AT THE FEET OF THE MOTHER
Ask Alok da

Why do people always seek to be seen as good by others? What mindset drives this attitude🤨?

Being seen good by others is different from being good. Being seen good stems from the need for social approval, often due to an underlying fear and insecurities. This happens mostly when one is not yet individualized and hence relies on the so-called ‘wisdom’ of the group life to which one wants to belong. This however often leads to hypocrisy wherein one seems one thing outwardly but may be quite a different person within. 

But being good, for the sake of being good and the joy of being good, not because one expects a reward in heaven or a recognition by society, often at the risk of being at a disadvantage is the sign of a sattwic nature, high on the scale of inner evolution. 

Affectionately,

Alok Da

Share this…

Related Posts

I remember once reading in Sri Aurobindo’s commentary on the Isha Upanishad that one cannot become a Brahmin without first becoming a Kshatriya. I believe that I never had the Kshatriya element developed sufficiently within me, and it has always been a source of embarrassment and insecurity for me as a man. 💪🙏🏻🪷[…]

He said both are needed. But these are things ingrained within us. Brahmin and Kshatriya are not  soul states, inner innate temperaments and not so much of outer actions. Nevertheless everything can be developed by practice. By taking the challenges of life, through vigorous physical exercises, by praying for strength, by reading …

Read More >

Bhaiya, Rishi Panchami fast is coming up, and I read the story behind it. Honestly, I found it quite absurd. The story talks about a woman unknowingly breaking certain rules during menstruation, cooking food that her husband eats, and then both of them facing severe karmic consequences in their next life. 🪷🙏🏻 […]

Yes, all these things have been added much later and have no authority in the main  Scriptures. It is a story added in some of the Puranas, mainly I suppose to enforce rules of hygiene for women during the menstrual period. This was one of the ways to instil certain hygiene practices through fear. It has no meaning now. Most of the fasts …

Read More >

How should we understand deities like Subrahmanyeshwara (Skanda/Murugan) and Vinayaka (Ganesha)? Are they individual divine beings, cosmic powers of the One Divine, or symbols of different aspects of consciousness? How should an aspirant in Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga relate to them in practice? 🙏🏻✨

The four original gods, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh and, behind them all Krishna, are, in their origin, the four aspects of the One Divine, named in Indian spiritual thought as Sacchidananda. Sat (सत) is infinite existence from which Brahma ji emerges. Chit is Chit-tapas, Consciousness and Force from which Hari or Vishnu ji and Hara or Shiv ji …

Read More >