Self Improvement Site
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
Self Knowledge Articles
We are currently looking for an Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to "Self Knowledge". If you have expertise in Self Knowledge and your own website and/or product for this topic, please review this form for complete details. The Official Guide Position is part of our Premium Placement Package
- The Sunlit Path of Yogic Practice - by Submitted on Nov 30, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe integral yoga works to shift the standpoint from the ego to the divine consciousness. As that is accomplished, the focus on the ego-personality and its suffering and difficulties and the feelings it is experiencing are reduced or entirely removed. The being is absorbed in the divine ...
Views: 560 - 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: 560 - 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: 560 - 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: 559 - 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: 559 - 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: 559 - 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: 559 - Non Expensive Indoor Gardening Tips & Tricks For 2022 - by Submitted on Oct 19, 2022 from agha hadi razaWhen this world first began millions of years ago, nature was the only thing that was present. Because of nature, man advanced along with its natural forces and learned many new things. But now, when we look at it, it seems as though nature has been put on the back burner. It is slowly ...
Views: 559 - 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: 559 - The Benefit of Shifting the Focus Toward the Higher Consciousness Rather than Focusing on the Struggles to Change the Lower Nature - by Submitted on Dec 06, 2021 from santosh krinskyWhatever we focus on intensely becomes stronger. If we focus entirely on the lower nature and its weaknesses, we actually are empowering them and giving them energy. In order to effectuate change in the lower nature, there must be an awareness of the areas that require change, of course, but not ...
Views: 559 - 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: 559 - Three Steps (and Beyond) to Eliminate the Ego-Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 22, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe ego-consciousness controls our viewpoint, how we respond to events and circumstances, and our relations with others. This is such an inherent and automatic framework of action, that we many times do not even notice or appreciate that it is there. When egoism becomes extreme, we can ‘see’ it, ...
Views: 559 - Withstanding Attacks by Hostile Forces in the Practice of Yoga - by Submitted on Dec 12, 2021 from santosh krinskyIt is a common occurrence for practitioners of yoga to adopt a position on one extreme or the other. Either they get fixated on dealing with weaknesses, failures, and attacks by forces inimical to their yogic progress; or else, they take the position that there is no reality to these forces and ...
Views: 559 - Dealing with Mental Resistance to Attempts to Silence the Mind - by Submitted on Jun 14, 2022 from santosh krinskyIt is quite natural for an individual, particularly a seeker attempting to make progress in the yogic process, to internalize the difficulties and blame them on his own weakness, incapacity, or lack of will power. The reality, however, is that this is a continuation of the egocentric viewpoint ...
Views: 558 - IP college in delhi for bba - by Submitted on Feb 12, 2020 from Saurabh GuptaLLDIMS is one of the best IP college in delhi for bba take a futuristic approach to inculcate such skills in you so that you stay unaffected by the technical shift of the job world. The skills you pick up in such colleges will act as your shield and enable you to find success throughout.
Views: 558 - The External Being’s Need For Sleep - by Submitted on May 16, 2022 from santosh krinskyThere are several different orders of activity that take place during sleep. Confusion about these separate things leads to mistaken attempts to simply limit sleep in order to ‘become conscious during sleep’. First, there is the activity that takes place with the external, surface being ...
Views: 558 - 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: 558 - Overcoming Desire Without Suppression or Indulgence - by Submitted on Dec 28, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe mental consciousness likes to frame issues in terms of black and white determinations, as ‘either/or’ considerations. So we tend to swing from one extreme to the other. Either we try to indulge ourselves in fulfilling desires, in some cases with the idea that by satisfying the desire we will ...
Views: 557 - Resting the Body with the Right Consciousness - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe machinery of the physical body has its own basic requirements for rest in order to function optimally. When one goes beyond the body’s capacity for effort at any point in time, and thereby becomes fatigued, a state of tamas tends to arise. This is inimical to maintaining the continuity of ...
Views: 557 - A Simple Method to Achieve Peace and Silence in the Mind - by Submitted on Feb 11, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere are a number of proven methods for achieving peace and silence in the mind. Some are more arduous than others. The more one works at it, the more inward pressure one asserts to try to achieve this status, the greater the intrusions that force themselves on the mind. This is the result of a ...
Views: 556 - Comparing Current General State of Human Consciousness With More Evolved States, Part 1 Unconsciousness Versus Increasing Consciousness - by Submitted on Oct 28, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhat does the evolution of a new power of consciousness imply? When we observe the impact that the Life-Force has had on Matter, we can see that it brings in a radical transformation of Matter itself to allow the Life-Force to act. Matter has to become more responsive, more flexible, less dense, ...
Views: 556 - Rebirth and the Individual - by Submitted on Mar 06, 2022 from santosh krinskyHow do we imagine our past, or future, existences? What about past life regression therapy? Is there a reality to the experience and if so, what does it mean to us? Many who believe in a future reincarnation have no conception of any past lifetime at all. They accept the reality of their current ...
Views: 556 - The Integral Yoga’s View of Mental Health - by Submitted on Apr 30, 2022 from santosh krinskyMental health in the West is generally understood to be a ‘negative’ state, the absence of various forms of disruptions that affect whether and to what extent an individual can conform or fit into the society and meet its expectations. The integral yoga views mental health in an entirely ...
Views: 556 - 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 ...
Views: 556 - Addressing and Overcoming Boredom - by Submitted on Jun 30, 2022 from santosh krinskyAs long as we remain bound to the ego-personality, we are caught in the play of the three gunas, or qualities of nature. Every individual is subject to all three, and their constant interchange. Thus, there will be times and circumstances where tamas, the quality of indolence and darkness comes ...
Views: 555 - Becoming Aware of the Existence of the Environmental Consciousness - by Submitted on Sep 04, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen we see someone struggling, or when we ourselves are struggling, with some feeling, emotion, thought, idea, force of illness, or just feeling some pressure, we usually associate these with our internal experience of reality, but nevertheless, the fact that forces and influences come from ...
Views: 555 - 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: 555 - Dual States of Consciousness in the Being - by Submitted on Jul 27, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe normal human individual lives primarily in a state of consciousness that is immersed in the outer life, including the inner reactions to that life, and the functions of the body, life-energy and mind. This is true whether the person considers himself to be an extrovert or an introvert. The ...
Views: 554 - Escaping the Conflict and Battle of Thoughts in the Mind - by Submitted on Jun 15, 2022 from santosh krinskyThrough 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: 554 - 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: 554 - The Experience and Difficulty of Drawing Inwards in the Consciousness - by Submitted on May 06, 2022 from santosh krinskyUntil an individual has an actual experience of what the Mother calls ‘interiorisation’, there is no real way to understand what it is about. Many people believe that if they sit quietly in meditation, or follow an internal train of thought, that they have an inner experience, but this is not ...
Views: 554 - Understanding the Causes and Prevention of Illness - by Submitted on Jul 10, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere are many ideas about the causes of illness, as well as ways to prevent or cure illness. In the West, the prevalent idea is related to what may be called the “germ invasion” theory, namely, that illness is caused by specific physical ‘germs’ (bacteria or viruses) which invade and overpower ...
Views: 554 - Wise Words of Socrates - by Submitted on May 25, 2022 from Scott & Stephen PetulloSocrates (469-399 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher and one of the originators of Western philosophy. He is most known for the Socratic method, which involves repeatedly asking questions instead of relaying information. Due to his unconventional style and outspoken pursuit of the truth, he was ...
Views: 554 - Contacting and Connecting With the Universal Vital Force, Part II - by Submitted on May 24, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen we fixate on the fulfillment of the body-life-mind complex in our external being, the exclusive concentration involved helps us to temporarily lose sight of the larger Oneness of which all are a part. We then put ourselves in opposition to other aspects of the one Reality and treat each ...
Views: 553 - 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: 553 - Four Steps to Avoid Suffering - by Submitted on Jun 16, 2022 from santosh krinskyMany people suppose that it is impossible to avoid suffering, as it is an inherent aspect of life on earth. Their strategies for dealing with suffering may vary, but they all believe that suffering is inevitable. When we consider, therefore, the idea of avoiding suffering, we are either met ...
Views: 553 - 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: 553 - Psychoanalysis and Yoga Don’t Mix - by Submitted on May 08, 2022 from santosh krinskyWithout the power to control and purify, an individual faces great risk in dredging up all kinds of subconscious energies, fears, experiences, dreams and desires. Psychoanalysis focuses on tapping into this subconscious level, but it does not start with any process to arm the individual with the ...
Views: 553 - Study Tips for the MBLEx - by Submitted on Mar 13, 2021 from Ananta AnonProspective massage therapists and massage therapy graduate students often struggle to pass the national MBLEX certification exam. The MBLEX is a certification test and exam that all aspiring massage therapists must pass before receiving a license. Most of the 50 states are now accepting MBLEX ...
Views: 553 - The Necessity of Transformation of the Lower Vital Nature - by Submitted on Nov 01, 2021 from santosh krinskyIf the goal of the spiritual seeker is to attain liberation or realisation, the vital nature can be, for the most part, disregarded. For an integral yoga that has transformation of life through the implementation of the next phase of the evolutionary cycle, such a direction cannot be accepted. ...
Views: 553 - Can you book Umrah yourself from the UK? - by Submitted on Nov 02, 2023 from Ady GrewalThere are still many people who are hesitant about doing the Umrah on their own. Due to the high cost of Umrah Packages the Umrah agents are not particularly informative. Of course, agents are not superfluous; in fact, in some circumstances, they are quite important, since not everyone is able ...
Views: 552 - How to Overcome the Obstructions of the Vital Being - by Submitted on Nov 08, 2021 from santosh krinskyAs has been shown time and again when individuals have attempted to change the vital nature, the attempt is doomed to only partial success, if not ultimate failure, if the struggle is carried out under the conditions of the vital being. Almost any method, process, technique, control mechanism or ...
Views: 551 - The Example of Great Souls Facing the Difficulties and Issues of Human Spiritual Development - by Submitted on Dec 06, 2021 from santosh krinskyPeople tend to assume that great beings such as Buddha or Christ are exempt from the issues that the “rest of us” have to face in the world, and in the practice of spiritual sadhana. They simply assume that these great souls somehow fly above the ground-level obstacles that plague us. In fact, ...
Views: 551 - 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: 551 - An Integral Repose — the Ideal State of Sleep - by Submitted on May 17, 2022 from santosh krinskyUsually when most people go to sleep, they simply ‘let it happen’. This carries with it all of the mental, emotional, vital-nervous, and physical energy pent up in the being at the time, into the sleep state. Add to this mix the state of fatigue that prevails, and it can lead to restless, or ...
Views: 550 - The Nature of the Mind Creates and Enhances Much Human Psychological Suffering - by Submitted on Apr 10, 2022 from santosh krinskyIt is often said that animals do not suffer in the same way that humans do. They experience pain and can suffer from it, but they seem to not be tortured by all of the mental suffering that we go through in our lives. The major differences are first, the ability of the mind to observe itself and ...
Views: 550 - The Sources of Disturbance and the Process of Detachment - by Submitted on May 28, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe tend to internalize and “own” our weaknesses or internal struggles. This is the ego-consciousness at work. We also fail to recognise that there are multiple different sources of pressures on us, some of which are ingrained habits we have accepted into our surface being, others are seeds we ...
Views: 550 - The Subconscient Basis of Our Individual Being, Part 3 - by Submitted on Sep 02, 2022 from santosh krinskyThere are realms that operate under different rules, or laws, than what we have come to expect here. Our earthly life is a complex amalgam of physical, vital, mental and psychic consciousness, and this mixture implies that none of these are able to express themselves in the purest sense of their ...
Views: 550 - Patience and Perseverance Are Need for the Practice of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on May 07, 2021 from santosh krinskyWe live in an age that expects instant success, immediate gratification and results that occur with a minimum of effort. It is difficult, therefore, to appreciate that the spiritual path, whether the integral yoga, or any other path that assumes a change to human nature or a redirection of the ...
Views: 549 - The Nature and Power of Sincerity in the Practice of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on May 13, 2021 from santosh krinskyFor spiritual practices that seek a solution outside the life in the world, it is possible to try to “cut the knot” and simply abandon, or at least minimize, the active engagement of mind, life and body in the world. For a spiritual practice such as the integral yoga, however, which aims at a ...
Views: 549