All sorts of voices creep in. Small gods if you will

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 Know Name: Pravritti Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US

"The methods of the Yogin are also different for he tends more and more to the use of direct vision and the faculties of the vijnana and less and less to the intellectual means. The ordinary man studies the object from the outside and infers its inner nature from the results of his external study. The Yogi seeks to get inside his object, know it from within & use external study only as a means of confirming his view of the outward action resulting from an already known inner nature." -- Record of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo

This is another stage of passage. For me this includes two problems. The first is simply refining the faculty by which knowledge is received. Quieting the mind, concentration, give clarity of perception then comes inspiration and vision as you move from the mind sheath into the vijnana kosha. Most people come to a stage of development where they recognize the flow. They see things coming together for more than the externalized mind's viewpoint. This is the realm of flow stories, of signs, etc. From here often begins the journey of following/perfecting, the inner guidance. This involves all sorts of purification, one may think of screening out those inner voices/impulses that lead towards fulfillment of the desires of the lower nature and lack the truth power. One has to recognize, in my case it is by feel, the intuitive. From my experience clear seeing, clairvoyance also looms large and one has to integrate this ability.

On the down side of this is the habit of physical causality. Someone calls you on the cell and you hear their voice and know who they are. Practical enough, but some times you are just thinking of them before they call. Refining the ability to listen to that sense, and know when it is working is more challenging. Inner guidance is the same.

Just making the distinction between the subtle senses such as empathy, the subliminal information, such as from people's body language, vision into subtle realms, and the flow of knowledge from the spirit take time and awareness.

The second thing working against you is the authority of knowledge which is dominated by the mental demons. Small gods if you will. You can know perfectly well something by yogic sight, but all sorts of voices creep in. This cast includes the very popular, doubt, speculation, opinion, judgment, lack of knowledge. So you can see why something is occurring, for instance I know someone who has caused themselves work related medical problems. I know that this was cause by a need to avoid dealing with personal feelings. They learned this from their mother. They work hard in order to distract themselves. It works. They were successful in their career up until their body began to express other things...posted by Pravritti @ 3:17 PM