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ARTArticleThe Protective Power of the MantraA devotee reported the following incident: He had visited a researcher at Jipmer Hospital in Pondicherry, India who was using Kirlian photography in his research. The researcher showed him several stones. One of them was an ordinary stone. The other one had been in an active temple for a considerable period of time. He showed the Kirlian (aura) photographs of the two and it was clear that the temple stone had a strong radiation coming off it. The researcher then suggested that this devotee become himself part of the experiment. First he took a photograph of his extended hand.ARTArticleThe Psychic Being Provides Instant Protection When It is Active and Guiding the BeingWe train the physical body with intense repetition to create what is called ‘muscle memory’. This allows the body to respond, instantly, without thought, when certain circumstances occur. Not all circumstances require the instantaneous response of the body, or even if they do, the body may not have the needed training and experience to deal with that circumstance.ARTArticleThe Quest to Establish the Connection to the Higher, Subtler, Causal Planes of ExistenceAt a certain point in life, an individual begins to appreciate that the surface events, surface ‘facts’, the ‘reality’ of the exte al world are all derivative results, with the causal forces and energies active on more subtle planes or domains and creating from that place, the physical forms that we respond to on the physical plane. The Mayavada holds that our fixation on the exte al world is an illusion, ‘maya’, and it is our job, if you will, to transcend the illusion through focus on the ultimate reality that underpins that illusin.ARTArticleThe Question of Possession by Vital EntitiesThe question of possession by vital beings has been sensationalized to such an extent in modern society, with an entire genre of motion pictures depicting such things in an extreme way, that it is difficult to have a serious discussion and review of whatever reality underlies these sensational tales. It is also true that in some cases, people were accused of being possessed, not because of actual possession, but due to desire, greed, fear, or other motives of individuals in a position to press the claim.ARTArticleThe Question of Possession of an Individual by Vital BeingsOnce we acknowledge the idea that forces, beings or entities from the vital planes can act upon and through human individuals, the question then arises as to how we can identify this action and distinguish it from what we might call normal actions of a human being under the impulsion of the action of the gunas and the attempt to achieve certain objectives either presented to him by desire, or created in him through fear.ARTArticleThe Reality of Being Born Into the SpiritPeople commonly believe that espousing a particular religion or religious doctrine, reading scriptural texts, singing devotional songs, practicing yoga, or meditation or any of the numerous other practices often called ‘spiritual’ makes them spiritual. While these practices may help to turn their minds, their hearts, their life energy and even their bodies towards spiritual realisation, they do not, in and of themselves, constitute ‘living in the spirit’ or as the Mother puts it, ‘being born into the spirit.’ARTArticleThe Reality of Psychic PowersThe well-known actress Shirley Maclaine described in her book Out on a Limb (and included in the film version under the same name) her experiences with various psychic mediums who were able to actually relate to her details from her life that were not possibly known by them. She began from a skeptical mindset, normal for the modern Western mentality, but soon became aware that there were indeed individuals who could sense, experience and describe events in her life that had not been publicized and which were private occurrences in nature.ARTArticleThe Reality of Subjective Visions and Objective SightModern society, influenced heavily by the scientific/technical focus of the West, puts a premium on the concept of “objectivity” versus anything that can be considered ‘subjective’, which is then treated with suspicion and largely dismissed. This implies several things. First, it implies that the “objectivity” is itself truly ‘objective’ and not subject to the influence of the observer. This however is being debunked as we delve deeper into quantum mechanics and the research being done in that field.ARTArticleThe Relationship Between the Development of Exte al Power and Inner PowerDeveloping exte al power through the use of technology has several unexpected or unintended consequences. One of these, of course, is to give us powers of observation and action that were not available to us through the normal progression of physical, vital and mental development. In order to develop such exte al powers, a corresponding inner development is of course also required, as it requires a power of insight, intuition, imagination, perseverance, reasoning, etc. Thus, the development of any exte al power has a corresponding inner movement associated with it.ARTArticleThe Resolution of the Opposition of Free Will and DeterminismAs long as we remain rooted in the exte al surface consciousness and ego-personality, we are firmly bound by the determinism of Nature. Nature, whether on the physical, vital or mental level, operates under its own ‘laws’ of action. The more dense the expression of consciousness is, the more ‘fixed’ those laws become. Thus, Matter has what appear to be fixed and unalterable laws that govern the way that Matter acts in the universal creation.ARTArticleThe Richness of the Evolution in the KnowledgeMost of us are wedded to the sense that enjoyment of life and richness of experience are inseparably linked to the play of the dualities. We believe and find our satisfaction in the mixture of darkness and light, joy and pain, beauty and ugliness, and the challenges attendant on meeting and overcoming the difficulties that arise. We frequently express the sentiment that life in “heaven” may be “dull” because it does not have any of these challenges or the play of the dualities.ARTArticleThe Role of the Mind in the Search for Ultimate TruthAs mental beings we tend to believe that the mind is able to determine the truth of things. We soon learn, however, that there are many issues that prevent the mind from actually ascertaining truth in any ultimate form. We rely on the perceptions of our senses, but those senses can be misled. Witness the ‘deep fakes’ we find nowadays on the internet, and the ‘photoshopped’ images. We may believe they are true representations but if we examine more closely we find that they are not only fictional but intentionally misleading.ARTArticleThe Role of the SoulWhen we read in the Puranas of India, we find that there are a host of beings who are essentially non-evolutionary, static beings. They may be gods, demons or animals, or occupy any number of other positions in the scale of the manifested existence. An interesting note, however, is that if they want to participate in the evolutionary cycle for any reason, they have to take human birth. The human birth is considered to be the key to the dynamic development of consciousness, and that is why the human birth is treasured in virtually all religious and spiritual traditions.ARTArticleThe Seeker and the Influence of Vital Forces in Social InterchangeIt is common for spiritual aspirants to be advised to isolate themselves or at least limit their contact with others in a social setting, with the ostensible reason to aid the seeker in focusing on the spiritual effort and avoid distraction and the possibility of being diverted or diluted in the energy through vital forces affecting the life. Many are told to cut off the influence of family and friends for similar reasons. Some require devotees to avoid any interaction with money as well, since it carries its own occult power.ARTArticleThe Separate Ego-Consciousness and the Universal Divine ConsciousnessThe concept of maya is frequently described as the world being an illusion that mystifies our senses and our minds, such that we take it for real, when it is not the truth of existence. We are then asked to cut through the illusion to find the actual reality, the Absolute, the consciousness that is coincident with all existence, and which is not bound by any of the forms taken by this exte al, illusory, reality. The Mayavadins have indeed captured a partial truth of existence.ARTArticleThe Significance and Action of the Supramental ManifestationWhen Life evolved out of Matter, substantial transformations occurred. What was not possible in a purely material world suddenly became not only possible, but a key principle. Matter itself, to accommodate the life force, had to become more fluid, more flexible and responsive to changes that could not be conceived of when looking at the material universe.ARTArticleThe Soul As the True Central BeingIn the West, the existence of the soul has been mainly perceived either as a matter of religious belief or scientific skepticism, neither necessarily based in actual experience. At one point, scientists decided that if the belief that the soul departs at the time of death is to be considered as factual, then they should be able to weigh the body at the moment before death, and the moment after death and thereby know the weight of the soul that has now departed! This is the ultimate attempt by the exte al, physical mind to try to grapple with the reality of a more subtle aspect of existence.ARTArticleThe Soul, the Psychic Being and the Exte al NatureWhy do we not immediately recognise the existence and centrality of the soul? We tend to set our standpoint in the exte al consciousness which is directed outwards, and which is constantly receiving sense impressions and pressures impinging on our body-life-mind complex. The sense organs, nervous system and brain are wired to respond to impressions from these exte al forces and are not either directed toward nor tuned to perceive the subtle energetic action of the inner being, and the soul, the inmost being.ARTArticleThe Soul’s Connection to the Divine and Its Role in the Divine ManifestationMany spiritual practitioners have realized that the exte al life we customarily lead is a life of ‘illusion’, and that it is based in a flawed view of reality. This does not mean that our life, existence and action has no real significance; rather, that the way we define our lives, based on the exte al focus of the body-life-mind complex, is simply inaccurate and leads us to draw incomplete and inaccurate conclusions.ARTArticleThe Soul’s Progress Relies on an Earthly Inca ationSpiritual traditions around the world agree that it is on earth, in the physical body, that progress takes place. They treat the soul’s time in the body as the time for growth, for development, for maturation. When the soul leaves the body at the time of death, it goes through a transition that is either active, moving the soul toward its next inca ation, or passive, moving the soul into a place of rest and assimilation of its recent experience. There are many different versions of the tales woven around the soul’s journey beyond death and leading up to a new birth. The essential factor, howe ARTArticleThe Spiritual Aspirant Has the Potential to Overcome the Limits of His Birth and Social CircumstancesWe are born into a family, a culture, a society, a given economic and political system, an educational process, and a vast number of social habits, customs and predilections which create for us a framework within which we are expected to take up our destined place in society and carry it forward, meeting the expectations of the society within which we are born and responding to the pressures from family, friends, peers and co-workers to conform with the norms of our social environment.ARTArticleThe Spiritual Experience, Not the Mental Idea, Is the Focus of the Spiritual PractitionerWe have the tendency to get caught up in trying to capture a line of thought or to verbalize a perception or idea. When we have an experience of the spiritual realms, the first thing we want to do is to create a thought-form to explain it, to organise it, and to be able to describe it. The very process of doing this kind of mental gymnastics tends to crush out much of the native force of the experience. It loses its impetus the more we try to capture it with thought or word. This is in fact what has dried up the sense of many religious doctrines. They likely started out as some kind of powerfu ARTArticleThe Subconscient Is the Repository of Habits and Atavistic Behaviour That Must Be Cleared During the Yogic ProcessWe bring into this life many propensities as well as genetic tendencies, which are compounded and accentuated by early learning that takes place in the family and in the society. Prenatal influences as well as learning that takes place after the birth process and in the very early childhood years all help form the individual and his actions and reactions. Many traits are locked in during this period that reverberate throughout the life of the individual, as they are stored in the subconscient, waiting for their opportunity to spring up and present themselves.ARTArticleThe Subliminal Level of Consciousness and Our Waking StateWhat we actively perceive and pay attention to with our waking consciousness is a very small portion of the entire pattern of energetic forces we are constantly subjected to, and which act upon us, unseen and unrecognised. Whether it is physical radiation, vital forces, or mental thought-forms, or the spiritual forces of the higher planes of consciousness, there is an energetic impact that impinges upon our being, and helps to create and influence the way we respond on the most superficial levels of the exte al consciousness.ARTArticleThe Subliminal, the Subconscient, the Superconscient and the Circumconscient Forces That Impact Our Responses to LifeOur surface awareness is basically the ‘tip of the iceberg’. Most of what takes place in our being occurs outside of the range of our active exte al perception of the senses and mental awareness. Even the interactions with the exte al reality we experience represent only a small fraction of the input we are receiving from that exte al reality.ARTArticleThe Subtle Energetic Interchange That Accompanies All Interaction in the WorldOne of the reasons that spiritual seekers have traditionally been advised to seek solitude and not engage in society is that there is a constant, subliminal interchange that takes place between all human beings. We generally do not notice it, but on an energetic, a vibrational level, we are constantly receiving (and sending) vibrations that impact how we respond to situations, what we are feeling, and even what we are thinking about in many cases.ARTArticleThe Subtle Energetic Interchange That Takes Place at a Subliminal LevelWe tend to pay attention to the various forms of exte al communication that take place between people. Written, verbal, and visual non-verbal cues through body language or expression, are all considered to be the major means of creating a relation between individuals. What we do not always recognise, however, is the impact and importance of the subtle, subliminal communication that is constantly taking place. We understand that there are vibrations that fall outside the spectrum that we can consciously perceive with our senses.ARTArticleThe Subtle Vital Interchange and VampirismWhen Bram Stoker wrote his classic ‘horror’ tale, Dracula, he popularized and sensationalized an actual phenomenon of vital interchange that operates mostly unnoticed and not as sensationally as his tale implies. To put it in simple terms, ‘vampirism’ is the ability of someone to utilise the occult vital interchange to draw off energy from another individual, leaving the other person feeling weak, drained, exhausted or practically helpless and held under a type of spell to carry out the bidding of the person who is dominating their vital force.ARTArticleThe Supermind and Its Evolutionary ActionAs we begin to experience realms of awareness other than that of our current primary body-life-mind complex, we can begin to appreciate that there are further, higher states of conscious awareness that can be experienced, and which have powers of insight, and ways of working that are far different than the normal processing of linear thought that represents our mental consciousness. We tend, in our current mental standpoint, to process things in a step-by-step manner with very narrow framing around whatever we are trying to understand.ARTArticleThe Tension of the Current State of Human ExistenceEverywhere we turn we see mounting crises. The news reports are dire. Climate disasters are increasing, we are poisoned daily by toxic substances in our food, water and the very air we breathe. On a day-to-day level, we are struggling in a world that seems to be impossible to understand, with change that is impacting every aspect of our lives. New technologies come along that need to be mastered simply to survive. We find it harder to maintain a balance in our lives and we struggle to understand how to make ends meet and at the same time, pursue our personal goals and aspirations.

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