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ARTArticleAbsorption in Our Outer Life, Living in the ‘Now’, Mindfulness and DetachmentMost people live a life without inward reflectoin, reacting to circumstances, conditioned by habits developed through millennia, trained responses and built up expectations. Their lives are fixated on whatever is presented to them at the moment, and they lose any sense of self-awareness in this reactive state. The organising principle is the ego-personality and its relations to the world, its perceived needs, its past line of development and its future expectations. For many, this is a state of sleepwalking through life, a state of absorption in the outer life.ARTArticleAccessing the True Source of Vital EnergyAccess to the universal vital force and the renewal of one’s energy follows basic principles that can be seen in the action of another universal force that allows the creation of results in the exte al world, symbolised by what we know as ‘money’. In his book The Mother, Sri Aurobindo states that ‘money is the visible sign of a universal force’. Money sitting stagnant and being held without purpose puts a barrier to the flow of the money-force. When money is put into action, the force flows and creates a cycle of replenishment.ARTArticleAdditional Forms of Disturbance Associated with the Physical MindDr. Dalal identifies other manifestations of the physical mind which can present issues for an individual. Everyone has had the experience, at some point or another, of thoughts that keep revolving around in the brain, and no matter how much one tries, they continue to crop up and recur. We chew on and regurgitate things, particularly when we are trying to sort out some disruption or conce that we dwell on. The same round of thoughts keep repeating and there seems no way out.ARTArticleAddressing and Overcoming BoredomAs long as we remain bound to the ego-personality, we are caught in the play of the three gunas, or qualities of nature. Every individual is subject to all three, and their constant interchange. Thus, there will be times and circumstances where tamas, the quality of indolence and darkness comes to the forefront. With tamas in the ascendant, we can experience a sense of emptiness, a sense of being at “loose ends” and a lack of interest in doing anything or concentrating. The question then is how the spiritual seeker can, or even should, respond, when these tamasic states are in the forefront.ARTArticleAddressing the Difficulties of the Transformation of the Vital NatureTo effectuate a total transformation of the mind-life-body and its action in the world, it is necessary for the seeker to address and solve the issue of the vital being, its desires, and the ego-standpoint that it fosters and maintains.ARTArticleAddressing the Experience of the Dark Night of the SoulThere are periods in the life of virtually every spiritual seeker or religious practitioner when the active experience seems to withdraw and the individual is thrown back into a world and a life that seems empty, meaningless, dark and obscure, and the presence of the Divine is not felt any longer. The experience called the “dark night of the soul” describes such a stage in the spiritual life of the seeker, and the classic book of a dedicated religious seeker, ‘A Pilgrim’s Progress’, describes the aspirant having to traverse the “slough of despond’ along the way.ARTArticleAddressing the Methods of Change of the Physical ConsciousnessBrute force has often been employed by aspirants seeking to overcome the ‘desires of the flesh’ and the obstructions of the physical consciousness to their spiritual focus and seeking. Extreme fasting, wearing of the cilice or sackcloth, arduous penances in the desert, self-flagellation, austerities of an extreme nature, and other acts of physical mortification of the flesh have been tried throughout the world at various times and in a wide variety of religious traditions.ARTArticleAddressing the Subconscient Fear of the Body ConsciousnessFear opens up pathways for whatever is feared to enter the being, as it creates a vibrational ‘link’ between the individual and the feared event or circumstance. Fear also opens holes int he vital envelope, or aura, that helps protect the individual from catching illnesses. We have all heard of instances where doctors wade into a contagious environment without fear and are able to remain healthy while treating innumerable sick individuals. Fear thus is part of the mechanism that spreads disease and can help create the development of pandemics.ARTArticleAddressing Vital Interchange in the Context of Spiritual PracticeThe normal human viewpoint in today’s world is one of separate individuality. We believe, based on that viewpoint, that we are free and independent and make our own choices exercising our free will. In actuality, however, this is not quite true. All relationships in society involve subtle vital interchanges, whether between individuals with one another, or in a larger scope of a situation, event or social setting.ARTArticleAdopting and Holding the Proper Psychological Poise for Accomplishment of the Objective of the Integral YogaThe objectives of the integral yoga cannot be looked at as a short-term ‘sprint’ to the goal, but as a longer-term ‘marathon’ where patience and endurance are of paramount importance. In order to achieve that long-term commitment without flagging of the effort, without discouragement and without burning out and giving up, the seeker needs to achieve a balance in the inner psychological standpoint that forces him to stand back from the ever-changing play of the 3 Gunas, and particularly not to get either wrapped up in the ambitious energy of Rajas, nor the discouragement and torpor of Tamas.ARTArticleAn Integral Repose — the Ideal State of SleepUsually when most people go to sleep, they simply ‘let it happen’. This carries with it all of the mental, emotional, vital-nervous, and physical energy pent up in the being at the time, into the sleep state. Add to this mix the state of fatigue that prevails, and it can lead to restless, or dull sleep, chaotic dreams and confused awareness at the times of light sleep or waking.ARTArticleAnger and DepressionDepression and anger represent two types of response to a vital impulse or desire which has been thwarted, or to exte al pressures which try to overwhelm the individual. When we understand the action of the 3 gunas, or qualities of nature, sattwa, rajas and tamas, it is easy to see that when tamas is predominant, the being tends to respond with the symptoms of depression; while when rajas is dominant, the expression of anger takes place.ARTArticleAnxiety and FearAnxiety and fear are constant companions in life for animals, as well as for human beings. Becoming food for a predator is an existential fear that stalks the animal kingdom, but it is not just this fear that human beings engage in. There is fear of failure, fear of being humiliated, fear of being attacked, robbed, raped, or arrested. Fear of being scammed or scapegoated. Fear of loss, fear of injury, fear of illness, and fear of death. There is also the constant undercurrent of anxiety that represents a low level manifestation of fear.ARTArticleArt and Intellectual Development Are Not Essentially Spiritual PursuitsWe tend to confuse artistic and various intellectual pursuits as somehow being spiritual accomplishments. These are, however, developments of the higher emotional and mental spheres to a great degree, except when they are channeling energies of the lower vital levels of our being, which, in today’s world, represents a major source of such artistic creations. Putting aside the lower vital influences and focusing on the higher productions of our finer emotions and mental development as it is expressed in art, there is a tendency to confuse refined mental development with spirituality.ARTArticleArt and Literature in the Service of Spiritual DevelopmentWhile they are not a substitute for spiritual sadhana, art, music and literature nevertheless have a role to play, both as a means to access and express the inner aspiration and as a way to bring to the exte al being some of the force of the spiritual development taking place internally. Those who have developed a connection to their inner mind and emotional being have already begun the process of discovery of a deeper self and a deeper meaning to life than those who remain fixed on the surface in the exte al being.ARTArticleArt as a Dedicated Expression of the DivineThe object of creative expression through art is of primary importance to the spiritual seeker. As long as art is used as a way to enhance the vital ego, achieve recognition, fame, wealth, it has little, if any, value for spiritual practice. These objectives, in and of themselves, are part of the normal life of the mental/vital man and are expected to be the goals for those who take up these pursuits.ARTArticleAscent of Consciousness and the Descent of the Higher Consciousness Into Mind-Life-BodySpiritual practices that focus on liberation from the nature attempt to achieve that liberation through abandonment of the exte al life and a one-pointed concentration on the spiritual consciousness. The integral Yoga has an additional goal of bringing the higher spiritual forces and knowledge, power, love and bliss into the life and transforming each element in the light of this new higher action. This comes about through a dual action of ascent and descent.ARTArticleAspiration, Faith and RealisationAspiration in terms of the yogic process is a tuning of the consciousness towards the spiritual reality, and thereby shifting the focus away from the ego-personality to the divine. The aspiration directs the attention, but must be followed up with an attitude of receptivity so that the response, the action of the higher force, can come and be integrated into the being.ARTArticleAspiration: the Desire of the Soul for the DivineSome people interpret the need to eliminate desire as becoming essentially cold and unmoved by anything. They even treat desire for the Divine realisation as something to eventually be eliminated. The subtlety and narrowness of the path makes it easy to stray in one direction or the other, and dealing with the impulses of desire is no different. Sri Aurobindo places the desire for the Divine in a totally different light as he defines it as aspiration of the soul, and not a ‘desire’ in the normal vital sense.ARTArticleAvatars and Vibhutis Focus Their Attention and Action on the Work to Be DoneThe mind creates a number of illusions and misconceptions about Avatars and Vibhutis. Many of these ideas assume, wrongly, that a conscious manifestation of the Divine in the world must be likewise all-knowing and all-powerful, and they thus attribute miraculous powers and actions to those who have been identified as such. It would of course not be logical to assume that every divine manifestation must carry all-knowledge active within himself, when the focus is restricted to a specific time, place and circumstance.ARTArticleAvoiding Dangers of Opening to the Vital PlanesWhen the protective walls of the surface being give way as the seeker enters the inner planes, access to the vital planes may occur, with all of the beings, powers and forces at work there having suddenly direct interchange with the seeker. Sometimes these forces are intimidating, sometimes, very subtle and manipulative, sometimes helping the seeker, and at other times, attempting to achieve their own goals by controlling or misleading the seeker.ARTArticleBecoming Conscious and Effecting Change in the NatureFor the most part, we react to things without considering the source of the impression that sparks the reaction, the process of the reaction or the manner in which the impression is converted into a response. These things simply “happen” and we tend to accept them as ‘human nature’ or, in some cases, ‘my nature’ with the implication that not everyone will react the same way.ARTArticleBecoming Conscious In SleepWhen the idea of becoming conscious in sleep is raised, many people try simply to find ways to remain awake somehow in sleep. This process generally leads to exhaustion, and imbalances in the physical, vital and mental complex of the outer nature. Sleep is restorative to their processes, and any attempt to artificially disrupt sleep, with the idea that our mental consciousness must have a way to pay attention to what is going on in sleep, is bound to create problems.ARTArticleBeyond Human Love — Psychic Love, Universal Love and Love for the DivineWe seek for love, we look for it in our relationships, we search for it in a ‘soul mate’, but in the end, we can recognise that human love is limited and uncertain. There are examples of love that spans a lifetime, possibly multiple lifetimes, and there are countless tales of idealised love that overcomes all obstacles and remains true to the end. Yet, in the vast array of human lives, these relatively few examples are lost in the immensity of the situations that do not work out quite this way.ARTArticleBhadra Yoga Or Pancha Mahapurusha YogaBhadra Yoga Pancha Mahapurusha Yoga or Bhadra Yoga is formed when Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus or Satu planets are present in the quadrant in their own signs or in an exalted sign. As these Yogas are formed from either of these five planets and hence is called Pancha Mahapurusha Yoga. For each and every planet a special name is given to describe it.ARTArticleBhadra Yoga Or Pancha Mahapurusha YogaBhadra Yoga Pancha Mahapurusha Yoga or Bhadra Yoga is formed when Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus or Satu planets are present in the quadrant in their own signs or in an exalted sign. As these Yogas are formed from either of these five planets and hence is called Pancha Mahapurusha Yoga. For each and every planet a special name is given to describe it.ARTArticleCan there be abundance in Families?Learning what therapies manage to release the inner blocks but from experience contact with your twin brings such blocks to the surface. Seeking psychological support to help decider the emotions and meaning from these helps along with learning to manage the energies such as Reiki, helping to release inner negative block through acupuncture for me has also been beneficial. Even a good astrologer can help you in this!ARTArticleCauses and Solutions for Physical FatigueIn the field of medicine, there is a practice known as ‘differential diagnosis’ which examines symptoms and looks at the variety of potential causes before suggesting a remedy or curative action. The classic example is one of headache, which can have innumerable potential causes, including tension or stress, indigestion, a variety of disease conditions, physical trauma, concussion, eye strain, etc. Depending on the underlying cause, a solution is then proposed and implemented.ARTArticleCharacteristics of the Body ConsciousnessImagine we had to manage all the functions of the body through conscious attention by the mind, telling the body how to operate each organ, controlling each breath and heartbeat, controlling the energy production activities in the cells, etc. It would be clearly impossible. We depend entirely on the separate consciousness of the body to carry out its automatic functioning and with a precision and control beyond anything we could accomplish with direct mental intervention.ARTArticleChild-less as per AstrologyAs per the Astrological point of view having sex in the daytime should avoid if the couple is considered expecting an issue. And the best time of intercourse is late at night around 2 am to 4 or 4:30 am for a good, honest, powerful, and spiritually upgraded issue.

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