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Many 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: 336
Each part of the being has its own form of endurance. Endurance is essential for any true and lasting development. Change tends to be mostly incremental. When it comes more rapidly it is usually accompanied by major disruptions to the status quo. In either case, one form of endurance, or ... Views: 124
There are a number of different ways that physically alive beings draw and obtain energy. Human beings tend to rely heavily on eating food, and converting the food into other forms of energy to carry out work in the body. Plants, on the other hand, rely primarily on direct conversion of sunlight ... Views: 422
The digital world is much more different than the real-time world in front of us. When it comes to parenting, we all must have been in scenarios, where our kids are too much indulged into phones and spending more time with it than they actually do with the friends and family. The fact is that ... Views: 640
English Medium School in Noida is the very first institution that brings children from different walks of life together and teaches them to march hand-in-hand for mutual benevolence. Therefore, any sense of equality, be it economic or gender-related, begins from school, and schools have a ... Views: 477
We as members of the baby boomer society have seen great icons leave this world. We grew up with these icons, we watched them grow up on television, and they were such an important part of our daily life.
It is hard for us to imagine Jamie Lee Curtis advertising for Activia, or Henry ... Views: 1659
An afternoon stroll with your dog down the road of the block or in the park can be a stress relieving experience. Well, only if your dog doesn’t create leash issues.
If you are a dog owner, then you will surely have bumped into a street poll, tangled with a bench or crashed into a fence while ... Views: 811
There is a complex game called ‘chess’. The modern form of the game reputedly developed from a strategic game that appears to have originated in India in around the 6th or 7th century, although there were likely precursor forms that existed prior to that time. As a game of strategy, the object ... Views: 414
A feeling, an emotion, a thought arises within us. Do we ‘manufacture’ these, or are we the recipients of them from elsewhere? If we manufacture them, how exactly do we do that? Where does the basis for that thought or feeling come from? What causative factors are there for a specific feeling or ... Views: 322
The divine Force that descends is not a theoretical event, but a real experience with consequences for the mind, life and body of the seeker. The seeker must be prepared mentally, vitally and physically for the action of this force in the being. The story of the unbaked jar, which cannot sustain ... Views: 467
How do we typically respond to the situations that we meet in the world? We want to fulfill our desires, have our wishes and ideas carried out, and have a modicum of control in our lives. When things do not go as we wish, we become frustrated, angry, resentful or otherwise upset. On the other ... Views: 403
Through the process of affinity and filtration of thoughts, when we remain in the plane of the mind, we experience the struggle and resistance of competing thoughts that appear to be in many cases chaotic in nature. Fighting with these thoughts, struggling, suppressing, all turn out to be ... Views: 443
We are usually so busy focusing on the day to day lives we are living that we rarely take the time to reflect on the larger significance of the universal manifestation and what role we, as individuals play in this development. The concept of maya, the cosmic illusion, is based on our ... Views: 380
The importance of the development of a habit of quietude and reflection cannot be over-emphasized. The preliminary purifications of Patanjali’s yoga works to create this kind of foundational support to avoid imbalances and dangers that can arise when the seeker experiences openings to forces ... Views: 348
When 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: 335
We like to have certainty, safety, and fixed map that provides us directions, steps, milestone markers and which will lead us to the goal of our seeking. Spiritual development, however, is not quite the same as an automobile or train trip from one city to another. The complex nexus that is ... Views: 355
Open letter to everybody:
Did you ever notice that every single individual on earth feels himself or herself in a way superior to everyone else? What about you? Do you also have a subtle, deep, but convincing feeling that in a way, you are better, nicer, smarter, deeper or more intelligent ... Views: 1184
People proudly deny occultism with a laugh and a smirk about how unreal it is, and how people are taken in by the occult sciences. They state their dependence on what is “real” and “solid” and palpable to their senses. Seeing is believing, they say! They frequently pound on the table to prove ... Views: 142
Nature takes a long time to effectuate substantive evolutionary progress in manifesting higher, more complex and more powerful forms of consciousness. The shift from the realm of Matter took countless millennia. The first appearance of Life was simple and, again, the time required was far beyond ... Views: 391
We observe an outer fact of existence, but we do not see the motive force behind it, nor the intention behind the motive force. Thus, Darwin identified an evolution of species, and researchers have identified families of species, development of specific characteristics within those families and ... Views: 451
There are many ideas about rebirth, how it works, and the relationship of suffering to an individual’s life and, through operation of karma, potential future lifetimes. Much of this is based on an underlying implicit assumption that the self-awareness that an individual holds in this lifetime ... Views: 536
There is a long tradition in the West that does not accept evolution in any form as an acceptable explanation for life on earth. This view is set forth in the creation story in Genesis where God created each form and being of its own kind and created human beings to act as stewards of the ... Views: 616
Evolutionary changes take place in what we may call “evolutionary time”, which measures major changes over millennia, certainly far beyond the span of any individual human lifetime. Thus, when we look at any attempt to modify human nature, not to speak of physical characteristics that are ... Views: 422
Golf is a ball and club sport in which golfers use clubs to hit a ball into a series of holes using the fewest number of strokes. The game is generally played on large areas which are known as golf courses. The uniqueness of golf courses is that, they are not standardized playing areas; instead ... Views: 806
There remains considerable confusion about the role of will-power in the development of the spiritual life of the individual. On the one side, the seeker is asked to not give in to the force of vital desire, and the will is often confused with desire. Thus, the idea of acting without desire is ... Views: 411
Most of the general anxiety that millions of us suffer from is the result of making poor choices: poor choices in what we choose to focus on, what we give our attention to, who and what we issue our power to and poor choices about our own identity. These poor choices lead us into a mindset of ... Views: 1722
Scientists nowadays are speaking of infinite numbers of parallel universes, each one carrying out some different ‘choice’ that can be worked out. Not every world is based on the same set of factors and choices as the world we currently inhabit. There are also realms that are not physical in the ... Views: 198
When we are rooted in the body consciousness, we experience intensely the reactions of the physical body to circumstances and events. We may experience a feeling of pleasure, or pain, and as the intensity of that experience captures our focus, we are generally unable to pay attention to vital ... Views: 211
There is a complete reversal of consciousness that occurs when the inner being opens and the awareness shifts inward. It may be experienced as a separation of an observer watching all the actions and events in the outer world, including the thoughts, feelings, perceptions and outer stimuli that ... Views: 631
The Vedic Rishis sought the Truth, the Right, the Vast. (satyam, rtam, brihat). They understood that the awareness limited to the ego-personality, the individual body-life-mind complex, was incomplete and could not comprehend the truth or meaning of existence. They sought to identify with the ... Views: 397
While a segment of humanity does not accept the idea of rebirth, choosing instead to either suggest that this one lifetime is the entire frame and limit of an individual’s existence, or else, that after death they will be resurrected to go before a seat of judgment and either be assigned to ... Views: 349
Dreams have kept researchers awake for the entire history of mankind. Where do dreams come from? Of what substance are they made? What significance do they have? The ancient Greek culture had oracles who interpreted dreams. The Old Testament of the Bible recounts the rise of Joseph in the land ... Views: 499
When we read Sri Aurobindo’s aphorism noted below, we tend to focus on the second part of the equation, the “bar” to achieving the higher result. There is an implication thereby that we have already achieved the first part and that we are thus ready to proceed to the next phase or stage of inner ... Views: 400
Sri Aurobindo makes an important point. Various aspects of reports about subtle senses and supraphysical realities as they impact our external world, have been documented, and in some cases, extensively studied and verified. Once we accept the fact that there is a real and solid basis for these ... Views: 214
What we see in others in many cases is a mirror to what we contain within ourselves. We understand what is taking place because we are able to receive the vibration and internalize it and translate it into something that resonates in our being. In Western psychology there is a concept called ... Views: 27
Many people are abandoning formalized religions while saying that the external rituals are simply missing any inner spirit or force, that they are simply empty and do not get to the heart of the matter. There is a keen insight here that is useful for those who wish to practice the yoga of ... Views: 350
As these articles pertain to spirituality and the meaning of life there are some questions that come up repeatedly. It does not mean there are definitive answers, but one can try to respond to them.
A logical question would be to ask where the author gets his information. Here is a ... Views: 1225
As the spiritual seeker develops the internal witness awareness, viewing the actions and reactions of the various parts of the being, it is frequently noted that the closeness of the view leads the aspirant to become overly critical of one’s own flaws, weaknesses, habits etc. This same type of ... Views: 488
There are implications for anyone accepting the mission to work toward the evolutionary change of human nature, speeded up by the yogic process. We think we should somehow have amazing spiritual experiences, and live in a world of peace, sunshine and joy. The reality is likely to be far ... Views: 10
In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asked Sri Krishna to place him between the two armies ready to engage in a civil war, with massive numbers of troops on each side, so that he could view the scene before the actual fighting started. At that moment he was struck by the magnitude of what was about to ... Views: 2
Thousands of people move across the country every year. They may be moving because of job relocation, family emergencies or just looking for a change of pace. In any case, once you have decided to move, the very first question that comes to mind is how much does it cost to move across country. ... Views: 975
There are countless stories of what may be called the “placebo effect” for confidence in action. Athletes sometimes believe they will perform better if they are wearing a specific shirt or pair of socks. People have their ‘lucky charms’ that they believe provide them success in certain ... Views: 136
There is a tendency in the human mind to create an artificial division between faith, based in the divine Grace, and effort, based in the mental, vital and physical being of the individual. Thus, if we have faith, we tend not to ‘worry’ about specific actions we can or should take. It is a type ... Views: 130
People have an inner ‘commentary’ and ‘sound track’ going on virtually constantly in their heads. The ‘sound track’ may be a piece of music they heard which keeps repeating in their minds, what is colloquially called an ‘ear worm’. It may also be something of far less enjoyment such as a ... Views: 2
At some point in their spiritual quest, seekers are generally confronted with the question of ‘fasting’. Some paths recommend fasting as a method to lighten the heaviness of the ‘earth consciousness’ and make the being more receptive to higher vibrational energies. Some point out that fasting ... Views: 439
Islam is the most practised religion in the world. Muslims are present in almost every region of the world and practice its teaching in their daily day life. As it is the psychology of every Muslim to know about their religion and the things by which they can get virtue. As the fasting is the ... Views: 1107
Fear 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: 452
In The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo describes the sevenhold ignorance which limits the human being. We live in a world about which we know very little, and we lack a complete understanding of the significance of our lives, the meaning of existence, or the processes of Time. As a result, we act as ... Views: 548
I finished writing my first book not too long ago. I found it difficult identifying what my expectations were since I’ve never done this before. The entire process of getting the book in print and to being in your hands was an emotional roller coaster. I had to keep reminding myself “process ... Views: 1522
Several years ago there was a world-wide pandemic that affected many tens of millions of people, which was called the covid-19 pandemic. It provided us a clear opportunity to see the impact of fear on the reactions of people. Panic ensued. Stores closed, public access was shut down in many ... Views: 186