http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelfgrowthcomArticlesForSpiritualGrowth The #1 Self Improvement Site On The Web, as Ranked by Google and Yahoo en https://selfgrowth.com/articles/active-compared-to-more-passive-development-of-the-yogic-sadhana <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->There is a paradigm noted in the yogic literature about the different types of seekers and the way they advance in their spiritual development. The baby monkey actively works to hold on to the mother, having to exercise its own capacities to move forward while the baby cat surrenders to the ... santoshk@msn.com Sat, 11 Jul 2026 6:25:33 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-characteristics-and-qualities-of-the-realisation-of-the-psychic-being <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->The nature of the psychic being’s action is founded in aspiration, devotion and self-consecration to the Divine. The role of Agni in the Rig Veda illustrates the power and role of the psychic being. Agni is the mystic fire that leads and brings forth the gods, the divine powers, into the being. ... santoshk@msn.com Fri, 10 Jul 2026 9:16:51 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/three-focuses-of-concentration <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Sri Aurobindo describes a triple tranformation of consciousness. The first transformation is what he calls the psychic transformation, the conscious contact with and bringing forward of the soul element in the nature. The second transformation is what he calls the spiritual transformation. This ... santoshk@msn.com Thu, 9 Jul 2026 5:23:05 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/converting-a-mental-seeking-into-a-living-spiritual-experience-part-3 <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->The initial steps of the discipline involve a concentration, either in the heart centre or in the mental centre, as entrance pathways to reach the psychic being or the higher mental and spiritual regions above the mind. These represent a movement away from the demands, desires and motives of the ... santoshk@msn.com Wed, 8 Jul 2026 6:19:47 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/converting-a-mental-seeking-into-a-living-spiritual-experience-part-2 <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->In Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol, Book I, Canto 4 The Secret Knowledge, Sri Aurobindo describes a spiritual experience: “It is the origin and the master-clue, A silence overhead, an inner voice, A living image seated in the heart, An unwalled wideness and a fathomless point, The truth of all ... santoshk@msn.com Tue, 7 Jul 2026 6:44:56 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/converting-a-mental-seeking-into-a-living-spiritual-experience-part-1 <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Most people are trapped in the paradigm enunciated by Rene Descartes, i.e. ‘I think, therefore I am.’ They equate the thought with the reality. If we think we are sincere, then we are sincere. If we think we can swim, then we can swim. We see this frequently in religions where people believe ... santoshk@msn.com Mon, 6 Jul 2026 6:30:15 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/changing-human-nature-requires-the-manifestation-of-a-new-power-of-consciousness-based-in-t <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->As long as we remain within a specific framework of vision and understanding, we remain locked in that frame and our actions are formed from the capacities held by that framework. In order to escape the limitations of that level, an individual needs must find a way to move his awareness outside ... santoshk@msn.com Sun, 5 Jul 2026 10:04:34 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/opening-to-the-psychic-being <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->We draw to us and interact with whatever draws our attention. The external being is motivated by the forces of desire and fear. Each of these creates a link to objects that we desire or that we fear. We thus live in a world of constant distraction from the inner truth of our being. When an ... santoshk@msn.com Sat, 4 Jul 2026 6:18:56 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/stages-in-the-spiritual-development-of-the-individual <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->There seems to be a very common progression in the spiritual development for most individuals. While individual cases can, and will, vary somewhat, and rare exceptional cases may follow a totally different development, the general case is common enough in its occurrence to create what may be ... santoshk@msn.com Fri, 3 Jul 2026 4:15:37 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/spiritual-liberation-mukti <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->As we grow beyond the pure vital enjoyment of the growing child, we begin to recognise that we have demands being made upon us, subtly or overtly, from family, friends, peers, and society at large. There are expectations and pressures that come with living in a societal setting, or even, just ... santoshk@msn.com Thu, 2 Jul 2026 3:14:38 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/distinguishing-the-central-action-of-the-psychic-being-from-mental-vital-or-physical-format <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->There is a vast difference between mental speculation and actual life-experience. We can speculate about what it means to swim in the ocean, but this does not prepare us for the actual experience when it occurs. It is similar for those focused on spiritual sadhana. Generally those individuals ... santoshk@msn.com Wed, 1 Jul 2026 7:30:08 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-emergence-of-the-psychic-being-takes-a-process-and-time-as-it-works-to-modify-body-life <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->The process of nature, the development of the physical form, the vital force and its expression, the advent of mind and development of its powers, and the formation of the ego-consciousness and the self-awareness that comes with that, is a long, slow, steady progression that can takes tens of ... santoshk@msn.com Tue, 30 Jun 2026 1:07:37 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-psychic-being-provides-protection-from-the-desires-of-the-external-nature-and-the-sugge <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->As long as we are established in the consciousness of the external being and personality, the body-life-mind complex aggregated around the ego-personality, we interpret and decide things based on the external relationships each of those elements has developed in their dealing with the external ... santoshk@msn.com Mon, 29 Jun 2026 5:20:29 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-management-process-of-the-psychic-being-with-the-external-nature <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Those who are involved in developing a business or other organised activity quickly learn that there are different methods that can be implemented, and which, when applied in the right time, place and circumstance, can bring about vastly different, and in some cases, much greater ... santoshk@msn.com Sun, 28 Jun 2026 2:55:01 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/development-over-time-of-the-soul-s-power-to-master-life-circumstances <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Since the central position of the soul to direct and guide life is the optimum result, we wonder, generally, why this is not the case from the outset and why we have to then experience the struggles and efforts needed to achieve that result. The question is pertinent both for the individual and ... santoshk@msn.com Sat, 27 Jun 2026 7:48:46 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-emergence-of-the-soul <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->The poet, John Keats, in his famous poem Ode on a Grecian Urn, concluded with “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” We receive intimations of the soul and the spiritual reality through our minds, our emotions, our feelings and our physical ... santoshk@msn.com Fri, 26 Jun 2026 3:11:22 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-psychic-transformation-is-preliminary-as-essential-for-spiritual-development-before-exp <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->The ego is allured and enamoured of spiritual experiences and the development of unique powers that may arise with various openings of the being to other ranges of mental, vital or physical activity than we normally live in. Certain spiritual disciplines actually advise the seeker to avoid ... santoshk@msn.com Thu, 25 Jun 2026 6:12:03 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/purification-through-the-psychic-change-of-the-nature <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Many people question the value or importance of purification of the nature during the course of sadhana. They express the idea that purification is unnecessary, either because the external world is an illusion and should be disregarded entirely, or because the concept of ‘freedom’ implies that ... santoshk@msn.com Wed, 24 Jun 2026 6:43:10 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-psychic-being-protects-from-the-dangers-of-the-internediate-zone <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Goethe, in his famous poem Faust, recounts a scene where Faust conjures the Earth-Spirit. He is stricken with fear although he felt himself to be a god and a peer to the Spirit he called forth. “To view me is thine aspiration, My voice to hear, my countenance to see; Thy powerful yearning ... santoshk@msn.com Tue, 23 Jun 2026 1:18:16 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/consecration-conversion-of-consciousness-and-transformation-of-consciousness <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Consecration is a movement of the psychic being, based in the individual being, consciously focusing and tuning the consciousness to the divine consciousness and acting under its impulsion. The standpoint remains with the individual and while consecration is being perfected in the being, it ... santoshk@msn.com Mon, 22 Jun 2026 10:20:27 am https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-psychic-conversion-the-shift-from-the-ego-standpoint-to-the-soul-s-standpoint <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->A young individual recounted a tale of what he considered to be his own experience of a psychic conversion. He had a near death experience and when he awoke he suddenly knew there was a Divine Presence in the world and that he was meant to focus on that rather than the career he had been ... santoshk@msn.com Sat, 20 Jun 2026 5:15:43 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-discovery-of-the-psychic-being <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Major developments or milestones in the expression of consciousness in the being do not tend to appear suddenly on their own for most people. As the individual grows and matures, there sometimes occur glimpses, transient experiences, occasions where some capacity shows itself. It is then up to ... santoshk@msn.com Fri, 19 Jun 2026 4:36:50 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/becoming-aware-of-the-psychic-being <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->If we look at the lives and the focus of the vast majority of people in the world, we find that they are primarily fixated on external measurements of survival, sustenance and success in some form or another. It may be having access to food and water at a basic subsstence level, or it may be the ... santoshk@msn.com Thu, 18 Jun 2026 5:36:07 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-triple-transformation-of-the-consciousness <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->People have opinions and argue about what the best way to carry out religious or spiritual practices happens to be. Some believe in various forms of austerities, some concentration, some meditation, some prayer, some devotional service, some selfless work. Some take vows of poverty. Others ... santoshk@msn.com Wed, 17 Jun 2026 7:50:17 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/three-steps-of-self-realisation <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->As long as we live in the standpoint of the external personality, the ego-consciousness, we look to external rewards and satisfactions, and the fulfillment of ambitions and desires, as the central objective towards which we orient our actions. It is only when we begin to feel and appreciate the ... santoshk@msn.com Tue, 16 Jun 2026 7:54:19 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-path-of-transformation-of-earthly-life-into-divine-life-through-unveiling-of-the-psychi <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->The question of transforming life on earth into something higher, deeper and more meaningful, aligned with the divine intention in the manifestation, is one that has occupied seers, religious leaders, theologians, scientists, thinkers and philosophers since time immemorial. Plato in his Republic ... santoshk@msn.com Mon, 15 Jun 2026 8:17:15 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-essential-conditions-for-the-growth-of-the-psychic-being <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->We tend to judge circumstances and events based on how they impacted our external personality, the individual ego. We call things ‘good’ or ‘bad’ based on our perception of whether they satisfy our needs, wants and desires or not. What we fail to recognise, more often than not, is that the ... santoshk@msn.com Sun, 14 Jun 2026 7:45:27 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/each-individual-has-his-own-unique-relationship-with-the-divine <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->People who are born into different cultures and religions may have a similar experience, but they interpret the experience through the lens of their specific background. Thus, people who have a specific spiritual opening may see Jesus or the Virgin Mary if they come from a Christian background, ... santoshk@msn.com Sat, 13 Jun 2026 11:55:49 am https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-progress-of-the-psychic-being-individualising-while-transcending-the-ego <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Individuals who take up spiritual practice are generally advised that they have to overcome the ego and free themselves from its desires, ambitions, wants or needs. As the practice advances, the seeker begins to recognise that he is not that ego-personality, either as the specific person or in ... santoshk@msn.com Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:09:53 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/progress-and-development-of-physical-vital-mental-psychic-and-spiritual-elements-in-our-ear <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->We all recognise the pattern. We are born, we grow, develop, reach mature adulthood, carry out our productive activities. Later, as we age, various elements of our bodies, our life-energies and our minds begin to decline, until eventually, the deterioration creates a break that leads to death ... santoshk@msn.com Thu, 11 Jun 2026 7:18:01 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-psychic-being-and-progress <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Until someone actively takes up the spiritual path, and consciously begins to focus on the significance of his life and the purpose of the manifestation, the question of progress for the psychic being does not even arise. The progress takes place, but it happens without appreciation or ... santoshk@msn.com Wed, 10 Jun 2026 7:06:15 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/what-happens-to-progress-at-the-mental-vital-and-physical-levels-when-the-psychic-being-dep <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->The psychic being assimilates the essence of the experience of a lifetime, then leaves behind the body, life-force and mind of that lifetime and moves on into other lives, other experiences. However, a substantial effort has been made by the psychic being to enhance and develop the mind, life ... santoshk@msn.com Tue, 9 Jun 2026 6:43:35 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/conscious-rebirth-by-a-fully-developed-psychic-being-part-2 <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->There is considerable skepticism about the question of rebirth. There are also questions about what exactly is reborn, and what happens to the existing current life experience and capabilities developed in a lifetime before death. There remains then, also, the mechanisms involved. There is a ... santoshk@msn.com Mon, 8 Jun 2026 9:25:42 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/conscious-rebirth-by-a-fully-developed-psychic-being-part-1 <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes the period from the time of death to the adoption of a new body in a new birth. The individual departs the physical body which begins to decompose. Next, the vital sheath dissolves, and following that the mental formations. All of these external instruments ... santoshk@msn.com Sun, 7 Jun 2026 10:03:43 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-conscious-psychic-being-choosing-its-next-incarnation-part-2 <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Sometimes a soul is born into the world with a sense of a pre-determined and destined path forward, based on focus and determinations made in the prior lifetime. Such an individual, in some cases very early in life, may know things, may feel like he has already known things that come before his ... santoshk@msn.com Sat, 6 Jun 2026 9:56:48 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-psychic-being-works-to-gain-experience-and-independence-and-upgrade-the-instruments-of- <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->The Bodhisattva vow represents an ideal of dedication and compassion by those who have reached the stage of enlightenment and who thereby have gained the freedom to choose liberation, moksha, from the cycle of birth and death. Those individuals who attain this state of consciousness make the ... santoshk@msn.com Sat, 6 Jun 2026 9:44:53 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-conscious-psychic-being-choosing-its-next-incarnation-part-1 <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->The interaction and interplay between the divine manifestation, the psychic being and the processes of rebirth are generally outside the direct experience of most people. Scientists who study the processes of the universe are able to identify certain principles and details of the way things ... santoshk@msn.com Thu, 4 Jun 2026 8:24:13 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-psychic-being-and-the-mechanism-of-choosing-its-next-birth <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Nothing can evolve that has not previously been involved. A tree grows from an acorn because the essence of the tree, in the form of its genetic code, is already in place within that acorn. The entire creation, from the most material to the most subtle, contains an involved consciousness. If we ... santoshk@msn.com Wed, 3 Jun 2026 4:39:46 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-psychic-being-is-automatically-attuned-towards-the-spiritual-truth-of-existence <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->We observe in nature that certain plants turn towards the sun and follow the sun’s position in the sky throughout the day. This phenomenon, ‘heliotropism’, is based on certain sensor cells in these plants that identify the location of the light and automatically orient themselves towards it. ... santoshk@msn.com Tue, 2 Jun 2026 7:26:34 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-psychic-being-its-growth-and-development-through-the-evolutionary-cycle <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->There are certain questions about the meaning and processes of the evolutionary cycle, the existence and growth of the psychic being, and its relation to our human external existence that most of us have a difficult time addressing, as we have not had the experience or evidence from our own ... santoshk@msn.com Mon, 1 Jun 2026 6:28:33 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/wielding-occam-s-razor-in-a-review-of-evolution-of-forms-and-consciousness-and-the-signific <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->When we observe the evolution of forms, and then investigate the evolution of consciousness that is the secret driving force behind the evolution of forms, and which provides meaning to the development of the outer forms, we can try to limit this development to the current phase, and simply ... santoshk@msn.com Sun, 31 May 2026 6:17:30 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/can-human-beings-participate-in-the-change-of-human-nature <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Many people are skeptical about the possibility of humanity participating consciously in the transformation and change of human nature. They believe that our nature is fixed and every attempt to change it has shown the futility of the effort. If we observe carefully, or even quite casually, ... santoshk@msn.com Sat, 30 May 2026 8:50:55 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-evolution-of-forms-the-evolution-of-consciousness-and-the-destiny-of-the-individual <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->As with all things that are considered for the first time, new concepts appear difficult to grasp. Cognitive scientists have shown through studies they have done, that the brain builds ‘grooves’ through which thoughts flow smoothly. These ‘grooves’ develop over time through repeated attempts. ... santoshk@msn.com Fri, 29 May 2026 12:56:41 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-dual-processes-of-evolution-material-evolution-of-forms-and-soul-evolution-of-conscious <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->As long as we remain fixated on the evolution of forms, the Darwinian model of evolution, we fail to provide any deeper meaning to this process or, even, the significance of any individual being, since the evolution of forms deals with genus and species, not individuals. Even if we suppose the ... santoshk@msn.com Thu, 28 May 2026 7:10:42 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-psychic-being-carries-the-essence-of-experience-through-rebirth-and-the-evolution-of-co <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->We are born into the world, we grow, we learn, we participate in it, we age, and eventually we die. Many people look at this process without trying to understand any deeper significance. They involve themselves in the process and do not look at what happened before, what caused the existence we ... santoshk@msn.com Wed, 27 May 2026 5:37:29 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-psychic-mirror-and-its-power-of-transformation-of-the-external-nature <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->One of the powerful techniques which Sri Aurobindo describes for the spiritual aspirant is the separation of the witness consciousness from the active, external nature. Creation of a mental witness awareness is not quite the same thing, although it may be a helpful step along the way. This is ... santoshk@msn.com Tue, 26 May 2026 6:04:17 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/factors-that-impede-progress-on-the-spiritual-path <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Our human lives are not developed in a straight line of progress. We see forward movement toward whatever goal we have in front of us, and then various retrogressive movements that set back the progress. That is the experience of those who have a focus or objective in life. For those who are not ... santoshk@msn.com Mon, 25 May 2026 4:50:35 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/the-heterogeneous-nature-of-our-external-being <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->We identify ourselves with the constructed ego-personality that we have assumed. We have certain ideas, feelings, relationships, preferences, desires, ambitions, fears and motivations of various sorts. We treat this ego-personality as a unified whole and do not usually investigate the varying ... santoshk@msn.com Sun, 24 May 2026 6:46:55 pm https://selfgrowth.com/articles/spiritual-realisation-begins-with-psychic-discipline <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->In The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo describes the triple transformation that develops the human existence to a new status through conscious evolutionary development. The first transformation is what he calls the ‘psychic transformation’. The psychic transformation is the awakening to the ... santoshk@msn.com Sat, 23 May 2026 11:36:30 am https://selfgrowth.com/articles/finding-the-meaning-of-our-lives-and-expressing-it-in-our-thoughts-words-and-deeds <!--7809d7e227d74f2cb6edb1ca2739d10d-->Eventually, as we grow and mature, as our powers of reflection and self-examination increase, we begin to seriously consider why it is we are alive, what it is we are here to do and how we can accomplish whatever our lives are intended to be. There are several aspects to this process of growth ... santoshk@msn.com Fri, 22 May 2026 5:36:27 pm