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The 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: 356
There 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: 356
The habit of self-deception is so deeply ingrained, and so automatic, that we tend not to see or recognise it when it is occurring. And it occurs constantly throughout each day. How can we overcome this habit of self-deception? This is where a yogic discipline, an effort in the practice, becomes ... Views: 355
Sri Aurobindo describes in The Synthesis of Yoga, the long, slow process of evolution that occurs in nature, long before human beings become conscious of this process. He indicates that through the conscious participation of the spiritual aspirant, this process can be made conscious and speeded ... Views: 355
Self-deception can take the form of a judgmental attitude regarding the thoughts, feelings or actions of others. Particularly if an individual has worked to try to eliminate certain things within himself, he has a very close relationship to those things, he can feel the vibration and a lot of ... Views: 355
When 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: 355
The 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: 355
Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. We all recognise the input we receive from the five physical senses. These perceptions form the basis for much of our interpretation of our reality and our decision processes. Most people never consider that there are other senses possible, or available, to ... Views: 354
Until 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: 354
Humanity, for the most part, continues to believe that the material world occupies a primary place in the creation of the universe, and that somehow, Matter is able to create the encoding and the complex systems that come along with that encoding out of some random mixture of elements.
If we ... Views: 354
To 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: 354
We undergo changes of mood, feelings, responses and do not generally try to understand how these changes come about, their source, and impact upon our own state of being. In some cases, we actually associate ’cause and effect’ with an interaction with another individual, such as when we exclaim ... Views: 354
The 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: 353
We 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: 353
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QuickBooks premier desktop Technical helps your business accounting in many ways, ... Views: 352
Subjectively we tend to believe that we make our own decisions and that we are exercising ‘free will’. What we do not generally do is recognise that there is an entire preceding set of ’causes’ which lead us to the present moment and the very type of choices we make. We may be extremely ... Views: 351
When we reflect on the individuation process for which the ego-consciousness is the instrument of Nature, we oftentimes go to the extreme of believing that we are totally separate, independent and free of outside influence. We believe that our individuality is a wall of separation that keeps us ... Views: 351
There are several points worth considering with respect to utilizing imagination and some of the unanticipated issues that are based primarily in the lag between formulation and accomplishment of the imagined form. Visualization and use of the imagination can act to turn a vague idea or sense ... Views: 351
We remain so fixated on the external surface being, that we fail to recognise the divinity within us. Just as we go through our daily lives in the light of the day and do not attend to our world’s connection to the vast galaxies and universe of which our world is a part, so also we do not ... Views: 351
When most people think of ‘power’ , it is within the context of some overt ability to accomplish something in the setting of the external world within which we live and act. This may be political power, economic power, physical power, moral power, the power to persuade, the power of an idea, the ... Views: 351
Most people do not understand why it is they are alive, what it is they are here to do in the world. Many simply think that ‘eat, drink and be merry’ is the sum of their purpose; in other words, they do not recognise a life purpose or mission in that sense, and just want to find a way to enjoy ... Views: 351
Large numbers of individuals have reported the experience of being conscious outside of their physical body. This frequently happens within the context of a near death experience. The individual reports his awareness up above looking down on the body, or outside observing what is taking ... Views: 351
A common conception about immortality is that this personality, this individuality that we identify with, will somehow survive intact, maintain its existence and continuity of existence and thus, have a continuous line of memory stretching endlessly into the future. This is not, however, a ... Views: 351
We grow and develop our physical body and its capabilities. We may undertake various training regimens and refine the body’s ability to perceive, and to respond. Yet the body dies and that training is left behind with the dissolution of the body. We can see an effect within the larger framework ... Views: 350
When an individual takes up the practice of Yoga, he generally expects to see palpable and constant progress towards whatever he has set as his goal in that practice. When the yogic practice is focused on bringing about the next stage of the evolution of consciousness, and integrating the ... Views: 350
In 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: 350
When 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: 350
As the seeker becomes more and more conscious he may experience reflections of his past actions which, in retrospect, were incorrect, inaccurate or false. This frequently brings feelings of regret and soul-searching. This is however an over-reaction to an increasing sense of awareness. It is ... Views: 350
The 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: 349
There 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: 349
When an individual is confronted with a possible, or likely, case of vampirism, several questions arise. The first is how the individual can be safe from the negative effects of such activity impacting them or their family, friends or associates directly; the second is the possibility and ... Views: 348
Chance, coincidence, free will, astrological influences, fate, destiny, karma, chain of causality, predestination, determinism, correlation, causality, foreknowledge, past life influences, fortune telling, divination, omens, predestination, oracles, Divine Plan — these terms all come up when we ... Views: 348
To 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: 348
As 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: 348
We 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: 348
When 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: 348
It 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: 347
Why do we not immediately recognise the existence and centrality of the soul? We tend to set our standpoint in the external consciousness which is directed outwards, and which is constantly receiving sense impressions and pressures impinging on our body-life-mind complex. The sense organs, ... Views: 347
When people take up the practice of meditation, they generally do not know much about it. They follow a set of guidelines on ‘how to meditate’ and just let things happen. The result is very much dependent, then, on their state of conscious awareness, and their focus of attention. Meditation is ... Views: 347
Whether one calls it the ‘law of Karma”, ‘dependent origination, or ’cause and effect’, the operation of karma essentially states that each action will create an effect which thereby creates a line of development that impacts the individuals who participate in the situation as it develops. While ... Views: 346
When a seeker awakens to the deformations of the body-life-mind complex, the distorted feelings, the misdirected emotions, the incomplete and misguided thoughts, the entire complex focused on and rooted in the idea of the aggrandisement of the ego-personality at the expense of everything else, ... Views: 346
We are generally so embedded in the external surface consciousness and the ego-personality that we naturally believe that represents ‘who we are’. This focus on the external being, however, is subject to being driven by impulsions, desires, impressions and various forces that are at work to push ... Views: 346
The 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: 345
A large number of responses and reactions are embedded in the subconscious and unconscious parts of our nature. Some of these arise as a result of atavistic reactions that precede the human stage of evolution and have been carried forward, while others are embedded as a result of prenatal and ... Views: 345
Sri Aurobindo makes an important point. Various aspects of reports about subtle senses and supraphysical realities as they impact our external world, have been documented, and in some cases, extensively studied and verified. Once we accept the fact that there is a real and solid basis for these ... Views: 345
In the book, ‘Brahmacharya – Celibacy Attained with Understanding’, Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan, an Enlightened being, has shown the beneficial effects of brahmacharya with scientific exactness.
Let’s look at the following excerpts from this book:
Param Pujya Dadashri, herein, says:
“So ... Views: 345
Sri 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: 344
Embracing life, in simple terms, means fully accepting and appreciating the present moment and everything it brings without confrontation, attachment, seeking justice, or causing harm to others. When you embrace life naturally, you can experience peace, harmony, and bliss.
Akram Vignan, also ... Views: 344
The mind is the characteristic power exercised by the human race. While the higher reasoning and abstract mind is somewhat limited in its action across the broad spectrum of human individuals, the basic mental powers are widespread, providing the capability to review, categorize and classify, ... Views: 344
In a chapter titled ‘Knowledge by Identity and Separative Knowledge’ in The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo describes true knowledge as coming through identity, where the knower and the object of knowledge are one and unified. This occurs through the direct relation of the soul with the Divine in a ... Views: 344