Many people have reported the experience of visualizing, either in deep meditation, or in what may be called a dream state, or a lucid dream state, a house, or building, or even in some cases a cave, and when one enters into that space, there are numerous passages or doors, and if one follows it ... Views: 543
For those who have the power of visualisation and who are ready and willing to concentrate in this way, there can be tremendous progress in developing the relation to the psychic being. The mind transcribes the energetic relationships of the various parts of the being into different rooms and ... Views: 481
The mental being tends to accept that if it has an intellectual understanding of something, that it has ‘accomplished’ that thing. It does not tend to concern itself with the vital or physical world per se, and thus, if it ‘knows’ that it is one with the rest of the universal creation, or if it ... Views: 466
For those who are anchored in their outer external awareness of the world and of themselves, there is no understanding or acceptance of the reality of inner occult states of awareness. Thus, they deny the reality of the inner experiences, until perhaps they happen to have a near death ... Views: 489
Honest observation without mental bias is the first step the Mother outlines. This is accomplished by setting up the ideal as a screen or filter against which to compare each action. Those that do not compare entirely favorably represent things that can be identified as subjects for the change ... Views: 499
Observation and reflection eventually can lead to focus of the life and attention to achieve a specific aspiration. The process of reviewing with care in the light of the higher aspiration allows the individual to then choose which things to do, and which things to avoid, sculpting, if you will, ... Views: 491
Those who have an aspiration for spiritual growth, for the change of human nature within themselves, eventually find that they cannot live haphazardly, at the mercy of whatever forces, impulses, ideas or thoughts happen to be moving within them at any point in time, regardless of the source or ... Views: 508
In the opening chapter of The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo sets forth the proposition that “… all problems of existence are essentially problems of harmony.” We can see the reality of this statement both in the way we respond internally to circumstances, events and our reactions to them, as well ... Views: 513
Once we have recognised that we cannot rely on the mental being to truly review, analyse and control the vital desire-soul of the external being, and adopted the principle enunciated by the Mother to hold up each thought, feeling, emotion, action and motivation before a ‘screen’ of one’s highest ... Views: 528
Once we recognise that we cannot trust the mental faculty to keep the vital desire-soul in check, the question arises as to how it is then possible to truly examine the underlying motives and wellsprings of our thoughts, feelings and actions without falling victim to the kind of bias that the ... Views: 552
The vital nature is so deeply intertwined with the mental nature in the current state of human development, and has such a force of desire that it tries to satisfy, that, for most individuals, it is very hard to take an objective view about the thoughts, feelings, actions, reactions, emotions or ... Views: 490
Sri Ramana Maharshi famously inquired into the question ‘who am I?’. Through constant self-examination with this question, the seeker begins to separate himself from the idea that he is the body, or the particular life-energy formation or mental sense that make up his external, surface ... Views: 600
The quest to understand the nature of consciousness, and “who am I?” spans back through the past history of mankind. Some of the exercises undertaken by the ancient sages remain relevant into the current day, as the Mother illustrates in her example below, which derives i its original form from ... Views: 514
What is consciousness? How can we understand consciousness separate from what we believe to be ourselves, the body, vital force and mental framework that we identify with? Philosophers, scientists and religious leaders have all tried to develop a definition of “consciousness”. Rene Descartes ... Views: 539
When 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 distinction between the state of consciousness with the psychic being active and leading, versus that where it has receded and the ego-personality of the surface being is predominant, provides a very clear method for the seeker to know what is taking place internally. By adopting the ... Views: 495
The Mother illustrates clearly the difference in how an individual responds when the psychic being is in front, guiding the mind, life and body, as opposed to what happens when it is in the background, either pushed back, or deeply hidden under the cover of the external being, leaving the mind, ... Views: 533
Evolutionary changes take place in what we may call “evolutionary time”, which measures major changes over millennia, certainly far beyond the span of any individual human lifetime. Thus, when we look at any attempt to modify human nature, not to speak of physical characteristics that are ... Views: 540
There are many different spiritual disciplines and methods, and also different experiences of consciousness that result from practice of these methods. For those who aspire to bring the soul, the psychic being, forward and active in the physical body and life, Sri Aurobindo describes several ... Views: 538
As the individual works to understand the wellsprings of the motives, impulses and forces that rise up through his being in the subconscient and push him into action, a subtler understanding begins to develop. The need to distinguish between the inherited habits and embedded atavistic movements, ... Views: 501
There are realms that operate under different rules, or laws, than what we have come to expect here. Our earthly life is a complex amalgam of physical, vital, mental and psychic consciousness, and this mixture implies that none of these are able to express themselves in the purest sense of their ... Views: 559
As if the genetic, prenatal and neonatal influence, and the habits and customs of the society into which one is born is not sufficient burden to have to deal with as it rises up from the subconscient levels of our being, we also have to address the current influences provided through peer ... Views: 528
We tend to not only identify with the values of our family, our country, our religion, but we also internalize the standpoint taken by them, so that we view situations, actions and reactions, and history through the lens of this standpoint. This of course can create a highly biased viewpoint of ... Views: 566
As the awareness develops of the influences that have shaped our character and active nature from our ancestors, our parents, as well as the influences from our peers and from the society at large, we begin to develop a respect for the complexity of the task and the reasons why we cannot simply ... Views: 591
When the individual is able to shift out of the standpoint of the ego-personality to that of the soul, the psychic being, he is able to observe and trace the influences of inherited tendencies or environmental pressures that bubble up from the subconscient and try to gain admittance and ... Views: 500
We pride ourselves on our independence and self-sufficiency. We believe that we make conscious choices that are ‘our own’ choices. We do not generally recognise that who we are today, and what choices we tend to make, are very much conditioned by and even controlled by influences from the past. ... Views: 543
The character we exhibit today is a result of the past, whether we start from the underlying habitual patterns of human nature, or perhaps even go back farther to the patterns of the vital animal nature. Much of this is actually built into the genetic framework of the being, but layered on top ... Views: 533
While we tend to place a negative connotation on ‘habits’, in fact, habits are an important part of the action of the being, particularly of the physical being. We see times and seasons in Nature that repeat themselves, and we see animal life surviving through patterns and habits that they have ... Views: 510
One of the big issues that all people face is dealing with cravings, habits and addictions and their effects in their lives. The mechanism at work here is not based on conscious decision-making, but on impulses, feelings and pulls that occur subconsciously, whether in the mind, the vital being, ... Views: 626
Some believe that it is impossible to change human nature. They repeat the proverb that one cannot straighten out a dog’s tail, but it will return to its former status time and again. Some become frustrated and essentially fight with their body, vital being or mind, wherever the movement they ... Views: 540
As the individual confronts the various impulses, emotions, drives and thoughts that arise and drive his life and action, he begins to recognise that there are elements that are not easily identified on the surface, and that there is something that cannot quite be grabbed with the intellect, ... Views: 542
Most people get ‘wound up’ occasionally or frequently. This leads to what is called in Ayurveda ‘deranged vata’. Vata is the dosha that represents the air element in the being. The symptoms can include nervous tics, headaches, indigestion, insomnia, and a general feeling of lack of ease or ... Views: 538
When an individual takes up the inner observation process and begins to look carefully at the motives, actions, feelings, emotions and ideas that dominate the being, there is frequently a stage where the witness consciousness becomes ‘self-critical’ and worries about every misstep, every wrong ... Views: 529
Sri Aurobindo provided advice to an individual who was trying to sort out the direction for his life and how to face the difficulties that confronted him, particularly with respect to certain vital weaknesses to which he was prone. Sri Aurobindo analyzed the condition of this individual in great ... Views: 513
Sri Aurobindo provided advice to an individual who was trying to sort out the direction for his life and how to face the difficulties that confronted him, particularly with respect to certain vital weaknesses to which he was prone. Sri Aurobindo analyzed the condition of this individual in great ... Views: 480
People in modern society are confused about the meaning, purpose, significance and value of their lives. The society sets goals for them that involve for the most part, material satisfactions through acquisition of wealth, family, and enjoyment, without any further insight provided as to why one ... Views: 541
The question of ‘hostile forces’ is one that generally needs a certain amount of reflection. In the West, the major religious denominations frequently speak of the devil, the fallen angels, Satan, and other beings to which they attribute a malignant power that pressures human beings to commit ... Views: 637
It is easy, in fact, quite normal, for an individual to turn toward medical treatments once an illness presents itself. The mind-set of the entire society is based on the idea that illness must be defeated and that medicine, through its long history, has increasingly gained powers and tools to ... Views: 735
How do medicines work? What exactly do they do in the body? How do we explain the effect of placebos, which are involved in a reasonably large percentage of cures? What about cases of spontaneous remission of disease? Is it possible to recover from “antibiotic resistant” bacterial diseases? Can ... Views: 792
The mental consciousness likes to make ‘black and white’ decisions. Thus, it tends to set up oppositions between reliance on the spiritual force for healing, and the use of physical means such as medicines or other medical interventions. When we recognise, however, the complexity of the human ... Views: 808
While many people discount the value of imagination, pigeon-holing it into the realm of the creative arts, without much impact on their lives, an ever-expanding number of people are realizing the tremendous power that imagination holds in shaping one’s life and future. Pre-eminent geniuses such ... Views: 699
The Power of Affirmations in Healing the Body and Achieving Positive Results in Life
Posted on August 13, 2022
Emile Coue was a French psychologist who used the power of positive affirmations to heal his patients of numerous diseases. He created a program to be repeated a number of times ... Views: 605
Whether consciously or subconsciously, suggestions reach the being from the outside world, in some cases impacting directly on the body, and in others through the mind or the vital being. When these suggestions arrive subconsciously, we only recognise the thought or feeling when it arises within ... Views: 593
Suggestions are not just directed at the mind; nor are they restricted in their impact on just the mind. We are used to the process of people making suggestions to us constantly about what we could, or should, do or how we could, or should, respond to a situation. We weigh these suggestions not ... Views: 541
There are names for various impacts that the mind has on the health of the physical body. For instance, there is hypochondria, which is noted when an individual accepts a suggestion in the mind that they are suffering from a particular illness. Even if they are not at the time having that ... Views: 902
Santosh Krinsky gave this talk to outline both the existential crisis we are facing in the world today, tying together numerous different symptoms into a view of the larger issues we are facing, as well as the causative factors and the direction for solving this crisis through the development of ... Views: 693
Where the mind focuses and attention is given, energy flows. Thus, when we focus on our physical body and its health issues, when we create fear or anxiety over our health status, we are actually opening up a pathway for the very concerns we are worried about. Positive healthy attention to the ... Views: 510
When the body is disturbed in its balance, through illness, injury, or other causes, it causes signals to be sent through the nervous system to the brain, broadcasting the perception we perceive as pain. Some people never experience pain, however, due to either a failure of the nervous pathway, ... Views: 624
Fear 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: 772
There is a part of the vital nature which takes a perverse pleasure in flaunting illnesses, pain and suffering publicly to collect the sympathy of friends and acquaintances. These things become the topic of conversation and extensive gossip. Thus, the vital nature may prolong, accentuate or even ... Views: 610