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When we look back at the history of human civilization, we can see that many ideas have been attempted to try to develop a fair, balanced and prosperous society. Thinkers, philosophers, political scientists and economists have all weighed in with their dreams and considerations about how to ... Views: 15
Gone are the days when we used to frisk free in the sky of life. It seems as if the world has been suddenly turned upside down, leaving us all trapped within our homes. All this has happened just recently, a few months back, but it seems as if we have been trapped inside, for a long, long time. ... Views: 927
Would you want to be LeBron James for a day?
If they were really asked this question, most people would probably answer with a resounding, YES (and for more than a day). Having whatever you want whenever you want sounds pretty good to most people. Also, having people know who you are and ... Views: 3198
Have you ever felt like jumping off a cliff?
I understand this sounds drastic but what I mean is: Do you ever have that feeling that you just want to break free, like you want to overcome your fears and just jump off that cliff into unknown water? Have you ever felt like you’re stuck in a ... Views: 2491
Each one of us knows to what extent the human experience can be hard and painful. And most of us try to live our lives doing their best to avoid painful experiences and to look for those that feel pleasurable. We tend to forget that the more we try to avoid pain and run away from it, the more we ... Views: 981
The 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: 106
A Natural State of Abundance
Divine Dimensions wake us up to a natural state of abundance. A simple walk in nature reflects this awakening.
Our core worth comes from these Divine Dimensions that inspire our every day lives through nature’s beauty and grace. To appreciate the true ... Views: 1296
There is a considerable amount of talk about being “born again” in the modern-day Christian tradition. When we explore what is meant, it seems like it is a matter of accepting in one’s heart a certain belief set central to the denomination that espouses this idea. There does not seem to be any ... Views: 322
We go wherever we focus our attention. If we focus our attention on difficulties, we wallow in those difficulties. If we focus our attention on growth and development, then we draw to ourselves those opportunities that support that growth. There are examples. Certain traditions make the rooting ... Views: 17
Yoga has historically focused on liberation of the individual soul from the illusion of the outer world. The seeker is advised to see through the transitory nature of all external rewards, undertake practices that help him to discover his true self, and once that is done, live a life, free from ... Views: 321
We read or hear about the accounts of individuals who had some kind of experience, either dramatically uplifting, or severely traumatic, who awaken to a spiritual purpose in their lives which changes the entire direction and focus of what takes place for them afterwards when compared with their ... Views: 49
The sex industry is an often misunderstood profession that in all actuality can be a lucrative, convenient and viable career option for those brave enough (or fool-hardy depending on your point of view) to pursue this line of work.
We have all heard of the time-worn cliché that prostitution ... Views: 1117
In ancient Greek mythology, there is the tale of the 12 labours of Hercules, one of which was cleaning out the Augean stables. He needed to accomplish this task in one day, but there were so many cattle that it was considered an impossible task. And every day the mess was renewed after the ... Views: 474
We typically live rooted in the ego-consciousness in the external, physical world. We judge things based on our perceptions, our physical, vital and mental processes and our habitual way of understanding things from the standpoint of the ego. This leads to a very limited and biased viewpoint ... Views: 158
We tend to identify ourselves with the constructed ego-personality that we have built up, without recognising that this personality is itself an amalgam of different drives, instincts, habits, emotional predilections, feelings, thoughts, etc., which in many cases are not in alignment with one ... Views: 254
There are a number of proven methods for achieving peace and silence in the mind. Some are more arduous than others. The more one works at it, the more inward pressure one asserts to try to achieve this status, the greater the intrusions that force themselves on the mind. This is the result of a ... Views: 426
Sometimes the spiritual opening comes in what appears to be a miraculous fashion and the direction of the individual’s life takes a major turn. This goes beyond a brief glimpse of the spiritual truth which can fade and require renewal in order for it to stabilise and solidify the direction. Such ... Views: 407
Patanjali 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: 383
It 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: 95
For the practitioner of the integral yoga, any form of work represents an opportunity to discard the normal, habitual mode of action and replace it with the direct action of the Divine Force. This transition, however, is neither immediate nor completed all at once, so there is inevitably a phase ... Views: 580
For the practitioner of the integral yoga, any form of work represents an opportunity to discard the normal, habitual mode of action and replace it with the direct action of the Divine Force. This transition, however, is neither immediate nor completed all at once, so there is inevitably a phase ... Views: 570
On the way to becoming “self-realized”, becoming balanced is a boon. My boyfriend calls it “living in moderation.” The whole concept is to find ways to keep all aspects of your life in balance – your thoughts, your beliefs, your words, your actions, your emotions, and your feelings. It’s not ... Views: 1137
This sentence rings the bell with me and with many women I’ve worked with: “I don’t know who I am anymore!” The question is: “Have you ever known who you really are?”
We live in a society that puts high pressure on young girls and women to fit certain standards of intelligence and beauty. ... Views: 1325
Most people live a life without inward reflectoin, reacting to circumstances, conditioned by habits developed through millennia, trained responses and built up expectations. Their lives are fixated on whatever is presented to them at the moment, and they lose any sense of self-awareness in this ... Views: 480
Abu Hurairah was one of the devoted Sahabah and the most prolific narrator of Hadith. His prodigious efforts regarding transmitting hadith are considered the authentic ones. He embraced Islam at the hand of At-Tufayl Ibn Amir belonged to Daws tribe. He lived in the Tihamah region stretches along ... Views: 1386
The 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: 351
Access to the universal vital force and the renewal of one’s energy follows basic principles that can be seen in the action of another universal force that allows the creation of results in the external world, symbolised by what we know as ‘money’. In his book The Mother, Sri Aurobindo states ... Views: 456
The Mother clarifies a distinction between receiving the universal vital forces directly and receiving them through a vital interchange with other individuals. These two methods represent two entirely different statuses of consciousness. To receive the universal vital forces directly, a wide and ... Views: 177
Fitzhugh Dodson was a world-famous psychologist, lecturer and writer. He had many strategies for accomplishing a goal. He once said that “Goals that are not written down are just wishes”. I’d like to share with you why writing your goal down works from my life experiences of travelling the world ... Views: 2134
Before we take up this question, here’s a little story...
Once upon a time, the circumstances shaped up in a manner that resulted in a Prince of a huge kingdom having to take his first breath in a dense jungle. He was alive but was all alone, surrounded by utter darkness.
As time passed ... Views: 788
The Mother provides another example of the need for insight and flexibility to address changing circumstances. Most people want to have a fixed routine provided for them. ‘Do this, and you will achieve that.’ This process, while comforting to the mental consciousness that normally functions ... Views: 37
People who take up spiritual life frequently believe that they should change their line of work and focus in the external world. In some cases, this is a recognition of the inner being’s guidance as the individual awakens to his true calling. In other cases, however, this is a mistaken belief ... Views: 6
In his Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda details a number of events he witnessed or experienced personally whereby a spiritual master was able to materialize his form and communicate with the disciple from a great distance; and where various yogis were able to perform acts of ... Views: 86
Dr. Dalal identifies other manifestations of the physical mind which can present issues for an individual. Everyone has had the experience, at some point or another, of thoughts that keep revolving around in the brain, and no matter how much one tries, they continue to crop up and recur. We chew ... Views: 497
When Milarepa approached Marpa, requesting liberation in one lifetime, he was haunted by the misdeeds he recognised in his own recent past and the harm he had caused many people. He had justified the harm based on the misdeeds of those individuals towards his family, but eventually he understood ... Views: 397
As long as we remain bound to the ego-personality, we are caught in the play of the three gunas, or qualities of nature. Every individual is subject to all three, and their constant interchange. Thus, there will be times and circumstances where tamas, the quality of indolence and darkness comes ... Views: 430
Traditionally spiritual paths have developed guidelines and practices that are applied to everyone as set practices. Thus, some people wind up learning particular forms of meditation or concentration, devotion, or dedicated work, or they practice specific forms of hatha yoga, pranayama or other ... Views: 1
We have numerous historical anecdotes about individuals who were creative and productive in their own field, but who had elements of their being that seemingly could not hold the creative force easily and devoted into various forms of dissipation when they were not directly engaged in their ... Views: 240
To effectuate a total transformation of the mind-life-body and its action in the world, it is necessary for the seeker to address and solve the issue of the vital being, its desires, and the ego-standpoint that it fosters and maintains.
Methods that essentially try to fight with the vital ... Views: 477
We start from the ego-consciousness and we treat ourselves, from that standpoint, as independent, separate and “walled off” from all other beings, interacting with them from our insulated status. When we then turn to spiritual growth and development from this standpoint, we start by looking at ... Views: 168
Brute force has often been employed by aspirants seeking to overcome the ‘desires of the flesh’ and the obstructions of the physical consciousness to their spiritual focus and seeking. Extreme fasting, wearing of the cilice or sackcloth, arduous penances in the desert, self-flagellation, ... Views: 488
The mental consciousness tends to look at things with a linear perspective. It expects things to systematically roll out in a continuous, directed stream. It becomes upset and disoriented when what appears to be a settled result gets suddenly disrupted or upset by new circumstances, forces or ... Views: 41
Fear opens up pathways for whatever is feared to enter the being, as it creates a vibrational ‘link’ between the individual and the feared event or circumstance. Fear also opens holes int he vital envelope, or aura, that helps protect the individual from catching illnesses. We have all heard of ... Views: 599
The vital nature in particular has a strong hold over the mentality. It uses this hold to find ways for the mind to justify various things that the vital desires. In many cases this occurs through a process of deflection and in others through a process of development of excuses and ... Views: 21
The normal human viewpoint in today’s world is one of separate individuality. We believe, based on that viewpoint, that we are free and independent and make our own choices exercising our free will. In actuality, however, this is not quite true. All relationships in society involve subtle vital ... Views: 485
The objectives of the integral yoga cannot be looked at as a short-term ‘sprint’ to the goal, but as a longer-term ‘marathon’ where patience and endurance are of paramount importance. In order to achieve that long-term commitment without flagging of the effort, without discouragement and without ... Views: 738
Sri Aurobindo explores the methods of converting work into ‘karma yoga’ with several additional ways to approach this. The development of an inner ‘witness consciousness’, the purusha which is separate from the outer active nature, prakriti, is an intermediate stage beyond those which involve ... Views: 543
Ramadan holds exceptional significance for every Muslim. It’s the month in which Allah Almighty blesses with infinitely many benefits, rewards, and bounties. Fasting for the complete 29-30 days in Ramadan from dawn to dusk is a religious obligation for all the adult, physically and mentally fit ... Views: 861
Chatbots have arisen as a transformation over the most recent couple of years, and practically all assistance enterprises have accepted them with great enthusiasm. In this article today, let us view how AI chatbots are coming up as a significant pattern in the avionics business and profiting a ... Views: 624
A written scripture or teaching may help direct the focus of the mind and the heart toward the realisation to be gained. No book, however, can replace the experience, and an intellectual understanding does not constitute spiritual knowledge. Spiritual experience comes through receptivity to the ... Views: 338