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Articles from santosh krinsky | Selfgrowth.com
- Distinguishing and Addressing Undivine and Antidivine Forces - by Submitted on Nov 20, 2025 from santosh krinskyThere is a real difference in motivation and intention between what may be considered to be ignorant responses, and those that are malignant. Seekers face a difficulty or some resistance in the external nature constantly. For the most part, this resistance is due to the long embedded habits and ...
Views: 101 - 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: 531 - Distinguishing Between the Mind, the Vital Mind and the Physical Mind in the Process of Yogic Sadhana - by Submitted on Mar 11, 2021 from santosh krinskyWe transcribe and filter impulses and feelings that arise from the physical body and the vital action through our minds, and thus, we generally confuse the awareness or the response that arises through this process as a mental functioning. Sri Aurobindo distinguishes between the physical mind, ...
Views: 810 - Distinguishing Between the Qualities of Quiet, Calm, Peace and Silence in the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on May 13, 2021 from santosh krinskyNear the top of the “wish list” for most spiritual aspirants is achieving “peace”. This is generally understood however in a very personal sense to alleviate the turmoil, dissention and conflict that invariably arises in our normal circumstances living in the world. It is rarely appreciated ...
Views: 644 - Distinguishing Concentration and Meditation - by Submitted on Jun 17, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe great epic of India, the Mahabharata, provides various illustrations of concentration in the recounting of the actions of Arjuna, who was the pre-eminent archer of the time and whose actions led to victory. The first example was provided during his youth as he, and his siblings and cousins ...
Views: 767 - Distinguishing Concentration and Meditation from One Another - by Submitted on Feb 20, 2023 from santosh krinskyIf we observe the mental status that takes place at times when we focus on achieving some objective or other, taking a test, working on a project, running a race, playing music, or creating some work of art, for example, we see that the attention is focused intensely on the task at hand, and ...
Views: 705 - Distinguishing Magic from Occultism - by Submitted on May 30, 2024 from santosh krinskyThere is considerable confusion between the concept of occultism and the idea of the practice of magic (whether considered ‘white’ magic or ‘black’ magic). Occultism essential is the science of dealing with forces subliminal to our outer senses, but nevertheless active and acting upon our being. ...
Views: 290 - Distinguishing Psychic Experience from Occult or Abnormal Experience - by Submitted on Mar 12, 2026 from santosh krinskyHow does one distinguish between psychic experience, as defined by Sri Aurobindo, as soul experiences, from the vast array of experiences that occur on the mental or vital planes that have been called ‘psychic’ phenomena? Once one has the clue about the different parts of the being and their ...
Views: 51 - Distinguishing Rapid Process of Thought from True Intuition - by Submitted on Jan 26, 2025 from santosh krinskyWe occasionally meet people who seem to be highly intuitive. With very few facts, and with a very fast response time, they seem to understand and decide things successfully that we are struggling to deal with, and for which we need considerably more time. In some cases, there may be the ...
Views: 271 - Distinguishing Soul from Vital Being - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2026 from santosh krinskyThe lack of experience and recognition of the action of the soul makes it difficult for most people to understand the reality of the soul. For this reason, people tend to confuse the true soul with the vital soul of desire, which Sri Aurobindo calls the ‘desire-soul’. This is an expression of ...
Views: 48 - Distinguishing the Central Action of the Psychic Being from Mental, Vital or Physical Formations or from Transitory Spiritual Experiences - by Submitted on Jul 01, 2026 from santosh krinskyThere is a vast difference between mental speculation and actual life-experience. We can speculate about what it means to swim in the ocean, but this does not prepare us for the actual experience when it occurs. It is similar for those focused on spiritual sadhana. Generally those individuals ...
Views: 10 - Distinguishing the Location of the Conscious Awareness from the Object of Meditation - by Submitted on Jun 25, 2021 from santosh krinskyIt is a somewhat frequent occurrence that the instruction to meditate on the space behind the heart, or between the eyebrows is taken to be the meditation itself. There is a difference between where one “seats” one’s consciousness during meditation and the object of the meditation. Sri Aurobindo ...
Views: 760 - Distinguishing the Ordinary Motives of the Vital Being from Spiritual Motivation - by Submitted on Feb 28, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe vital nature has an innate drive towards fulfillment and satisfaction of desire. Since most individuals are oriented towards the outer life, the fulfillment comes through attaining desirable objects of the vital focus. This can be accumulation of wealth, it can be family, fame or achievement ...
Views: 652 - Distinguishing the Psychic Transformation from the Spiritual Transformation - by Submitted on Sep 10, 2021 from santosh krinskySpiritual experience and progress can be confusing. In many cases the seeker is misled or misunderstands what is actually taking place, and the significance of it. Spiritual paths generally recommend the seeker find an experienced guide, or Guru, among other reasons, to help mitigate confusion ...
Views: 640 - Distinguishing the Realisation of the Atman and the Higher Planes of Consciousness - by Submitted on Aug 03, 2021 from santosh krinskyWhen an individual begins the spiritual quest, there can be considerable confusion about different directions, objectives and methods of attainment. In many cases, divergent goals are lumped together, while in other instances, there can be confusion about the sequence of the steps. Sri Aurobindo ...
Views: 627 - Distinguishing the Subconscient from the Subliminal Aspects of Consciousness - by Submitted on Aug 17, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere is considerable confusion about the “subconscient” and the “subliminal” aspects of consciousness. Essentially, the subliminal references aspects of the independent levels of consciousness that embody the subtle physical, the subtle vital and the subtle mental. These levels are independent ...
Views: 432 - Distinguishing the Supracosmic Reality from the Supramental Consciousness - by Submitted on Mar 23, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe long history of focus by spiritual aspirants on achieving oneness with the Transcendent, the Eternal, while subordinating or outright denying the life of the world, has created substantial confusion about the significance of life, the nature of the manifested universal creation, and the ...
Views: 750 - Distinguishing the Vital Mind from the Mental Power of Reason, Thought and Will - by Submitted on Aug 09, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe may observe feelings, perceptions, thoughts, emotions, ideas, imaginations, memories, etc. all arising in our minds, and, for most of us, this is all just ‘mental activity’. And for most people this is clearly enough! For those taking up the spiritual life and practice, however, it becomes ...
Views: 378 - Distinguishing Truth from Falsehood Requires Separation from the Vital Desire-Soul and Its Impulsions - by Submitted on Jul 05, 2025 from santosh krinskyDuring the 1980’s there were a number of scams carried out by US mail. An individual would receive a letter purporting to come from some high official in another country who had access to a large amount of money and needed a ‘partner’ to help take the funds out of the country and invest them in ...
Views: 148 - Distinguishing Various Types of Symbolic Visions - by Submitted on Aug 20, 2021 from santosh krinskyAs the seeker interacts more with the inner levels of consciousness, there are often various types of visions and symbols which are perceived. These visions, however, are not all from the same source, and do not all carry the same weight or significance. It is another element of the research and ...
Views: 651 - Distinguishing Vital Movements from the Expression of the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Sep 29, 2023 from santosh krinskyIt is not easy for most people to distinguish vital responses such as feelings or emotions from the true expression of the psychic being within them. This is primarily due to the fact that just about everyone bases themselves in the external surface being. We see this confusion when people see ...
Views: 407 - Distinguishing Vital or Mental Desire or Demand from Aspiration of the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Dec 22, 2025 from santosh krinskyDesire can take many forms, some of them subtle, inasmuch as they are linked to prayer and thus seem to confirm the aspiration. There is a subtle form of bargaining that can take place where the dedication of the seeker is tied to the Divine providing a specific anticipated form of realisation, ...
Views: 93 - Distinguishing Will From Willings - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2024 from santosh krinsky“The integral yoga, which involves a deep understanding of the normal psychology of the human being, as well as the impact of the descent of the higher spiritual force to manifest the Divine Will in the manifestation, has to develop its own terminology and specific definitions so as to ensure ...
Views: 346 - Distrust and Disobedience in the Practice of Yoga Interferes With the Action of the Force - by Submitted on Dec 18, 2025 from santosh krinskyWe like to believe that we are independent actors in control of our own destiny and our own lines of development. We want ‘freedom’ to express ourselves. The ego-personality acting in the outside world is very much a captive of past energies, whether those of the formation of physical and vital ...
Views: 92 - Disturbances Attributed to the Physical Mind - by Submitted on Apr 13, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhat is the physical mind? The element of mental activity that relates to the actual physical substance that conveys and responds to sense perceptions and the operations of the physical body is considered to be the ‘physical mind’. We normally believe that the operation of our mind is ...
Views: 683 - Disturbances of the Vital Caused by Life-Changes, Negative and Positive - by Submitted on Apr 19, 2022 from santosh krinskySome years ago we were witnesses to an event that clearly illustrated the disturbance to the vital that can be caused by a positive experience. In that case, a married couple were planning to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary and their extended family and friends were there to join the ...
Views: 603 - Divine Grace and Cosmic Law - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe terms ‘divine grace’, along with ‘cosmic law’ and ‘divine compassion’, are transcriptions into human terms from our human viewpoint of actions and events that take place from an entirely different level of the divine manifestation and with a viewpoint that far exceeds that of our limited ...
Views: 286 - Divine Grace and the Action of the Laws of Nature - by Submitted on Apr 19, 2021 from santosh krinskyDue to the nature of the mind, which always seeks for “black and white” solutions and answers, it is easy to fall into the idea that everything depends on one’s own efforts, or alternatively, that one’s efforts do not matter as the Divine controls what occurs. In actuality, there is no real ...
Views: 687 - Divine Realisation and the Uplifting and Perfection of Life in the World - by Submitted on Aug 15, 2025 from santosh krinskyThe ancient sages of India, as we see in some of the texts that have come down to us through the course of time, understood the balance between the internal and the external, between individual liberation and a balanced activity in the world. They recognised the individual role as part of the ...
Views: 139 - Divine Will and Divine Grace - by Submitted on Jul 31, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhat is the will of the Divine, and how can we know it? The usual answer is some prescription from one religion or another with a doctrine supported by that religious persuasion as being the correct interpretation. In some cases, the Divine Will seems thereby to be in conflict from one religion ...
Views: 277 - Do the Stars Control Our Destiny? - by Submitted on Mar 07, 2024 from santosh krinskySomeone has their astrological chart done, and by that they are able to determine the location of the various planets and the sun and moon and the constellations in relation to their birth. They will learn about the hardships they will face, the major life events they can expect, and the ...
Views: 339 - Do We Create Our Own Thoughts and Feelings? - by Submitted on Aug 09, 2024 from santosh krinskyTeilhard de Chardin described what he called a noosphere, a belt of mental energy that encompasses the earth, and which moves vibrations that can be perceived at the mental level and converted into thoughts and thought-forms. This is similar to the biosphere at the level of the life-energy and ...
Views: 297 - Do We Have Subtle Sense Organs, Beyond the 5 Physical Senses We Recognise? - by Submitted on Jun 29, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe are generally so fixated on the impressions we receive through the action of the five physical sense organs, that we fail to recognise that we frequently sense things without these senses providing any input. For instance, people can frequently sense when someone is staring at them, even when ...
Views: 335 - 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: 528 - Do We Really Exercise Free Will in Our Lives? - by Submitted on Feb 19, 2024 from santosh krinskySubjectively we tend to believe that we make our own decisions and that we are exercising ‘free will’. What we do not generally do is recognise that there is an entire preceding set of ’causes’ which lead us to the present moment and the very type of choices we make. We may be extremely ...
Views: 362 - Does Everything That Happens, Happen for the Best? - by Submitted on Feb 23, 2025 from santosh krinskyMany people believe that once they become adherents of a particular religion or spiritual tradition, they need no longer make an effort. The idea that someone else is “taking charge” and taking on the burden of one’s life is particularly enticing for people. They frequently then accept that ...
Views: 192 - Does the Universal Manifestation and Our lives Have Any Meaning? - by Submitted on Mar 13, 2025 from santosh krinskyRene Descartes famously proclaimed the fact the he existed by stating ‘I think, therefore I am.’ In today’s world, however, that method of proving existence is under pressure as we grapple with more subtle possible answers to how we exist, why we exist and what this entire existence means, if ...
Views: 195 - 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: 324 - Doubt, and Certitude About the Divine - by Submitted on Apr 06, 2021 from santosh krinsky“Seeing is believing” has been a proverb for humanity since time immemorial. Yet, as we delve deeper into the way the world functions, we come to understand that what we see is not always an accurate reflection of the underlying reality. We see the sun rise in the East and set in the West on a ...
Views: 718 - Drawing on the Universal Energy for Life-Force - by Submitted on May 21, 2024 from santosh krinskyIf we observe the way we receive energy normally, we can determine that the sun is the immediate source of physical energy and it then gets transformed, or converted, into other forms of energy including life energy. The first step in this transformation comes about through the ability of plants ...
Views: 317 - Drawing on the Universal Energy for Life-Force - by Submitted on May 21, 2024 from santosh krinskyIf we observe the way we receive energy normally, we can determine that the sun is the immediate source of physical energy and it then gets transformed, or converted, into other forms of energy including life energy. The first step in this transformation comes about through the ability of plants ...
Views: 305 - Dreams and Their Significance - by Submitted on Feb 18, 2026 from santosh krinskyWestern psychology has taken a very narrow, and therefore quite inadequate, view of the nature of dreams. There are several primary ways dreams are analyzed in the West. The first is the purely mechanical structuring of dreams as a chaotic processing of ‘undigested’ residues of the observations, ...
Views: 58 - Dual States of Consciousness in the Being - by Submitted on Jul 27, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe normal human individual lives primarily in a state of consciousness that is immersed in the outer life, including the inner reactions to that life, and the functions of the body, life-energy and mind. This is true whether the person considers himself to be an extrovert or an introvert. The ...
Views: 571 - Dynamic Meditation - by Submitted on Feb 19, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna poses the question to Sri Krishna as to how one can know the spiritual man, how does he walk, how does he speak, how does he act… Spiritual practitioners pose similar types of questions about meditation, as to what is the right form of meditation, how does one site, ...
Views: 663 - Each Individual Has His Own Unique Relationship With the Divine - by Submitted on Jun 13, 2026 from santosh krinskyPeople who are born into different cultures and religions may have a similar experience, but they interpret the experience through the lens of their specific background. Thus, people who have a specific spiritual opening may see Jesus or the Virgin Mary if they come from a Christian background, ...
Views: 12 - Economic Systems Cannot Solve the Evolutionary Crisis - by Submitted on May 18, 2024 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo continues to explore the various proposed methods for effecting positive change in human life and society so as to confront the evolutionary crisis we see before us. Some have proposed that the solution can be found in developing a more perfect economic system, and much effort has ...
Views: 322 - Educating and Uplifting the Vital Nature: Part 1 Understanding the Issues - by Submitted on Dec 29, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhen we recognize the difficulties of managing the energy of the vital nature, and its long habits of how it finds fulfillment and satisfaction, we can appreciate that there are no ‘simple’ solutions available. The vital, when it is cooperative with the mind and the psychic being, is an ...
Views: 238 - Educating and Uplifting the Vital Nature: Part 2 Concepts and Principles of Action - by Submitted on Dec 30, 2024 from santosh krinskyGaining the cooperation of the vital nature is an important step in the transformation of our existence, including the upliftment of the physical nature. Once we have begun the process of observation of the vital nature, its habits and its predilections, we can begin to implement various ...
Views: 232 - Educating and Uplifting the Vital Nature: Part 3 Methods and Techniques - by Submitted on Dec 31, 2024 from santosh krinskyOne of the prevalent ideas about managing the vital nature has been the idea that punishment in some form or other is beneficial. Spanking of children, for example has been a common method of ‘educating’ them. It is a form of conditioning that administers a negative consequence to a specific ...
Views: 241 - Effects of the Descent of the Higher Consciousness Into the Body - by Submitted on Sep 27, 2021 from santosh krinskyWe observe the effects of training and conditioning the body to reach its peak of efficiency and perfection in action. The mind, the vital ambition, both play into the ability to bring the body to a state where it can undertake to achieve things that most people cannot even imagine. Recently in ...
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