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- 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: 566 - The Necessity, Process and Benefit of Stepping Back from Involvement in the External Surface Consciousness - by Submitted on Sep 08, 2022 from santosh krinskyWhen we live on the surface of our being, we are highly reactive and tend to act without reflection, jumping at events or circumstances and responding to the slightest provocations. Even something as frequent as someone driving too slowly or too close triggers anger and in some cases, what is ...
Views: 515 - The Need and Benefit of the Power of Concentration - by Submitted on Sep 29, 2024 from santosh krinsky“By askesis do thou seek to know the Eternal, for concentration in thought is the Eternal.” Thus spoke Varuna to Bhrigu in the Taittiriya Upanishad [Sri Aurobindo’s translation]. Swami Vivekananda’s lectures on Raja Yoga, expounding the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, with an extensive commentary, ...
Views: 285 - The Need and Method for Observing One’s Thoughts - by Submitted on Jun 17, 2022 from santosh krinskyAvoidance of suffering may be considered as a ‘negative’ status. Achievement of happiness is the positive pole of this continuum. Both states are rooted in the mind and the standpoint that the individual takes. When the scriptures speak of “evil thoughts” or “purified thoughts” this is not ...
Views: 554 - The Need and Method to Become Conscious and Change the Nature - by Submitted on May 05, 2022 from santosh krinskyWe identify something about ourselves that we would like to change — it could be a physical transformation we seek, or a way to address an imbalance in our feelings or emotions, or it could be a change to our mind-set to overcome ideas of weakness, failure, incapacity, etc. We then try to find a ...
Views: 548 - The Need and Process of Transforming the Subconscient - by Submitted on Nov 13, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe subconscient is the home, in the earth consciousness, of the quality of Tamas, just as the vital manifestation is the natural home of the quality of Rajas, and the mental level and above would be the natural home of the quality of Sattwa. These are all mixed up in the human being, interact ...
Views: 593 - The Need and Significance of Psychic Education - by Submitted on Feb 09, 2024 from santosh krinskyOur educational systems focus on training of the body, the life-force and the mind, essentially fixating the individual on the life in the external world and his role in that world. He is trained on social expectations and customs, and the use of the tools of mind, life and body in the pursuit ...
Views: 348 - The Need for a Sleepless Vigilance in the Yogic Sadhana - by Submitted on Aug 06, 2025 from santosh krinskyVirtually everyone has had the experience, at some point or another of finally overcoming a particularly difficult internal issue, whether it is the force of desire, or not responding with anger to things that do not go as anticipated, or any number of other activities that take place in the ...
Views: 167 - The Need for Action of the Psychic Being in the Yoga of Transformation of Human Nature - by Submitted on Jan 22, 2026 from santosh krinskyIn a certain sense, pursuing one of the paths that lead to liberation from human life is actually simpler and less complicated than a path that calls for the total change and transformation of human nature. In the first case, the seeker can choose to disregard the external life and the external ...
Views: 79 - The Need for Constant, Steady and Flexible Progress on the Yogic Path - by Submitted on Jul 26, 2022 from santosh krinskyAt certain stages along the way, a particular technique or method of standpoint may be helpful to the growth of the spiritual consciousness or the implementation of that consciousness in the outer being and life. These same methods, however, can lead to stagnation if practiced without heed to ...
Views: 495 - The Need for Intense Aspiration for the Divine Realisation - by Submitted on Dec 16, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe time and effort needed to overcome the numerous impediments along the way for those seeking the Divine realisation implies that the seeker must have an intense inner drive to carry on through all difficulties and delays encountered. This inner drive is known as aspiration. It is called the ...
Views: 426 - The Need for Patience and Perseverance - by Submitted on Mar 29, 2025 from santosh krinskyIn today’s modern societies, people expect instant results. They want things to be fast and easy. They respond to ads claiming they can lose weight easily in a few days’ time. They want deliveries from stores to be overnight, if not ‘same day’. They would prefer to receive their enlightenment ...
Views: 162 - The Need for Patience and Perseverance - by Submitted on Jul 24, 2025 from santosh krinskyScientists tell us that human beings diverged from chimpanzees somewhere between 4 and 8 million years ago. Somewhere around 2 million years ago, the line of development that led to human beings appeared and our current formation, Homo sapiens came on the scenes around 300,000 years ago. Each ...
Views: 144 - The Need for Patience and Perseverance to Bring About Evolutionary Change of Consciousness - by Submitted on Jan 27, 2026 from santosh krinskyIt is essential for the spiritual seeker to maintain his view of the long-term objectives and the time frames of the evolution of consciousness in Nature, in order for him to avoid becoming overly anxious about specific setbacks or delays in completing transforming the external physical ...
Views: 74 - The Need for Patience, Persistence and Continuity in the Attempt to Change or Transform Human Nature - by Submitted on Aug 22, 2023 from santosh krinskyHuman beings generally have little patience or endurance. Particularly in today’s world, where we expect “immediate” gratification, we want something to get done quickly, easily and permanently. If we work on a particular issue we notice in our being, we want to see results and not have to ...
Views: 401 - The Need for Persistent Energy and Focus to Live the Spiritual Life - by Submitted on May 12, 2022 from santosh krinskySpiritual progress is an ongoing process that requires patience, persistence, endurance and strength of purpose, along with the focus of energy needed to achieve any substantial realisations. Some people believe that spirituality is something weak and ineffective, that leads people to abandon ...
Views: 533 - The Need for Preparation of the Being Before Exploring Occult Worlds and Domains - by Submitted on Jun 05, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhen an individual leaves the relative safety of the physical being and traverses other domains and interacts with other beings, including vital beings both beneficent and maleficent, he is faced with the reality that the vibrations which he carries with him, or that resonate with him, draw to ...
Views: 332 - The Need for Serious Review of Other-Worldly or Supernormal Experience - by Submitted on Jun 29, 2024 from santosh krinskyIt is convenient, and perhaps comforting, to simply deny reality to experiences that people have, rather than to grapple with the implications of those experiences. We stick convenient labels on certain phenomena and believe by doing so, we have understood and defined those phenomena. Delusion, ...
Views: 353 - The Need for Silence of the Thinking Mind for the Spiritual Transformation - by Submitted on Oct 17, 2021 from santosh krinskyFor most people, the mind is always active with an internal commentary or dialogue running as people react to situations or try to solve various issues. As the mind is trained to undertake intellectual processes, it follows a process of logic and organisation that is used to understand and act ...
Views: 515 - The Need for Spiritual Discrimination, the Ability to Distinguish the Pure from the Impure - by Submitted on Apr 18, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs the spiritual seeker develops the sadhana over time, eventually he is confronted with lights, voices, and energies that come to him. It is not sufficient for him to simply accept that whatever comes is to be seen as valid and supportive of his spiritual aspiration. Spiritual discrimination, ...
Views: 411 - The Need for the Persistence of Faith to Succeed in the Yogic Endeavour - by Submitted on Jul 15, 2025 from santosh krinskyWe often do not recognise that there are different parts of our being that may be at different stages in terms of the spiritual focus, the dedication, the faith and the commitment. Thus, when our mind gets distracted or concerned, or when our vital nature goes off in another direction, we may ...
Views: 169 - The Need for the Power of Discernment in the Spiritual Sadhana - by Submitted on Jan 10, 2026 from santosh krinskyThere are many powers at work in the world, physical powers, vital powers, mental powers, spiritual powers. They are native to their own sphere, but in many cases they are active here in our world, trying to assert themselves and thrive here. Many of these powers are conscious and act with ...
Views: 72 - The Need for Time to Assimilate the Descent of the Divine Force - by Submitted on Sep 30, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe vital nature craves excitement and signs of progress. It feels like time spent reflecting, relaxing, or contemplating may be ‘wasted time’. This is similar to the mindset that sees a vacant piece of land, with just plants, flowers and trees on it as ‘wasted’ as it has not been ‘developed’. ...
Views: 526 - The Need for Transformation of the Vital in the Practice of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jul 16, 2022 from santosh krinskyCan human nature be changed? We are exhorted to be kinder, more compassionate, less egoistic, more rational in our relationships with others and our actions in the world. When we try to actually carry out these things, we find that, for the most part, our vital instincts and drives still control ...
Views: 512 - The Need for Understanding the Power of Thought Formation - by Submitted on Sep 08, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhat is thought formation? For many people, the constant stream of haphazard ideas, thoughts, reflections and perceptions represents thought. Their minds are constantly bombarded by thoughts of all types without a consistent flow or theme. They jump from one subject to another without even a ...
Views: 311 - The Need to Achieve a Calm Equality Not Shaken By Outward Happenings - by Submitted on Mar 18, 2025 from santosh krinskyIf we examine our reactions to circumstances that occur daily in our lives, we will see we generally go through a range of feelings from elation when something we deem positive occurs, to depression when it seems like the house is falling in on us. Major events, such as achievements in school, ...
Views: 188 - The Need to Balance Meditation and Work in the Practice of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Feb 25, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn an ancient Upanishadic tale, a youth approached a sage requesting to become a disciple and achieve spiritual realisation. The sage indicated that he should take two cattle into the forest, and when they numbered 1000 he should return and would undertake to teach the youth. The young man made ...
Views: 707 - The Need to Develop New Powers of Knowing - by Submitted on Feb 18, 2024 from santosh krinskyTo explore the hidden forces, both in our own lives, and in the larger framework of the universal manifestation and the evolution of consciousness over time, a new way of ‘knowing’ needs to be developed, one that can experience and interact with these hidden forces on a more direct and aware ...
Views: 355 - The Need to Employ the Searchlight on Every Aspect of One’s Being - by Submitted on May 19, 2025 from santosh krinskyIn its essence, yoga is a form of applied psychology. The practitioner of yoga is attempting to redirect the focus, the responses and the reactions of the being, in many cases having to overcome deeply rooted and embedded instincts, habits, and trained responses, as well as the forces of desire, ...
Views: 141 - The Need to Gain Control Over the Action of the Vital Mind and Its Function - by Submitted on Aug 08, 2023 from santosh krinskyEveryone has had the experience, at some time or another, of imagining themselves doing something extraordinary, or at least fulfilling some dream about how their lives could develop or turn out. It may be a fantasy about winning a lottery, or gaining fame or recognition, or finding the right ...
Views: 378 - The Need to Integrate the Realisations of the Yoga of Knowledge With the External Life of the Seeker - by Submitted on Dec 22, 2023 from santosh krinskySome spiritual seekers follow the path of knowledge, utilizing deep meditation in a trance-state called Samadhi, to put aside all interaction with the external world and focus intensely on the unification with the Supreme Truth, and liberation from the life of the body. Their goal is thus for a ...
Views: 313 - The Need to Keep the Temple Clean - by Submitted on Oct 28, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe body-life-mind complex is the nexus and the container for the divine force in manifestation. The force, when it descends into the conscious awareness of the devotee, requires that the instrument be stable, pure and ready to receive and transmit the force without diminution or distortion. ...
Views: 358 - The Need to Maintain Balance Between Waking, Dream and Sleep Consciousness - by Submitted on Aug 27, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe operation of the Gunas of nature, Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas is noticeable in the spiritual quest as in everything else. The result is that when something new or exciting occurs, it tends to provoke the rising of Rajas and an attempt to grasp and enhance the ego-gratification of the event. ...
Views: 583 - The Need to Maintain Calm Equality in One’s Relation to the Circumstances of Life - by Submitted on Apr 03, 2025 from santosh krinskySomeone says or does something we do not like or which we find offensive. They may do things to harm our reputation or our relationships, or they may affect our financial well being, possibly cheat us or interfere with our lives in some other way. The natural reaction is one of anger, even ...
Views: 146 - The Need to Master the Sex Impulse for the Sadhak of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 09, 2022 from santosh krinskyReligious and spiritual paths throughout the world have recognised the need to gain control over the sex impulse. Similarly societies have recognised that in many cases the sex impulse can create disruption in the orderly processes of the society. Traditionally, certain mores or rules of conduct ...
Views: 494 - The Need to Organize and Arrange the Actions of the External Being Around the Aspiration of the Psychic Being - by Submitted on Nov 06, 2023 from santosh krinskyTo transform the life into one of spiritual focus and purpose, the various parts of the being need to be organized and ordered systematically to match the aspiration with the outward action. The thoughts, emotions, feelings, responses should be both coherent and arranged to present an harmonious ...
Views: 359 - The Need to Overcome the Subconscious State of Sleep - by Submitted on Jan 22, 2022 from santosh krinskyNormally when we sleep, the body goes into a state of tamas and with it, the consciousness loses the thread of the progress of the preceding day. While the progress is not ‘lost’ in the long run, it does mean that we tend to have to re-establish what was done previously time and again. Something ...
Views: 527 - The Need to Overcome the Tendencies to Self-Deception and Self-Justification in the Nature - by Submitted on Oct 27, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere is the aspiration and dedication that the seeker recognises and treats as his true identity. Then there are all the thoughts, motives and actions that undermine or contradict in some manner that aspiration and dedication. Many people fail to recognise that this contradiction exists, as ...
Views: 355 - The Need to Prepare the Being to Receive, Hold and Utilize the Influx of the Higher Forces - by Submitted on May 26, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe raw power generated by an electricity power plant is far greater than any single house can sustain. Thus, the utility company utilizes step-down transformers to systematically bring the power down to a level that the homes and the wiring to the homes can sustain. A similar principle is at ...
Views: 347 - The Need to Remain Undisturbed by Outer Circumstances - by Submitted on May 20, 2021 from santosh krinskyOne of the great obstacles to the reception and activation of the higher forces of consciousness are the pre-existing habits of action and reaction in the mind-life-body complex. We are constantly pulled in one direction or another, we react to events and circumstances from our narrow ...
Views: 595 - The Need to Shift the Consciousness Beyond the Ego - by Submitted on Feb 27, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe ego-consciousness has its evolutionary purpose. The distinction of the individual from the mass of existence led to the ability to move beyond the instinctual and habitual patterns of the species. With this consciousness, variation and innovation became more easily possible. Observation from ...
Views: 589 - The Need to Transcend the Intellect in the Search for the Truth of Existence - by Submitted on Feb 07, 2021 from santosh krinskyOnce we acknowledge that Truth cannot be ascertained through intellectual prowess alone, that the mind is not an instrument of truth, but rather an instrument for seeking, filled with doubt, confusion and limitation, we can no longer rely entirely on the mind to be the arbiter of what reality ...
Views: 688 - The Needed Balance of Spiritual Development and Mental Development - by Submitted on Mar 23, 2022 from santosh krinskyThere has been a long-standing debate between those who believe in the power of mental development, under the rubric of ‘science’ and those who believe in the power of faith and spiritual aspiration, under the general terminology of ‘religion’. A similar debate rages between the position of ...
Views: 540 - The Needed Effort to Resolve the Deformations of the Lower Vital Nature - by Submitted on Nov 19, 2025 from santosh krinskyIn his application of yoga as applied psychology, Sri Aurobindo identifies a number of different planes and parts of the being that make up the human individual. There are various levels of mind, vital being and physical being. Each level carries out specific types of functions and responds to ...
Views: 98 - The Negative Effects of Misusing Your Power of Thought - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2017 from Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)“Thinking about sense-objects will attach you to sense-objects; grow attached, and you become addicted; thwart your addiction, it turns to anger; be angry, and you confuse your mind; confuse your mind, you forget the lesson of experience; forget experience, you lose discrimination; lose ...
Views: 1832 - The Object of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jan 29, 2021 from santosh krinskyPeople take up the practices of Yoga with many different objects in mind. Many do so from the viewpoint of the individual ego, seeking for fitness, health, energy, prosperity, fame, or for individual spiritual realisations, spiritual experiences, acquisition of special powers, conquest of death ...
Views: 791 - The Obstacles to Exercising the Will - by Submitted on Jan 14, 2024 from santosh krinskyWhatever experience an individual has in life, there come moments when he determines that he needs to exercise his will-power. it may be related to overcoming habits of laziness or procrastination, or overcoming a form of addiction, undertaking a diet to manage his weight, restraining the ...
Views: 344 - The Occult Action and Power of Vital Beings and Forces in Human Activities and Institutions - by Submitted on Jun 16, 2024 from santosh krinskyFor the most part, people live on the surface of their being, and do not see into the occult or hidden beings and forces that exist and act upon them, unseen, invisible and essentially unregarded. Many things that occur in the world are hard to explain without an understanding of the occult ...
Views: 273 - The One Essential Thing in Spiritual Development is an Inward Focus of the Awareness on the Divine Presence - by Submitted on Sep 07, 2025 from santosh krinskyIn the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, v. 54, Arjuna asks Sri Krishna how to recognise the enlightened man. Sri Aurobindo translates: “What is the sign of the man in Samadhi whose intelligence is firmly fixed in wisdom? How does the sage of settled understanding speak, how sit, how walk?” Sri ...
Views: 127 - The One Thing That Should Never Be Done - by Submitted on Nov 08, 2021 from santosh krinskyAfter intensive mental awakening, vital experiences of spiritual significance, and the emotional uplift and fervour of devotion, there comes a period when the work shifts to the physical mind and framework, and change, that seemed to be so close and real, now seems to be illusory and just about ...
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