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Sri Aurobindo emphasizes the need for the psychic transformation, which is the coming forward of the soul or psychic being in man to provide the central focus, and overcome the promptings of the ego-consciousness as it normally acts in the mind, life and body. Spiritual experiences, on their ... Views: 455
The first of the three major transformations of consciousness that Sri Aurobindo describes as required to actually effect the needed change in human nature, is the psychic transformation. With this transformation, the soul comes forward, takes control of the mind, life and body and turns them ... Views: 497
As the seeker traverses the unknown realms of the inner being, the various worlds of the physical, vital and mental planes and the spiritual heights and widenesses, he is confronted with many circumstances, events, beings, and actions which he simply does not have any reference point to ... Views: 488
Sri Aurobindo describes a goal for humanity which involves a change of consciousness and the transformation of human nature. There is considerable debate about whether it is possible to change human nature, or whether we are doomed to be stuck in our animal nature for all times. Sri Aurobindo ... Views: 613
For most of human existence, there has been a deep divergence between those who seek spiritual development and those who are focused on the material life in the world. In The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo describes the two paths as ‘the refusal of the ascetic’ and ‘the materialist denial’. It would ... Views: 471
Whenever an individual enters into a new situation or circumstance, there is a period of disorientation, which may involve misinterpretation of what is being experienced, as well as failure to understand the rules, laws or protocols that may apply in that new situation. In society this may lead ... Views: 500
The Isha Upanishad describes the dual aspects of Reality, the Ignorance and the Knowledge: “Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Ignorance, they as if into a greater darkness who devote themselves to the Knowledge alone. Other, verily it is said, is that which comes by the ... Views: 525
How can anyone describe or comprehend an experience of consciousness so foreign to our normal human individual experience? Sages and seers have used many illustrative images to try to provide the mind some vague notion of the significance of the shift in standpoint that is represented by the ... Views: 494
Many people can identify the experience of suddenly receiving an intuition or inspired or illumined knowledge on occasion. Some experience such things relatively frequently. Where does this sudden illumination come from? How does it act upon us? Generally, the occasional intuition is recognised ... Views: 475
Without experience, it is difficult to comprehend the difference between the normal human ego-consciousness and the cosmic consciousness. Those who have had the experience try to disclose the type and quality of their experience, but using human words that relate to our normal body-life-mind way ... Views: 476
Our normal human consciousness revolves around the standpoint and awareness of our ego-personality. We look at things from our own viewpoint, and determine our relation to everything that takes place based on how we perceive these things to impact the ego. We tend to treat the universal creation ... Views: 490
The ego-personality actually can be a form of protection for the unprepared soul in the world, as it limits the range and power of action. If a person breaks out of the framework provided by the small ego-personality, and comes into contact with and active conscious interaction with the larger ... Views: 538
When an individual begins the spiritual quest, there can be considerable confusion about different directions, objectives and methods of attainment. In many cases, divergent goals are lumped together, while in other instances, there can be confusion about the sequence of the steps. Sri Aurobindo ... Views: 499
In the external world, fear plays a role that can both hinder progress, and protect from impulsive or rash action that would result in injury, loss or death. If fear is excessive, it paralyzes the individual into inaction. If it is insufficient, he may rush into circumstances far beyond his ... Views: 439
As long as we are enmeshed in the ego-life, it is essentially impossible to conceive of the status or existence of the Atman. We relate to the physical world, we relate to other individuals as if we are just this limited human existence and being, we perceive and react to everything from our own ... Views: 490
One of the primary objectives of traditional paths of yoga has been the liberation from the bondage of the world of illusion, the phantasmagoria of the creation and the individual’s fixation on success and failure, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, happiness and despair that occurs as a result ... Views: 551
The recognition of the separation of the Purusha, the inner witness consciousness and the Prakriti, the active nature that operates in the mind, life and body, is an important step in the practice of yoga, whether for total abandonment of the outer world and liberation of the being, or as an ... Views: 489
At a certain stage of spiritual development, seekers tend to go through a phase where the world, its actions, objects, goals and results seem to be an illusion. The philosophical path of Mayavada resulted from just such an insight and experience. The seeker sees that everything is transitory and ... Views: 393
We tend to identify with the perceptions, sensations, desires, feelings and thoughts we experience and through the ego-consciousness, we take ownership of them and believe that they are what makes up our unique individuality. When we sit quietly, and turn our attention away from the outer world, ... Views: 508
Humanity has tried countless ways to solve the existential questions and crises that we face living in the world around us and interacting with all other beings who share the space with us. Religion, law, social development, economic development, technology, and others have each had their chance ... Views: 448
Spirituality is about attaining a unique awareness. Spiritual growth happens when one gains higher consciousness or awareness of his Self which is beyond the awareness of the five senses and the mind-ego-intellect. For the ones who want to grow in a higher spiritual realm and be spiritually ... Views: 380
For the individual who has a spiritual experience, one of the most notable characteristics is the absolute and incontrovertible ‘reality’ of the experience. Yet, people who live primarily in the surface consciousness tend to treat such experiences, when related, as somehow less real or even ... Views: 481
For the individual who has a spiritual experience, one of the most notable characteristics is the absolute and incontrovertible ‘reality’ of the experience. Yet, people who live primarily in the surface consciousness tend to treat such experiences, when related, as somehow less real or even ... Views: 466
The Upanishads describe an aspect of reality that is generally blocked from the external awareness of the body-life-mind complex. The Isha Upanishad states: “The face of Truth is covered with a brilliant golden lid; that do thou remove, O Fosterer, for the law of the Truth, for sight.” (Isha ... Views: 433
Just as we cannot see electricity, but we can observe its results, or we cannot see the mental process objectively (although one can indeed observe thoughts processing internally), but we can see its impact in the world, so with the spiritual development, which is more subtle than the mental ... Views: 456
When we experience something in the physical body, it is a sensation that carries a nervous impulse to the brain, which interprets whether it is cold or hot, dry or wet, painful or pleasurable, etc. Similarly, vital reactions and emotions are experienced through the release of various hormones ... Views: 464
For most people, their lives are focused on their external relationships, their own individual self-satisfaction and their ability to manipulate their social and environmental reality to achieve objectives set by their ego-personality. Many do not have any meaningful relationship to any inner ... Views: 477
In Need of Deepening
Paul Dunion
Sometimes, we settle for knowing what we experience by having an understanding of what it isn’t. So, it may be with the idea of depth. Typically, we know it isn’t about being superficial, shallow or mundane. We use the language of depth ... Views: 512
The 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
When we flip a light switch, we have faith that there is electricity flowing through the wires and the lights will turn on. We do not actually know or perceive the electricity, but we can see its effects in operation. Similarly, our surface being may see effects of the Divine Force at work in ... Views: 415
How do we distinguish what is an actual spiritual experience? We have an inherent bias towards believing and accepting perceptions and reactions to outer stimuli, the objects of the senses, and the reactions that arise inwardly from those stimuli. When it comes to an inner feeling or experience, ... Views: 432
Our vital nature crazes ‘excitement’ and to gather ‘experiences’. It is no different for the spiritual aspirant than for the rest of humanity in this regard. Spiritual experiences tend to be extraordinary in the sense that they go beyond the everyday perceptions or sensations and tend to have a ... Views: 416
Surveys done of young people today indicate a strong movement to reduce the role of the mainstream organised religions with people claiming to be “spiritual” not “religious”. What is spirituality and how does it differ from being religious?
Religions tend to focus on a fixed belief system and ... Views: 469
The integral yoga takes as its goal something far different than most of the individual yogic paths. The goal here is not liberation from the world, dissolution of the individual, or renunciation of action. Rather, the integral yoga calls for the liberation of the nature and the transformation ... Views: 471
The inner life-force behind any action is more important than the outer form which it takes. Japa and Mantra can become habitual and repetitive, and if that happens, the outer shelf remains, but there is nothing alive within. Such japa sadhana has little value. The living energy needed is either ... Views: 417
There are tales of devotees reciting various mantras millions of times in order to achieve some boon or result in their spiritual progress. The mantra, or the recitation of a name of God, is the sound-body of the form or deity and thus, the theory goes, continued repetition of that name or sound ... Views: 442
Practitioners of mainstream religions are very familiar with ritual worship. Much of the activity of religion is scripted around a set formula of external worship that has developed from perhaps an initial experience or, over time, as a result of habitual action. The intended purpose of this ... Views: 441
Everything we experience is based on vibrations that impinge upon us and bring about a response in the substance of our being. All matter is created by energy, which consists of vibratory waves. All energy is created by consciousness, which provides the specific impulse of vibration to be ... Views: 467
30 years ago, if you mentioned you believe in life after death, religious people might have agreed with you, but many others would have laughed at you. But now, with so much credible evidence that the soul survives death, all but the most skeptical among us at least consider the possibility.
... Views: 461
Every living being loves their life. Everyone wants to be happy. The deer in the field wants to be happy. The wolf, the coyote wants to be happy. The plants, the trees want to be happy.
And human beings want to be happy, want to feel that life is sweet. And it is a burden that even the wise ... Views: 532
Emotions tend to be hard to deal with. Spiritual seekers recognise that emotions can disrupt the focus and lead the seeker into undesirable vital entanglements. Many spiritual paths counsel cutting off the emotional outlets and renouncing the life in the world. They ask the seeker to abandon ... Views: 510
How does an individual come to devotion to the Divine? There are well-known instances that involve some kind of key experience of the Divine, such as the story of Saul on the road to Damascus, or even extreme cases such as Dannion Brinkley who was struck by lightning, declared clinically dead ... Views: 442
The devotee may begin the process of devotional surrender to the Divine with a form of bargaining, expecting a recompense from God for the efforts made to express the devotion. Thus, people pray and expect an answer to their prayers, or they carry out devotional exercises and expect God to ... Views: 460
The path of devotion relies on the heart, not the mind. The seeker who is rooted in his mental process undergoes substantial efforts to achieve spiritual realisation, but may find that the ego-consciousness asserts itself as an arrogant pride of accomplishment, knowledge or understanding. As ... Views: 474
There is an apocryphal tale in the Mahabharata which illustrates the nature of Divine Love and the devotion of the seeker. Narad, the divine sage, came across a yogi who was practicing austerities. The yogi took the opportunity to ask how long before he would achieve liberation. When Narada told ... Views: 450
In our typical linear thought process we tend to fixate on either the Impersonal aspect of the Divine, or the Personal aspect, and we treat them as either mutually exclusive or in competition with each other, with some adherents favoring one and some the other. In reality, both aspects are part ... Views: 499
Oftentimes, people are their own worst enemy. You may be subconsciously becoming more vulnerable to mind control manipulation without even knowing it. Inner weakness distorts the way you think, act, feel, and behave. As a result, you may find yourself falling into patterns that aren’t in your ... Views: 559
There are 4 kashays (weaknesses) in every human being, namely:
Anger
Pride
Deceit
Greed
Of these, greed is the first to manifest within every living being, and the last to leave. Greed appears to give us immense happiness, but it actually is at the foundation of most of our unhappiness. ... Views: 307
Yearning for someone to come and fill your life with joy and love? What if I told you that loving yourself is the beginning of discovering your right partner?
Self-care messages are so rampant across the internet that even personal branding coaches use this as a major strategy to make their ... Views: 580
A non dual recognition has the potential to trigger massive shifts, on the level of consciousness.
So much of these shifts are discussed quite thoroughly in non duality satsang. What makes it difficult to point to them, is that these descriptions give the mind a way to control the awakening ... Views: 577