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Articles from santosh krinsky | Selfgrowth.com
- One Should Be Greater Than One’s Experience - by Submitted on Apr 22, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhenever an individual has any kind of powerful emotion or experience, he tends to “lose himself” in that experience. He becomes angry, or lustful, or ecstatic, or joyful and the feeling takes over his entire being and for a time, he “is” that force. The same thing can, and does, tend to happen ...
Views: 354 - Self-Knowledge and Self-Mastery - by Submitted on Jun 03, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe purpose of attaining self-knowledge is not to create an intellectual framework and be able to learnedly expound on a subject; rather, self-knowledge implies that the seeker has a purpose behind the effort. This purpose may be to find a way to gain ‘liberation’ from the existing life, to ...
Views: 354 - The Individual Seeker and the Best Path Forward in the Practice of the Yoga - by Submitted on Mar 11, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs each individual tries to understand his life and purpose, he begins a process of observation, review, and experimentation. At this stage, many seekers have little clue about the path that is best suited for them, and they may try out different approaches. Once a path has been identified, they ...
Views: 354 - Understanding Difficulties and Obstacles That Arise During the Yogic Process - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2023 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo is able to illustrate the different ways that seekers wind up facing and dealing with difficulties or obstacles that arise during the yogic process. This is not a “one size fits all” process due to the differing backgrounds, starting points, capacities and social environment ...
Views: 354 - The Complexity of Predicting the Destiny of Any Individual - by Submitted on Nov 23, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe predict the times and the seasons, we can predict to a certainty physical and mechanical operations, and we can even predict within a range, the pattern and scope of a particular set of events we set in motion in various fields. We expect that the physical world in which we live follows ...
Views: 353 - The Semi-Conscious Life We Lead - by Submitted on Nov 16, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we reflect carefully, we will recognise that much of what takes place in our lives occurs without our conscious awareness, participation or control. The activity of the cells, the nervous system, the internal organs are all virtually automatic functions that elude conscious oversight. Very ...
Views: 353 - 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: 352 - The Breakthrough to the Reversal of Consciousness - by Submitted on May 22, 2023 from santosh krinskySri Ramana Maharshi, to point the seeker towards the truth of his existence, asked ‘who am I?’ With persistent inquiry, the individual soon finds that this external personality, ego-self that we normally treat as who we are, is in reality a front, a shell, an illusion, and that the truth of our ...
Views: 352 - The Influence of Inner Planes of Consciousness on the Outer Life of the Individual - by Submitted on Nov 08, 2022 from santosh krinskyIn The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo devotes a chapter to the ‘sevenfold ignorance’. While we are fixated on our external mind, life and body and the life we lead in the external world, we remain ignorant of the forces at work, behind the scenes, to create what we call our being and personality, ...
Views: 352 - The Superman: an Evolutionary Leap Is Not Limited to the Mind’s Extrapolation from Its Present Status - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe human mind has difficulty imagining the possibility of an entirely new direction for evolutionary development, and tends to try to “read” the future by extrapolation from the present and the past. Thus, we see Nietzsche describing the “superman” as someone who has a higher mental ...
Views: 352 - The Value of Mental Preparation for the Practice of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 06, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe mind can be a powerful tool for spiritual growth, or it can become an obstacle under certain circumstances. Many devotees take the position that aspiration, devotion, surrender to the Divine is the only way forward. For those individuals that may indeed be true. Not everyone is capable of ...
Views: 352 - Transformation of Human Nature Requires a Shift of Standpoint Away From Absorption in the Actions and Reactions of the External Being - by Submitted on Jun 04, 2023 from santosh krinskyTransformation of human nature is not practical from a standpoint mired within that nature. Forces push the being in one direction or another, and the individual is under the power of the divergent drives put up by the physical, the vital and the mental being, compounded by the impact of the ...
Views: 352 - Contending With the Multitude of Beings That Exist Within Each Individual - by Submitted on Jun 24, 2023 from santosh krinskyAlmost everyone has the experience, from time to time, of acting out a different personality. We may say that someone “got out of bed on the wrong side this morning” when we see a normally cheerful and upbeat individual responding in a totally uncharacteristic way. We chalk this up to some mood ...
Views: 351 - The Path to the Attainment of Integral Self-Knowledge - by Submitted on Jun 20, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo describes at some length what he calls ‘the refusal of the ascetic’. This refusal is caused by the focus on the attainment of the Supreme by disregarding or even eliminating the relationship of the seeker to the life of the external world and society. He eschews ...
Views: 351 - Aids in Attaining Spiritual Realisation: the Scripture and the Guru - by Submitted on Jan 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyA 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: 350 - The Complexity and Difficulty of Achieving Complete Sincerity in the Spiritual Path - by Submitted on Dec 23, 2022 from santosh krinskySincerity is not as simple as believing in and meaning what we say to others. This is what we ordinarily consider to be sincerity. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have a much more far-reaching idea of sincerity relating to the practice of yoga in the furtherance of spiritual growth. Sincerity ...
Views: 350 - How to Convert Mental Seeking into Living Spiritual Experience - by Submitted on Jan 29, 2023 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo describes the first step to move from a mental seeking to a living spiritual experience as “the practice of concentration of your consciousness within yourself.” We ask what this means exactly. Some observation of our mental state discloses what we normally consider to be ...
Views: 349 - 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: 349 - The Essence of Karma Yoga — the Yoga of Works - by Submitted on Mar 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyHumanity has relied on social action, technology, and education as pillars of advancement and the development of humanity. Yet if we examine things closely we find that we are still driven primarily by the forces of ego and desire, even when they cloak themselves in a veneer of altruism or ...
Views: 349 - When the Fire Has Consumed All Its Fuel - by Submitted on May 07, 2023 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo translates Shwetashwatara Upanishad, Chapter Six, Verse 19: “Who hath neither parts nor works, for He is utterly tranquil, faultless, stainless, therefore He is the one great bridge that carrieth us over to Immortality, even as when a fire hath burnt up all its fuel.” When we ...
Views: 349 - Purification of the Being Is More Essential Than Extraordinary Spiritual Experiences - by Submitted on Jan 20, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe vital nature revels in having extraordinary experiences that arise as a result of spiritual practice or some type of opening to other planes of being. These experiences support the ego, making the individual feel special, uniquely qualified and selected for spiritual progress, and they are ...
Views: 347 - Risks and Difficulties Attendant on the Practice of a Yoga of Transformation - by Submitted on Mar 17, 2023 from santosh krinskyPeople tend to underestimate the risks and difficulties attendant on the practice of yoga, with a focus on the growth of consciousness and transformation of human nature. Once the seeker begins to try to make changes in long-standing habits of action and reaction, mental predilictions, vital ...
Views: 347 - The Intermediate Zone and Its Dangers - by Submitted on Apr 12, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe see many examples through time of individuals who began a spiritual quest with good intention and who later came to grief as they got caught up in the snares of what Sri Aurobindo calls the ‘intermediate zone’. When we leave behind the safety and security of the external consciousness and its ...
Views: 347 - The Mental and Vital Formation May Transfer Into a Next Lifetime Under Certain Conditions - by Submitted on May 06, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere are phenomena that are inexplicable under our normal understanding of life and death. The body dissolves, certainly, and the vital being and mental disperse soon thereafter and return into their native planes. Yet we find that occasionally it seems like a particular understanding or ...
Views: 347 - The Subtle Planes Are Causative to the External Physical Reality - by Submitted on Sep 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the Taittiriya Upanishad, a seeker undertakes a discipline to discover the truth of existence. He first lands upon the idea thta the material existence is the truth, as it is the basis and foundation of his existence. As he continues his concentration, however, he begins to realize that the ...
Views: 347 - Cognitive Bias and Occult Experiences - by Submitted on Apr 06, 2023 from santosh krinskyWestern psychology has investigated the impact of subtle forms of bias on what and how we perceive things, and how we interpret what we perceive. An individual’s cognitive bias subtly influences what he believes has occurred, and various people, witnessing the same event, but coming from ...
Views: 345 - he Three Gunas, Their Role in the Difficulties and Obstacles in the Yogic Development, and the Certainty of Success When the Divine Call is Present - by Submitted on Mar 15, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe importance of the rule of the 3 Gunas, the qualities of Nature, cannot be over-emphasized. Each of these qualities has both its positive aspects and its downsides, and they are functional in all life. They are continually in fluctuation and intermix with one another to create the events and ...
Views: 344 - The Shift or Reversal of Consciousness Happens All At Once, Not Gradually - by Submitted on May 26, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe are used to the idea that if we practice something, if we undertake a course of study, we will gradually increase our ability and our level of understanding, so that eventually we move, in the academic field, for example, from primary school to high school, to college, potentially to graduate ...
Views: 344 - Purity from the Moral Standpoint or the Spiritual Standpoint - by Submitted on Jan 22, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna poses the question to Sri Krishna as to how to identify the realised soul, asking how does he act, how does he speak, etc. Sri Krishna responds that it is not through outer action that one can identify the liberated individual, as this is something that can only be ...
Views: 343 - The Beginning of Liberation from the Limitations of the Mental Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 12, 2022 from santosh krinskyAs long as the mental consciousness remains insulated within its own range of awareness, it believes it has a power of knowledge and action that can be made practically infallible. Even when its shortcomings are made patently obvious, it believes that an improvement in its processes, or the ...
Views: 343 - The Greatest Difficulties Signal the Greatest Strength for the Yogic Practitioner - by Submitted on Mar 22, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen an individual is called to the yoga of transformation, he comes with all of his strengths, weaknesses, developed and latent capacities, and habitual ways of dealing with things, as well as his familial, social, economic and educational background. These frame the starting point for the ...
Views: 342 - 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: 341 - Endurance and Persistence Is Essential for the Change of Consciousness Aimed for in the Yogic Practice - by Submitted on Mar 30, 2023 from santosh krinskyMany people have the mistaken idea that taking up a spiritual practice is somehow due to weakness or inability to deal with the tough conditions of the outer world. They envision seekers retreating from the world and living in a monastey, cloister or ashram, being sheltered from the worst things ...
Views: 340 - How to Change One’s Consciousness, Part 2: Following the Clues to Spiritual Awakening Within - by Submitted on Dec 07, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe rightly recognise that memory is not the same as a living experience. Yet, the power of memory holds a key for those who wish to undertake spiritual development. We see this in the context of religious and spiritual pursuits that rely on the power of memory in some form to renew and actualise ...
Views: 340 - Sincerity Is the Only Protection in the Development of the Spiritual Life - by Submitted on Dec 22, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we consider what the most important quality is for progress in spiritual growth, we generally come up with a number of different ideas, including devotion, strong mind or will, faith, dedication, aspiration. We rarely name ‘sincerity’ as the quality most required. Yet, the Mother stresses the ...
Views: 340 - Even a Brief Glimpse of the Spirit Is Sufficient to Direct the Seeker to the Spiritual Path - by Submitted on Dec 03, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen an individual turns his attention to the spiritual path, he may experience along the way certain doubts as to his suitability, his capacity, and his ability to attain the truth described by those who have experience along the path and who describe various steps and stages. The way is long ...
Views: 339 - How to Make Progress in the Practice of Karma Yoga - by Submitted on Mar 05, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe tend to be carried away by the external focus in the work we are doing, and thus, the presence of mind needed to remember and offer is set in the background of our awareness. If we reflect on the state of consciousness we experience when focused on some external work, we soon find that we can ...
Views: 339 - Integral Purification of All Parts of the Being Is a First Preparation for the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 19, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the context of the practice of yoga, purification is not the enforcement of some kind of moral code or precepts. This is a common perception based on religious tenets that have abounded through the ages that set forth a moral code and try to both control the actions of people and judge them ...
Views: 339 - The Formation of Human Nature and the Character of the Individual and the Basis of the Resistance to Change - by Submitted on Mar 14, 2023 from santosh krinskyA yogic practice focus on transformation of human nature must necessarily address issues differently than one that has ‘liberation’ as its sole goal. This brings in the need for an understanding of the human instrument, the various elements of the being, the development of those elements through ...
Views: 339 - The Role of Spiritual Experiences in the Change of Human Nature - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe vital ego is attracted to the excitement of having experiences that are unusual or powerful. It therefore wants to find ways to repeat or expand upon them once they have had such an experience. In reality, however, there is very little of long-term value in this approach. The experiences ...
Views: 339 - The Seven Rays of the Infinite - by Submitted on Apr 09, 2023 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo starts the review of the Knowledge and the Ignorance by reminding us of the sevenfold principles of existence: “In our scrutiny of the seven principles of existence it was found that they are one in their essential and fundamental reality: for if even the matter of the most ...
Views: 339 - Four Instruments for Attaining the Perfection of the Practice of Yoga - by Submitted on Dec 13, 2022 from santosh krinskyPeople frequently seek for a very specific, directed form of practice which will provide liberation and spiritual perfection. They ask ‘what is the best form of practice’? Sri Aurobindo takes a much more flexible approach which is based on the need and development of the individual practitioner, ...
Views: 338 - Occult Powers and the Spiritual Sadhana - by Submitted on Apr 05, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn his lectures on Raja Yoga, in the chapter titled “Powers”, Swami Vivekananda explains how various occult powers arise or can be developed. The process is an extension of the preceding efforts of purification, quieting of the ‘mind stuff’ and then gaining the ability to fix the concentration ...
Views: 338 - The Development of the Spiritual Focus Over Time - by Submitted on Dec 02, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe tend to measure success or failure in terms of specific results we see in our relatively short, individual lifetime, based on our preconceived or societally sanctioned ideas about what constitutes success or failure. When it comes to progress in spiritual development, however, this is not ...
Views: 338 - An Overview of the Intermediate Zone and Ways the Seeker Can Safely Maneuver Through It - by Submitted on Apr 11, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs the seeker begins to shift the consciousness inward, he becomes aware of forces, powers, and realms that are the native venues for our physical, vital and mental energies and activities, as well as existing in and by their own form of reality and under rules that do not necessarily match up ...
Views: 337 - Habitual Responses and the Process of Auto-Suggestion Arising from the Action of the Subconscious Level - by Submitted on Mar 30, 2024 from santosh krinskyThere is a complex interaction between the external mind-life-body complex and the subconscious level of our existence. As we experience various things in our lives, including illness, accidents or various circumstances, our mind tries to build a pattern of recognition and develops a memory. ...
Views: 337 - The Seven Forms of Knowledge - by Submitted on Apr 09, 2023 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo concludes that once we have defined the seven forms of Ignorance, our aim and goal in our human lives must be to successively overcome the Ignorance through the development of the sevenfold forms of knowledge. Each aspect of the knowledge we develop addresses one of the already ...
Views: 337 - Untying the Knot of the Ego-Consciousness - by Submitted on Jun 26, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs long as an individual is locked within a framework of understanding, he is unable to truly recognise or exceed the limits of that framework. The ego-consciousness is such a frame of awareness. It creates the sense of a separate individual, apart and having his own autonomy in ...
Views: 337 - Work, Devotion, Meditation and the Practice of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Mar 06, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhatever the predominant aspect of the individual nature, the spiritual aspiration seizes upon that as the leading power to carry the sadhana forward. Nevertheless, at some point, it is important to recognize both the value and the necessity of the other aspects for what is after all an integral ...
Views: 337 - The Subconscient Is the Repository of Habits and Atavistic Behaviour That Must Be Cleared During the Yogic Process - by Submitted on Apr 02, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe bring into this life many propensities as well as genetic tendencies, which are compounded and accentuated by early learning that takes place in the family and in the society. Prenatal influences as well as learning that takes place after the birth process and in the very early childhood ...
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