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ARTArticleDistinguishing Concentration and Meditation from One AnotherIf we observe the mental status that takes place at times when we focus on achieving some objective or other, taking a test, working on a project, running a race, playing music, or creating some work of art, for example, we see that the attention is focused intensely on the task at hand, and there is in most cases, little perception of extraneous sensations or matters, or even of the passage of time. This is concentration.ARTArticleDistinguishing the Ordinary Motives of the Vital Being from Spiritual MotivationThe vital nature has an innate drive towards fulfillment and satisfaction of desire. Since most individuals are oriented towards the outer life, the fulfillment comes through attaining desirable objects of the vital focus. This can be accumulation of wealth, it can be family, fame or achievement of certain goals one sets for oneself. For some people this can shift into the arena of charitable work, volunteer efforts to help create a better environment or improve other people’s lives.ARTArticleDo We Know What We Seek in Our Lives?We feel like something is missing in our lives. It could be something material, it could be just a pang of hunger or thirst. It could be a sense of emotional emptiness, unattached to a specific object. We may feel like we need to find out something, do something, know something, respond to something, although we are not quite sure exactly what it is. This sense of emptiness occurs to everyone at various times of life. In some cases, where it is attached to a specific desire we can identify what it is we seek. But in many cases, it is vague, amorphous, undefined.ARTArticleDynamic MeditationIn the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna poses the question to Sri Krishna as to how one can know the spiritual man, how does he walk, how does he speak, how does he act… Spiritual practitioners pose similar types of questions about meditation, as to what is the right form of meditation, how does one site, how does one act, how does one carry out the meditation. Sri Krishna’s answer to Arjuna was that it was not the exte
al form, but the internal substance that determined the truth.ARTArticleElements Common to the Paths of Inner GrowthIn Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, there are 8 limbs, or steps, systematically presented as the basis for the practice of Yoga. The first two of these, known as yamas and niyamas present preliminary practices to purify and stabilize the being to prepare for the practice of yoga. Many people consider these to be moral precepts, but in reality, they are simply ensuring that the physical, vital and mental being can effectively hold and utilize the force without becoming imbalanced, or misusing the force for unintended purposes.ARTArticleEndurance and Persistence Is Essential for the Change of Consciousness Aimed for in the Yogic PracticeMany people have the mistaken idea that taking up a spiritual practice is somehow due to weakness or inability to deal with the tough conditions of the outer world. They envision seekers retreating from the world and living in a monastey, cloister or ashram, being sheltered from the worst things the world can throw at them, getting regular meals and a peaceful environment to live out their lives. This is however, not the reality of spiritual practice or development.ARTArticleEquality: the State of Inner Peace in the Face of ProvocationHow do we typically respond to the situations that we meet in the world? We want to fulfill our desires, have our wishes and ideas carried out, and have a modicum of control in our lives. When things do not go as we wish, we become frustrated, angry, resentful or otherwise upset. On the other side, when we get what we are seeking, we experience happiness, joy and enthusiastic participation.ARTArticleEstablishing a Foundational Basis of Sattwic Qualities Is Important in Protecting the Seeker During the Yogic Development ProcessThe importance of the development of a habit of quietude and reflection cannot be over-emphasized. The preliminary purifications of Patanjali’s yoga works to create this kind of foundational support to avoid imbalances and dangers that can arise when the seeker experiences openings to forces acting from other planes of existence, or obtains new powers of action and, without the necessary purification in place, allows the impulses and desires of the unpurified surface personality to take advantage of and distort the action of the higher forces for egoistic gratifications.ARTArticleEven a Brief Glimpse of the Spirit Is Sufficient to Direct the Seeker to the Spiritual PathWhen an individual turns his attention to the spiritual path, he may experience along the way certain doubts as to his suitability, his capacity, and his ability to attain the truth described by those who have experience along the path and who describe various steps and stages. The way is long and difficulties abound, no doubt, but only those who have reached a certain level of inner development even get a glimpse of what lies ahead.ARTArticleEvery Yogic Practitioner Must Develop Along His Own Path and Face His Own DifficultiesWe like to have certainty, safety, and fixed map that provides us directions, steps, milestone markers and which will lead us to the goal of our seeking. Spiritual development, however, is not quite the same as an automobile or train trip from one city to another. The complex nexus that is created for each individual implies that everyone starts from a somewhat different psychological place, with different opportunities, different limitations and difficulties, different developed capacities and, indeed, different solutions to attain to somewhat varying results.ARTArticleEvolution of ConsciousnessNature takes a long time to effectuate substantive evolutionary progress in manifesting higher, more complex and more powerful forms of consciousness. The shift from the realm of Matter took countless millennia. The first appearance of Life was simple and, again, the time required was far beyond what any human individual can possibly conceive in any realistic manner.ARTArticleExploring the Stages and Phases of Inner Growth of the Human IndividualWhen we read Sri Aurobindo’s aphorism noted below, we tend to focus on the second part of the equation, the “bar” to achieving the higher result. There is an implication thereby that we have already achieved the first part and that we are thus ready to proceed to the next phase or stage of inner growth. In some cases, we assign a moral value to the two states and try to apply this generally, such that we treat desire and ego as bad things that need to be removed, and we may even go so far as to try to extrapolate this to others, not just for our own spiritual growth.ARTArticleExte
al Worship and the Practice of Bhakti YogaMany people are abandoning formalized religions while saying that the exte
al rituals are simply missing any inner spirit or force, that they are simply empty and do not get to the heart of the matter. There is a keen insight here that is useful for those who wish to practice the yoga of devotion. It is in fact similar to the way Sri Krishna explained to Arjuna that it is not the outer form of the work that matters for the yoga of action, but the inner spirit with which it is being done. This same principle applies to the yoga of devotion.ARTArticleFaith In and Receptivity to the GuruIn Essays on the Gita, Sri Aurobindo notes that every scripture has both a ‘temporal’ and an ‘ete
al’ aspect. The temporal aspect is transitory, changes from time to time and from culture to culture, based on the societal background within which the scripture has been produced. The knowledge gained from this aspect is subject to modification. The ete
al aspect represents knowledge that transcends the specific time and place within which it was produced, and remains valid regardless of cultural background or societal norms.ARTArticleFirst Foundations for the Practitioner of the Integral YogaPatanjali’s Raja Yoga outlines a series of steps or stages in the development of that particular path. The first two are Yama and Niyama, which outline certain purification actions to prepare the practitioner for the later activities and experiences in the yogic practice. These two ‘limbs’, together, represent a solidifying of peace, the removal of obstacles that can disturb the mind, the emotions, the nervous sheath and the body.ARTArticleFocusing on the Dedicated Action, Not the Immediately Visible ResultsIn the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna teaches Arjuna that he has the right to action, but not to attachment to the fruits of the action, i.e. the results. In our world today we are fixated on the destination, not the ‘journey’ and we measure everything by the immediate results we obtain. This process is bound to develop frustration, dissatisfaction and impatience as the type of change we seek in yoga is not something that can be measured in tangible way from day to day.ARTArticleFocusing on the Signal While Eliminating the Noise: Concentration and PurificationConsider briefly that you have a television set that receives all the available channels, but you cannot tune the set, so that all picture and sound from the entire frequency range come in at the same time and mix up with each other, along with the static that occurs between various station signals. Obviously such a system is chaotic and does not function properly. In order to receive, understand and utilize whichever channel you want to watch, you need to be able to tune to that specific frequency and exclude all the others.ARTArticleFollowing the Right Path to Divine RealisationWe very easily fall into the mistaken idea that the path we follow is the best way to approach the Divine or achieve spiritual realisation and that other paths are either less effective or do not provide the complete liberation from the ego-personality. We also tend to accept the idea that whichever form our lead capabilities take represents the best way to approach the Divine.ARTArticleFollowing the Unique Path of One’s Deepest Aspiration to Spiritual RealisationIt is a somewhat difficult concept for most people to accept: that each individual has his own spiritual path and realisation before him, and that it is therefore neither appropriate nor fruitful to spend time trying to either criticise or convert others to one’s own path or view, or to attempt to adopt or copy the methods or focus of another individual. Each individual comes into the world with a set of issues and difficulties that represent the challenges that individual is to face in this lifetime.ARTArticleFour Instruments for Attaining the Perfection of the Practice of YogaPeople frequently seek for a very specific, directed form of practice which will provide liberation and spiritual perfection. They ask ‘what is the best form of practice’? Sri Aurobindo takes a much more flexible approach which is based on the need and development of the individual practitioner, the unique capacities that seeker brings to the process at a particular point in time, and the unique challenges a particular individual must face given their pre-existing habits and formations.ARTArticleGeneral Limitations and Options for Methods and Applications for Spiritual DevelopmentIn any technical field, there are both a general statement of goals and principles, as well as specific steps that should be applied to achieve those results. In many endeavours, particularly those involved in dealing with the physical world and the science that operates in that world, the process is relatively straightforward and consistent and anyone applying those steps would expect to achieve the stated end result. Thus, we rely on airplanes, using principles enunciated by mechanical physicals and aerodynamics, to be able to take off and fly around the world.ARTArticleGlimpses and Experiences of the Inner Being, and the Shift of the Consciousness from the Outer to the InnerIf we focus on the experience of our normal, daily lives, we will find that it can be characterised by a specific feeling or quality that we know as our usual experience. While each individual may have a different characterisation of this experience, some happy, some sad, some joyful, some filled with pain, the preoccupation with the exte
al body, life-energy and mind, the perceptions of the senses, the relationships we have with others and our experience of the environment within which we live, are the primary factors for virtually everyone.ARTArticleGuarding One’s FaithFaith, as described by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, is not a dogmatic acceptance of a system of ideas or ‘articles of faith’; rather, it is a form of knowledge that arises from deeper within, from the soul and its connection with the universe, which provides a certainty that goes beyond the capacities of the mind and its analytical or organisational skill-set.ARTArticleHabits, Human Life and Achieving Individuality … and BeyondAs the seeker begins to examine his life, he quickly finds that virtually all his thoughts, emotions, feelings and actions are based on habitual patterns, either ingrained in the human encoding as a species, or developed through socialisation in a society or civilisation, through family influence, peer influence, educational influence or through interaction through communication and media, including advertising, internet, and the subtle expectation of things built into each society.ARTArticlehe Three Gunas, Their Role in the Difficulties and Obstacles in the Yogic Development, and the Certainty of Success When the Divine Call is PresentThe importance of the rule of the 3 Gunas, the qualities of Nature, cannot be over-emphasized. Each of these qualities has both its positive aspects and its downsides, and they are functional in all life. They are continually in fluctuation and intermix with one another to create the events and circumstances that play out in our lives. This remains true even for those who take up the spiritual life. The focus, quality and process of the spiritual practice are all conditioned by the Gunas and their action.ARTArticleHeightening the Force of Consciousness is the Trend of Evolution“All evolution is in essence a heightening of the force of consciousness in the manifest being so that it may be raised into the greater intensity of what is still unmanifest, from matter into life, from life into mind, from the mind into the spirit. It is this that must be the method of our growth from a mental into a spiritual and supramental manifestation, out of a still half-animal humanity into a divine being and a divine living.ARTArticleHeightening the Force of Consciousness is the Trend of Evolution“All evolution is in essence a heightening of the force of consciousness in the manifest being so that it may be raised into the greater intensity of what is still unmanifest, from matter into life, from life into mind, from the mind into the spirit. It is this that must be the method of our growth from a mental into a spiritual and supramental manifestation, out of a still half-animal humanity into a divine being and a divine living.ARTArticleHow Do Spiritual Experiences Come About?While we are allured by the idea of spiritual experiences, or, if one looks at the popular media, the idea of some kind of unusual powers that an individual can develop, obtain or possess, we actually have very little idea about what is really possible, and how it actually occurs.ARTArticleHow to Change Human NatureMany people are skeptical about the possibility of true change to human nature. This skepticism is supported by the long experience humanity has had in trying various ways of changing and overcoming habits, atavisms and what are considered to be the ‘natural’ forms of expression and action of the body, the life-force and the mind. Humanity has tried suppression, self-torture, extreme pressure exerted from outside or inwardly, as well as attempts at isolation and abandonment of active involvement in the exte
al life.ARTArticleHow To Change One’s Consciousness, Part 1: The Initial ExperienceThrough long habit and through a process of socialisation, we desire and expect that a specific path of development can be placed in front of us to guide us systematically along a pre-determined track, and that this path is suitable for everyone. We therefore believe that our accepted form of worship, our preferred religion, our systems of governance and economic management, are the best and are suitable for everyone. This of course, has led to countless disputes and wars in human history.