Self Improvement Site
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
Articles from santosh krinsky | Selfgrowth.com
- The Yoga of the Supermind To Transform Earthly Life - by Submitted on Mar 25, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe integral yoga is not an attempt to abandon this life and achieve some realisation beyond. There is no promise of a heaven of bliss, nor an escape from the difficulties posed by matter, life and mind and their interaction in the world. Even the achievement of any result in the integral yoga ...
Views: 653(1 vote) - 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: 444 - Utilizing the Mental Power to Aid the Understanding of Our Complex Being - by Submitted on May 30, 2023 from santosh krinskyMany years ago, Sri M P Pandit suggested that a devotee write an article about the importance of precise bookkeeping and accounting while engaged in service. There was a prevailing sentiment that such ‘mental ideas’ were antithetical to the kind of absolute devotion and surrender that put ...
Views: 301 - A Balanced Approach to Dealing with Illness and the Health of the Body for the Yogic Practitioner - by Submitted on Jan 31, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe traditional Western approach to health and well-being sees the human body as under attack and health is a matter for defense and counter-attack against the causes of illness in the form of bacteria and viruses. In cases where the process of illness or deterioration of the capacities of the ...
Views: 523 - A Basic Form of Intuition - by Submitted on Jan 25, 2025 from santosh krinskyWe frequently hear people say that they had a “gut feeling” that something was not right when they went to a certain place. In fact, most of us have had similar feelings from time to time. We don’t have any externally perceptible facts to base this feeling on. It just ‘is’. The same thing ...
Views: 58 - A Change of Consciousness Is Necessary for Solving the Issues of Human Existence - by Submitted on May 24, 2021 from santosh krinskySince the Renaissance, the Western world has put its faith in, and based its goals on the power of the human intellect and vital drive to uplift humanity and solve the problems we face. Tremendous changes have taken place and humanity has made progress in fields as diverse as atomic physics, ...
Views: 831 - A Change of Consciousness Is Required for a Change in Human Society - by Submitted on Apr 06, 2025 from santosh krinskyWhen we look back at the history of human civilization, we can see that many ideas have been attempted to try to develop a fair, balanced and prosperous society. Thinkers, philosophers, political scientists and economists have all weighed in with their dreams and considerations about how to ...
Views: 10 - A Change of the Outer Nature Requires First a Change in the Inner Being - by Submitted on Jul 20, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe physical body (actually the entire material world) is subject to habits, and change tends to come slowly. Our being, however, is made up of a series of sheaths which progress from the subtle to the gross physical and thus, any attempt to make a change to the more outward sheaths, the ...
Views: 554 - A First Step in the Transformative Evolution on Earth - by Submitted on Dec 30, 2020 from santosh krinskyWe can envision multiple potential future developments in the evolutionary process on earth. One of these involves the manifestation of an entirely new level of consciousness, the supramental, and its creation of a new species, which we may call homo supramentalis for the sake of ...
Views: 748 - A Method for the Seeker to Obtain Guidance Through Accessing a Random Passage in a Book - by Submitted on Nov 21, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe idea that one can receive guidance in response to a question, or aspiration, one is holding within oneself, from a randomly chosen page of a book is not based on some idea of magic, but is grounded in an understanding of the unity of consciousness and the interactive nature of consciousness ...
Views: 102 - A New Birth Into a Spiritual Life - by Submitted on May 21, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere is a considerable amount of talk about being “born again” in the modern-day Christian tradition. When we explore what is meant, it seems like it is a matter of accepting in one’s heart a certain belief set central to the denomination that espouses this idea. There does not seem to be any ...
Views: 319 - A Positive Focus Is More Productive Than a Negative Fixation for Spiritual Growth - by Submitted on Mar 31, 2025 from santosh krinskyWe go wherever we focus our attention. If we focus our attention on difficulties, we wallow in those difficulties. If we focus our attention on growth and development, then we draw to ourselves those opportunities that support that growth. There are examples. Certain traditions make the rooting ...
Views: 13 - A Prayer of Aspiration, Consecration and Peaceful Receptivity to the Divine Impulsion in Life - by Submitted on Mar 24, 2025 from santosh krinskyAs long as we focus on outer circumstances and involve ourselves in them, we are participating in what some have called the “illusory” life of the world. The world is not illusory in an ultimate sense, since it is a manifestation of the Divine consciousness, but it is illusory in the sense that ...
Views: 21 - A Primary Difference Between Traditional Understanding of Yoga and the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother - by Submitted on Jun 03, 2023 from santosh krinskyYoga has historically focused on liberation of the individual soul from the illusion of the outer world. The seeker is advised to see through the transitory nature of all external rewards, undertake practices that help him to discover his true self, and once that is done, live a life, free from ...
Views: 317 - A Recommended Method of Transition from Ego-Standpoint to Divine Standpoint - by Submitted on Dec 20, 2021 from santosh krinskyRejection of the calls and demands of the ego personality under the impulsion of the rajasic vital desires, can be considered the “negative” side or pole of the yogic practice. It is important, but there is another “positive” side or pole of the effort which involves re-tuning the being toward ...
Views: 519 - A Reversal of Consciousness Accompanies the Seeker’s Focus on Spiritual Growth - by Submitted on Feb 05, 2025 from santosh krinskyWe read or hear about the accounts of individuals who had some kind of experience, either dramatically uplifting, or severely traumatic, who awaken to a spiritual purpose in their lives which changes the entire direction and focus of what takes place for them afterwards when compared with their ...
Views: 45 - A Settled Peace in the Being and a Fixed Resolution in the Mind Aid in the Transformation of the Vital - by Submitted on Oct 30, 2021 from santosh krinskyIn ancient Greek mythology, there is the tale of the 12 labours of Hercules, one of which was cleaning out the Augean stables. He needed to accomplish this task in one day, but there were so many cattle that it was considered an impossible task. And every day the mess was renewed after the ...
Views: 470 - A Shift of Consciousness Brings New Understanding of One’s Life and Existence in the World - by Submitted on Aug 01, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe typically live rooted in the ego-consciousness in the external, physical world. We judge things based on our perceptions, our physical, vital and mental processes and our habitual way of understanding things from the standpoint of the ego. This leads to a very limited and biased viewpoint ...
Views: 155 - A Shift of Standpoint from the Ego-Personality to the Soul or Self Is Needed to Unify, Organise and Harmonise the Entire Being - by Submitted on Nov 10, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe tend to identify ourselves with the constructed ego-personality that we have built up, without recognising that this personality is itself an amalgam of different drives, instincts, habits, emotional predilections, feelings, thoughts, etc., which in many cases are not in alignment with one ...
Views: 252 - 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: 421 - A Sudden and Decisive Spiritual Opening Transforms the Individual’s Life When It Takes Place - by Submitted on Dec 01, 2022 from santosh krinskySometimes the spiritual opening comes in what appears to be a miraculous fashion and the direction of the individual’s life takes a major turn. This goes beyond a brief glimpse of the spiritual truth which can fade and require renewal in order for it to stabilise and solidify the direction. Such ...
Views: 403 - A Supramental Race as the Next Evolutionary Phase - by Submitted on Mar 26, 2021 from santosh krinskyIf we understand the development of life and life-forms on earth as an expression of the evolution of consciousness, we can easily see the relationship between a new power of consciousness and the need to have forms that can hold, and express, that power effectively. Scientists frequently ...
Views: 591 - A Technique for Shifting the Focus of Consciousness Into a Status of Complete Identification - by Submitted on Oct 05, 2022 from santosh krinskyPatanjali in his Yoga Sutras describes the practice of samyama which is a power of identification that results from the systematic development of dharana (holding the mind on to some particular object), dhyana (an unbroken flow of knowledge in that object) and samadhi (reflecting on the meaning, ...
Views: 380 - A Technique to Shift to Another Domain of Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 03, 2024 from santosh krinskyIt is a well-recognised phenomena that when an individual focuses his concentration down to a single point, and fixes it there long enough, he suddenly can shift to a new domain of consciousness, and everything becomes wide, clear and known from that new standpoint. There is a yogic practice ...
Views: 91 - A Transitional Phase of Work in the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jun 04, 2021 from santosh krinskyFor the practitioner of the integral yoga, any form of work represents an opportunity to discard the normal, habitual mode of action and replace it with the direct action of the Divine Force. This transition, however, is neither immediate nor completed all at once, so there is inevitably a phase ...
Views: 577 - A Transitional Phase of Work in the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Jun 04, 2021 from santosh krinskyFor the practitioner of the integral yoga, any form of work represents an opportunity to discard the normal, habitual mode of action and replace it with the direct action of the Divine Force. This transition, however, is neither immediate nor completed all at once, so there is inevitably a phase ...
Views: 568 - Absorption in Our Outer Life, Living in the ‘Now’, Mindfulness and Detachment - by Submitted on May 29, 2022 from santosh krinskyMost people live a life without inward reflectoin, reacting to circumstances, conditioned by habits developed through millennia, trained responses and built up expectations. Their lives are fixated on whatever is presented to them at the moment, and they lose any sense of self-awareness in this ...
Views: 476 - Accessing the Inner Subliminal Consciousness - by Submitted on Sep 16, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe Upanishads describe 4 states of consciousness, the waking, the dream, the sleep and the state beyond these 3. Sri Aurobindo points out that these are meant to symbolically represent the state of awareness in the outer world (waking), the state of awareness in the subliminal world (dream), ...
Views: 348 - Accessing the True Source of Vital Energy - by Submitted on May 25, 2022 from santosh krinskyAccess to the universal vital force and the renewal of one’s energy follows basic principles that can be seen in the action of another universal force that allows the creation of results in the external world, symbolised by what we know as ‘money’. In his book The Mother, Sri Aurobindo states ...
Views: 454 - Accessing Universal Vital Forces Directly or Through Vital Interchange With Others - by Submitted on May 24, 2024 from santosh krinskyThe Mother clarifies a distinction between receiving the universal vital forces directly and receiving them through a vital interchange with other individuals. These two methods represent two entirely different statuses of consciousness. To receive the universal vital forces directly, a wide and ...
Views: 174 - Achieving Silence in the Mind - by Submitted on Jun 16, 2021 from santosh krinskyWhichever method one chooses to begin the practice, eventually the seeker finds that mental control is not going to achieve the result on its own. There comes a time when the recognition comes that active intervention cannot achieve what an opening or receptivity to the higher Force can provide. ...
Views: 625 - Acting from the ‘Right Spirit’ - by Submitted on Mar 02, 2025 from santosh krinskyThe Mother provides another example of the need for insight and flexibility to address changing circumstances. Most people want to have a fixed routine provided for them. ‘Do this, and you will achieve that.’ This process, while comforting to the mental consciousness that normally functions ...
Views: 34 - Action According to One’s Own Svabhava and Svadharma - by Submitted on Apr 24, 2025 from santosh krinskyPeople who take up spiritual life frequently believe that they should change their line of work and focus in the external world. In some cases, this is a recognition of the inner being’s guidance as the individual awakens to his true calling. In other cases, however, this is a mistaken belief ...
Views: 0 - Adaptation of the Body to Support the Manifestation of a New Power of Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 24, 2024 from santosh krinskyIn his Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda details a number of events he witnessed or experienced personally whereby a spiritual master was able to materialize his form and communicate with the disciple from a great distance; and where various yogis were able to perform acts of ...
Views: 81 - Additional Forms of Disturbance Associated with the Physical Mind - by Submitted on Apr 14, 2022 from santosh krinskyDr. Dalal identifies other manifestations of the physical mind which can present issues for an individual. Everyone has had the experience, at some point or another, of thoughts that keep revolving around in the brain, and no matter how much one tries, they continue to crop up and recur. We chew ...
Views: 492 - Addressing Alternations in Spiritual Progress Over Time - by Submitted on Mar 27, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen Milarepa approached Marpa, requesting liberation in one lifetime, he was haunted by the misdeeds he recognised in his own recent past and the harm he had caused many people. He had justified the harm based on the misdeeds of those individuals towards his family, but eventually he understood ...
Views: 395 - 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: 426 - Addressing the Contradictions Between the Spiritual Consciousness and the External Body-Life-Mind Complex - by Submitted on Nov 15, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe have numerous historical anecdotes about individuals who were creative and productive in their own field, but who had elements of their being that seemingly could not hold the creative force easily and devoted into various forms of dissipation when they were not directly engaged in their ...
Views: 236 - Addressing the Difficulties of the Transformation of the Vital Nature - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2021 from santosh krinskyTo effectuate a total transformation of the mind-life-body and its action in the world, it is necessary for the seeker to address and solve the issue of the vital being, its desires, and the ego-standpoint that it fosters and maintains. Methods that essentially try to fight with the vital ...
Views: 473 - Addressing the Experience of the Dark Night of the Soul - by Submitted on Sep 30, 2021 from santosh krinskyThere are periods in the life of virtually every spiritual seeker or religious practitioner when the active experience seems to withdraw and the individual is thrown back into a world and a life that seems empty, meaningless, dark and obscure, and the presence of the Divine is not felt any ...
Views: 554 - Addressing the Fallacy of an Individual Perfection in the Absence of Collective Progress - by Submitted on Aug 15, 2024 from santosh krinskyWe start from the ego-consciousness and we treat ourselves, from that standpoint, as independent, separate and “walled off” from all other beings, interacting with them from our insulated status. When we then turn to spiritual growth and development from this standpoint, we start by looking at ...
Views: 163 - Addressing the Methods of Change of the Physical Consciousness - by Submitted on Nov 10, 2021 from santosh krinskyBrute force has often been employed by aspirants seeking to overcome the ‘desires of the flesh’ and the obstructions of the physical consciousness to their spiritual focus and seeking. Extreme fasting, wearing of the cilice or sackcloth, arduous penances in the desert, self-flagellation, ...
Views: 485 - Addressing the Process of Evolutionary Change Within the Embedded and Established Habits of the Past That Pose Obstacles to Progress - by Submitted on Feb 28, 2025 from santosh krinskyThe mental consciousness tends to look at things with a linear perspective. It expects things to systematically roll out in a continuous, directed stream. It becomes upset and disoriented when what appears to be a settled result gets suddenly disrupted or upset by new circumstances, forces or ...
Views: 37 - Addressing the Subconscient Fear of the Body Consciousness - by Submitted on Aug 05, 2022 from santosh krinskyFear opens up pathways for whatever is feared to enter the being, as it creates a vibrational ‘link’ between the individual and the feared event or circumstance. Fear also opens holes int he vital envelope, or aura, that helps protect the individual from catching illnesses. We have all heard of ...
Views: 594 - Addressing the Tendency to Overlook One’s Defects - by Submitted on Mar 26, 2025 from santosh krinskyThe vital nature in particular has a strong hold over the mentality. It uses this hold to find ways for the mind to justify various things that the vital desires. In many cases this occurs through a process of deflection and in others through a process of development of excuses and ...
Views: 16 - Addressing Vital Interchange in the Context of Spiritual Practice - by Submitted on Feb 11, 2022 from santosh krinskyThe normal human viewpoint in today’s world is one of separate individuality. We believe, based on that viewpoint, that we are free and independent and make our own choices exercising our free will. In actuality, however, this is not quite true. All relationships in society involve subtle vital ...
Views: 482 - Adopting and Holding the Proper Psychological Poise for Accomplishment of the Objective of the Integral Yoga - by Submitted on Dec 06, 2021 from santosh krinskyThe objectives of the integral yoga cannot be looked at as a short-term ‘sprint’ to the goal, but as a longer-term ‘marathon’ where patience and endurance are of paramount importance. In order to achieve that long-term commitment without flagging of the effort, without discouragement and without ...
Views: 735 - Advanced Methods for Converting Work into Karma Yoga - by Submitted on May 30, 2021 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo explores the methods of converting work into ‘karma yoga’ with several additional ways to approach this. The development of an inner ‘witness consciousness’, the purusha which is separate from the outer active nature, prakriti, is an intermediate stage beyond those which involve ...
Views: 541 - Adwaita Vedanta (Mayavada) and Integral Non-Dualism: Contrasting Interpretations of the Nature of Reality - by Submitted on Feb 09, 2021 from santosh krinsky“One without a second.” This Upanishadic dictum forms the basis of Shankara’s philosophy of Adwaita, Vedantic non-dualism. The seeker leaves behind the illusion of the world to merge into the pure, transcendent Oneness of the Brahman. Sri Aurobindo proposes non-dualism, however, that adds the ...
Views: 601 - 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: 335