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ARTArticleConsecrating Oneself Entirely to the Divine Life Represents the Way Forward for the Seeker Against All Doubt, Opposition and NegativityThe spiritual path tends to breed considerable opposition from friends, family and associates because it takes the seeker along an entirely different line of development that does not necessarily meet the expectations of those people. It is a “path less travelled”. It is not infrequent that appeals are made to the seeker to accept the normal mode of life of the society, get a career, earn money, start a family, relate to friends and family on the normal superficial level that focuses on entertainment, distraction, socializing, gossip and comparing oneself on exte al factors to others.ARTArticleConverting Primal Physical-Vital Force Into Spiritual ForceThere is a well-known and widely described concept in the spiritual traditions of India whereby the basic force of the first chakra that manifests in the ordinary course through that centre as sexual energy is converted through various processes of tapasya, yogic concentration, into a force that can join the seeker to the spiritual consciousness. This process, known as converting ‘retas’ into ‘ojas’ is the basis for various actions of hatha yoga, pranayama and the well-known kundalini yoga. The basic force is envisioned as a serpent coiled at the base of the spine, the Muladhara Chakra.ARTArticleCreating Harmony and Understanding Requires a Change of ConsciousnessThe mental consciousness believes, first of all, that the particular viewpoint held by an individual is ‘correct’ and that other viewpoints are ‘wrong’. The vital nature wants to assert itself and gain dominance. The limited and linear framework of the normal human consciousness ensures that there will be disagreement, dispute and eventually a state of gridlock where opposing ideas contend with each other and no one is willing or able to ‘compromise’ because they hold their own view to be the correct one. We see this dynamic everywhere.ARTArticleCreating Your Best DreamIn our last teleclass we were discussing creating your dream for the New Year and some very interesting comments were brought up by the folks on the call. I’d like to share a couple of those thoughts and objections so that you can see if these are the same issues you are battling with in creating your best dream.ARTArticleDealing with Anxiety and WorryMany people express the idea that simply living life without any form of planning or care about organizing one’s activities is the ideal ‘worry-free’ way of living. This conflates reasonable planning in the outer life with the internal process of worrying.ARTArticleDealing with DualitiesOur experience in the world is one of dualities, hot and cold, wet and dry, happy and sad, love and hate, darkness and light, etc. We recognise that we cannot have the one without the other. The Chinese symbol of In/Yang illustrates the intertwined nature of these dualities and that even in the greatest light there is a spot of darkness and vice versa.ARTArticleDealing with Material Possessions in the Spiritual PracticeMaterial possessions are always an issue for the spiritual aspirant, as they tend to distract the focus and lead to vital reactions that are not helpful to overcoming the pull of the exte al world and its measures of success which is attached to the acquisition, holding and use of the possessions. Dealing with objects directs the attention toward those objects and thus, away from the spiritual sadhana.ARTArticleDealing with Pain in our LivesIn watching the way people respond to pain, difficulties and challenges, there is one thing we all have in common – and that is aversion to sitting in an uncomfortable place. When the going gets tough we simply want to run. Perhaps part of that nature is related to our limbic system and the fight or flight reactions we display when we feel threatened. But as spiritual students this cannot be a justification for our behavior because – if we know in our souls that there is only one – how is it possible that we can be threatened by anything or anyone?ARTArticleDealing With Periods of Dissipation and Distraction in the Spiritual SadhanaSpiritual aspirants tend to have periods of concentration, intense experiences, positive forward movement centered around our deepest aspirations, only to find that after some time the energy withdraws, or they sink back into old habits or comfortable patterns of the past. They may look for activities that do not take serious concentration and they act as distractions or which dissipate the energy. In today’s world, scrolling social media or watching mindless video reels can be added to traditional forms of distraction.ARTArticleDealing with Physical PainAt some point in life everyone is confronted with physical conditions which cause pain. What is pain exactly? When we speak about physical pain in particular, we reference particular sensations or impulses of an intensity that activates the nerves to carry the sensation to the brain, which interprets the signal. Pain can be a great aid at certain times as it acts as a warning system of danger to provoke the mental and vital being to action.ARTArticleDealing with the Desire or Craving Related to FoodDealing with the Desire or Craving Related to Foodr Posted on December 27, 2025 Vast numbers of people face the difficulty of the craving for food, whether in the form of eating more than their body requires, or eating foods that carry little nutritional benefit but which represent large caloric content or which satisfy a particular craving for a specific taste. There are substantial downsides to indulgence in food cravings, including unnecessary weight gain and the health impacts that come along with that.ARTArticleDealing With the Reactive Impulses of the Vital Nature of the Exte al PersonalityWe tend to be reactive by nature. Something occurs and we immediately capture the vibration and respond to it. Thus we have outbursts of anger when we are frustrated or feel insecure, or when something gets in the way of some idea, intention or movement we want to undertake. An example of this type of instantaneous reactivity is the phenomenon of ‘road rage’. Perhaps someone is driving too slowly, or cuts in front. There is a reaction of anger and in some cases, this manifests as a confrontation and a beating, a fight or even an attempted murder.ARTArticleDealing With Vital Forces of Opposition to the Spiritual Sadhana Through the Intervention of The Divine Shakti, the MotherThe vital forces that have, for the most part, gained substantial control of the earth-nature’s vital existence, are very protective of their ‘turf’, so to speak. They do not cede the ground easily, and once they are dismissed from an individual’s nature, they still maintain both their existence in the surrounding nature, and always try to either convince or overpower the seeker to regain their foothold in that individual.ARTArticleDepression and Spiritual ProgressWe are all subject to the action of the three Gunas or qualties of Nature. They are always shifting. As they shift, our outlook, mood, physical responsiveness, vital energy and mental framework all undergo corresponding changes. None of the three Gunas remains constantly in the forefront, so there will be times when we are ruled by Sattwa, and other times by Rajas or Tamas.ARTArticleDetachment, Liberation and MasteryThe question of detachment, renunciation, is frequently interpreted as one of avoidance and a rejection of the exte al life in the world. It most often turns to austerity. If one follows this line of approach to its logical conclusion, the only solution is to renounce all action, renounce all desires, and live an isolated life focused solely in realisation, liberation and eventually the opportunity to merge the consciousness into the divine source.ARTArticleDeveloping a Power to Perceive and Understand Ourselves and Our World By Minimizing the Distortions and Biases That Are Inherent in Our Human Instrumentation and ProcessWhenever we try to understand something, we are met with various types of inherent biases that skew the determinations we make. Not only are our senses, our perceptions and our thoughts subject to various forms of filtering, but they are also skewed by our past experience, the fact that our minds “fill in” missing data based on what we expect to see, and we interpret everything through the filter of our memories, our emotional framework and our contextual relationship to what is being perceived.ARTArticleDeveloping a Strong Power of Knowledge and Will To Manage and Control the Vital NatureWhile a reaction may seem to be taking place instantaneously, it is always conditioned by prior acts or events, the chain of cause and effect, dependent origination or the law of karma, however one wants to term it. By adopting the standpoint of the witness consciousness, observing the exte al nature of the body-life-mind complex, one creates a space of distance that allows one to not be so absorbed in the motion that one cannot see the links and the antecedents.ARTArticleDeveloping the Power to Remove Illnesses from the Physical BodyAn illness is a vibrational pattern that impacts the body and its normal operations. If one does not succeed in rejecting it before it breaks through the protective vital sheath and then, if one fails to prevent it from taking hold at all in the physical body, one is left with having to deal with the illness that is active in the body and vibrating the physical substance. As we see with all physical forms, they attain a type of “solidity” that makes them less maleable and able to be dealt with, and the physical body shares some of that attribute.ARTArticleDevelopment from Witness of the Nature to Master of the NatureSankhya philosophy, also referenced in the Bhagavad Gita and certain Upanishads with respect to its understanding of the respective roles of the Purusha, the witness consciousness and Prakriti, the active nature, provides a guiding light for those seeking liberation from bondage to the exte al world. One need only find a way to separate oneself from identification with the active nature and position one’s awareness in the Purusha, a shift of standpoint from the ego-consciousness to the divine consciousness, in order to achieve liberation.ARTArticleDifficult People: 10 Tips to Save Your SanityYou’ve experienced it. Perhaps with a coworker, a neighbor, or even a relative. You try to get along with the bully to keep the peace, but they always manage to get under your skin and you react, sometimes not so nicely. You avoid them as much as possible. But for those times when you have no choice, we offer the suggestions below to help you handle them peacefully and from the perspective of a mystic rather than allowing them to add more stress to your life or worse.ARTArticleDifficulties Are Blessings If We Know How to Face ThemWhether we term it divine Will, synchronicity, coherence, quantum entanglement, cause and effect, dependent origination, karma, or the law of attraction (or any other terminology), there remains a truth that the specific time, place and circumstance we occupy in the world is due to a stream of energy interacting with other streams in a coordinated pattern that carries out the intention of the universal manifestation.ARTArticleDifficulties Provide the Possibility of ProgressIf we examine the times and phases of our lives, we find that when things seem to be going smoothly forward and we feel great, we want to enjoy and appreciate the good times. We thus tend to slacken our efforts so that we can get the most out of the positive energies we are experiencing. This is a quite natural tendency, which tends to lull us into a state of quiescence. Real progress, on the other hand, involves focus and attention. In order to get a violin to make music, we need to put the strings under the right amount of tension. Too much and the strings will snap.ARTArticleDistinguishing an Attitude of Equality From One of IndifferenceThe mental framework frequently wants to find an “either/or” option rather than looking at the nuance needed to resolve multiple views of pending questions. Thus, when we are asked to consider achieving a poise of equality in the face of provocation of any sort, positive or negative, we will tend to shift toward a poise of indifference and thereby give up the initiative to action. It is difficult for us to conceive of maintaining such a standpoint and at the same time engaging in the action needed to fight for a principle or to achieve the evolutionary goal before us.ARTArticleDistinguishing and Addressing Undivine and Antidivine ForcesThere is a real difference in motivation and intention between what may be considered to be ignorant responses, and those that are malignant. Seekers face a difficulty or some resistance in the exte al nature constantly. For the most part, this resistance is due to the long embedded habits and instincts and trained responses embedded in the mental, vital and physical nature.ARTArticleDistinguishing Psychic Experience from Occult or Abnormal ExperienceHow does one distinguish between psychic experience, as defined by Sri Aurobindo, as soul experiences, from the vast array of experiences that occur on the mental or vital planes that have been called ‘psychic’ phenomena? Once one has the clue about the different parts of the being and their characteristic modes of action, it is actually not to difficult to know what the experience is, where it originates from, and what energy it carries.ARTArticleDistinguishing Soul from Vital BeingThe lack of experience and recognition of the action of the soul makes it difficult for most people to understand the reality of the soul. For this reason, people tend to confuse the true soul with the vital soul of desire, which Sri Aurobindo calls the ‘desire-soul’. This is an expression of the vital being and is seen as passionate, sensuous and desire-filled. The vital connection feltl between two individuals clues us in to how people tend to identify a ‘soul mate’.ARTArticleDistinguishing Truth from Falsehood Requires Separation from the Vital Desire-Soul and Its ImpulsionsDuring the 1980’s there were a number of scams carried out by US mail. An individual would receive a letter purporting to come from some high official in another country who had access to a large amount of money and needed a ‘partner’ to help take the funds out of the country and invest them in the USA under the control of the partner. The individual who received the mail laughed about how absurd the whole idea was, but an employee at the company was taken with the idea and was conce ed that it was just being thrown in the trash bin.ARTArticleDistinguishing Vital or Mental Desire or Demand from Aspiration of the Psychic BeingDesire can take many forms, some of them subtle, inasmuch as they are linked to prayer and thus seem to confirm the aspiration. There is a subtle form of bargaining that can take place where the dedication of the seeker is tied to the Divine providing a specific anticipated form of realisation, support or result. In some cases this is couched in such a way as to make it seem that the bargaining is so that the individual can better carry out the Divine Will, as the individual understands it.ARTArticleDistrust and Disobedience in the Practice of Yoga Interferes With the Action of the ForceWe like to believe that we are independent actors in control of our own destiny and our own lines of development. We want ‘freedom’ to express ourselves. The ego-personality acting in the outside world is very much a captive of past energies, whether those of the formation of physical and vital life, or those that have been acquired and developed through the process of evolution of the mental power. We have been educated, pressured, traumatized, and socialized to make certain decisions and act in certain ways, all while believing that we are free and independent actors.ARTArticleDivine Realisation and the Uplifting and Perfection of Life in the WorldThe ancient sages of India, as we see in some of the texts that have come down to us through the course of time, understood the balance between the internal and the exte al, between individual liberation and a balanced activity in the world. They recognised the individual role as part of the divine manifestation and embraced it. The Isha Upanishad makes this clear in its short compass. The Taittiriya Upanishad goes to great lengths to ensure that the seeker does not abandon the material world.

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