Category
Spirituality
Browse the spirituality library by topic first, then narrow into articles, websites, videos, or events.
Topics
Spirituality Topics
Like the legacy category pages, start with the full topic folder list. The selected lane controls where each topic opens.
Everything38,890Browse the category resource libraryArticles29,785Read expert articles and newslettersWebsites9,102Browse recommended websites and resourcesVideos2Watch category videosEvents1Find upcoming sessions and events
Topic clicks are currently scoped to Everything. Choose Articles, Websites, Videos, or Events to open that resource type for every topic below.
A Course in MiraclesAffirmations and Positive AffirmationsAkashic RecordsAstrologyAuraBeliefChannelingChristianityConsciousness and AwarenessCreativityDowsingEnergy Healing and Energy MedicineEnlightenmentFaithHopeHoroscopesImaginationInner PeaceIntuitionLife BalanceLife PurposeMeditationMiraclesMysticismNew AgeNumerologyPalm ReadingPositive ThinkingPsychic Readings and PsychicsReligionSelf KnowledgeSelf RealizationSpiritual GrowthSpiritual GuidesSpiritual HealingTarotZen and Mindfulness
Everything
Spirituality Resources
Browse a compact directory list below, or use the topic folders above for a focused legacy-style path.
30 resources
ARTArticleTransforming Sleep, Not Suppressing ItIn the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna: “Verily this Yoga is not for him who eats too much or sleeps too much, even as it is not for him who gives up sleep and food, O Arjuna.” (Bhagavad Gita and Its Message, tr. by Sri Aurobindo, Ch. 6, V. 16) It is interesting to note that one of the epithets linked to Arjuna was Gudakesha, the ‘master of sleep’, one who overcomes the force of tamas so that he can remain alert and focused to achieve whatever he was destined to achieve.ARTArticleTransforming the Character Of SleepGiving the body the rest and recuperative time it needs, the spiritual aspirant still has to deal with the effects of what is normally a descent into a more tamasic status that can have its impacts on the waking consciousness. If we wake up tired, groggy or cloudy, we have not only not fully recharged the body, but we have put a drag on our waking consciousness. How many people need to resort to coffee or tea first thing in the morning so that the caffeine helps to offset the dullness or grogginess?ARTArticleTransitioning From Mental Consciousness to Spiritual Consciousness While Controlling the Vital NatureThe mind provides a filter to manage and control the vital forces to a certain degree. While it is not perfect, without it, an individual can become subject to whatever vital energy is active and rising up within him. At the same time, the mind acts as a limitation on the ability of the individual to shift the standpoint to the spiritual level of existence. Those who take up spiritual practices, thus, have to navigate the issue of how to move beyond the mind, while not simultaneously becoming a victim of the resurgence of vital energies no longer restrained by the mental control.ARTArticleTreating All Work As Karma YogaWhen the spiritual aspiration awakens in an individual, he often feels like he has to leave his employment and take up some work that is more ‘spiritual’. He tends to equate the type of work with some ill-defined spiritual nature. Thus, we frequently see spiritual people, and organizations, take up work to feed the hungry, heal the sick, etc. This of course is very positive and needed work and we honor those who make that commitment.ARTArticleTwo Necessary Things in the Practice of the Integral YogaThere is a considerable amount of confusion about objectives and methods related to the practice of the integral yoga, primarily due to widely spread ideas about spirituality in general and well-known paths and disciplines that have their own fixed methodologies. Integral Yoga has a different objective from traditional spiritual paths, as the goal is not to escape from life but to bring down the next stage of evolutionary expression of consciousness, and thereby to transform the actions of mind, life and body and the relationship to the exte
al world within which we live.ARTArticleUnderstanding and Addressing Desire, Hunger and FoodSri Aurobindo translates Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Chapter One, Section Two, Verse 1: “Formerly there was nothing here; this was concealed by Death — by Hunger, for it is Hunger that is Death. That created mind, and he said, ‘Let me have substance.’ He moved about working and as he worked the waters were born and he said, ‘Felicity was born to me as I worked.’ This verily is the activity in action. Therefore felicity cometh to him who thus knoweth this soul of activity in action.”ARTArticleUnderstanding and Addressing the Desire and Craving for FoodWe have a fixation on food. We do not seek food just for nourishment and proper care of our bodies, generally; rather, we use food to provide us with comfort, emotional support, and fulfillment of desires for various tastes. We center many of our relationship rituals around food.
At some point, many individuals conclude that they need to adjust their eating habits, whether through dieting, or fasting. The disease conditions of anorexia and bulimia are extreme examples of our attempts to incorporate our manner of addressing food issues in relation to societal expectations and norms.ARTArticleUnderstanding and Managing the Subconscious Part of the BeingThe idea that significant events or forces can take place within us during sleep or in the twilight range between sleep and waking is something that has been part of human understanding for thousands of years. In particular, dreams, a particular form of the sleep state where the consciousness is attending and in some cases participating actively, have been explored to some depth. In modern Western psychology, the work of Freud broke ground with his study on The Interpretation of Dreams.ARTArticleUnderstanding and Persevering Through the Darkness and the Delays in the Process of Spiritual RealisationWhen we are confronted with difficulties, we employ several different types of responses, mainly depending on instinct, habit, training and the play of the three Gunas, the qualities of Nature, Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas. Sometimes we respond with more effort, sometimes we lapse into depression and sometimes we take a longer-range view and accept the process and the necessary time.ARTArticleUnderstanding Desire and the Absence of DesireWhen seekers take up the spiritual path, they try to follow the guideline to reject desire. They will frequently say “I don’t desire anything”. In many cases, however, this is an obfuscation by the vital nature manipulating the mind to accept something which is not entirely accurate. Let’s break this down:ARTArticleUnderstanding Experience of a Shift from the Exte
al to the Inward ConsciousnessAs the seeker begins to go inwards in his awareness, theare are innumerable new experiences that take place. He generally is not able to determine exactly what they mean. In this case, the guidance of an experienced practitioner or of a Guru can be of immense assistance. If a seeker is proceeding without a guide, or if an experience comes upon an individual more or less suddenly without conscious intention or preparation, he needs to appreciate that the exploration of inner space with bring forward many things formerly unknon and unseen previously.ARTArticleUnderstanding Faith and Its Role in Spiritual DevelopmentThere is a long history of debate about what we believe and how we know what we know. Science and religion have historically taken opposite positions in this debate. Science takes the view that the mind must be able to ascertain objective facts, and draw conclusions based on them. This includes potentially developing hypotheses and testing them, discarding or modifying those that do not bear themselves out in the test. Science is therefore most comfortable with phenomena that are observable, or at least measurable, as to their existence, their result and their uses.ARTArticleUnderstanding Fluctuations in the Force of the Spiritual SadhanaThe spiritual seeker tends to struggle with the constant recurrence of old thoughts, feelings, reactions and desires. He is also constantly confronted by changes in his energy levels and focus. Much of this is due to the underlying and deeply embedded energies that he has inherited as part of human nature as it has been developed and manifested. Some of this is due to education, expectations and societal pressures that have helped shape his being in this lifetime. Another portion are due to the constant changing of the three Gunas as they adjust their predominance from one moment to the next.ARTArticleUnderstanding Psychic and Soul In Their Deepest and Original SenseThe English language leaves a lot of room for confusion, simply because terminology tends to be imprecise, inexact, or vague. The issue is made even more difficult because, particularly in the West, there is very little understanding of the vast field of consciousness, the various planes and parts of the being, and their interactions with one another. It is compounded by the use of language to join together vastly different things simply because they are not recognised in their true place or significance.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Differences Between the Vital Desire Soul and the Psychic BeingWe can observe, in our own lives and in the lives of various individuals we see on the ‘world stage’, the difference between those who are driven primarily by the impulses of the exte
al vital nature and the ego-personality, and those who have made contact with the inner being and has developed a new standpoint that is based on the harmony of the divine, or spiritual, consciousness. Those who are fixated on the exte
al vital nature may exhibit various forces of the animal nature, may be filled with desire, lust, greed, and a power-hungry demand that can turn into bullying and intimidation.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Higher Guidance That Directs Our Actions Towards Our Spiritual DestinyWhen we rely on our surface impressions, which are very much based on and influenced by our background, family, society and the values inculcated into us by those relationships, we only are able to truly understand a fraction of what is actually occurring, and generally this is conditioned by our desires, wishes and preconceived ideas based on our ego-consciousness. It is thus, necessarily, not truly possible to get a real sense of the larger perspective that encompasses our growth, and the developmental trend that is working itself out within us and in our environs.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Higher Guidance That Directs Our Actions Towards Our Spiritual DestinyWhen we rely on our surface impressions, which are very much based on and influenced by our background, family, society and the values inculcated into us by those relationships, we only are able to truly understand a fraction of what is actually occurring, and generally this is conditioned by our desires, wishes and preconceived ideas based on our ego-consciousness. It is thus, necessarily, not truly possible to get a real sense of the larger perspective that encompasses our growth, and the developmental trend that is working itself out within us and in our environs.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Influence of the Subconscient on Our Conscious ExperienceWhile we tend to believe that our consciousness is centered in the region of the brain, or in some cases, the heart, there is really a much broader framework for consciousness. There are different forms that consciousness takes. These forms vibrate at different frequencies and are then taken up and processed by the various subtle energy centers aligned along the spine, based on which vibratory pattern and frequency can be picked up by these centres or chakras, as they are called. Thus, vibrations that occur at a level that we call ‘mental’, i.e. thoughts, perceptions, etc.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Masks, False Fronts and Deceptive Appearances We Present to the World and to OurselvesIt is relatively easy to recognise that we are putting up a false front in our dealings with society. We greet people with a smile while in our minds, we may be having an opposite feeling about the person. We flatter people to get ahead in society, knowing that the flattery is not based on reality, but is meant to gain a certain position or end result. Similarly we mask our own feelings, intentions and thoughts in order to appear more successful, more important and more powerful than we really are.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Masks, False Fronts and Deceptive Appearances We Present to the World and to OurselvesIt is relatively easy to recognise that we are putting up a false front in our dealings with society. We greet people with a smile while in our minds, we may be having an opposite feeling about the person. We flatter people to get ahead in society, knowing that the flattery is not based on reality, but is meant to gain a certain position or end result. Similarly we mask our own feelings, intentions and thoughts in order to appear more successful, more important and more powerful than we really are.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Respective Roles of Personal Effort and Divine Grace in the Transformation of Human NatureIt is one thing to adopt, in one’s mind, the idea that since the Divine is doing the work, we need simply accept the idea and let things take their course. It is an entirely different thing if we actually want to accomplish the transformation needed to bring about a change in human nature based on evolutionary growth and development. There is a long debate about whether we have ‘free will’ or whether everything is determined by fate, or destiny, dependent origination or karmic consequence. The mind wants to have a simple solution that tends to be either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, ‘black’ or ‘white’.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Stage of Striving and the Role of Instincts in Response to Exte
al EventsBeyond the stage of “flight or fight” we see in panic and the eventual recoil into inertia, where we see the initial reactions of instinct at play, the stage of ‘striving’ begins to harness energy of response by the vital being, albeit still very much under the influence and control of the power of instinctive behaviour. Striving, however, implies marshalling of the vital forces to try to address and overcome the perceived threat or obstacle in the way of the being’s desire, and thus, goes beyond pure instinct to a type of vital focus or attention, characterised by the Guna of rajas.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Stages of Coping and Mastery in Response to Exte
al EventsAt some point in life, the individual becomes aware that the former methods of reacting to circumstances and events are not only counter-productive, but actually harmful to their own health and well-being and the successful resolution of the situation. Struggling and striving, fighting and reacting, instinctive behaviour and apathy and inertia, all past responses, wind up leaving the situation unresolved, the individual exhausted or worn out or in a state of despair or depression.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Stages of Panic and Inertia That Arise When Facing Difficulties and Obstacles in LifeBoth panic and inertia are responses to situations that arise in the life of individuals. They come about when something new or unexpected comes forward to challenge the individual. In the case of panic, there is clearly a perception of danger, and the rising of fear in the being. This drives the individual into what is generally regarded to be a manifestation of the “fight or flight” reaction. There is no ‘thought’ involved. It is a reaction of the vital being that drives the individual’s response to the situation.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Terminology in Sri Aurobindo’s Use of the Words ‘Soul’ and ‘Psychic’Sri Aurobindo’s use of the terms ‘soul’ and ‘psychic’ started out with the common usage of the time, but as his work developed, he determined it was best to create a more precise terminology than was commonly in use. In order to appreciate the nuances involved and follow along with the central sense being communicated, we take a moment to focus on these terms which will appear constantly in our review of the current text.ARTArticleUnderstanding the Yogic Process and Its Developments Through the Action of TimeWe frequently overlook the element of time in any inner review of progress toward spiritual fulfillment, surrender to the Divine, or any other aspect of our spiritual path. We want and expect instant results, and thus, when we once take up spiritual practice, we want it to be immediately fulfilled, and, indeed, we frequently overlook the weaknesses or failures of the exte
al nature by simply believing that accepting the Divine in our hearts or minds means that we have accomplished the objective.ARTArticleUnflagging Perseverance and Persistence Is Required for the Practice of the Integral YogaAthletes undergo extensive training routines, logging many thousands of hours with, in many cases, tough physical conditioning and practice, in order to achieve their goals for physical development and to be able to participate in a competitive sporting event. Many who are not athletes undertake training routines to modify their physical strength or endurance. Actors in many cases have to take serious programs to prepare for a particularly demanding role that requires physical toning, strengthening or conditioining of their bodies.ARTArticleUniversal Forces and Their Impact on the Individual and Means of Protection From Their ActionWe are constantly being inundated by forces active in the world. These forces may be physical, such as the radiation from the sun, radioactivity from the earth, the power of wind, waves, gravitational influences, etc. They may also be vital forces that provoke sympathetic vibrations within us based on long habit or instinctive reaction or some trained response we have developed with respect to events, circumstances, relationships or traumas in our past experience. They may also be mental forces which may feed us ideas, opinions, speculations, imaginations that are circulating in the world.ARTArticleVigilanceThe ancient texts, such as the Upanishads or the Dhammapada, focus on distinguishing the true and ete
al, from the transitory and illusory existence upon which most people spend their time and attention. Thus, the term ‘vigilance’ means something entirely different than what a person, awake in the exte
al world, would take it to mean.ARTArticleVigilant Awareness Is Needed to Manage the Energies That Arise in the Lower Regions of the BeingMost people respond to life as it comes to them and react according to the energy that they are able to receive and process in some form or another. They remain immersed in the exte
al personality. They become the fear, the anger, the hunger, the thirst, the craving, the pleasure, the pain, the joy, the sorrow, etc. They are attached to the impressions and sensations and how their internal awareness feels about them.