Wednesday, October 22, 2008

WHY ABIDE AS YOUR ORIGINAL NATURE RATHER THAN AS THE MANIFESTED CONSCIOUSNESS? Part One

Table of Contents

Today's Considerations
Recent Posts and Archives
Tools for Realization
Author's eBooks
Author's Paperback Books
Free eBooks
An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Where is the Absolute? Can you give a simple explanation of how consciousness manifests and how it becomes corrupted or blocked? Also, how can it be at rest if it’s a form of energy as you say? Thx, Troy

F.: Hello, Troy. The Absolute is a limitless “field,” a term used for lack of anything better; thus, it is everywhere. When a bug hits the windshield of a car, the consciousness is immediately released from the space called “that bug” and immediately "enters" the field of unmanifested consciousness. At that point, it is not longer conscious of self.

How did it manifest? As a form of specialized energy that moves about, as all energy does, it can be “pulled” into the manifestation if it should come into contact with a space that has a nervous system (such as a plant on this planet).

Should the natural act of “transference” happens, whereby such a plant is consumed by a human who then breeds and sets off a chain of naturally-occurring events that result in what persons call “a birth,” then the conscious-energy will shortly thereafter be conditioned and programmed with false concepts.

It is such programming and conditioning which eventually blocks the pure consciousness from being aware of ItSelf and which results in the blockage or corruption you reference. Because of such misinformation, the consciousness can falsely identity itself as separate matter and therefore erroneously believe, “I am my body.”

As for being “at rest,” the term is used to refer to the non-manifested conscious-energy which, as your question seems to imply, is not really “at rest” at all. Energy is in motion, and if unmanifested then the consciousness will not be aware of anything...though in that form it is awareness with no awareness of awareness.

Only manifested can it be conscious of itself. A bird that flies away when you approach is conscious of its beingness and moves away, automatically, as a result of the natural tendency of consciousness to try to extend itself. Yet during the manifestation, there is no rest for consciousness.

Consciousness, wrongly conditioned, nevertheless would "preferably" function as its pure, free, unconditioned natural state, not as a state of dreamed-up concepts, ideas, emotions, insane beliefs, demands, expectations, and limitations in “time-space.”

[How can such an innate "desire" for both "extension" and "freedom" manifest? Consider. If a child were locked away in captivity as an infant, that child (and later the teen and eventually the adult) would long for freedom, even though it has never been free and has no frame of reference by which it can contrast its incarceration. Yet the longing is there nevertheless. Again, a bird does not have to be taught to fly away from you if you approach it. It’s natural.

Being free is natural, but once persons are acculturated and domesticated, freedom ends. When concepts are imposed upon humans, the result is a sense of restriction and limitation on the energy which I AM while temporarily manifested.

Thus, some Realized sages have historically invited persons to Realize and then abide as the Absolute that is beyond such movement of consciousness with its ability to register desires and fears and dis-ease. It is only by dwelling as the original nature, as that natural state, that any sense of “rest” can happen.]

Now, consider another aspect related to your query about consciousness being "blocked or corrupted," namely, suffering. Suffering is the result of believing that the manifested conscious-energy is the false “I” that associates itself with body and mind and personality...all of which are the vehicles for suffering and pain during the relative existence.

All physical organisms are confined in a state of “bondage.” How can the manifested consciousness possibly be “at rest,” really? Have you not sensed on occasion some intimation of an immortal free-ness that has seemingly been lost as a result of the challenges of this beingness?

It was such suffering that drove the character Hamlet (in the Realized poet Shakespeare’s play by the same name) to ask whether he should be or not be. The character wonders whether he should allow the manifestation of consciousness to continue or whether he should take action to end the manifestation of consciousness which allows the registration of misery and suffering (and, yes, for some, physical pain without respite as well):

“To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; no more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation devoutly to be wish’d.”

Because a sense of freedom is a prerequisite for happiness, and since the manifested consciousness can never be free to move about limitlessly as it did pre-manifestation, then the only alternative by which freedom can be realized (and therefore by which happiness can happen) is to shift away from identification not only with false roles but with the never-truly-at-rest-if-manifested-consciousness as well. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TODAY’S POST:

  • Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

  • Click THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS

  • Click FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)

  • Click CONSCIOUSNESS / AWARENESS

  • TWO OTHER OFFERINGS ARE AVAILABLE:

    More and more seekers are requesting an understanding of how a personality formed in childhood is still determining and controlling everything that is thought or said or done in adulthood. Others have inquired about an opportunity to speak one-on-one about the seven-step “path” to Realization.

    Thus, two opportunities are being offered from now until Dec 15th at 50% off:

    PERSONALITY TYPING:

    Here’s what is included in the package that is available for the next two months (the service available to international visitors but these price being only for the Continental U.S.):

    A copy of the personality test (B) Priority mailing of the test (C) Analysis of the test results (D) a one-hour telephone session to discuss the results (E) the cost of the telephone conference. Cost is US$95.

    ONE-ON-ONE SATSANG VIA TELE-CONFERENCE

    For the next two months, a tele-conference to discuss any aspects of the Advaita teachings one-on-one will be offered. [Rich from the U.K. completed this package and was able to make a low-rate international call from his home in the U.K. to the office here in the U.S. for his conference.] The cost covers the income that cannot be earned as a result of being unavailable for regular retainer contract income during your conference time.] Cost is US$75.

    To arrange either package, >Click ARRANGE PACKAGES provide all of the information requested, and in the message box at the bottom, indicate that you want to make arrangements for the PERSONALITY TYPING or for the ONE-ON-ONE ADVAITA SESSION or both.

    Recent Posts and Archives

    Tools Used by Other Seekers of Realization

    WATCHING an Advaita Vedanta Retreat: Watch a Downloadable computer file version of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat (Downloadable on PC only, not Apple.)

    ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes For information, visit Information on the Advaita Classes on the Internet To enroll visit Enroll in the Advaita Internet Course

    ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat with Floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.

    ARRANGING a one-hour session via Skype or telephone with Floyd. (Skype is a free service.) Click the button to pay and you will be contacted to arrange a date and time for the call.

    Five Free eBooks

    Compliments of Andy Gugar, Jr.,
    the following eBooks are available without charge for you or for friends:

    I.
    "GOOD vs. EVIL?" or "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and INSANITY?"

    The content of this eBook deals with one of the most common but erroneous beliefs that the non-Realized masses cling to and which they will fight about (and even kill over), namely, that there is a planet-wide duel going on between “the forces of good and evil” in the universe.

    Either (1) the ancient view is spot on: that the "ills of the planet" are rooted in evil people, in people not being religious enough or spiritual enough, and are caused solely by bad morality; or, (2) the "ills of the planet" are rooted in ignorance, stupidity and insanity and "being good" or "being moral" does not put an end to ignorance, does not eliminate stupidity, and does not treat insanity in any way.

    II.
    "THE VISION"

    Comments regarding the free eBook entitled “THE VISION”:

    “My thanks to you and Andy.” – Andrew “Mac” McMaster

    “Thanks so much for the book! And, by the way, it is brilliant and the most effective pointing that you have done. It has served to help clear the remaining blockages.” – Stan Cross

    “Greatly appreciate having “THE VISION” added to my Henderson resource library that is situated on the right side of my bed for easy access! Eternally grateful for what was received and what was given.” – Robert Rigby

    “‘THE VISION’ is such a well-written, condensed version of the Nisarga Yoga approach to understanding and enjoying Reality that I feel it can serve as a must-read ‘meditation guide’ for all earnest seekers.” – Andy Gugar, Jr.

    III.
    "Sapolsky, Maharaj, and the Non-Dual Teachings"

    Dr. Robert Maurice Sapolsky is an American neuroendocrinologist; a professor of biology, neuroscience, and neurosurgery at Stanford University; a researcher; an author; and a Research Associate at the National Museums of Kenya.

    There is much that a non-dualist or Advaitin or Nisargan can relate to by comparing and contrasting what Sapolsky reveals about the way certain troops of baboons live in Africa with the way that humans abide all around the globe.

    This 152-page eBook catalogues the common, non-dual message shared by Sapolsky and Maharaj and reveals the ways that Sapolsky’s scientific research supports the non-dual pointers offered by Maharaj.

    IV.
    Seeking

    In “PART ONE” it will be seen that most persons on the planet are not seeking, and most will never seek, but for those who are seeking, most will face several obstacles:

    In “PART TWO” of this book, it will be seen why many criticized Maharaj for “changing his message in his later talks.” It will be seen that the changes were not about changing the message per se as much as about changing his methodology as he experimented with one version of the Ultimate Medicine after another in order to try to find an effective means for addressing the Ultimate Sickness.

    He tried a religious version of the Medicine, a Spiritual version of the Medicine, and finally settled on a version which addressed to Sickness at its core . . . at the mental and emotional level.

    V.
    "THE MOST DANGEROUS BELIEF OF ALL"

    “Dangerous” is a term that can only apply during the relative existence, but of those who do commit suicide, for example, how many shoot themselves in the foot over and over until they “bleed out”? None. They shoot themselves in the head. Why? In order to try to stop the noise - to try to stop the chatter of a thousand monkeys – to stop the noisy mind which is the area that stores the ideas, notions, concepts, mind-stuff, etc. which drives them into the depths of insanity.

    And what are those ideas, notions, concepts, etc. called, collectively? "Their beliefs." The irony? They are not their beliefs at all. They are the beliefs of “others” that were set in place via programming, conditioning, etc. and which persons then think are their own.

    And what are those beliefs rooted in, and what reinforces those beliefs and convinces persons that they are sacred and worth fighting over and even sometimes worth dying for? Blind faith.

    This 337-page eBook discusses those issues in detail.

    To read any or all of the free eBooks, please double-click the "FREEBIES" link at the top of this page