Thursday, November 04, 2010

WHEN "SUPPOSED REALIZATION" IS JUST ANOTHER DISTORTION, Part One

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An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.

Furthermore, for those who have developed a preference for any non-nisargan yoga or who prefer Traditional Advaita Vedanta, Neo-Advaita, Neo-Vedanta, or Pseudo Advaita: here you will only find the use of the Direct Path Method of teaching along with the Nisarga (Natural) Yoga, all shared in simple, everyday English.

(Please note: The Annual Fall / Winter Season Book Sale is now under way. Most Non-Duality eBooks at floydhenderson.com are on sale at 30-50% off regular price.)

Gratitude and thanks to Louise for another of her clear and discerning series of pointers.

F.: A woman shared some of the details of her first visit to the loft of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, beginning with her guide informing her that...

" ... we should bring an offering ... so we drifted through the neighborhood marketplace and settled on some bananas. The street where Maharaj lived was round the corner from the Alfred Cinema. The noise in the streets was cacophonous. We came to his home and stepped in. There was no formal satsang going on. In fact, Maharaj was getting a shave from a roving barber. My first look at Maharaj was very intense, especially because his whole face was covered with lather and his eyes burned with an intensity that I could not fathom. Was this love, anger or just total Awareness? I kind of wondered to myself if this was all a big mistake. Maharaj was about my height, around 5'3'' give a few inches, so he looked directly into my eyes. We were invited to return the next morning for Satsang.

Satsangs with Maharaj were predominately for western devotees and his Indian ones who [were discerning]. The Satsang room was a loft above the family living area. I [had] the picture of Nisargadatta Maharaj building a little room, probably not tall enough to stand upright in. However, in reality, the room was spacious, at least 10'x20'. One had to climb a narrow and sharply inclined staircase to get to it, but once in, there was quite abit of room. Of course, when you filled it with 10-20 visitors it was crowded.

On occasion, Maharaj would demand that certain persons leave that loft she described. He would toss them out the same way a bouncer at a bar tosses out unruly drunks. ("Was this love, anger or just total Awareness?")

One visitor to this site called it "his electronic loft," and - as with Maharaj - some are occasionally tossed from this loft. Recently, there was criticism because some persons have been blocked from making any further e-mail contact or from posting comments on the Advaita Vedanta Yoga YouTube site. The charge was that the actions were evidence of "ego-based anger." But was this really "anger" or "just total Awareness?"

The most recent to be blocked was one mentioned in a post prior to Louise's series, one who thinks that he is Realized fully and knows things that are not known here, claiming that these teachings " ... are not true spiritual awakening" and that here there is a concern "only to [sic] the physical" along with "no compassion" whereas he is concerned with "angelic realms" and "healing" and has concerns about people "selling books" and "organizing satsangs."

His criticisms were not blocked and continue to be posted on Youtube, critical though they are. After that posting, he was answered with a distinction between (a) whatever version of Advaita Vedanta he has been exposed to and (b) the nisarga (natural) style of functioning that is pointed to on this site and in those videos.

He was blocked after he sent a series of additional protestations and pronouncements and criticisms and arguments about how "his contact with angels in other realms" is evidence of his actual Realization as opposed to the absence of True Realization here.

Even then, his being blocked on the video site and on this site came not as a result of any feelings here about his criticisms. He has been tossed from the electronic loft for the same reasons that persons have been tossed from satsangs conducted here and for the same reasons that Maharaj tossed some visitors from his loft on Ketwadi Street in Bombay / Mumbai:

(1) when the consciousness speaks but persons indicate that they are not ready to hear and (2) when they evidence that they are being driven by a desire to gain a captive audience that can allow their ego-states to shine in the spotlight of attention and

(3) when their questioning indicates that they are not seeking a new understanding but are desiring to display their knowledge (a.k.a., "learned ignorance") and to display what Maharaj called their "kindergarten level of spirituality" and are driven to try to force others to accept their beliefs rather than reject all beliefs, then tossing shall most assuredly happen.

Were these tossings based in "love, anger or just total Awareness?" Were they based in "ego and egotism" or in a refusal to continue a dialogue with one still attached to the personal, with one attached to his delusions, with one attached to the self-upgrading of his newest selves / personas, with one attached to an ill-conceived version of Realization that is just another distortion, and with one who has ignored the distinction offered between (A) the teachings (and "un-teachings") that lead to natural, spontaneous living vs. (B) the teachings that generate and reinforce unnatural and supernatural beliefs?

Is there any concern at all here with the fact that most seekers prefer their "knowing yoga" or their "believing yoga" or their "going-and-doing-and-zooming yoga" over the "natural, no-knowing, no-doing, mere-being yoga" offered here? Absolutely not.

The fact that the Natural / Nisarga Yoga is probably the least popular of all versions of yoga is given less concern than was given to the gnat attracted to the glare of the screen of this computer this morning as this posting was happening.

Here, there are no beliefs and there is no duality, so there most assuredly are no beliefs or opinions about one version of yoga being "the only right one" or about one of the five basic methods of teaching being "the best one."

That does not negate the fact that some who come this way are quite like that gnat, either mistaking the artificial light for The Light, mistaking artificial realization for Full Realization, or, as Maharaj noted, mistaking the dawn for the noontime sun. So it is, but "Shoo!" nevertheless.

Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

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Much of what Louise has shared has resonated with many site visitors. to that end, some have inquired recently if Louise offers the online Advaita Internet Course. The answer is, "Yes."
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IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
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THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
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THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
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LIBERATION
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THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS
[Provides the final preparation for the seeker to be directed along the “path”]
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
[Directs the seeker along the “path”]
CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute)
[Allows the seeker to understand the functioning of the totality, the manifestation, and what is involved with the un-manifestation]
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
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Received 19 August 2010 from one that just completed the entire course:

I would like to extend deepest appreciation towards you for these teachings that you have offered. It has been most valuable towards what may not have been revealed throughout this manifestation labeled "anthony." Understanding Truth and finding words for gratitude are one as is all. Thank you again for pointing "me" to THAT and the understanding that came as well. Hopeful for future "contact"! Sincerely, Anthony M. W.

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THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS


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Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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