Self Improvement Site
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
Self Knowledge Articles
We are currently looking for an Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to "Self Knowledge". If you have expertise in Self Knowledge and your own website and/or product for this topic, please review this form for complete details. The Official Guide Position is part of our Premium Placement Package
- The Vital Envelope Surrounding the Body and the Ability to Ward Off Illness - by Submitted on Dec 10, 2024 from santosh krinskyMany people have had the experience of a feeling that something is happening in the body, such as a feeling of a “cold coming on”. In some cases the feeling is very strong and the pressure is great. There may be some sneezing, some tickle in the throat, some coughing, some amount of congestion. ...
Views: 114 - An Expanding Consciousness Recognises the Inherent Oneness and Mutuality of All Existence - by Submitted on Dec 10, 2024 from santosh krinskyAn Expanding Consciousness Recognises the Inherent Oneness and Mutuality of All Existence Posted on December 9, 2024 When we identify with the ego personality, we view the world as being separate and apart from ourselves, and we look at other beings as either competition for resources or ...
Views: 103 - How to Know God - by Submitted on Dec 08, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe 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: 106 - “Simply Watch the Fish” - by Submitted on Dec 07, 2024 from santosh krinskyFor most people, the experience of losing the sense of the ego is unplanned, fleeting and even, unappreciated as it occurs. They simply shift their identification elsewhere without recognising what exactly is taking place with respect to the seat and focus of their conscious awareness. For the ...
Views: 91 - Immersion of the Individual in the Experience of Theatrical Performances - by Submitted on Dec 06, 2024 from santosh krinskyWith 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: 99 - Reading As a Method of Entering into a Wider and Deeper Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 05, 2024 from santosh krinskyA teenager was observed as she was deeply absorbed in reading the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo. This novel spans some 1000 pages and encompasses themes of deep and abiding interest, but does so in a captivating story line. It so happened that this teenager was ...
Views: 96 - How to Gain a True Understanding of Another Person’s Viewpoint - by Submitted on Dec 04, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhen 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: 105 - A Technique to Shift to Another Domain of Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 03, 2024 from santosh krinskyIt is a well-recognised phenomena that when an individual focuses his concentration down to a single point, and fixes it there long enough, he suddenly can shift to a new domain of consciousness, and everything becomes wide, clear and known from that new standpoint. There is a yogic practice ...
Views: 106 - The Best Way of Widening One’s Thought - by Submitted on Dec 03, 2024 from santosh krinskyIf we observe carefully our interactions with others, we may note that when another person is describing or explaining something, our minds are eager to jump in, express a different point of view, or simply remain fixed in our own ideas and mindset; in other words, ‘hearing’ without ‘listening’. ...
Views: 109 - Relieving Pain Through the Power of Immobility - by Submitted on Dec 01, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhen we are injured or affected by a disease condition that can cause pain, we find that the nerves attached to the injured area capture a vibration and transmit it to the brain as a signal we associate with pain. This signal is intended to spur us to some form of action to relieve the causative ...
Views: 116 - The Power of Immobility in Action - by Submitted on Nov 30, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe Bhagavad Gita has an interesting verse that provides a clue to the secret of action and inaction, between ‘static’ and ‘dynamic’ power, if you will: “He who in action can see inaction and can see action still continuing in cessation from works, is the man of true reason and discernment among ...
Views: 111 - Static Power and Dynamic Power - by Submitted on Nov 29, 2024 from santosh krinskyThere are numerous types of power at work in the world and in us. Some of them can be viewed as ‘dynamic’ powers, powers with movement, action and outward facing application of force. Others can be viewed as ‘static’ powers, powers of holding, receiving and containing, powers of withstanding the ...
Views: 95 - The Power of an Integral Immobility - by Submitted on Nov 28, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe general concept of ‘immobility’ in the face of external pressures is actually not a new discovery. Stoicism encouraged people to develop ways to withstand the pressures of the external world and accept those pressures without wilting or breaking under them. For the most part, however, the ...
Views: 110 - Practical Applications of the Power of Immobility - by Submitted on Nov 27, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe Mother provides a practical example of the ‘power of immobility’, albeit as applied in the external world and society. There is an apocryphal story from the time of the Mahabharata. Drona, the preceptor of the sons of Dhritarashtra and the sons of Pandu, princes and future king of the ...
Views: 117 - Spiritual Experience Transcends the Mind’s Understanding - by Submitted on Nov 26, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe mind cannot comprehend experiences with which it has no familiarity. Sri Aurobindo describes a spiritual status that is experiential in nature. When there is such an experience, the mind tries to describe or transcribe that experience into its normal process of linear thought expressed in ...
Views: 114 - The Power of Mastery - by Submitted on Nov 25, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe operate on multiple levels at the same time. There is the external level comprised of actual physical, vital and mental actions we undertake. We speak, we express ourselves through gestures and body language. We undertake physical activities. At the same time however, there is the unspoken ...
Views: 114 - 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: 124 - Programming and Reprogramming of the Being Through Application of Will - by Submitted on Nov 23, 2024 from santosh krinskyEverything we do represents an action of will. Even inaction winds up being a ‘willed’ action. We are provided a choice at each moment as to how to respond to circumstances, pressures, events, opportunities that lie before us. In many cases, however, we do not recognise the power of choice as we ...
Views: 125 - The Power of the Quiet Mind and Vital to Resolve Problems We Face - by Submitted on Nov 22, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe are habitually conditioned to try to solve problems with our mental capacity. We are taught to observe, organize, classify, compare and contrast, and examine similar past circumstances in order to determine a solution to whatever we are facing. This is the normal pattern for a mentally ...
Views: 124 - A Method for the Seeker to Obtain Guidance Through Accessing a Random Passage in a Book - by Submitted on Nov 21, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe idea that one can receive guidance in response to a question, or aspiration, one is holding within oneself, from a randomly chosen page of a book is not based on some idea of magic, but is grounded in an understanding of the unity of consciousness and the interactive nature of consciousness ...
Views: 119 - The Potential Occult Influence on Consciousness of Relics, Photographs and Reading of Books - by Submitted on Nov 20, 2024 from santosh krinskyAn experiment some years ago showed that stones that came from a temple where ongoing worship had been taking place, held and radiated an energy not found in stones that had not been subjected to the influence of constant prayer. Just as stones absorb heat vibrations and then radiate them back ...
Views: 117 - Can Reading Random Passages of Books Provide True Guidance and Direction? - by Submitted on Nov 19, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe human mind tries to find patterns and meaning in things. We see random cloud shapes and we want to understand a ‘message’. We look into the night sky and create shapes out of stars which are enormous distances separated from one another by seeing a particular form or image in the pattern ...
Views: 104 - Aspiration and the Witness Consciousness - by Submitted on Nov 18, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhen spiritual seekers attempt to implement the technique of the separation of Purusha and Prakriti, they generally go through a stage where they try to utilize the mind to observe. The mind, however, is not the instrument for the actual shift to the standpoint of the Purusha; in fact, the mind ...
Views: 108 - The Essential Difference Between Prayer and Aspiration - by Submitted on Nov 16, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhile there is a real difference between prayer, as an external action and aspiration as an inner status of being, there is also connection between the two which can be extremely potent in terms of bringing forth the aspiration into the external world and making it a living and real thing. When ...
Views: 118 - Prayer and Aspiration, Part 3 - by Submitted on Nov 15, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhat is the experience of prayer in our being? If it is a form of bargaining, with an expectation of a return, then it takes on the colour of a business deal. We give from our side the prayer and the expression of gratitude or adherence, and in return, we get something we desire from the ...
Views: 109 - Prayer and Aspiration, Part 2 - by Submitted on Nov 14, 2024 from santosh krinskyFor a spiritual seeker, there is a major difference with regard to prayer and aspiration. Prayer is, generally, and in many cases, a more formalized, external activity, primarily based in the outer nature. Aspiration is centered in the soul, or psychic being, and represents the spiritual flame ...
Views: 123 - Prayer and Aspiration, Part 1 - by Submitted on Nov 13, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhen most people are asked about the nature of prayer, they respond that it is a formulation in words of a specific request to God, for some result or benefit they desire to see come to fruition. Prayer is much more than that, and need not be formulated in words. Each level of the being actually ...
Views: 113 - The Forms That Prayers Take Match the Source of the Prayer in the Being - by Submitted on Nov 12, 2024 from santosh krinskyMany people formulate their prayers in the form of thoughts, and they are repeated according to a strict formula and ritual. In that case, if the mind is actively engaged in the prayer, it carries the power of the mental focus to tune the being to the frequency of the being who is the object of ...
Views: 125 - The Limits and the Effectivity of Prayer - by Submitted on Nov 11, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhen we reflect on what we mean by prayer, and what expectations we have for it, we can determine both the limits and the uses of prayer in navigating our way through life, and obtaining results aligned with our aspirations. In the USA it is common for people to send “thoughts and prayers” for ...
Views: 116 - Awakening of the Chakras Opens Up Undreamed Potential in Our Being - by Submitted on Nov 10, 2024 from santosh krinskyIf we run a small current through a wire to a light bulb, but below the capacity of the bulb, it will light up, although it may flicker. If we increase the current the light bulb brightens and the illumination becomes constant. If we put too much current through the bulb, we may start a fire or ...
Views: 99 - The Awakening of the Yoga Force in the Individual - by Submitted on Nov 09, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhen we consider the ‘awakening of the Kundalini Shakti at the base of the spine, we frequently imagine some kind of dramatic experience, some palpable energy, some noticeable force operating and moving up through the experiential body. And in some cases, this actually does occur this way. For ...
Views: 112 - The Difference Between Living According to the Inner Truth of One’s Being or the External Ego Personality - by Submitted on Nov 06, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe Mother draws a clear distinction between the individual who is in contact with his own deepest inner truth of being, his swadharma, and the individual who does not pay attention to this deepest truth but lives what we may call a “transactional” existence focused on the aggrandisement and ...
Views: 130 - The Protective Power of the Mantra - by Submitted on Nov 05, 2024 from santosh krinskyA devotee reported the following incident: He had visited a researcher at Jipmer Hospital in Pondicherry, India who was using Kirlian photography in his research. The researcher showed him several stones. One of them was an ordinary stone. The other one had been in an active temple for a ...
Views: 125 - Concentration and Remembrance of the Divine - by Submitted on Nov 04, 2024 from santosh krinskyIn order to be most effective in its action, the external nature must have the capacity of concentration of its efforts. Whether this is a mental concentration, or a vital or physical concentration, the focus must be total, without distraction, or it will yield less than the optimal ...
Views: 121 - The Influence of the Awakened Consciousness on the Circumstances of the External Being and Life - by Submitted on Nov 03, 2024 from santosh krinskyHave you ever wondered how some people seem to go through various situations without a problem while others go through similar situations and have to undergo tremendous challenges and suffering? If someone escapes a harrowing incident once, we tend to call it “luck”. But if it happens repeatedly ...
Views: 108 - The Psychic Being Provides Instant Protection When It is Active and Guiding the Being - by Submitted on Nov 02, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe train the physical body with intense repetition to create what is called ‘muscle memory’. This allows the body to respond, instantly, without thought, when certain circumstances occur. Not all circumstances require the instantaneous response of the body, or even if they do, the body may not ...
Views: 118 - How Many Cantos are There in Srimad Bhagavatam - by Submitted on Nov 02, 2024 from juliana foleyThe Srimad Bhagavatam, also known as the Bhagavata Purana, is composed of 12 cantos. Each canto covers various aspects of spiritual teachings, stories, and philosophical insights, with a special focus on devotion to Lord Krishna. Here’s a brief overview of the content in each canto: 1. Canto 1: ...
Views: 118 - Overcoming Difficulties With Cheerfulness - by Submitted on Nov 01, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe are all familiar with the artificial type of cheerfulness of the vital nature, which puts on a happy face, and glad hands everyone in a show of bubbly cheer. We are also familiar with the artificial type of cheerfulness that arises through the use of intoxicating beverages and immersion in an ...
Views: 90 - Seeking and Attaining Mastery Over the Touches of Nature - by Submitted on Oct 31, 2024 from santosh krinskySeekers throughout the ages have struggled with the issue of how to deal with the pressures and circumstances of the external world. They recognise the swing of emotions, feelings and thoughts that occur as they receive input from people and events. They recognise that sometimes this causes them ...
Views: 87 - The Three General Forms of Response to the Touches of Nature - by Submitted on Oct 30, 2024 from santosh krinskyEndurance can be trained and developed. There are entire philosophical programs that have developed to systematically help an individual face the pressures and circumstances of the world with a sense of equality and equanimity. Some of these disciplines rely on acclimating the body to handle ...
Views: 109 - The Will to Endure and the Body’s Ability to Withstand Hardship and Suffering - by Submitted on Oct 29, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhile most people are quite insulated from direct confrontation with extremes which the body is asked to endure, our modern media makes it possible to see and relate to some of these extreme situations. Far beyond the pressure of training for and running in a marathon race, there are ...
Views: 122 - Endurance Is Required for Progress, Growth and Success - by Submitted on Oct 28, 2024 from santosh krinskyEach part of the being has its own form of endurance. Endurance is essential for any true and lasting development. Change tends to be mostly incremental. When it comes more rapidly it is usually accompanied by major disruptions to the status quo. In either case, one form of endurance, or ...
Views: 132 - Understanding and Utilizing the Power of Sincerity in Action - by Submitted on Oct 28, 2024 from santosh krinskyIf we reflect on our own efforts to change things in our lives, whether a resolution to follow a diet, exercise regularly, create a work-rest balance, spend more time with our families, or carry out some effort in our religious or spiritual focus, we will quickly see that our resolve does not ...
Views: 132 - Attitude and the Law of Attraction - by Submitted on Oct 26, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe ‘law of attraction’ has been seen as something of a ‘wish-fulfilling gem’, where we can think about something and focus on it, and thereby draw it to us. The reality of the law of attraction is not so dramatic as to cause riches, fame and other desired results to manifest for us somewhat ...
Views: 142 - Doubt and Faith: Resolving the Debate Between Science and Religion - by Submitted on Oct 25, 2024 from santosh krinskyThere has been a long-standing debate between religion and science, centered around the question of faith versus the search for truth through the use of the mind and its powers. This raises several questions, however, about the type and nature of the faith, and the type and nature of the mental ...
Views: 149 - Faith and Personal Effort - by Submitted on Oct 24, 2024 from santosh krinskyThere is a tendency in the human mind to create an artificial division between faith, based in the divine Grace, and effort, based in the mental, vital and physical being of the individual. Thus, if we have faith, we tend not to ‘worry’ about specific actions we can or should take. It is a type ...
Views: 138 - The Conditions of an Effective Faith - by Submitted on Oct 23, 2024 from santosh krinskyIn his book The Mother, Sri Aurobindo defines the conditions and qualities of faith needed to overcome all obstructions or disasters: “To walk through life armoured against all fear, peril and disaster, only two things are needed, two that go always together — the Grace of the Divine Mother and ...
Views: 153 - Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: The Mystic Saint Who Revolutionized Devotion - by Submitted on Oct 23, 2024 from juliana foleyChaitanya Mahaprabhu is regarded as one of the greatest saints in Indian spiritual history, revered as both a scholar and a divine incarnation of Lord Krishna. His life and teachings have left an indelible mark on the path of bhakti yoga, making him a central figure in the Gaudiya Vaishnavism ...
Views: 112 - Trust and Faith - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe frequently remark on how young people act with a seemingly carefree attitude and take risks that older people would not take. This is due to the inherent trust they have in their body’s vital and physical resilience and powers of prevailing even in difficult or dangerous circumstances. As ...
Views: 140 - Faith and Confidence - by Submitted on Oct 21, 2024 from santosh krinskyThere are countless stories of what may be called the “placebo effect” for confidence in action. Athletes sometimes believe they will perform better if they are wearing a specific shirt or pair of socks. People have their ‘lucky charms’ that they believe provide them success in certain ...
Views: 143