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Articles from santosh krinsky | Selfgrowth.com
- Speak Truth, Not Falsehood - by Submitted on Feb 22, 2022 from santosh krinskyTruth. This term is subjected to considerable interpretation in today’s world. Some say that there is no such thing as ‘truth’ and that ‘truth is relative’. Some hold that what one person understands as ‘truth’, seen from a different perspective, is falsehood. Some indicate that ‘today’s truth ...
Views: 440 - Speaking About One’s Spiritual Experiences - by Submitted on Feb 21, 2022 from santosh krinskyAn individual has a peak spiritual experience, or something unusual takes place in his inner life about which he has no prior knowledge or understanding. This creates an impulse to speak of the experience to other people. There can be a number of motivations for talking about an inner experience ...
Views: 546 - Specific Incarnations of Gods and Their Powers in the Hindu Tradition - by Submitted on Apr 09, 2021 from santosh krinskyIn spiritual and religious traditions around the world, we see a proliferation of names and personalities of God. This has engendered much confusion for people who talk about monotheism versus polytheism. When one looks deeper into the question, however, it becomes clear that in most cases, ...
Views: 595 - Speech and the Practice of Yoga - by Submitted on Feb 17, 2022 from santosh krinskyHuman beings are talkative creatures. The power of speech, the power of language is one of the most highly developed areas of difference from most other species on the planet (there are other beings that have speech, but to date we have not found them to have the complexity and breadth of ...
Views: 572 - Spiritual Awakening: Moving Away From Disillusionment to Finding Meaning in Life - by Submitted on Jul 31, 2025 from santosh krinskyAs we grow and experience life, there may come a time when we become disillusioned. We may feel like there is no meaning or significance to what we do. We feel like we are running in a hamster wheel, or on a treadmill, always striving to earn money to survive and maybe have a bit of enjoyment. ...
Views: 0 - Spiritual Development Can Occur Regardless of One’s Activities in the World - by Submitted on Apr 27, 2025 from santosh krinskyFrom early childhood we are inculcated with the idea of achieving success, becoming foremost and occupying a position of power, prestige or wealth in the world. Parents drum this idea into the mind of their children that they need to study, attain degrees, choose suitable (lucrative) careers, ...
Views: 35 - Spiritual Development Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint - by Submitted on Jul 25, 2025 from santosh krinskyA devotee by the name of Satyakama Jabala approached a respected Guru, in a story related in the Chhandogya Upanishad. He asked for teachings so he could achieve realisation on the spiritual path. The teacher asked him his name and family background, to which the young seeker replied that he did ...
Views: 4 - Spiritual Experience and Psychoanalysis - by Submitted on Nov 14, 2021 from santosh krinskyHumanity has a tendency to try to judge everything by its existing level of perception and knowledge. Thus, for most of human existence, people ‘knew’ that the sun rotated around the earth and that the earth was the center of the universe around which everything else moved and upon which ...
Views: 533 - Spiritual Experience Comes and Goes Until the Nature Becomes Ready for a Total Shift of Standpoint - by Submitted on May 17, 2023 from santosh krinskyMost people who take up spiritual practices are deeply involved in some kind of regular practice and, as with everything else in the normal life, they look for signs and signals that show they are making progress in their chosen path of development. An experience comes, some new revelatory ...
Views: 294 - 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: 122 - Spiritual Experiences and Spiritual Realisations - by Submitted on Jul 17, 2021 from santosh krinskyOur vital nature crazes ‘excitement’ and to gather ‘experiences’. It is no different for the spiritual aspirant than for the rest of humanity in this regard. Spiritual experiences tend to be extraordinary in the sense that they go beyond the everyday perceptions or sensations and tend to have a ...
Views: 436 - Spiritual Experiences and Transformation of the Nature - by Submitted on Oct 13, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe vital nature is always interested in, even fixated on, the idea of having dramatic ‘spiritual experiences’. These experiences can open the eyes of the seeker to a wider reality, and can help reorient the direction of the life, sometimes in unusual or unexpected ways. There are many instances ...
Views: 579 - Spiritual Experiences Are Real - by Submitted on Jul 25, 2021 from santosh krinskyFor the individual who has a spiritual experience, one of the most notable characteristics is the absolute and incontrovertible ‘reality’ of the experience. Yet, people who live primarily in the surface consciousness tend to treat such experiences, when related, as somehow less real or even ...
Views: 489 - Spiritual Experiences Are Real - by Submitted on Jul 25, 2021 from santosh krinskyFor the individual who has a spiritual experience, one of the most notable characteristics is the absolute and incontrovertible ‘reality’ of the experience. Yet, people who live primarily in the surface consciousness tend to treat such experiences, when related, as somehow less real or even ...
Views: 503 - Spiritual Experiences Manifest When They Are Ready and When the Seeker Can Perceive Them - by Submitted on May 20, 2023 from santosh krinskyOur ability to perceive is limited both by the scale within which we are able to perceive, as well as the operation of the “all or nothing” phenomenon. Thus, events are occurring, activities are underway at wavelengths below those we can perceive, and above those we can perceive. At some point, ...
Views: 309 - Spiritual Growth and the Development and Use of New Powers of Consciousness - by Submitted on Aug 29, 2024 from santosh krinskySpiritual seekers harness the powers of body, vital being, emotions and mind in order to develop and eventually attain the goal of their seeking. The power of dedicated work, the power of the breath, the power of devotion, the power of concentration all have a part to play in the seeker’s ...
Views: 186 - Spiritual Humility - by Submitted on Dec 23, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe quality of humility is important to keep the ego in check, but even here, the ego finds ways to create an artificial form of humility that actually reinforces the ego. Those following an inspiring leader, or treading a path that provides true spiritual experience may use their position to ...
Views: 606 - Spiritual Insight, Not Psychotherapy, Leads to Deeper Truths of the Being - by Submitted on Oct 29, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs human beings typically rely on their mental capacities to understand things, seekers frequently take the advice of tracing back to the roots of the impulses, thoughts, feelings they experience as requiring a method akin to the processes followed in psychotherapy. Western psychotherapy uses ...
Views: 255 - Spiritual Liberation and the Transformation of Life on Earth - by Submitted on Mar 24, 2021 from santosh krinskySpiritual seekers have long looked at liberation from the bondage of life in the world, and oneness with the Transcendent, the Absolute, as the key focus to demand their attention. This is of course an essential step in freeing the individual from the current limits of mind, life and body, and ...
Views: 687 - Spiritual Practice Requires Strength of Body, Life and Mind - by Submitted on Jan 16, 2022 from santosh krinskyMany people mistakenly believe that those who take up the spiritual life and withdraw from active involvement in the outer life of society, marriage, familiy, commerce, governance, etc. are somehow weak or unfit to succeed in society and they are “taking the easy way out”. It is true that some ...
Views: 427 - Spiritual Progress Requires Non-Attachment to Specific Spiritual Experiences - by Submitted on Apr 23, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe external being wants to have a stable basis by which it can understand and act in the world. The tools that support this stable basis include habit, fixed tendencies, instincts, education, memory and even the way the mental processes work, comparing new impulses of the senses to past memory ...
Views: 299 - Spiritual Progress: Personal Effort or Surrender to the Divine Grace - by Submitted on Jul 06, 2025 from santosh krinskyWe see in the legends about great yogic practitioners and their struggles to achieve the spiritual results, a variety of approaches. Two major approaches have been categorised as the “baby monkey” and the “baby cat” approach. The differentiation involves the way the individual participates in ...
Views: 14 - Spiritual Realisation Goes Beyond All Scriptures - by Submitted on Jan 02, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe live in a dynamic, evolving universe, not one that is static and unchanging. All teachings of the past, therefore, have their limitations. In his Essays on the Gita, Sri Aurobindo reminds us that all scriptures have both a temporal element, specific to their time and their circumstances, and ...
Views: 387 - Spiritual Realisation Is Not the Same as Supramental Transformation - by Submitted on Oct 04, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe supramental transformation involves the manifestation in the world of the next stage of consciousness beyond the mental level. Just as the evolution of mind brought about enormous changes in life on earth, the evolution of supermind will have a transformative effect on all existence, on the ...
Views: 492 - Spiritual Realisation Through Concentration in the Heart Centre - by Submitted on Sep 23, 2022 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo distinguishes between a “mental seeking” and a “living spiritual experience”. While those who are intellectually-minded frequently confuse ‘knowing’ with “KNOWING”, there is actually a clear distinction between the ability to read, hear, memorize and repeat back a teaching, which ...
Views: 369 - Spiritual Realisations and Experiences - by Submitted on Mar 31, 2023 from santosh krinskySpiritual Realisations and Experiences Posted on April 1, 2023 There is an interesting tale in the Mahabharata when the preceptor Drona was teaching the sons of Dhristarashtra and Pandu, the royal princes of the kingdom, the lesson of the day, which was “not to become angry”. He asked each of ...
Views: 430 - Spiritual Sadhana Varies by Individual Based on Temperament and Situation of the Sadhak - by Submitted on Feb 12, 2022 from santosh krinskyNot everyone can achieve spiritual progress using exactly the same methods or disciplines. The “one size fits all” approach tried by many religious or spiritual communities of the past only works if their members are all basically similar in temperament and their spiritual development. We have ...
Views: 450 - Spirituality and Family Life - by Submitted on Feb 09, 2022 from santosh krinskyFor spiritual and religious aspirants, there has always been a pressure to give up the focus on family life due to the inherent distraction that a family creates for the seeker. Whether the seeker takes vows and enters a monastery or cloister, or leaves family behind to follow a particular ...
Views: 727 - Spirituality and Occultism - by Submitted on Aug 15, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe lure of occult powers and experiences can be a considerable obstacle for the spiritual seeker who becomes enmeshed in the idea of developing these capacities. There is a reason why traditional paths of spiritual development eschew the use of the occult powers that arise naturally as one goes ...
Views: 575 - Spirituality Transcends All Religions - by Submitted on Mar 14, 2022 from santosh krinskyMany people confuse spirituality and religion and then try to associate various spiritual paths with specific religious traditions. Spirituality, however, is not based in the beliefs, practices, or customary folkways of any religion. Spirituality seeks for direct experience of the greater ...
Views: 615 - Spirituality: What It Is Not, and What It is - by Submitted on Nov 28, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe frequently hear people speaking about spirituality. They indicate ‘I consider myself to be spiritual, not religious.’ Beyond that distinction, however, when one asks what they mean by ‘spirituality’ there is a wide range of responses that make it clear that spirituality is mostly something ...
Views: 357 - Spiritually Effective Work Depends on the Inner Attitude - by Submitted on Apr 30, 2025 from santosh krinskyWhenever we act in the world, whether it is a job, or any kind of activity that involves the expression of energy in the external world, whether physical, vital, mental, etc. we generally do so with a particular ambition, motivation, desire or need. It could be based on physical needs for food, ...
Views: 33 - Sri Aurobindo’s View of the Supramental Transformation - by Submitted on Oct 02, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe spiritual landscape is vast, and there are innumerable objectives and paths that can be taken. Sri Aurobindo describes briefly his approach to spiritual growth and its relation to the process of an evolution of consciousness in the earth-nature to incorporate what he calls the supramental ...
Views: 462 - Stages and Forms of Meditation and Contemplation (Dhyana) - by Submitted on Feb 15, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere is considerable confusion about what exactly meditation is. This is compounded by the fact that there are numerous different techniques that are taught as meditation, ranging from practices that are called ‘mindfulness’ to those that include detailed visualisations Sri Aurobindo provides ...
Views: 393 - Stages of the Development of Peace in the Being - by Submitted on Feb 02, 2023 from santosh krinskyWith all the complexity surrounding the reactions we have to impressions and pressures we receive from the world, it is important to both understand the seed causes of our reactions and find a way to systematically gain control over these reactions. One of the techniques recommended by Sri ...
Views: 384 - Stages of the Non-Reactive State of Being - by Submitted on Dec 14, 2024 from santosh krinskyMost people do not reflect on the state of their inner being. They tend to live on the surface and respond or react to whatever happens to come their way. They become happy or unhappy based on how circumstances impact them. They are essentially under the control of external events or happenings ...
Views: 112 - 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: 102 - Steps Needed to ‘Become Conscious’ - by Submitted on Nov 01, 2023 from santosh krinskySome people believe that an intense aspiration is all that is needed to overcome the obstacles that prevent seekers from seeing, understanding and effectively responding to the forces that drive the outer life they lead. Others emphasize the details of the methodology to gain the needed insights ...
Views: 271 - Steps Toward Achieving a Calm Mind - by Submitted on Feb 07, 2023 from santosh krinskyEverything comes to the seeker based on his ability to tune his focus and maintain that focus in an unwavering manner over time. Sri Aurobindo, in his book The Mother, sets forth the methodology as “aspiration, rejection, surrender”. Aspiration is the will from the depth of the being to achieve ...
Views: 435 - Subtle Energetic Interchange, Sexual Relations and the Inner Consciousness - by Submitted on Mar 10, 2024 from santosh krinskyHuman interactions, human relationships have both a surface meaning and a subtle hidden energetic action. One of the most powerful vital energies in human life is sexual relations. By examining how this force operates, both overtly and on the occult levels, we can quickly see the mechanism that ...
Views: 245 - Success: Its Meaning, Measure and Ultimate Significance in the Supramental Transformation of Consciousness - by Submitted on Jun 02, 2021 from santosh krinskyWe frequently identify success, as defined by our minds, as an indicator of divine Grace; yet this is driven in many cases by the ego, not by the larger viewpoint of the Divine. In a complex world that is undergoing evolutionary transformation driven by the manifestation of a new power of ...
Views: 508 - Suggestion and Illness, Spiritual Force for Healing and the Use of Medical Treatment - by Submitted on Aug 11, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhether consciously or subconsciously, suggestions reach the being from the outside world, in some cases impacting directly on the body, and in others through the mind or the vital being. When these suggestions arrive subconsciously, we only recognise the thought or feeling when it arises within ...
Views: 470 - Suggestions Can Cause Illness, or Cure Illness: the Link Between Mind, Emotions and the Physical Body - by Submitted on Aug 09, 2022 from santosh krinskyThere are names for various impacts that the mind has on the health of the physical body. For instance, there is hypochondria, which is noted when an individual accepts a suggestion in the mind that they are suffering from a particular illness. Even if they are not at the time having that ...
Views: 771 - Suggestions Coming from the Vital World Also Impact Our Responses - by Submitted on Apr 19, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe vital worlds are generally unseen and unrecognised by us, as they do not take physical forms in the same way as our external world within which we live and act. This does not imply, however, that they do not have interaction with our world and the beings, including ourselves, that inhabit ...
Views: 203 - Supermind - by Submitted on Jun 18, 2023 from santosh krinskyWithin the framework of our mind and the experience of our vital existence, we are inculcated in the belief that everything is subject to duality, good and bad, happy and unhappy, light and dark. We cannot generally conceive of an existence that is not subject to these pairs of opposites. We ...
Views: 359 - Supraphysical Powers of Darkness and the Earthly Life - by Submitted on Dec 16, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe great religious traditions of the world virtually all relate a battle between Powers of Darkness and the Powers of Light. Regardless of the specific names and forms each tradition adopts, the similarities speak to a human experience of a supraphysical reality that impacts life on ...
Views: 417 - Supraphysical Sensory Experience: Latent Powers, Not Miracles or Delusions - by Submitted on Aug 16, 2021 from santosh krinskyIt is human nature to want to be able to explain away events, circumstances or experiences that are not understood. For much of human existence, the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the existence of the stars, the power of the oceans, the wind or the storms were described as actions of ...
Views: 579 - Sustaining the Yogic Endeavour in the Unique Challenges Posed by the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jul 26, 2025 from santosh krinskyFor those individuals called to take up the integral yoga, there is a unique opportunity and a unique set of concerns that arise. Those paths of yoga which aim at liberation have their own difficulties. It is not simple to escape the lures of the external life, or even to undertake ...
Views: 3 - Tapping Into the Universal Forces Rather than Interchange with Other People - by Submitted on May 21, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe are very much creatures of habit, and thus, when it comes to our intake of energy, we tend to habitually turn to a preferred method of reception. For most people, the primary source is food. Most people engage in vital interchange with others, and there is a subtle interaction that can both ...
Views: 397 - The Action and Power of Suggestion - by Submitted on Aug 10, 2022 from santosh krinskySuggestions are not just directed at the mind; nor are they restricted in their impact on just the mind. We are used to the process of people making suggestions to us constantly about what we could, or should, do or how we could, or should, respond to a situation. We weigh these suggestions not ...
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