Tag Archives: Record of Yoga

The genesis of Sri Aurobindo’s superman

Posted on May 4, 2012 by

The supramental transformation is often misunderstood by pedantic scholars who have the irksome tendency of rashly equating superficially similar ideas espoused by various thinkers across the globe. These scholars tend to claim that Sri Aurobindo’s idea of the superman must have been influenced by Neitzche’s Ubermensch or by Darwin’s theory of evolution. In this article, I will endeavour to demonstrate the actual origin of the concept of the superman through numerous remarks made by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on the subject. Continue reading →

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On Multitasking, Avadhana-Kala and Multiple Samyama

Posted on March 29, 2012 by

The American President Lyndon Johnson once claimed that his political opponent Gerald Ford could not pass wind and chew gum at the same time…For the past few decades, cognitive psychologists have been tormenting volunteers in order to quantify the human capacity for multi-tasking. In ancient India, the method of “avadhana-kala” or “art of concentration” was developed to memorize the Vedas. Sri Aurobindo alluded to the power of multiple samyama (concentration) in a few essays as well as personal diary notes. This article is a broad survey of this fascinating topic. Continue reading →

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Dharana Shakti : the capacity to sustain spiritual experiences

Posted on March 16, 2012 by

We tend to yawn and eat junk food after a period of meditation because the physical body is tamasic(dull) by nature and not accustomed to the newly-attained tranquility. Instead of yawning and dissipating the energy gained during the meditation, the body needs to be molded to become more supple and receptive; the cells of the body have to be made more and more conscious through regular exercise and refined eating habits so that it can sustain longer and greater spiritual experiences. Sri Aurobindo denoted this power of the body as Dharana Shakti or Dharana Samarthya (capacity for retention; Samarthya or Shakti = capacity, Dharana = retention). Continue reading →

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Does Nature revolt against machinery?

Posted on December 28, 2011 by

For instance, take the wind which blows; now scientists will tell you: “These are manifestations of forces of Nature, and it is the result of such and such a phenomenon”, they will speak about heat and cold, high and low, etc., and they will tell you: “That’s the cause of the wind’s blowing, these are currents of air produced in the atmosphere.” But it is not this. There are entities behind, only they are so huge that their form eludes us…These forces which bring about wind, rain, earthquakes, etc. are manifestations of — call them gestures, if you like — of movements of certain beings so formidably huge that we hardly see the end of their foot and don’t realise their size Continue reading →

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Progress reports of Sri Aurobindo

Posted on December 17, 2011 by

These are a couple of progress reports that Sri Aurobindo had jotted down in his diary The Record of Yoga during his early years in Pondicherry. They indicate the ceaseless struggle and the consequent reversal of consciousness that he underwent in the quest for yogic perfection. Continue reading →

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Gorakhnath’s enumeration of contemplation methods

Posted on December 1, 2011 by

This article outlines the meditation methods that Gorakhnath first enumerated in his work Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati. Continue reading →

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Insights into animal cognition

Posted on November 12, 2011 by

The Yogin who attains Self-realization discovers latent powers of perception that have awakened within the illumined consciousness. He or she begins to receive subtle images and sounds that convey the subjective internal states of the beings around him – humans, animals, and possibly even aliens. In this article, we compare yogic insights on animal intelligence with recent developments in comparative psychology and cognitive ethology. Continue reading →

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Practising Titiksha with marshmallows

Posted on April 25, 2011 by

Pop psychology, especially in Western culture, believes that repressed emotions can lead to psychological disorders and consequently, free expression and fulfillment of pleasures is encouraged. The marshmallow experiment conducted on children in the 1970s as well as recent studies suggest otherwise; it advances the notion that children who are able to withstand temptation and demonstrate self-control evolve into more mature human beings. Continue reading →

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