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Articles from santosh krinsky | Selfgrowth.com
- Two Introductory Methods to Develop Remembrance in Work - by Submitted on May 29, 2021 from santosh krinskyDevelopment 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: 468 - Two Methods for Achieving Equality of Feelings with Others - by Submitted on Feb 23, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhat 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: 468 - The Emergence of the True Soul and Its Influence on Our Lives - by Submitted on Sep 14, 2021 from santosh krinskyWhen they were asked how they develop their most inspired concepts or inventions, noted personalities such as Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla made it clear that it is not through some laborious process of thought, but through an inspiration, a vision, a process of understanding that is outside ...
Views: 467 - Understanding the Quality of Sincerity in the Practice of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on May 10, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe general definition of sincerity as understood in society is the quality of unifying one’s intention with one’s words or actions. This definition is a good starting point for understanding sincerity in the yogic sense. The major difference between the two is the level of inward review and ...
Views: 467 - Westerners and Indian Yoga, Part 2: A Hindu Temperament in a Westerner’s Body? - by Submitted on Mar 29, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen a Westerner takes up a serious yogic practice, they frequently hear that they must be Hindu souls born into Western bodies. They are then viewed as somehow anomalous to the cast of mind, vital force and emotions that tend to develop through life-long exposure to Western culture, educational ...
Views: 467 - Becoming Conscious In Sleep - by Submitted on May 15, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen the idea of becoming conscious in sleep is raised, many people try simply to find ways to remain awake somehow in sleep. This process generally leads to exhaustion, and imbalances in the physical, vital and mental complex of the outer nature. Sleep is restorative to their processes, and any ...
Views: 466 - Psychoanalysis and Yoga Do Not Mix - by Submitted on Nov 15, 2021 from santosh krinskyWhatever an individual focuses on takes on a large, central position and other aspects shift into the background. This is the secret not only of concentration of effort, but also on an understanding of the issues surrounding practices such as psychoanalysis in relation to a practitioner of yoga. ...
Views: 466 - Conditions for the Practice and Progress on the Path of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Nov 04, 2021 from santosh krinskyPeople throughout time and around the world, from all different backgrounds and religious or spiritual traditions, have developed a number of ways to integrate their religious or spiritual beliefs and practices into their lives. Some simply disregard these things and live a life of satisfaction ...
Views: 465 - Dealing with the Physical Mind in the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Oct 20, 2021 from santosh krinskyPractitioners of spiritual and religious disciplines inevitably are confronted with the habits and expectations of the physical mind in day to day life. There is a constant pressure to provide regular meals that suit the taste of the individual, comfortable surroundings to support the day to day ...
Views: 465 - Issues in Understanding the Mechanism of Sleep and Dreams - by Submitted on Aug 25, 2021 from santosh krinskyWe spend a large percentage of our lives in the realm of sleep, and the dreams that accompany the sleep state. We have very little actual knowledge of what takes place during our period of sleep, although scientists do extensive studies on the electrical activity in the brain during sleep and ...
Views: 465 - Mental and Vital Formations and Habits of Acceptance Which Create Obstacles for the Soul’s Victory - by Submitted on May 31, 2022 from santosh krinskyEvery part of our being has certain habitual patterns of responding to, accepting and dealing with forces and vibrations that enter into them. These habitual patterns for the most part lock in the old ways of seeing and acting, and it takes a change in standpoint from the mental-vital-physical ...
Views: 465 - Art and Literature in the Service of Spiritual Development - by Submitted on Mar 20, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhile they are not a substitute for spiritual sadhana, art, music and literature nevertheless have a role to play, both as a means to access and express the inner aspiration and as a way to bring to the external being some of the force of the spiritual development taking place internally. Those ...
Views: 464 - Is Inner Spiritual Growth Possible While Engaging with the External World? - by Submitted on Feb 15, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we look at the spiritual and religious traditions of the world, we find that a recurring theme is the need of the true seeker to disassociate himself from the outer life of the world. This is done to focus the attention on the spiritual quest and to avoid the distractions, disruptions and ...
Views: 464 - 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: 464 - Yoga: The Science of Consciousness - by Submitted on May 29, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn our modern world, we see the wide dissemination of yoga, primarily as a means of gaining some measure of control over the body, through the postures developed and taught under the rubric of ‘hatha yoga’. In many instances, teachers of hatha yoga have taken the step of teaching their students ...
Views: 464 - Comparing Current General State of Human Consciousness With More Evolved States, Part 4 Agitation Versus Peace in the Being - by Submitted on Oct 31, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we observe ourselves carefully, we find that as a natural consequence of the distractions and the dispersion of the consciousness, we have little if any calm and peace in the being. We experience not only the more overt forms of anxiety and concern, but the more subtle forms of nervous ...
Views: 463 - Controlling One’s Thoughts - by Submitted on Jun 12, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe mind is always active, jumping from one input source to another, depending on the senses and their objects, the various forms of media we are consuming, including radio, tv, music, reading, social media, etc.; but also on a variety of internal factors including nutritional factors, ...
Views: 463 - Faith In and Receptivity to the Guru - by Submitted on Jan 12, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn Essays on the Gita, Sri Aurobindo notes that every scripture has both a ‘temporal’ and an ‘eternal’ aspect. The temporal aspect is transitory, changes from time to time and from culture to culture, based on the societal background within which the scripture has been produced. The knowledge ...
Views: 463 - Obtaining a Clear Perception and Understanding of Life Purpose and Significance - by Submitted on Nov 25, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we examine closely our mental state when we undertake activities with which we are familiar, experienced and educated, we see that our minds are sharp, our perceptions are detailed and our understanding is precise. We find it easiest to achieve this status with external things, although some ...
Views: 463 - Reading, Mental Development and Spiritual Growth - by Submitted on Mar 24, 2022 from santosh krinskyThere is a general bias in our society that holds that someone who has a developed mentality, and who is ‘well-read’ is smarter or more intelligent than those who cannot read or who have limited reading capacity. Yet it must be recognised that intelligence cannot be measured, as is done in the ...
Views: 463 - The Meaning of Faith - by Submitted on Dec 26, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe mind is not an instrument of knowledge. It is an analytical and organising tool, but is unable, on its own, to establish truth or certainty. It also maintains a certain arrogance in its own powers, and thus, when confronted with something beyond its own capabilities, it doubts the veracity ...
Views: 463 - Understanding the Limitations of the Physical Mind - by Submitted on Jun 10, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe are used to superimposing our higher intellectual control on the physical mind and its operations. The physical mind still acts, but we generally limit its application through this process. At the same time, however, we do not consciously pay attention to its action or the impact of that ...
Views: 463 - Four Common Forms of Resistance by the Lower Vital to the Transformation Required - by Submitted on Nov 01, 2021 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo considers yoga to be, in a certain sense, applied psychology. The review and understanding of one’s own actions and deeper motives and motivations is essential if one is going to overcome the limitations and habits of the lower nature and eventually receive and manifest new ways of ...
Views: 462 - How to Quiet the Mind - by Submitted on Jun 06, 2022 from santosh krinskyIt is a virtually universal experience. One sits for meditation, trying to quiet the mind, and the thoughts keep surging and seem to have more intensity than before! Every sensation seems to provoke some activity in the mind, pent up issues or concerns take that time to come to the fore, ...
Views: 462 - Relaxation: Dissipation or True Rest? - by Submitted on May 11, 2022 from santosh krinskyIf we examine our attitude towards relaxation, we find, generally, that people look at relaxation as a type of reward for efforts made. They work hard all day, or all week, or they finish a major project they are focused on, and then it is time to “relax”. In the West, there is an institution ...
Views: 462 - The Nature of Divine Love - by Submitted on Jul 01, 2021 from santosh krinskyThere is an apocryphal tale in the Mahabharata which illustrates the nature of Divine Love and the devotion of the seeker. Narad, the divine sage, came across a yogi who was practicing austerities. The yogi took the opportunity to ask how long before he would achieve liberation. When Narada told ...
Views: 462 - Psychic Love Surpasses Human Love - by Submitted on Feb 08, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe unique dynamics of living in a spiritual or religious community make it especially important to understand the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) distractions that can arise when the long habitual reactions of the vital nature, as well as the strong cultural pressures, developed over ...
Views: 461 - The Practice of Yoga Through Surrender, Self-Giving and Consecration - by Submitted on Apr 28, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe challenge faced by the aspirant trying to bring about the action of a new basis of awareness and action, is that continued reliance on the habitual means and methods of mind, life and body, inhibits the free active intervention of this new consciousness. The process of exceeding the ...
Views: 461 - The Process of Turning Work into Yogic Practice - by Submitted on May 28, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe Bhagavad Gita proclaims that ‘yoga is skill in works’. The type of focused concentrated effort that comes about through a yogic practice is an essential aspect of completing any task skillfully. It does not imply, however, that all ‘skill in works’ is necessarily yoga, unless by that one ...
Views: 461 - 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: 461 - Avatars and Vibhutis Focus Their Attention and Action on the Work to Be Done - by Submitted on Mar 10, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe mind creates a number of illusions and misconceptions about Avatars and Vibhutis. Many of these ideas assume, wrongly, that a conscious manifestation of the Divine in the world must be likewise all-knowing and all-powerful, and they thus attribute miraculous powers and actions to those who ...
Views: 460 - Sadhana Is the Core Focus — Mental and Emotional Practices Are Secondary - by Submitted on Mar 19, 2022 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo makes a clear distinction between development of the mind and the heart through various intellectual or artistic pursuits, or through music or devotional activities, and the practice of Sadhana, which is the primary need and focus for the spiritual aspirant. While any of these ...
Views: 460 - Understanding the Defense Mechanism of Projection - by Submitted on Apr 12, 2022 from santosh krinskyDue to what we may call ‘observational bias’ we tend to attribute intention and motive to others that we ourselves have internally and project our internal response onto the other party, without knowing exactly what the cause of their action may be from their standpoint. Some of this is due to ...
Views: 460 - Westerners and Indian Yoga, Part 5: the Yogic Path Is Not Limited by Race, Origin or Religious or Cultural Background - by Submitted on Apr 01, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe objective of the integral yoga is to support the evolutionary process of the development and integration of the next stage of consciousness, beyond the mental consciousness. This step is necessary to overcome the limitations of the current mental framework which have helped create the ...
Views: 460 - Concentration Is Not the Same As Meditation - by Submitted on Jan 30, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere is considerable confusion about meditation and concentration. They are, however, not quite the same. Achieving a meditative state inwardly can aid in the development of concentration. Certain forms of meditation utilize techniques that lead to concentration. Yet meditation can be calm, ...
Views: 459 - Causes and Solutions for Physical Fatigue - by Submitted on Jan 17, 2022 from santosh krinskyIn the field of medicine, there is a practice known as ‘differential diagnosis’ which examines symptoms and looks at the variety of potential causes before suggesting a remedy or curative action. The classic example is one of headache, which can have innumerable potential causes, including ...
Views: 459 - 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: 459 - The Need for the Guidance of the Guru - by Submitted on Sep 20, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe snares of the desire-soul of the vital nature are often subtle and can easily overpower the mind. Thus, motivations that represent the gratification of the ego are frequently justified by the mental processes and thus, can continue even when the seeker believes that he is carrying out the ...
Views: 459 - The Surface Personality Is Not the Real Self of Our Existence - by Submitted on Sep 13, 2021 from santosh krinskyDevelopment in our world of existence takes place in a sequential manner, systematically developing the physical framework, the body, and then manifesting the vital, life-force and developing its powers, adding in thereafter the mental layer and subsequently, we see the signs that further stages ...
Views: 459 - Fear and Fearlessness in Life and in Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 15, 2022 from santosh krinskyFear arises in the lower vital, in some instances, as a direct vital response to an energy that threatens health and safety of the individual; in other words, it is part of the survival instinct. But it also arises through social acculturation, such as in issues of stage fright, or through ...
Views: 458 - The Attitude Towards Food and the Practice of Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 24, 2022 from santosh krinskyThere is considerable confusion, and a resultant variety of ways that spiritual seekers respond, to the question of food. Ordinarily food should not lead to any sense of bewilderment, as it is simply a necessity for the maintenance of the physical body in general. The issue arises when food ...
Views: 458 - The Nature of the Resistance of the Mind-Life-Body to the Pressure of the Divine Force - by Submitted on Nov 23, 2021 from santosh krinskyEach aspect of the human instrumentality provides its own characteristic forms of resistance when a new, higher evolutionary force tries to engage them and redirect them along the lines it proposes. The underlying issues relate to the action of Tamas in the physical level, Rajas in the vital ...
Views: 458 - Transitioning to the Silent Mind - by Submitted on Jun 08, 2022 from santosh krinskyAssume 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: 458 - Understanding the Limitations of the Mechanical Mind - by Submitted on Jun 11, 2022 from santosh krinskyAt a very basic, rudimentary level, less developed in the evolutionary scale than the physical mind, lies what is termed the ‘mechanical mind’. This level relies heavily on programmed repetition. It is programmed to have a simple instruction set, to repeat continuously whatever ‘sets off’ its ...
Views: 458 - Waking and Sleep, Day and Night - by Submitted on Aug 25, 2021 from santosh krinskyDuring daytime, we see the sun, the atmosphere and the world around us, and our thoughts and activities, for the most part, are focused on the life of the world. At night, we see the vast ranges of space and the myriad of stars, and can thereby recognise that our world is a small part of a much ...
Views: 458 - Friendship and Affection — Human and Divine - by Submitted on Feb 06, 2022 from santosh krinskyHuman relationships are subject to eventual disappointment in almost all cases. Friendship and affection are generally based in the ego and its gratification and at some point, the needs and goals of the individuals may diverge, they may be separated due to distance, illness or death, or there ...
Views: 457 - Pain and Suffering: the Play of the Gunas and the Role of the Vital Nature - by Submitted on Aug 04, 2022 from santosh krinskyThere is a part of the vital nature which takes a perverse pleasure in flaunting illnesses, pain and suffering publicly to collect the sympathy of friends and acquaintances. These things become the topic of conversation and extensive gossip. Thus, the vital nature may prolong, accentuate or even ...
Views: 457 - The Limitations of the Thinking Mind - by Submitted on Oct 14, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe development of the mental consciousness has brought about enormous changes for life on earth, and as the foremost species utilizing the mental consciousness, humanity has taken the mind to limits never before considered as possible. Advances in logic, science, philosophy, psychology, ...
Views: 457 - The Necessity of a Luminous Faith in Following the Spiritual Path - by Submitted on May 05, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe long-standing debate between science and religion pits the rational intellect with its demand for facts, proof, and logical inference, along with rigorous testing to achieve reproducible results to dispel doubt against the religious conviction based on faith. Science looks down on faith as ...
Views: 457 - The Subconscious Basis of Our Individual Being, Part 1 - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe tend to not only identify with the values of our family, our country, our religion, but we also internalize the standpoint taken by them, so that we view situations, actions and reactions, and history through the lens of this standpoint. This of course can create a highly biased viewpoint of ...
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