Four Powers of Intuition

Many of us have at times felt those influences and inspirations which express themselves through us as scientific breakthroughs, poetic verses, stirring musical compositions or great works of art. According to Sri Aurobindo, these moments of inspiration are actually the secret workings of the four powers called Revelation, Inspiration, Intuition and Discrimination. These powers can be consciously cultivated through the practice of Integral Yoga. This post describes these four powers.

Spiritual Ego

The spiritual ego (or magnified ego) develops when one gets excited by powerful spiritual experiences and begins to take pride in one’s success at Yoga. Here are some excerpts from Sri Aurobindo & The Mother on this matter:

Vidyas in the Upanishads

The Upanishads, besides delineating various spiritual experiences, also give a few hints on sadhana, i.e., paths of spiritual realization. These methods of sadhana are called vidyas. This post outlines this in brief.

Sharing spiritual experiences with others

Spiritual experiences provide us with a path to the realization of a higher consciousness within us.   Discussing such experiences freely in public is not advised because the power that one has gained through the experience dissipates.  These are the remarks of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother on this matter:

Mental formations: powers and perils

The power of imagination gives man the power to create what Sri Aurobindo & The Mother refer to as “formations”. These formations have their own powers and perils as explained here.

Gita Chapter 6, Verse 5 – uplift the self by the self

Here is Sri Aurobindo on the Gita Chapter 6, Verse 5

uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet
atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah

Gita Chapter 4, Verse 18 – action and inaction

This post is about the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Verse 18.

karmany akarma yah pasyed akarmani ca karma yah
sa buddhiman manusyesu sa yuktah krtsna-karma-krut

Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 69 – Inversion of day and night

The Bhagavad Gita in Chapter 2, Verse 69 describes an enigmatic reversal of day and night in the life of a Yogi.

ya nisha sarva-bhutanam tasyam jagarti samyami
yasyam jagrati bhutani sa nisa pasyato muneh

That which is day to the many is night to the sage,

That which is night to the many is day to the sage.

Gita Chapter 7, Verse 16 – Four types of Divine seekers

The Bhagavad Gita in Chapter 7, Verse 16 defines the four types of people who seek the Divine.

catur-vidha bhajante mam
janah sukritino ‘rjuna
arto jijnasur artharthi
jnani ca bharatarsabha

Right attitude towards money

These are some discourses by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on the right use of money.

True intent of the caste system

The caste system in India has been a subject of much controversy. It was supposed to be an identification of man’s inbuilt inclinations and capacities, but gradually this truth was lost and it morphed into a mechanical system for slotting people into various social categories based on their birth in a certain family. It thus became a vehicle for stigma and discrimination.  In the following selections from various works, Sri Aurobindo points out the true origin of the caste system –  how the four castes are actually four latent powers (caturvyuha) within Man which must be perfected by every person on the spiritual path.   The Brahmin represents the faculty of knowledge, ethics and learning, the Kshatriya represents valour, the Vaishya represents commerce and relationship of harmony, while the Shudra represents perfection in work.