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 Shift to the Standpoint of the Observer of the External Nature - by Submitted on Aug 10, 2025 from santosh krinskyThe Purusha, the witness consciousness, resides in each of us. Why then do we have to seek for liberation? If we examine our psychological standpoint, we can see that we tend to identify with, to become, the external ego-personality that we have assumed. It is as if we put on a suit of clothes, ...
Views: 136 - The Ship, the Dog and Hajja Bhaiya - by Submitted on Mar 22, 2012 from NARENDRA GOIDANIDearest Darling Friends, Has water entered your ship? The ship needs water to move. Compared to the mass of water it can travel and conquer, the size of the ship is very tiny. Yet, all the water in the biggest of the oceans cannot drown the ship, unless water enters that ship. The ...
Views: 2174 - The Shocking Facts About Plastics That Plague Us - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2018 from Kashmira KarandeFlexible, malleable, tough, modest to deliver and universal well, the plastic isn't the greater part of that. It's a bane as well. The plastic-a substance imagined in 1950 to make its life less demanding than at any other time has now begun to undermine its own special presence as plastic ...
Views: 1171 - The Significance and Action of the Supramental Manifestation - by Submitted on Jul 11, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhen Life evolved out of Matter, substantial transformations occurred. What was not possible in a purely material world suddenly became not only possible, but a key principle. Matter itself, to accommodate the life force, had to become more fluid, more flexible and responsive to changes that ...
Views: 309 - The significance of the Fifth Pillar of Islam a Hajj - by Submitted on Nov 22, 2018 from Marghoob Bin SafdarA person who enters into the circle of Islam knows that about Hajj and other creeds and fundamental principles of religion Islam. Every year, millions of Muslim brothers and sisters visit the Makkah and Madinah to perform Hajj. They use different traveling packages such as Islamic Travel ...
Views: 1190 - The Silence of the Mind - by Submitted on Jun 07, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe are so used to the constant internal dialogue that we have no conception of what it means to have ‘silence of the mind’. We strive to fill up any silence with sound, whether through conversation, consumption of media, music or even treating television or radio as ‘background noise’ for our ...
Views: 568 - The Silent Mind Prepares the Receptivity for the Advent of the Higher Consciousness in the Being - by Submitted on May 17, 2021 from santosh krinskyAn important principle for the practitioner of yoga is to recognise that the old habits and ways of acting and reacting need to be removed in order to open up the capacity to receive the new powers of consciousness that are in the process of manifesting. Yoga is more or less a process of applied ...
Views: 554 - The Sometimes Fortunate Nature of Misfortune - by Submitted on Mar 17, 2025 from santosh krinskyOne of the core principles of spiritual growth is the development of ‘equality’ in the sense of accepting whatever comes into one’s life with equanimity. This does not mean that the proper standpoint excludes action against injustice or oppression; rather, that one recognises that sometimes the ...
Views: 167 - The Soul and the Evolutionary Nature of the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2026 from santosh krinskyA seed contains the entire genetic code from which the external form, energetic capacity and mental abilities of a living being develop. It can be seen as the most concentrated form of that being, a form that nevertheless has the capacity, through time, of manifesting a physical form, a vital ...
Views: 30 - The Soul and the Jivatman - by Submitted on Sep 17, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs the seeker proceeds in the path of yoga, it is important that he not misinterpret or misunderstand what he experiences or what the source of the experience may be. Most people confuse the terms Self, Spirit, and soul so that they really cannot appreciate the difference aspects or ...
Views: 413 - The Soul and the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Sep 25, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe soul is a portion of the Divine specifically detailed to each individual being that is created as part of the universal manifestation. The soul develops the inmost being, the psychic being, through lifetimes of experience. This psychic being grows, matures and transitions through birth and ...
Views: 390 - The Soul and the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Mar 05, 2026 from santosh krinskyIn his poem Savitri, Sri Aurobindo provides imagery to describe the nature and role of the soul, and the significance of the psychic being hidden deep within, carrying our human experience and human life to its eventual fulfillment. Sri Aurobindo writes: "But since she knows the toil of mind ...
Views: 40 - The Soul and the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Mar 31, 2026 from santosh krinskyThere is a type of cell in the body which is called a ‘stem cell’. The stem cell does not have a direct operational function; rather it is undifferentiated and capable of being activated to become any type of functional cell for any part of the body. Without pushing the example too far, the soul ...
Views: 27 - The Soul As the True Central Being - by Submitted on Jan 19, 2025 from santosh krinskyIn the West, the existence of the soul has been mainly perceived either as a matter of religious belief or scientific skepticism, neither necessarily based in actual experience. At one point, scientists decided that if the belief that the soul departs at the time of death is to be considered as ...
Views: 197 - The Soul Exists in All Living Beings - by Submitted on Mar 17, 2026 from santosh krinskyWe frequently mistake the development of the external form as representing the state of the soul. In human beings, this often takes the form of assigning worth or status based on education, race, social position within the societal hierarchy, wealth or positions of power. None of these things, ...
Views: 30 - The Soul Immediately Separates Truth from Falsehood - by Submitted on May 05, 2026 from santosh krinskyOur minds can be confused or manipulated. We can misinterpret what we see or hear or feel. Our vital nature can be led astray by the promptings of various vital reactions, including desire, lust, anger, as well as feelings the external nature considers positive as well as negative. Our physical ...
Views: 8 - The Soul Is Not Polluted by the Sinful or Evil Actions of the External Being - by Submitted on Apr 19, 2026 from santosh krinskyMany people believe that an evil, sinful life dooms the soul to suffering in hell for all eternity. This implies that the soul permanently takes on the burden of the actions of the external being in any lifetime. There are however other ways to look at the situation. Sri Aurobindo and the ...
Views: 16 - The Soul Provides the Continuity of Consciousness from Life to Life - by Submitted on Sep 24, 2023 from santosh krinskyWithin a particular lifetime we experience a sense of continuity of being, which we normally attribute to the ego-personality. The sense of ego helps us identify with the body, life and mind we currently inhabit and utilize. This ego-sense is held together by the force of memory and by an ...
Views: 406 - The Soul, its Evolutionary Development on Earth and the Universal Manifestation - by Submitted on May 08, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the ancient text of India, it is said that a human birth is essential for progress, and that even the Gods, if they desire to attain some new development, need to take birth in a human form. It is clear that generally the physical body, the vital nature and the mental development dissolve ...
Views: 445 - The Soul, the Evolution of Consciousness Through Time and the Soul’s Development from Life to Life - by Submitted on Sep 23, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe questions of what happens to us after we die, whether we are reborn, and if so, in what form or manner have occupied human beings from time immemorial. What is the purpose of life and what are we, as conscious individuals, supposed to do with the life we are living? The Tibetan Book of ...
Views: 358 - The Soul, the Psychic Being and the Evolution of Consciousness - by Submitted on Sep 18, 2023 from santosh krinskyMost people live their lives centered around the ego-personality and the external life. Their focus and actions are based in the needs, desires and gratifications that are put up by the body, the vital life-energy and the mind. They do not have a conscious relationship with the soul or the most ...
Views: 384 - The Soul, the Psychic Being and the Evolution of Consciousness - by Submitted on Mar 23, 2026 from santosh krinskyIn his text On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin outlined the evolution of life-forms on earth. He observed many species and posited that they all developed from a common ancestral past, having undergone substantial changes, mutations, that supported the success of those forms and ...
Views: 26 - The Soul, the Psychic Being and the External Mind, Life and Body - by Submitted on Apr 10, 2026 from santosh krinskyThe voice of the soul is quiet, not loud or insistent. It does not try to overpower the evolved external being, but rather to guide from behind, allowing the being to gain experience and turn toward the Divine as a natural progression, not a coerced subjugation. The body-life-mind complex ...
Views: 22 - The Soul, the Psychic Being and the External Nature - by Submitted on Apr 05, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhy do we not immediately recognise the existence and centrality of the soul? We tend to set our standpoint in the external consciousness which is directed outwards, and which is constantly receiving sense impressions and pressures impinging on our body-life-mind complex. The sense organs, ...
Views: 347 - The Soul, the Psychic Being, Is the Element That Makes the Divine Force Conscious for the External Being - by Submitted on Mar 11, 2026 from santosh krinskyThe soul, the psychic being, is a portion of the Divine that resides deep within. For most people, who are living in the surface consciousness primarily, the existence of the soul is a question mark, if they think about it at all. As we grow and face life’s challenges, however, we may begin to ...
Views: 41 - The Soul: the Mystic Flame in the Secret Heart of the Inmost Being - by Submitted on Apr 14, 2026 from santosh krinskyIt is impossible to dissect the body and find the soul. It is not an organ like the heart, brain, kidneys, lung, stomach or liver. We can thus establish that the soul is not the physical body or its component parts. The vital being, that part of us that feels, reacts, emotes is variable. Our ...
Views: 19 - The Soul’s Aspiration for Adherence to the Divine Will in Manifestation - by Submitted on Mar 21, 2025 from santosh krinskyThe most direct way to align oneself with the Divine Will is to treat the soul, the psychic being, as the standpoint from which the being takes its stance. This is not a mental analysis, a desire of the vital or a physical need or impulsion; rather it takes the form of an aspiration, a prayer, a ...
Views: 169 - The Soul’s Connection to the Divine and Its Role in the Divine Manifestation - by Submitted on Apr 10, 2024 from santosh krinskyMany spiritual practitioners have realized that the external life we customarily lead is a life of ‘illusion’, and that it is based in a flawed view of reality. This does not mean that our life, existence and action has no real significance; rather, that the way we define our lives, based on the ...
Views: 313 - The Soul’s Faith Is a Precursor to Attainment of the Truth of Existence - by Submitted on Dec 14, 2022 from santosh krinskyFaith is generally put in opposition to Knowledge, underlying the long-term dispute in the West between ‘religion’ and ‘science’. This debate has religion requiring belief in the tenets of the religion based on pure faith, and denying the validity of a science-based knowledge approach that may ...
Views: 569 - The Soul’s Journey Through Life, Death and Rebirth - by Submitted on Mar 05, 2022 from santosh krinskyOne level of the deep ignorance within which we live and act is our bondage to the specific individual life, personality and situation that we inhabit. We are generally unaware of anything prior to our birth or which occurs after our death. Some even take the view that there is no “meaning” and ...
Views: 591 - The Soul’s Progress Relies on an Earthly Incarnation - by Submitted on Feb 04, 2024 from santosh krinskySpiritual traditions around the world agree that it is on earth, in the physical body, that progress takes place. They treat the soul’s time in the body as the time for growth, for development, for maturation. When the soul leaves the body at the time of death, it goes through a transition that ...
Views: 368 - The Soul’s Radiance Permeates and Acts Even in Unconsciousness - by Submitted on May 10, 2026 from santosh krinskyThere is a type of radiation wave known as ‘gamma waves’ that has the power to penetrate most matter. The extremely short wave length of gamma waves allows it to penetrate atoms. High or prolonged exposure to gamma rays can cause damage to the internal organs of the body, even though we cannot ...
Views: 7 - The Source and Cause of Illness - by Submitted on Jan 28, 2022 from santosh krinskyWestern medical science holds that illness has several potential causes. Failing to digest food properly is one such cause. Stress on the body and its organ systems is another. A third is failure to obtain proper nutrition or fluids. Aging is considered a contributing factor in the breakdown of ...
Views: 590 - The Source and Nature of the Mental Substance - by Submitted on Aug 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyHow does Mind evolve out of Matter? Some scientists will tell you that through random chance, chemicals and electrical forces and heat led to the development of beings capable of reflecting, thinking and contemplating deep thoughts, exploring the nature of life and the universe, etc. They do not ...
Views: 435 - The Source and Nature of the Thoughts an Individual Receives - by Submitted on Jun 13, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we ask almost anyone where thoughts come from, they will say that they are produced in the brain. The brain is some kind of thought-factory. They don’t know how. They don’t know why. They don’t know what causes certain thoughts to develop. They recognise that sense perceptions influence the ...
Views: 550 - The Source and Origin of Desire and the Mechanism of Its Action in the Being - by Submitted on Dec 26, 2021 from santosh krinskyAn individual experiences a craving, an urge, a desire and automatically tries to fulfill it through some action. If it is hunger or thirst, the individual wants to eat or drink. If it is a more complex desire, something that cannot simply be accomplished, the mind is brought into the picture to ...
Views: 633 - The Sources of Disturbance and the Process of Detachment - by Submitted on May 28, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe tend to internalize and “own” our weaknesses or internal struggles. This is the ego-consciousness at work. We also fail to recognise that there are multiple different sources of pressures on us, some of which are ingrained habits we have accepted into our surface being, others are seeds we ...
Views: 554 - The Spectrum of Consciousness: From Superconscient to Inconscient - by Submitted on Aug 24, 2023 from santosh krinskyAll consciousness operates on a continuum with each plane representing certain vibrational spectra that are perceptible to those able to receive and process the vibrations of that plane. We know from research with various beings such as insects and animals of various sorts that they have ...
Views: 409 - The Spirit of the Yoga of Works - by Submitted on May 02, 2025 from santosh krinskyWhile we live and act from the standpoint of the individual ego-personality, we measure and respond to everything based on how it impacts us personally and directly, and judge things based on that impact. This leads us to treat as positive, those events and interactions that satisfy our desires, ...
Views: 201 - The Spirit, the Soul and the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Mar 15, 2021 from santosh krinskyThere is considerable confusion about the various terms used to describe the spiritual quest and the reality of our individual existence. Sri Aurobindo distinguishes and defines the different aspects or elements and their role in spiritual practice. There is additional confusion around the term ...
Views: 660 - The Spiritual Aspirant Has the Potential to Overcome the Limits of His Birth and Social Circumstances - by Submitted on Jul 30, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe are born into a family, a culture, a society, a given economic and political system, an educational process, and a vast number of social habits, customs and predilections which create for us a framework within which we are expected to take up our destined place in society and carry it ...
Views: 298 - The Spiritual Aspirant Marches to the Beat of a Different Drummer Than Those Who Focus on the External Life - by Submitted on May 13, 2025 from santosh krinskyThe spiritual aspirant necessarily has to change the way things have been historically and habitually done in the world if he is to make progress and move beyond the limitations imposed by the body-life-mind complex and all the traditions, rituals, habits, fixed ideas and vital-emotional ...
Views: 143 - The Spiritual Aspirant’s Opening to the Action of the Spiritual Force - by Submitted on Nov 04, 2025 from santosh krinskyThere are many things in the world that we cannot directly observe with our senses, yet which we otherwise believe to be real, based on the noticeable and palpable effects they have. We cannot ‘see’ gravity, but we feel its effects. Similarly, we cannot ‘see’ electricity, but we not only can ...
Views: 91 - The Spiritual Call Comes… Then What Needs to Happen Next - by Submitted on Nov 30, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe have a vision. We get inspired. We have a near death experience. We come back from the spiritual experience and we are sure it is meant to change our lives, as we suddenly have a whole new vista open up before us, a realm of truth, beauty, harmony, light. Then we come back into our normal ...
Views: 430 - The Spiritual Consciousness Brings a Vast Peace as a Foundation for the Transformation of the Nature - by Submitted on Sep 19, 2025 from santosh krinskyThe mind cannot adequately create, imagine, describe or image the experience of the descent of peace and vastness that takes hold of the being and superimposes itself over the activities of the mind, life and body. Until one has the actual experience, therefore, nothing specific can be said ...
Views: 127 - The Spiritual Experience Gets Watered-Down or Lost As It is Transcribed into the Mental Framework - by Submitted on Apr 21, 2023 from santosh krinskyHuman beings are essentially dependent on their mental perception in order to function in the world. This mental perception frames what we see, how we experience it, and our interpretation. We thus try to transcribe anything provided to us by our senses (or provided directly to the mind without ...
Views: 423 - The Spiritual Experience, Not the Mental Idea, Is the Focus of the Spiritual Practitioner - by Submitted on Feb 08, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe have the tendency to get caught up in trying to capture a line of thought or to verbalize a perception or idea. When we have an experience of the spiritual realms, the first thing we want to do is to create a thought-form to explain it, to organise it, and to be able to describe it. The very ...
Views: 316 - The Spiritual Growth of Modern Times - by Submitted on Jun 25, 2016 from Mitra ShahidiTo grow spiritually in a world defined by power, money, and influence is a Herculean task. Modern conveniences such as electronic equipments, gadgets, and tools as well as entertainment through television, magazines, and the web have predisposed us to confine our attention mostly to physical ...
Views: 1053 - The Spiritual Journey - by Submitted on Feb 21, 2013 from odette worrellMost ancient texts have explored the concept of healing, and modern medicine is now just beginning to document what I have personally experienced and what my clients have on our journey towards health…that the process of “healing” or becoming more “whole” happens simultaneously with one ...
Views: 1910 - The Spiritual Life, the Religious Life and the Ordinary Human Life - by Submitted on Jan 31, 2021 from santosh krinskyOrdinary human life is essentially driven by response to outer circumstances, and is based in the desires, needs and reactions of the ego-personality. The interaction between people in a society, whether in the smallest groupings such as the family, or larger groupings of community, country or ...
Views: 887