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
- Creating a Balance Between the Spiritual Quest and the Development of the Body, Life and Mind - by Submitted on Dec 23, 2023 from santosh krinskyA yogic discipline focused on the abandonment of life does not take pains to develop the inherent powers and capacities of the body, life-force and the mind. In fact, the powers of these elements of the human instrument are instead considered to be lures, obstacles and impediments to the ...
Views: 201 - Creating a Balance Between the Spiritual Quest and the Development of the Body, Life and Mind - by Submitted on Dec 23, 2023 from santosh krinskyA yogic discipline focused on the abandonment of life does not take pains to develop the inherent powers and capacities of the body, life-force and the mind. In fact, the powers of these elements of the human instrument are instead considered to be lures, obstacles and impediments to the ...
Views: 194 - 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: 192 - How can someone get rid of material possessions that don't contribute much towards their values in life? - by Submitted on Dec 22, 2023 from Dada BhagwanIf the ‘fascination towards material objects’ leaves, the loss in spirituality also leaves!0 ~ Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan Spirituality is the most valuable thing. When one progresses in spirituality, one’s values in life are automatically enriched. So, to answer your question, following ...
Views: 153 - The Witness Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 21, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen the seeker first becomes aware of the practice of separating the witness consciousness from the active external nature, he may naturally take his stance in the mental awareness and begin to observe his actions and reactions from the mental standpoint. This generally yields some kind of ...
Views: 223 - The Call of the Divine Flute - by Submitted on Dec 20, 2023 from santosh krinskyAn individual is living out his life, following his career, pursuing education, enjoying himself, raising a family, pursuing a hobby. All quite normal things. For most people, this is the frame within which his life carries on, and he experiences the joys and sorrows, the pains and the ...
Views: 214 - The Awakening of the Soul to a Greater Life and Purpose - by Submitted on Dec 19, 2023 from santosh krinskyUntil an aspiration awakens in the being, we tend to go about our lives taking cues from the promptings of family, friends, community, religion, or schools. Most people will not therefore recognise any greater or deeper purpose to their lives, and they simply determine to try to support ...
Views: 217 - The Phenomenon of the ‘Evil Persona’ - by Submitted on Dec 18, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe are ingrained with the notion that we own both the positive and negative qualities we can identify within ourselves. We work to enhance those we consider positive, and we struggle to overcome those that we view as negative. Through the practice of separating out the witness consciousness from ...
Views: 237 - The Challenge of Duality and the Conquest of Light Over Darkness - by Submitted on Dec 17, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe live in a world filled with contradictions, a world of dualities. We accept the premise that we cannot have light without dark, pleasure without pain, joy without sorrow. This appears to be the nature of the world, and it seems like an irrefutable concept. Yet, we can in fact conceive of the ...
Views: 214 - The Unique Truth of Each Being in Relation to the Divine Manifestation - by Submitted on Dec 16, 2023 from santosh krinskyRecently the question arose about how and in what form the witness consciousness survives death. This is not a question for either philosophical reasoning or religious dogma. Regardless of the opinion that these general approaches put forth, it is between the individual soul, as a unique ...
Views: 215 - The Separation of the Witness Consciousness from the External Nature - by Submitted on Dec 15, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe tend to identify ourselves with the specific body-life-mind complex we inhabit and which becomes the nexus for the ego-consciousness. This identification, however, makes it virtually impossible to gain real insight or mastery over the mind, life and body. The process followed by the devotee ...
Views: 207 - An Exercise to Become Conscious of One’s Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 14, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe Taittiriya Upanishad presents a methodology or practice to gain direct knowledge of the Eternal. The seeker is asked to practice tapasya, variously translated as concentration in thought, or concentration of force by Sri Aurobindo. Tapasya cannot be easily or completely understood through ...
Views: 214 - Concentration of the Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 13, 2023 from santosh krinskyPeople frequently confuse consciousness with mental awareness and concentration with some kind of mental effort or focus; yet, consciousness is not limited to mental awareness and concentration is not restricted to mental activity. We are all familiar with mental concentration. We focus on some ...
Views: 232 - Attaining Free Will By Overcoming the Sense of Individual Separation in the Manifestation and Our Bondage to the Cause and Effect Trajectory That Creates Our Present Opportunities and Choices - by Submitted on Dec 12, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs the mental being develops and we begin to experience the sense of separation from the other beings who are part of the creation, we also begin to have a sense that we have “free will” and make our own independent choices. To a great degree, this sense is misplaced, insofar as our current ...
Views: 204 - What Is a ‘Natural” Response to Circumstances for the Human Individual? - by Submitted on Dec 11, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen we see any individual stopping to reflect, choose his line of action and make a specific, conscious determination of how to respond, we consider this action to be unnatural, stilted, and we imply that it is somehow subject to some kind of ulterior motive, and thus, tend to distrust it. ...
Views: 217 - What Is a ‘Natural” Response to Circumstances for the Human Individual? - by Submitted on Dec 11, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen we see any individual stopping to reflect, choose his line of action and make a specific, conscious determination of how to respond, we consider this action to be unnatural, stilted, and we imply that it is somehow subject to some kind of ulterior motive, and thus, tend to distrust it. ...
Views: 226 - Contagion: Physical Contagion, Vital Contagion, Mental Contagion - by Submitted on Dec 10, 2023 from santosh krinskyContagion is the transmission of something, whether physical, vital or mental energy/vibration, from one entity or being to another. On the physical plane, contagion is usually understood to be transmitted through the use of a physical medium, such as a ‘germ’, whether we call it a bacteria, or ...
Views: 222 - Understanding Societal Expectations and Their Impact on the Individual and His Development - by Submitted on Dec 09, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe generally fail to recognise how much we tend to take on the coloration of the thoughts and feelings of those around us. Just as a chameleon will adapt its body color to blend into its physical environment, we tend to adapt our ideas, opinions, and feelings to match up with those with whom we ...
Views: 218 - From the Oneness of Unconsciousness to the Oneness of Consciousness: the Impulsion of the Divine Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 08, 2023 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo cites the Vedic Rishi of Mandala X, Canto 129, verses 1-5 at the beginning of Chapter 25 of The Life Divine, titled The Knot of Matter: “Then existence was not nor non-existence, the mid-world was not nor the Ether nor what is beyond. What covered all? where was it? in whose ...
Views: 225 - Understanding the Limiting Frames of Our Existence and the Process for Breaking Free of the Bonds of those Frames - by Submitted on Dec 07, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs long as we live within a certain frame of understanding, we cannot truly understand who or what we are, or why we do what we do, as we are bound by the limitations of that frame. Thus, as we are born in a particular culture, or a particular society, or a particular religious persuasion, or ...
Views: 218 - Individuality Is a Stage Along the Path of the Evolution of Consciousness - by Submitted on Dec 06, 2023 from santosh krinskySri Aurobindo has indicated that the evolution of consciousness is carried out by the gradual and mostly unconscious action of the divine intention within Nature. At the stage of the human being, however, it becomes possible for the individual to “speed up” the slow action of Nature through ...
Views: 218 - Habits - by Submitted on Dec 05, 2023 from santosh krinskyMuch of the activity in our lives is governed by the force of habits, whether ingrained in the genetic and species memory as ‘instinctive’ behavior, or built into the structure and function of the anatomy and physiology of our bodies, or developed through various forms of conditioning of our ...
Views: 262 - The Development of Individuality Within the Human Race - by Submitted on Dec 04, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn various parts of the world, homes and buildings have a clear ‘identity’, through shape, color, size, layout of the rooms, functionality, and location. In other places we see vast tracts of virtually identical houses or apartments in rows, with the same size, shape, color and layout. Someone ...
Views: 227 - Contradictions and Inconsistencies in Our Mental Process - by Submitted on Dec 03, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe normal process of mental reception brings in numerous thought-forms, based on the receptivity of the individual and the wideness of his sources of information and mental energy. For those who have not systematically developed a process for organising the mind, these thought-froms have no ...
Views: 266 - Are Our Thoughts Our Own? - by Submitted on Dec 02, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe normal mental process begins relatively simply. We hear something and accept it in our minds, and eventually we repeat the thought to others and thus, a thought-form moves through the mental atmosphere and touches many minds. Teilhard de Chardin referred to the mental force permeating the ...
Views: 220 - What Is the Role and Importance of the Physical Body for the Evolution of Consciousness? - by Submitted on Dec 01, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhy do we have a physical body? We undergo pain and suffering related to having a body as we age, experience illness, injury, the infirmities of old age, and eventually the process of death of the body, in some cases through very painful means. Those who conclude that the body is purely an ...
Views: 238 - How to Change One’s Character - by Submitted on Nov 30, 2023 from santosh krinskyHumanity has struggled with the idea of an individual changing his character and becoming something more, or different, than what he was before. Numerous methods have been tried, and at the end of the day, almost everyone agrees that human nature and the individual character that expresses that ...
Views: 239 - The Power of the Evolved Soul to Tread the Spiritual Path - by Submitted on Nov 29, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe frequently hear people speak about the ‘law of attraction’. In most cases, they treat this as some kind of method or ‘trick’ to attract wealth, fame or other objects of desire to them, through use of a sort of mental focus or vital magnetism effect. The true ‘law of attraction’ however is ...
Views: 239 - Understanding the Transmission of Our Vital Inheritance - by Submitted on Nov 28, 2023 from santosh krinskyFew are those individuals who were conceived through a consecrated and conscious act of prayer and dedication by the parents. Those individuals are blessed with the opportunity to live a life of dedication and devotion. Most people, however, are conceived without much thought or consideration ...
Views: 255 - The Influences That Direct the Development of the Vital Nature - by Submitted on Nov 27, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe can understand the role of genetic predispositions in the formation of the physical body. The transmission of physical characteristics from generation to generation, the blending of dominant and recessive genetic traits and the atavistic background that led to the status of the genetic ...
Views: 216 - The Body’s Formation Does Not Directly Correspond to the Person’s Character and Development - by Submitted on Nov 26, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe frequently try to judge the character of an individual based on physical characteristics. While it is true that there is an interaction and influence between the body, the life-force and the mind, for most people these are not at all absolute or determinative. There are well-known instances ...
Views: 209 - Can Destiny Be Modified Through Conscious Intention? - by Submitted on Nov 25, 2023 from santosh krinskyHowever difficult it is to predict specifically the destiny of any individual, due to the complex interactions that create that destiny (or shall we say ‘destinies’), there is still a sense that life carries out the path of the energies at work, as well as the trajectory those energies follow. ...
Views: 240 - Delving into the Complexity of Determining an Individual’s Destiny in Life - by Submitted on Nov 24, 2023 from santosh krinskyTo understand the complexity of any individual’s destiny, it is essential to note that it is comprised of an amalgam of the streams of energy that flow through each aspect of his being. Thus, there is a physical destiny, a vital destiny, a mental destiny, a spiritual destiny, each following the ...
Views: 336 - The Complexity of Predicting the Destiny of Any Individual - by Submitted on Nov 23, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe predict the times and the seasons, we can predict to a certainty physical and mechanical operations, and we can even predict within a range, the pattern and scope of a particular set of events we set in motion in various fields. We expect that the physical world in which we live follows ...
Views: 331 - Transitioning the Human Consciousness from Ego-Centric to Soul-Centric Basis - by Submitted on Nov 22, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn one of his aphorisms, Sri Aurobindo points out “the ego was the helper; the ego is the bar.” We frequently get the feeling that somehow the ego is truly an obstacle to our spiritual development, without looking at it through the lens of the evolutionary arc of the development of ...
Views: 229 - What Is to Be Done With Our Multiple Personalities in the Spiritual Path - by Submitted on Nov 21, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere are numerous strategies adopted by spiritual seekers throughout the ages to try to address the divergent pulls of the various aspects or ‘personalities’ within each individual. Brute force has been tried. Stoicism and resistance to the force of desire has been tried. Abandonment of the ...
Views: 240 - Understanding the Multiple Personalities Within the Being - by Submitted on Nov 20, 2023 from santosh krinskyWestern psychologists have identified extreme cases of what they call ‘multiple personality disorder’. This is when an individual has divergent personalities that take over the frontal being and manifest themselves in different ways, in most cases suppressing the others to such a degree that the ...
Views: 251 - The Ultimate Importance and Value of a Human Birth - by Submitted on Nov 19, 2023 from santosh krinskyThere are tales in the Puranas that indicate that even the Gods, if they want to evolve and develop, must take birth on earth in a human incarnation. If we look broadly at the evolution of consciousness from the gross material, to the vital, to the vital-mental and eventually to the mental ...
Views: 248 - Boredom and Its Cure - by Submitted on Nov 18, 2023 from santosh krinskyWe are frequently not aware of the state of boredom and its various manifestations within us. We do recognise periods when we feel at a loss and want to do or experience something or distract our minds and we recognise these times as boredom. What we do not necessarily recognise however are the ...
Views: 292 - To Become A Conscious Instrument of the Divine Force - by Submitted on Nov 17, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe Mother identifies a distinction between those of goodwill who are ‘unconscious’ instruments of the Divine, and those who can and do become ‘conscious’ instruments of the Divine. Those with good will and aspiration may be guided or impelled to undertake actions which support the divine ...
Views: 237 - 3 Ways to Improve the Learning and Training Process in Manufacturing - by Submitted on Nov 17, 2023 from Mahipal NehraDiscover 3 key ways to improve learning in manufacturing: a culture of continuous improvement, leveraging technology, and implementing a Learning Management System The remainder of this composition will look at three useful approaches to improve the manufacturing learning and training ...
Views: 293 - Morality and Spirituality - by Submitted on Nov 16, 2023 from santosh krinskyIn the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna becomes conscious of the sin of fighting against and killing his relatives, revered teachers and elders, and declares that the moral code supports the idea that he should not fight. Sri Krishna responds that the divine intention is not limited by human-made moral ...
Views: 244 - 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 - Employing the ‘Psychic Mirror’ as a Tool For Transforming the Nature - by Submitted on Nov 14, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe methodology for the mastery and transformation of the external nature of the individual essentially comes down to a shift in standpoint to the psychic being, which is the soul-element in the being, and then, a systematic review and management of the external nature and its various parts, ...
Views: 235 - The Inconstancy of the External Nature Under the Influence of the Action of the Three Gunas - by Submitted on Nov 13, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe Bhagavad Gita provides an extensive review of the operation of the three Gunas, the qualities of Nature, Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas. These qualities are always interacting and changing based on that interaction. There is no consistency or constancy in how an individual responds so long as he is ...
Views: 237 - How to Establish Unity in the Being - by Submitted on Nov 12, 2023 from santosh krinskyThe Mother advises that the way to establish unity in the being is to treat the psychic being or the central aspiration as the guiding principle, and then observe and manage the mind, the life-energy and the body to conform to the intentions expressed by that central guiding principle. It is ...
Views: 236 - The Justification and Benefit of Unifying the Being Around the Psychic Being and the Spiritual Purpose of the Life - by Submitted on Nov 11, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen we work in the external world, whether it is to study, to follow up a line of development of some sort, to train the body for athletic endeavours, to strengthen and refine the mind to undertake serious development of the powers of Reason and intuition, etc., we do so with some expectation ...
Views: 236 - 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 - The Constant Effort Needed in the Yogic Practice - by Submitted on Nov 09, 2023 from santosh krinskyWhen people think about yoga, they generally think about practicing certain poses, or asanas, or doing certain breathing techniques, or chanting various mantras, reading certain books, meditation, or singing devotional songs, etc. Those who take up the practice of Raja Yoga follow an eight-fold ...
Views: 230 - The Process of Bringing Harmony and Unification to the Being Centred Around the Spiritual Purpose - by Submitted on Nov 08, 2023 from santosh krinskyAs long as an individual lives ‘aimlessly’, without recognising a higher purpose in life, there is no way to appreciate and measure the actions of the external nature with respect to any variance from that aim or purpose. The aim or purpose comes with the identification with the soul, the ...
Views: 229