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.

View Spirituality experts

Everything39,166Browse the category resource library Articles30,061Read expert articles and newsletters Websites9,102Browse recommended websites and resources Videos2Watch category videos Events1Find 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.

Everything

Spirituality Resources

Browse a compact directory list below, or use the topic folders above for a focused legacy-style path.

30 resources

ARTArticleThe Subtle Planes Are Causative to the Exte al Physical RealityIn the Taittiriya Upanishad, a seeker undertakes a discipline to discover the truth of existence. He first lands upon the idea thta the material existence is the truth, as it is the basis and foundation of his existence. As he continues his concentration, however, he begins to realize that the exte al physical reality is actually caused by and developed through the action of ever-more-subtle powers of existence.ARTArticleThe SuperconscientJust as the electro-magnetic spectrum has ranges below those that we can consciously receive and translate, as well as ranges above those we can utilize, so also consciousness has ranges below and above our limits. The ranges below our limits are called subconscient and inconscient. Those above are called superconscient.ARTArticleThe Superior Man: Beyond Good and Evil…Nietzsche espoused the idea that the ‘superior man’ was, by definition, ‘beyond good and evil’ and was therefore not bound by the rules of society. This concept has led a number of people into serious trouble. Dostoevsky explored this idea in his novel Crime and Punishment, in which the protagonist took the position that he could disregard the rules that forbid theft and murder. Eventually, Raskolnikov broke down under the pressure and essentially had to acknowledge that he was not the ‘superior man’ he had imagined.ARTArticleThe Supramental Consciousness Is Key To Transcending the Limitations of Mind, Life and MatterThe mental, vital and physical levels of consciousness are fundamentally limited by their basis in division and fragmentation. They see and categorize their understanding in a way that emphasizes the separateness of the forces at work and the consequences. This makes it impossible to understand the action of Karma in any comprehensive way, as such an understanding requires an integrating vision that can both see the parts and the whole of which they are elements.ARTArticleThe Supramental Evolution Represents the Fulfillment of Life, Not the Abandonment of LifeFor much of human history, spirituality has been looked upon as a contradiction of an active life in the world. The anchorite in the desert, the renunciate, the Sannyasin, the monk or nun in the cloister are held up to us as the examples of dedication to spiritual growth and purpose. All of these examples imply that if one is caught up in the world’s affairs, if one acts in a full and rich life in the world, that there is little hope for true spiritual progress.ARTArticleThe Surface Consciousness and the SubliminalHuman awareness can be compared to an iceberg on the physical plane. The iceberg appears small and insignificant above the surface of the ocean, yet it is massive below the surface, as was found out by the ‘unsinkable’ cruise ship, the Titanic during its maiden voyage. Similarly, the awareness we have on the surface, that deals with relationships with the outer world, perceptions, impressions, actions, events and the development of our plans for responding to these things, is a very small part of total consciousness.ARTArticleThe Surface Consciousness and the Subliminal ConsciousnessWe focus our attention and awareness on the exte al world in which we are active. We receive impressions, sensations, vibrations, impulsions and pressures from that world and it fixes our mind on that palpable experience of reality. This is however not the entirely of our existence nor of the greater reality.ARTArticleThe Surface Vital, Mental and Physical Being and the True Vital, Mental and Physical BeingA frequently mentioned method in the practice of the integral yoga is the separation of the Witness Consciousness from the Nature (Purusha and Prakriti). This separation allows the seeker to recognise the surface consciousness, the play of body, life and mind based in the ego-sense as separate from the deeper true physical, vital and mental beings which are actually not limited by the ego-frame and are thus in contact with and participate in the powers of the larger planes for each level of consciousness of which they are a part.ARTArticleThe Time Needed for the Transition of the Ego-Consciousness to Become a Conscious Instrument of the DivineWhen the seeker becomes aware of the need for consecration and the aspiration awakens within him, he can become very impatient with the obstacles put up by the ego as it works to maintain and enhance its position. After all, the ego has developed over long periods of time as a stage toward individuation, and it does not recognise that it is now the obstruction standing in the way of the next stage of development. The transition toward the surrender of the ego to the Divine, however, is not something under the control or subject to the time-sense of the individual seeker.ARTArticleThe True Soul and the Desire SoulThe confusion about the soul is pervasive at virtually every level of our being. Sri Aurobindo identifies what he calls the ‘desire soul’ which is a formation of the vital being, living on the surface of the consciousness and seeking gratification of desires for the exte al being. The amalgam of thoughts, emotions, feelings, desires and needs of the exte al being makes up the ego-personality and its fulfillment is the essential role of the desire soul.ARTArticleThe Two Beings of Man: the Exte al Self and the Inner SelfAs long as we focus our attention on the surface perceptions, events and actions, we respond to the vibrations associated with those things. We may focus on our physical needs, our vital desires, our mental interests, our emotional states, or on our aesthetic and artistic sensibilities, or on simply forms of entertainment to create enjoyment of these exte al events and sensations. We can see quite easily that focus on one area tends to reduce or eliminate our ability to focus on another area, even in these exte al perceptions.ARTArticleThe Two Most Powerful Levers to Enter into Contact with the Divine in One’s Psychic BeingEnthusiasm and gratitude. They represent the powers of aspiration and receptivity in the being, along with the impulse to surrender of the ego and widen to embrace the Divine. For those interested in the transformation of life in the world, it is not sufficient to simply have a direct connection to the Divine if it remains passive and does not work to upgrade and address the activities of the mind, the life-energy and the body in the world.ARTArticleThe Two Most Powerful Levers to Enter Into Contact with the Divine in One’s Psychic BeingWhen an individual begins to recognise the existence of his soul, and seeks for a way to come into contact with it, and begin to thereby understand the purpose and significance of his life in the larger creation, the first question that comes to mind is ‘how do I do that?’ARTArticleThe Two Uses of the Mind and Its True Role in the ManifestationThe primary functionality of the mind is to organize and classify, breaking down and fragmenting the reality into component parts. We see this easily in the classification systems for flora and fauna, in our detailed review of the genetic structure of life, gene sequencing, and in our ability to catalog and name star systems, galaxies, etc. We break our social units down into sub-units made up of variations of gender, age, religion, skin color, educational level, financial status, and position in society, among other things.ARTArticleThe Ultimate Importance and Value of a Human BirthThere are tales in the Puranas that indicate that even the Gods, if they want to evolve and develop, must take birth on earth in a human inca ation. If we look broadly at the evolution of consciousness from the gross material, to the vital, to the vital-mental and eventually to the mental consciousness, we see an ascending series of forms that embody these various levels.ARTArticleThe Unique Truth of Each Being in Relation to the Divine ManifestationRecently the question arose about how and in what form the witness consciousness survives death. This is not a question for either philosophical reasoning or religious dogma. Regardless of the opinion that these general approaches put forth, it is between the individual soul, as a unique expression of the Divine in the universal manifestation and the Divine in its totality and reality. Direct knowledge, gained through personal experience, is realistically the only way to go beyond the adoption and recitation of opinions. We can use the authority of a sage or seer, based on their experience, to ARTArticleThe Value of Attaining the Standpoint of the Witness Consciousness in Understanding the Complexity of Interaction of the Parts of the BeingIt has been famously stated that we cannot understand the system within which we are acting until we can shift our view to a standpoint outside that frame. As long as we are immersed within any particular system or standpoint, we are locked into the viewpoint and understanding embedded within that frame, and our ability to perceive and fully appreciate the forces acting upon us is both severely limited and extremely biased. To become the observer of the exte al nature, therefore, is a prerequisite for attaining both self-knowledge and self-mastery.ARTArticleThe Value of EnthusiasmWhen we think about what qualities within ourselves are aids to achieving conscious contact with the psychic being, the soul, we would likely not name ‘enthusiasm’ as one of them. The Mother, however, makes the case for this quality. Those things that motivate us to learn, to expand our capacities, to go beyond our current limits, to reach for something greater and higher than what we are now, are the key to the kind of evolutionary progress that we are attempting to achieve. The motivating force may work in the mind, in the emotions, in the vital level or even on the physical plane.ARTArticleThe Value of Mental, Vital and Physical Progress for Future BirthsOf what possible value is the effort at mental, emotional, vital or physical progress to the soul if it cannot carry that progress forward into the next, and future lives. In his epic poem, Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol, Sri Aurobindo raises the issue: “But the oblivion that succeeds the fall, Had blotted the crowded tablets of the past, And all that was destroyed must be rebuilt And old experience laboured out once more.”ARTArticleThe Vital Being: Its Nature, Its Role and Its Mode of ActionWhen the vital nature is involved, which individual has the power to control its impulsions and demands and keep it focused on the higher aims of life? The vital nature is a powerful and essential component of life on earth. It animates material nature and functions through the force of desire. There is an apocryphal tale of a man who has a magic lamp that can summon a genie. When the genie appears before the man, he asks what it is the man wants and lays out the ground rules.ARTArticleThe Vital Desire Soul and the True Soul of the Psychic BeingSri Aurobindo and the Mother make a distinction between the ‘desire soul’ of the vital nature and the ‘true soul’ which expresses the inmost being that is a direct spark of the Divine. They differ in their focus, orientation, and basis of action. The desire soul incorporates the drives of the exte al being’s vital nature, the desires, emotions, impulsions that lead to the seeker after forms of power, wealth, sex, fame, and the fulfillment of the relationships which the individual has in his outer life, those of family, friends, and business associates etc.ARTArticleThe Vital Embodies Power of RealisationA life focused solely on meditation, inner development, growth of knowledge, or on prayer and devotion, tends to avoid the implications of the ongoing evolution of consciousness and the need for transformation and positive change to create the circumstances for that evolution of consciousness to occur and thrive. It may have been helpful, even necessary, for some exclusive concentration on the path of knowledge, or the path of love and devotion, in order to develop, refine and empower those aspects of the being.ARTArticleThe Vital Nature and Its Ability to Withhold Cooperation and Obstruct Progress in Spiritual PursuitsIn order to carry out the spiritual practices and work for the transformation of human nature, the vital being needs to agree to changes its habitual sources of satisfaction and fulfillment to an entirely different basis. The pursuit of pleasure, and the accompanying experience of pain, is considered normal and for most people, an inevitable result of the vital nature as it exists.ARTArticleThe Vital Nature: Transformation Not SuppressionThe vital has a natural tendency to seek for the fulfillment of its being in some form of enjoyment. In the exte al surface being, this enjoyment takes the form of a seeking after pleasure. With this seeking after pleasure, however, comes also the experience of pain. Pleasure and pain alte ate and eventually the seeker understands that transitory pleasures and pains, the operation of the dualities of the life of the senses, is not actual fulfillment, nor does it solve the significance of purpose of one’s life.ARTArticleThe Vital-Physical, the Physical-Vital and the Material Vital: the Linkages Between Matter and the VitalWhen Life emerges in Matter, there must, obviously, be some mechanism for the two principles to interact with one another. Matter must develop ways to sense, respond to and react to the action of the Life-Force. Similarly, when the Life-Force evolves and manifests in Matter, it must also become at least partially subject to the drives and other conditions that Matter brings forward in the relationship. For the seeker attempting to transform the very nature and response of Life in Matter, it is helpful to understand the various functions that create and carry out these interactions.ARTArticleThe Way to Make Steady and Lasting Progress in Spiritual GrowthWhen we begin to observe ourselves, the thoughts we entertain, the emotions we express, the feelings we have and accept, the physical reactions that occur within ourselves, it soon becomes clear that we are more ‘reactive’ than ‘active’. We respond to energies, vibrations, pressures from outside ourselves. We are conditioned, educated, and manipulated through exte al stimuli, social media, advertising campaigns, and social pressures to think a certain way, to believe certain things, to respond in approved ways.ARTArticleThe Witness ConsciousnessWhen the seeker first becomes aware of the practice of separating the witness consciousness from the active exte al nature, he may naturally take his stance in the mental awareness and begin to observe his actions and reactions from the mental standpoint. This generally yields some kind of analytical process and inner dialogue, similar to what an individual may do in watching a motion picture and commenting on the actions of the characters and the story line that is unfolding.ARTArticleThe Witness Consciousness and the Role and Action of the Three GunasThe establishment of the witness-consciousness, separated from and observing the actions of the exte al nature, is an important process, not just for those taking up the practice of the integral yoga; rather, it can be a valuable tool for everyone to be more effective in directing their own lives and understanding the forces that move them. The Mother even indicates that children should be taught how to observe and understand the motive springs of their actions.ARTArticleThe Yogic Practitioner Confronts the Issues of Changing Human NatureThe integral yoga does not focus on the abandonment of human life in the world. The liberation from the hold of the ego-consciousness and its fixation on the terms of success for life that the ego concentrates on, is an important preliminary step. In the end however, nothing less is envisioned than the entire transformation of our existence through the manifestation and integration of the next stage of the evolution of consciousness.ARTArticleThe Yogic Practitioner Experiences a Reversal of Consciousness Compared to Most of HumanityIt is said that for the yogic practitioner, day and night are reversed when compared to the vast majority of human beings. This statement has many possible implications that can be explored. “Day” and “Night” are representative of opposite concepts, different ways of seeing and reacting to situations, and different viewpoints as to what is the real significance and purpose of life, with all the consequences that result from these opposite viewpoints.

Page 161 of 1,306