Posts

The Unconscious Drivers of Human Decisions and Actions

Most people believe they are in control of their actions, their decisions and their circumstances, at least until they find things not turning out the way they expected or wished for! When an individual takes up the spiritual path consciously, he begins to examine this assumption. First, he finds that much of what he thinks and does is the result of habit, automatic responses including what we call ‘instinct’, education, training, social pressure and expectation or the result of forced choices under existing facts and circumstances. Then he finds that in his aspiration to carry out the spiritual quest he brings in his mental being to try to develop some rules for living and acting that align with the spiritual intention. Thus a mental framework is built which dictates what he should think, what he should do, how he should act, and how respond to circumstances. At a certain point he may try to impose this mental framework as an overlay for everything he does. He then may determine when ...
1 comment
Read more

The Light and its Shadow

A light sings within, silent and sweet, Self-absorbed, immersed in its own delight, Oblivious to its own snarling shadows, Cast dull and black over its sunlit meadows. Surreptitiously it seeps through, The eerie serried milieu, Taking over the machinery of the mind, To spew out its own kith and kind. Dark angels assuming the capacity to bless, Hiss spells to shrink the consciousness, Till it buys into the smallness of seeing itself a poor threatened drop, Having nothing to stand on but reason’s unsteady prop. Yet the enamoured light in innocence sings, Unscathed by its shadow’s sterile stings, Pouring into the consciousness a smiling bliss,   Reminding the drop of the ocean that it is. - Anahita Sanjana (India)
Post a Comment
Read more

Deciding How To Act Amidst Conflicting Value Sets

People frequently have to wrestle with conflicting emotions, unclear and confusing thoughts and the need to balance duties, demands or considerations that appear to be opposed to one another. In some cases, we obtain facts which, if expressed to another person, will presumably cause them suffering, yet withholding that information can have negative consequences. How frequently we have to deal with someone who has a serious health issue or who has a relationship issue which we learn about but feel reticent to share. Is it better to speak with the individual, or to remain quiet? We see someone being verbally or physically abused, or bullied on the street. Do we intervene or walk by and not involve ourselves? We see an employer wrongfully browbeating an employee and we have to choose whether to intervene and perhaps endanger our own employment, or to let the ire fall on the other person and remain quiet and hope to not be noticed? We may hear a person being maligned and undercut behind th...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Chamber of Eternal Light

Experience of 1 st  visit to Sri Aurobindo’s Room at the Puducherry Ashram   On this day, 5th December, 1950, Sri Aurobindo laid aside His physical body, Yet His Eternal Light continues to illumine countless souls through the decades. On the 75th sacred anniversary of His Mahasamadhi, I was immensely blessed to step into His room for the first time. It was not merely a physical chamber, But a sanctuary where Eternal Light resides. As I stepped into that blessed chamber, A sacred reminiscence stirred within— Of the golden Light that once defied death, Illumining the chamber through five immortal days. My mind perceived no minute details, Only the quietude and psychic grandeur. Indeed, my soul was blessed to enter the Divine abode, Where the Seer dwells Eternally. The room still bears the imprint of His Footsteps. The couch still awaits His silent Presence. The bed breathes with His unseen nearness, And every object comes alive in His Light. A priceless blessing awaited each dev...
6 comments
Read more

The Mechanics of the Corporeal Prison: Luminous Breaches in the Bodily Structure and the Fascination with Death

I. The Corporeal Prison: Definition and Structure The material existence, perceived from a higher consciousness, is often experienced as a system of profound limitation and  artificiality .1 A. THE BODY AS A GAOL The immense material world itself is designated as a  gaol .2 It functions under a rigid regime where a “stone-eyed law” stands armed across every road, and “huge dim sentinels” pace at every gate.3 The fundamental reality of life here is described as a  slow and strange uneasy compromise  of limiting Nature with a limitless Soul.4 The body is the primary prison, and the human condition is characterized by  confinement to the sensations of the gross world .5 The mind that fabricates the details of everyday life acts like a narrow prison, making the individual feel cramped into a personal formation or “eggshell”.6 The perception of the body’s confinement is acute even in the cellular consciousness; the body has the feeling of being imprisoned within some...
Post a Comment
Read more

Come as a Breath

Come as a gold spangled breath of presence A mist of an unseen gold, Out colouring every hue of ‘I’ness, Swallowing every cord and discord of thought. A breath invading all, mightily and sovereignly, Dissolving the tenacious bid of the ‘I’ to self-claim Into a molten flame of self-giving. Come, come as a breath of a romance so supreme That all of me is hushed into a silent anthem of love. - Anahita Sanjana (India)
4 comments
Read more

Finding the Meaning of Our Lives and Expressing It in Our Thoughts, Words and Deeds

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 and development. When we are born into our human lives, we are immature physically, vitally, emotionally and mentally. In Book I, Canto 1, in his epic poem,  Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol,  Sri Aurobindo hints at our situation: “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.”   We need to develop our physical, vital and mental framework and capacities, increase their power and perfect their action. This is an ongoing process in our lives. Much of our early focus is dedicated to this aspect of development, and we do not, therefore, ...
Post a Comment
Read more