As promised in my previous blog, here is the next in series on the tools I use for self-observation and of course the \u2018how\u2019 of it.\u00a0 So to begin with, I need to answer two simple questions; what does \u2018self\u2019 mean to me and how do I differentiate between different parts of my own being as on the outside it all looks one. Do I limit my sense of identity to the description of the self I am aware of in my everyday life \u2013 my first name, family name, hometown, gender, education qualification, job profile, etc. which gives a good amount of idea who I am on the outside and to a great extent defines my roles and relation with the world or\u00a0do\u00a0I go a step deeper to find out what lies beyond. To have an in-depth understanding of anything it is very important to engage with the idea\/concept systematically and sincerely. Before I begin to explain my \u2018way\u2019 of being, I would like to share\u00a0a\u00a0few lines from a passage by Sri Aurobindo that perfectly and beautifully describes what I attempt to illustrate in this blog.<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/strong>In the outer surface nature mind, psychic, vital, physical are all jumbled together and it needs a strong power of introspection, self-analysis, close observation and disentanglement of the threads of thought, feeling and impulse to find out the composition of our nature and the relation and interaction of these parts upon each other. But when one goes inside\u2026we find the sources of all this surface action and there the parts of our being are quite separate and clearly distinct from each other. We feel them indeed as different beings in us, and just as two people in a group can do, they too are seen to observe, criticize, help or oppose and restrain each other; it is as if we were a group-being, each member of the group with its separate place and function, and all directed by a central being who is sometimes in front above the others, sometimes behind the scenes. \u201c<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0-Sri Aurobindo, Letters on yoga, Vol. III; pg 197<\/em><\/p>\n When we are identified with our ego and work at the surface level, every action or emotion we experience, we become that, because there is no awareness of a deeper sense of \u201cI\u201d which lies beneath the surface action. We think we are that emotion or we are that action. Complete identification with it clouds our\u00a0power of\u00a0discernment\u00a0and we become narrow in our perception of the situation which becomes the source of all our sorrows. It\u2019s only when we step back and make the inner being our centre, can we see the movements of these parts for what they really are and act accordingly. I always see the functioning of the\u00a0outer world as a means to go within, as the tools present in my surrounding that help me unravel the mysteries of my inner world and help me dive deeper into the functioning of the world within and, in that way,\u00a0start understanding the processes that lie underneath the everyday working of the surface consciousness. One such tool that became a fundamental building block in my journey of integral yoga is\u00a0what I call the ‘family system’. Like, how in a family we have different people playing different roles and interacting with each other, similarly there are different parts within us playing out different roles.\u00a0While\u00a0on the surface\u00a0it looks united as \u201cI\u201d,\u00a0deeper within the source is often\u00a0made up of\u00a0different\u00a0parts not completely in harmony with each other\u00a0and this\u00a0is the\u00a0reason why most of the times we feel divided within\u00a0ourselves and struggle with our everyday life.<\/p>\n In my case, I label these emotions or actions as children who are members\u00a0 of the same family but are different in their individual nature\u00a0 and have a identity of their own but for the outside world represent\u00a0one unit and any action from any one\u00a0 of these children\u00a0gets represented as the action or expression of the whole family and is taken as\u00a0my\u00a0identity. \u00a0In my everyday struggle, the part in me that has developed discerning power and feels closer and rooted to the central being holds the entire family and gives full support and space to grow and transform.\u00a0This is\u00a0more like a parent in the family who never rejects the weak or rebellious child but provides\u00a0ways to help\u00a0to\u00a0become better. The desires and curiosities are my children who are neither to be suppressed \/ deprived of the experience nor are they supposed to be left all by themselves free to do anything; the danger lies at both ends and the ideal for me is a balance that comes from the parent part that understands a little better than the rest. The more I develop an understanding of my movements the more I realize how each part has a character of its own and the basic fundamental need is to unite all these parts in\u00a0my\u00a0aspiration for the supreme and, for that, being rooted and connected with the deeper part of my being is essential. Because then my suggestions \/ guidance are not governed\u00a0by\u00a0fear but\u00a0by\u00a0an understanding of the source of the desire of the child and I give it that comfort to see what\u2019s in store.\u00a0I connect with\u00a0the wider picture of the situation and decide what works and what does not. It\u2019s like the strong and the weak\u00a0both form\u00a0a part of my family and the idea is to always look within and establish that unity with\u00a0my\u00a0different parts that can help and strengthen each other in need and also do not shy away from asking help from outside in case the need arises because we understand that asking help is not a sign of weakness rather it\u2019s being aware of the limitations of our own capacity and ability while continuing to build and strengthen them.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a choice that I make at every step of my life in this journey of becoming self-aware and understanding the subtle processes that effect my behavior on the outside and get a better understanding of myself.\u00a0 We can choose to be ignorant about the various possibilities and procedures within and continue to live a life of ignorance on the surface of\u00a0our everyday life or, take a closer look at our being and step by step make an attempt to understand and then distinguish the various parts of our being and slowly\u00a0 help them transform and become better at executing our life plan. I have begun the journey and hope to continue the same.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As promised in my previous blog, here is the next in series on the tools I use for self-observation and of course the \u2018how\u2019 of it.\u00a0 So to begin with, I need to answer two simple questions; what does \u2018self\u2019 mean to me and how do I differentiate between different parts of my own being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ipi.org.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ipi.org.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ipi.org.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ipi.org.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ipi.org.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1266"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ipi.org.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1272,"href":"https:\/\/www.ipi.org.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions\/1272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ipi.org.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ipi.org.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ipi.org.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}