THE BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT JOURNAL
NAMAH is a pioneer, peer-reviewed, internationally indexed body, mind and spirit journal with an integral vision looking at the influence of the spirit or soul in psychology and health.Growth
The Blessing of Misfortune
34 — O Misfortune, blessed be thou; for through thee I have seen the face of my Lover.
If through misfortune one sees the face of God, then it is no longer misfortune, is it?
Obviously, far from being a misfortune, it is a blessing. And this is precisely what Sri Aurobindo means.
The Soul
The Journey to the Soul-Space
We have not only an Outer Being (which is known as the personality in contemporary psychology) but a larger and vaster but subliminal Inner Being. Unlike the outer being, the Inner Being cannot be sustained by the ego, it needs to be supported by the inmost soul-essence or the Psychic Being. The Inmost Being occupies the soul-space deeper to the psychological space of the inner Being and the aspirant for personal growth has to traverse all other spaces to reach the soul-space. Read more...
Growth
Dreams and Sadhana
The Mother said that dreamtime is the night-school of sādhanā. We can use dreams in our spiritual quest and they are important for our psychological health. Dreams have been used by oracles from the beginning of civilisations to solve problems, predict the future, heal deep-seated wounds and create new possibilities. This paper explores how dreams can help our inner growth if we open ourselves to their subtle touch. Read more...
Insight
Origin and Nature of Suffering
Suffering there is, some say, because the soul takes delight in it: if there was not the soul’s delight behind, there would not be any suffering at all. There are still two other positions with regard to suffering which we do not deal with in the present context, namely, (1) that it does not exist at all, the absolute Ananda of the Brahman being the sole reality, suffering, along with the manifested world of which it is a part, is illusion pure and simple, (2) that suffering exists, but it comes not from soul or God but from the Anti-divine: it is at the most tolerated by God and He uses it as best as He can for His purpose. That, however, is not our subject here. We ask then what delight can the soul take when the body is suffering, say, from cancer. If it is delight, it must be of a perverse variety. Is it not the whole effort of mankind to get rid of pain and suffering, make of our life and of the world, if possible, a visible play of pure and undefiled Ananda? Read more...
Consciousness and health
The Role of Will in Sadhana
True Will is free from all mental or vital interference. As long as they are involved, there has to be effort. Effort is necessary in opening to the psychic influence and, as that gradually happens, effort is replaced by surrender and the true Will emerges in our sādhanā. Read more...
