Rising above ennui or boredom

Our consciousness is constituted of many parts, many personalities and throughout the day one part or the other predominates – sometimes the mental being thinks with clarity, sometimes the emotional being surges forward and acts out of passion, and when all inspiration dries up and nothing works, we just sit listlessly. If you are feeling bored, it means the vital energy is exhausted and calls for rest and recuperation.  For those who aspire to become fully conscious, this phenomenon must be recognized for what it actually is – it is a gap in the consciousness which has to be plugged deliberately by employing refined and uplifting methods of relaxation.

Identifying the signs of spiritual progress

In moments of despondency, we tend to wonder if the efforts that we make through meditation, incantations, devotion, selfless service and other austerities to become a better and more spiritual person  are having any positive effect.  They do have a substantive but  invisible effect on our aura or subtle body but we lack the occult insight to discern such changes.  It is only a genuine Guru who can perceive  changes in the subtle body of the disciple.  In the absence of a Guru, one can assess one’s spiritual progress by observing the psychological changes that have transpired in one’s responses to external situations.  These are two talks by the Mother Mirra Alfassa on the topic of spiritual progress.

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: