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As consciousness develops in the seeker, it clearly brings with it changes in the way the seeker perceives and understands and reactions to events, situations, people, opportunities, etc. What is often forgotten is that it is not the extraordinary and massive experiences that effectuate ... Views: 443
All sensations carry signals through the nervous system to the brain, which then can interpret the signal. The signal may be more or less intense. It may be interpreted as pain or pleasure. Intensity of the sensation has something to do with the experience and its interpretation. There is a ... Views: 196
In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna: “Verily this Yoga is not for him who eats too much or sleeps too much, even as it is not for him who gives up sleep and food, O Arjuna.” (Bhagavad Gita and Its Message, tr. by Sri Aurobindo, Ch. 6, V. 16) It is interesting to note that one of ... Views: 70
Giving the body the rest and recuperative time it needs, the spiritual aspirant still has to deal with the effects of what is normally a descent into a more tamasic status that can have its impacts on the waking consciousness. If we wake up tired, groggy or cloudy, we have not only not fully ... Views: 74
The primary initial difficulties faced by the sadhak in overcoming the vital nature are related to the Gunas of Rajas and Tamas. Rajas is naturally energetic and somewhat aggressive and thus, it tackles issues with vehemence. When it becomes frustrated or suffers a setback, it tends to recoil ... Views: 531
The mind provides a filter to manage and control the vital forces to a certain degree. While it is not perfect, without it, an individual can become subject to whatever vital energy is active and rising up within him. At the same time, the mind acts as a limitation on the ability of the ... Views: 166
The primary standpoint for most people is that they are a physical body endowed with Life, Mind and (potentially in their minds) a Soul. Everything starts from the primacy of the body and its centrality in their view of their lives. This makes the purpose of life one of survival and procreation, ... Views: 334
In one of his aphorisms, Sri Aurobindo points out “the ego was the helper; the ego is the bar.” We frequently get the feeling that somehow the ego is truly an obstacle to our spiritual development, without looking at it through the lens of the evolutionary arc of the development of ... Views: 369
Assume that we succeed, through various methods of meditation or concentration, to bring the mind into a status of relative quiet. At that moment we begin to notice that there is this other running commentary going on in the background, reacting to every sense impression, bodily sensation, ... Views: 580
The transmission from one individual to another, or from an atmosphere created by a number of individuals together upon others entering that environment, is both a matter for vibration and a matter for actual physical carriers of those vibrations. The body exudes these particles as it vibrates ... Views: 351
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that certain individuals, by virtue of their innate status as superior beings, could not be bound by social rules or morality or ethics. While the implication may be understood to apply to those who have evolved beyond the ‘need’ for such contextual social rules, the ... Views: 548
When the spiritual aspiration awakens in an individual, he often feels like he has to leave his employment and take up some work that is more ‘spiritual’. He tends to equate the type of work with some ill-defined spiritual nature. Thus, we frequently see spiritual people, and organizations, take ... Views: 214
The individual drops of water that make up the ocean do not determine the movement or action of the ocean. They are carried along and partake of the larger forces that act upon and through the ocean. The are a small pinpoint ‘nexus’ of the ocean action but not the motive or driving ... Views: 359
We tend to equate strength with outward expressions whether it be through physical power, emotional pressure, bullying, or the use of mental will force to achieve one’s intended results. We talk about “strong man” dictators who, in particular, use threats, bullying and police power to pressure ... Views: 232
Summary: Trump's judgment is challenged on the morality and bankruptcy of his casinos and his understanding of healthcare. Healthcare is not medical care with prescription drugs that have become a leading cause of illness and death.
Donald Trump boasted of better judgment on CNN's State of ... Views: 1227
We 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: 307
Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do. ― Benjamin Spock
Trusting ourselves means trusting our intuition or our gut feelings. Intuition is a great self-help tool as it is with us at all time and can tell us what we really want or don’t want in our life and what we need to be ... Views: 1149
Sometimes I wonder what could generally be the force behind most of our activities. During the day, and perhaps so during a year, a decade or even a life, man continues to perform certain deeds as if he had been programmed much earlier and his actions seem to be automatic. It is not just with ... Views: 1474
The average person might think of hypnosis, based on what they've seen in entertaining stage shows, as a means to control other people. But that's a myth and hypnosis actually has many benefits most people aren't aware of.
Hypnosis is defined by The American Heritage Science Dictionary as “A ... Views: 1479
What’s preventing you from hearing your own Guidance?
Turning down the unnecessary, unfounded, negative static of the thinking mind, allows us to better hear and feel our own Guidance.
The first step in doing this is to notice thought. Catch thought in action, ranting on in its ... Views: 1149
The external world has a way of commanding attention for most of us. We experience sights, sounds, smells, touches or tastes through our senses and they have an immediacy that draws our attention to them. These sense impressions also tend to carry with them additional content, mental ideas, ... Views: 40
It is interesting to see how much of the so called New Age thoughts are a more fashionable continuation of deeply ingrained religious beliefs. And as religions have been the expression of incomplete insight into the nature of our own self, of God and of the world, so are the modern New Age ... Views: 2568
For the spiritual seeker there are two major transformations ahead of the ultimate supramental transformation. These are the psychic transformation and the spiritual transformation. The one opens up the devotional aspiration and the receptivity of the being. The other shifts the standpoint away ... Views: 520
The Mother describes two conditions for preventing illness from invading the physical being. The first condition is basically ‘not to want it’. When we reflect on this, the first reaction is that we don’t want it! This is however not the complete picture. We have to recognise that the human ... Views: 281
There must be some form of inner connection or resonance for any vibration to succeed in impacting an individual. On the more general basis, the physical body represents a connection to the material world, so that actions which impact the material world may obviously impact the physical body. ... Views: 577
Development of the inner attitude of dedication, and remembrance of the Divine in work is a progressive process. Initially, most people are unable to actively keep the focus and remembrance while concurrently concentrating on the work at hand. Sri Aurobindo introduces two methods to begin to ... Views: 590
The Yoga of Knowledge focuses on the realization of the Self, the consciousness above which is free from the illusions of the external life that most people lead. The Yoga of Devotion focuses on the realisation of the psychic being which turns the being and the sense towards the Divine.
The ... Views: 43
What causes an individual to ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ someone they meet. Some obvious reasons include similarities or differences in temperament, responses to situations, idea-sets, lifestyle, and, based on acculturation, accidental characteristics such as religion, social standing, career, or ... Views: 581
There is no clear line of demarcation between the 3 major paths of yoga that are based in the primary aspects of development, the yoga of knowledge, the yoga of devotion and the yoga of works. As they proceed down their somewhat different paths, they must necessarily gain aspects of and bring ... Views: 516
There is a considerable amount of confusion about objectives and methods related to the practice of the integral yoga, primarily due to widely spread ideas about spirituality in general and well-known paths and disciplines that have their own fixed methodologies. Integral Yoga has a different ... Views: 120
When the spiritual aspirant hears that he must eliminate desire from his consciousness, he frequently takes this as a message of ‘renunciation’ and thereby determines to live an isolated life free from the efforts involved in living in the world and interacting within the societal framework. ... Views: 594
While the integral Yoga does not depend on the techniques or methods of the traditional yogic paths, Sri Aurobindo has identified several processes that can be of great help in some cases. They help the seeker achieve a state of separation from the outer ego-personality and vital desire-soul, to ... Views: 542
Spiritual experience takes ‘knowing about’ something to ‘knowing’ it. What we learn from books, what we learn in school, the facts we memorize, the procedures we learn about, are all based in the intellect and while they may open the mind to new things, do not represent actual experience. The ... Views: 505
Chapter 2 from "The Magic Words, by Jon Lovgren.
Two Times to Forgive
Ho’oponopono
The Pathway to Peace
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
-Helen Keller
Welcome to ... Views: 1135
When we reflect on the difficulty of changing basic human nature, and overcoming the general habits and patterns of universal nature expressing itself in us, we may easily recognise that none of the characteristic powers of mind, life or body will be sufficient to accomplish real and lasting ... Views: 534
Sri Aurobindo provides a detailed overview of the causes and types of suffering we experience and how to transcend the suffering through a shift in standpoint away from the external nature to the Self above or the psychic being within.
Sri Aurobindo writes: “It is not the soul that suffers; the ... Views: 13
One of the sacred cities that exist in India includes the name of Ujjain. It is because of its rich heritage and culture that everyone knows about Ujjain in India and in other parts of world. Ujjain is really a religious city and a must visit place.
Ujjain is famous city of Madhya Pradesh. ... Views: 1060
Umrah is the lovely Sunnah of our Prophet (PBUH) and it is commended to perform Umrah to invigorate the Muslim's faith in Allah, Prophet PBUH, and day of judgment. In Umrah, the pilgrim will visit Kaaba, places in Makkah, and Ziarat in Madinah at entirely sensible rates. Our organization is a ... Views: 663
Unconditional love is the act of loving someone regardless of one's actions or beliefs. It is the act of loving without expecting anything in return. It is about not looking at their skin color or any of their physical features, but looking right into someone’s soul and loving them the way ... Views: 2541
A story was related by an individual in business which. at the time, seemed somewhat unusual, but now, in context, makes a lot of sense. He indicated that he had a customer who would think about him when she needed to place an order for goods for her store. They seemed to have a very tight ... Views: 324
As the evolution of consciousness unfolds we see the development and expression of ever-increasing powers of knowledge and action. There are powers of perception, there are powers of thought and reflection, there are powers of vital expression, emotion, and there are physical powers. Because ... Views: 287
How easy it is, and how comforting, to look at someone who opposes us, or who is creating some form of havoc in the world at large and simply label that individual as pure evil, as a Rakshasa, an Asura, a Demon, or some other form of hostile being. And yet, those individuals are actually part of ... Views: 221
Sri Aurobindo translates Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Chapter One, Section Two, Verse 1: “Formerly there was nothing here; this was concealed by Death — by Hunger, for it is Hunger that is Death. That created mind, and he said, ‘Let me have substance.’ He moved about working and as he worked the ... Views: 145
There is a physical sensation that often accompanies the descent of the higher Force into the being. Some people relate this as a type of pressure in the head. Some experience headaches initially. Some find their being shaking to some degree as the nervous system absorbs and distributes the ... Views: 615
We have a fixation on food. We do not seek food just for nourishment and proper care of our bodies, generally; rather, we use food to provide us with comfort, emotional support, and fulfillment of desires for various tastes. We center many of our relationship rituals around food.
At some ... Views: 132
Sri Aurobindo provided advice to an individual who was trying to sort out the direction for his life and how to face the difficulties that confronted him, particularly with respect to certain vital weaknesses to which he was prone. Sri Aurobindo analyzed the condition of this individual in great ... Views: 488
Sri Aurobindo provided advice to an individual who was trying to sort out the direction for his life and how to face the difficulties that confronted him, particularly with respect to certain vital weaknesses to which he was prone. Sri Aurobindo analyzed the condition of this individual in great ... Views: 520
If we examine the phenomenon of anger closely we see how it suddenly rises up and overpowers even those who are normally quite even-keeled in their day to day lives. By studying mob psychology, where we see a large number of individuals inflamed in a crowd setting and set into motion to wreak ... Views: 518
Shifting the awareness away from the ego-consciousness to the divine standpoint takes place as a ‘tuning’ process which Sri Aurobindo designates as ‘aspiration’. This represents a focus of the attention of the being on the higher consciousness and away from the normal fixation on the outer life ... Views: 559
The question of ‘hostile forces’ is one that generally needs a certain amount of reflection. In the West, the major religious denominations frequently speak of the devil, the fallen angels, Satan, and other beings to which they attribute a malignant power that pressures human beings to commit ... Views: 647