearly with the amount of distraction we suffer from as a result of our love affair with ...
Views: 422 - The Development of the Human Being and the Transcendence of the Human Being: Personal Growth and Inner Growth Defined - by Submitted on Nov 04, 2022 from santosh krinskyPersonal growth and inner growth, the enhancement of the human being and its capabilities and the transcendence of the human being to develop a being awake and active with a new level of consciousness, are not in conflict with one another. The human being must develop to a certain degree to ...
Views: 564 - Comparing Current General State of Human Consciousness With More Evolved States, Part 7 Separative Ego Versus Universal, Transpersonal Awareness - by Submitted on Nov 03, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe default standpoint for almost the entire human race is that of the ego. There are tribal societies that try to reduce the predominance of the ego through a collective mindset, but even in such societies, pride, rivalry for dominance, and other forms of ego persist. In the West, a premium is ...
Views: 546 - Comparing Current General State of Human Consciousness With More Evolved States, Part 6 Subjection to Suffering from the Dualities Versus Equanimity - by Submitted on Nov 02, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe dualities, or pairs of opposites, are recognised throughout the world as a condition of life. Night and day, positive and negative, and all other dualities, can be seen in material nature, as well as in our vital and emotional existence and in our minds. Electricity flows between positive ...
Views: 539 - Comparing Current General State of Human Consciousness With More Evolved States, Part 5 Identification With the External Nature Versus Poise of Detachment - by Submitted on Nov 01, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe generally experience ourselves as our body, life and mind. When we injure our body, we say that we have hurt ourselves. When there are hunger pangs, we say that we are hungry. When we experience an emotion, we say that we have become angry, or are in love, or are feeling lonely or depressed. ...
Views: 538 - Comparing Current General State of Human Consciousness With More Evolved States, Part 4 Agitation Versus Peace in the Being - by Submitted on Oct 31, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we observe ourselves carefully, we find that as a natural consequence of the distractions and the dispersion of the consciousness, we have little if any calm and peace in the being. We experience not only the more overt forms of anxiety and concern, but the more subtle forms of nervous ...
Views: 502 - Comparing Current General State of Human Consciousness With More Evolved States, Part 3 Dispersed Versus Gathered Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 30, 2022 from santosh krinskyDistraction is actually a symptom of another characteristic, that of “dispersion” of the consciousness. If we take the time to observe our own sense of awareness we find that it seems to be primarily on the surface of our being, receiving sense perceptions, reacting to people, things, events and ...
Views: 467 - Comparing Current General State of Human Consciousness With More Evolved States, Part 2 Distractability Versus Concentratedness - by Submitted on Oct 29, 2022 from santosh krinskyWith even a very cursory examination of the thoughts and sensations that enter our awareness, it becomes quite clear that there is a constant flow of sensations, impressions, perceptions, feelings, emotions and thoughts that seem to bombard us all the time. Our attention flits from one thing to ...
Views: 473 - Comparing Current General State of Human Consciousness With More Evolved States, Part 1 Unconsciousness Versus Increasing Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 28, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhat does the evolution of a new power of consciousness imply? When we observe the impact that the Life-Force has had on Matter, we can see that it brings in a radical transformation of Matter itself to allow the Life-Force to act. Matter has to become more responsive, more flexible, less dense, ...
Views: 481 - Distinguishing Between Personal Growth and Inner Growth - by Submitted on Oct 27, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhile humanity embodies the development of the mental consciousness, in principle, it must be noted that this generalisation does not apply specifically to each and every human individual. Just as the field of statistics does not predict any single event, and the observational experiments of ...
Views: 435 - The Role of the Ego in the Evolution of Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 26, 2022 from santosh krinskyIn one of his aphorisms, Sri Aurobindo observes: “…the ego was the helper, the ego is the bar.” For most spiritual seekers, the attachment to the ego-personality is the great hindrance which they must find a way to overcome. Some try extreme methods to minimize the role and power of the ego. But ...
Views: 452 - Evolution of Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 25, 2022 from santosh krinskyNature 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: 431 - Living Within: Summary and Conclusions - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2022 from santosh krinskyLiving Within: The Yoga Approach to Psychological Health and Growth, compliled by Dr. A.S. Dalal, is an eminently practical handbook for understanding and addressing the complexity of our psychological makeup. Modern-day civilisation creates enormous pressures for individuals, while at the same ...
Views: 417 - Attaining Peace in the Being - by Submitted on Oct 21, 2022 from santosh krinskyA central key to attaining peace lies in achieving the poise of non-attachment. Non-attachment is sometimes confused with avoidance of action, or some kind of renunciation. But non-attachment can develop even among those who are active in the world. King Janaka was known as being non-attached ...
Views: 412 - Following the Unique Path of One’s Deepest Aspiration to Spiritual Realisation - by Submitted on Oct 20, 2022 from santosh krinskyIt 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: 437 - The Attempt to Develop Tolerance and Understanding to Avoid Quarrelling - by Submitted on Oct 19, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen one begins to consider how the faults we find in others are those to which we ourselves are susceptible, and that we see them through the focus and affinity that we have to them, as the synchronicity of the universe brings forward to us those very things that we are naturally attracting, it ...
Views: 397 - The Faults We Observe In Others Are a Reflection of the Faults We Carry In Ourselves - by Submitted on Oct 18, 2022 from santosh krinskyIt is much easier to see and criticise others for their ideas, behaviour or habits, than to see in oneself potentially those same issues. Jesus raised this issue in his Sermon on the Mount: “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in ...
Views: 396 - Making Best Use of Our Limited Time - by Submitted on Oct 17, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen we reflect on the time we have in our lifetime and how we utilize it, we find that after we calculate time spent in sleeping, eating, bathing, growth in childhood, earning a living, exercising, we have a very limited amount of what may be called “free time” available to us. In a culture and ...
Views: 429 - Overcoming Hopelessness and Depression by Tuning the Consciousness Towards the Light - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2022 from santosh krinskyMany people, including those who are treading a spiritual path, feel depressed and hopeless when they see all the negativity, violence, and destruction taking place in the world around us. The mass media focuses on, and emphasizes, all this negativity, with the saying ‘if it bleeds, it leads’. ...
Views: 416 - Escaping the Little Ego-Consciousness Through Concentration on Infinite Space and Eternal Time - by Submitted on Oct 14, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe are usually so busy focusing on the day to day lives we are living that we rarely take the time to reflect on the larger significance of the universal manifestation and what role we, as individuals play in this development. The concept of maya, the cosmic illusion, is based on our ...
Views: 415 - Options and Risks in Widening the Consciousness Using Various Methods - by Submitted on Oct 13, 2022 from santosh krinskyThere are numerous ways to widen one’s consciousness to begin to incorporate the viewpoint and direction of others. Some of these methods are easier than others, in that they utilize a mood or feeling that is evoked from a natural environment, such as the starry sky, the ocean, a wide view from ...
Views: 425 - Experiencing the Wideness of the Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 12, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe 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: 436 - Gaining Mental Understanding Through Quieting and Widening the Mental Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 11, 2022 from santosh krinskyMany 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: 407 - Widening the Consciousness: Practical Exercises and Benefits - by Submitted on Oct 10, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we observe what happens to our inner psychology when we experience physical pain, we will see that we mostly tighten ourselves up, tensing the body, focusing intently on the experience of the bodily pain. By doing so, we actually intensify the pain experience through this focus and it takes ...
Views: 414 - Widening the Consciousness Through Identification with Galactic Space - by Submitted on Oct 09, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe principle Patanjali set forth for the practice of samyajma provided that one would be identified with and gain complete knowledge with the object of the practice of concentration. Those who choose to identify with the vast galactic panorama of stars and space would find their consciousness ...
Views: 412 - Self-Identification with Others — Loosening the Bonds of the Ego-Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 08, 2022 from santosh krinskyWith focus, over time and with dedicated effort, the power of concentrated attention, samyama, eventually bears fruit and one can escape the boundaries of the ego-consciousness and enter into an identification with others. As this occurs, we understand their motivations and the direction of ...
Views: 420 - Entering the Viewpoint of Another Person Widens the Understanding and Builds a Basis for Harmony - by Submitted on Oct 07, 2022 from santosh krinskyThere is a complex game called ‘chess’. The modern form of the game reputedly developed from a strategic game that appears to have originated in India in around the 6th or 7th century, although there were likely precursor forms that existed prior to that time. As a game of strategy, the object ...
Views: 456 - Moving Beyond Arguments and Widening One’s Thought - by Submitted on Oct 06, 2022 from santosh krinskyAt some time or another, every human being has the experience of having an opinion, thought or idea contradicted. The usual reaction is to defend one’s position, whether or not it is well-founded, and arguments tend to ensure. It is rare that one side of the argument is entirely right, and the ...
Views: 434 - A Technique for Shifting the Focus of Consciousness Into a Status of Complete Identification - by Submitted on Oct 05, 2022 from santosh krinskyPatanjali in his Yoga Sutras describes the practice of samyama which is a power of identification that results from the systematic development of dharana (holding the mind on to some particular object), dhyana (an unbroken flow of knowledge in that object) and samadhi (reflecting on the meaning, ...
Views: 430 - Overcoming Polarization and Argument - by Submitted on Oct 04, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe live in a time of extreme polarization. People and even entire societies are taking fixed stands, and disputing the validity or right of anyone holding different or opposing viewpoints. In the framework of governing a nation, this leads inevitably to either a form of political gridlock if the ...
Views: 434 - Conquering Difficulties With a Positive Mind-Set - by Submitted on Oct 03, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe Indian tradition relates a story of the divine singer, Narad, which emphasizes the power of a positive mind-set in the spiritual quest. He came across a yogi undertaking strenuous discipline, tapasya, This yogi inquired how much longer he would need to achieve enlightenment. Narad replied “4 ...
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