THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 5 – SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

Imagine a person in a pool of water and mud, stirred up so there is the appearance of muddy water. Bound at the level of the body and the mind, the person will churn about in the water, constantly making it muddy. The person will perceive the muddy water as “natural” and “normal” and live comfortably within it, despite its muddy appearance. Perhaps the person will experience feelings of “happiness” when he stops churning for a while and the water clears a little; although this will always a temporary reprieve, followed by more churning, and the feelings of “unhappiness” that are associated with the very muddy water. Bound at the level of the spiritual ego, there will likely be attempts to stabilize the clear water in the pool, by keeping the muddy particles at bay. Since personas are always in motion, “blowing their trumpets” in one way or another, these attempts never succeed, although they may give the appearance of succeeding for brief moments. So for periods, the person bound at the third step may experience feeling “at one with”, “spiritual”, “connected with their higher self”, “living their spiritual vision”, etc. However, these experiences will inevitably be followed by feeling “out of connection with”, “ego-bound”, and “unspiritual." In other words, the spiritually-bound persona is still churning about in the water, even if the churning thoughts and actions are believed to be "spiritual". By contrast, what happens when the so-called "person" in the pool simply stops moving and churning about? Eventually, all the muddy particles sink to the bottom of the pool, and the already present pristine, clear water is revealed.

The LOVE whisperings of Advaita are simple, yet few (less than one in a million) will truly understand, since few will have the wisdom to let go of the churning of mind-based activity; few will be prepared to drop this predilection with constantly stirring up the water in the pool; and even fewer will have the inclination to drop what is personality-driven, and rest in the still silence, the deep blue shade without words and thought.

A fundamental tenet of Advaita is that in the non-volitional state, the essence of pure consciousness is activated, and the intuitive understanding dissolves the filters of misidentification so the truth can be directly known. This “process” occurs in silence, and even during the temporary appearance of the subject-object, Teacher-seeker “relationship”, the seeker will be provided with pointers to take into silent consideration. [Notice how often persons fool themselves into thinking that they spend substantial amounts of time in silent contemplation, when in reality this so-called “silence” is characterized by: talking, preaching, listening to music, singing, chanting prayers, singing hymns, thinking; in other words , churning up the water in the pool through self-directed activity.]

The non-dual state is that in which what APPEARS to be differentiated is directly perceived as a Unicity; where the constant movement or flow between Noumenon and Phenomenon is directly perceived as ONE, as described accurately in the statement I AM THAT; I AM. The dark blue shade, the silence of contemplation, is a state without “eyes”, without differentiating borders. Here, it is possible for that false sense of the flavoring of individuality to dissolve. Language and thought (which arises from language) differentiate and divide this relative world into a multiplicity. While still in the bondage of identification, the seeker will perceive himself as a separate subject in a world of objects. The structures of language and thought reinforce this false view.

The unconditioned and undifferentiated silence of non-volitional action is what dissolves this false sense of separation. The fears, for example, of “becoming a robot” are ungrounded and absurd. The Teachings point to the total, radical elimination of self-identity. In the absence of self-identity, there is no one: no volitional person, no robot, no spiritual being. Instead, post-Realization, there is simply spontaneous functioning. As Maharaj explains:

The Absolute nounemality manifests itself through millions of forms which are created and destroyed every moment, and in this spontaneous functioning there is no place at all for the notion of any entity. Therefore, any action taken based on the notion that you are an autonomous, independent entity seeking 'liberation' will only lock you further into 'bondage'. When you analyze the situation you will discover that it is but consciousness seeking the unmanifested source of manifestation, and not finding it, because this consciousness, ever-moving, ever-active, is actually just seeking itself, in its serene, inactive, potential state. It is the seeker that is being sought. When this is deeply, intuitively perceived then the seeker will disappear and the Source will remain.

Ask Yourself:

• Are You churning about in the pool, acting out your various desires and fears, and constantly stirring up muddy water …or are You resting in the silence of non-volition where the already pure, clear water of awareness is revealed?

• Do You ACTUALLY enter the deep, blue, unconditioned silence of contemplation … or are you fooling yourself and calling your busy spiritual activities “silence”?

• Do You realize that identifying Yourself with what is differentiated, separate and bound up with language and thought is a barrier to true understanding?

• Have You directly understood that the multiplicity is perceived via false perception; that in reality there is simply the Unicity (ONE appearing as many), and your attachment to yourself as subject (separate individual in the work) keeps you in bondage?

The “serene, inactive, potential state” can never be experienced. THAT can never be named, described or labeled. “The absolute principle cannot know itself.” However, the direct intuitive understanding (which comes through consideration of these pointers in silence) dissolves the false barriers, the false sense of self-identity, and reveals Your true nature; Post-Realization what is intuitively known can be overlaid on the relative, and the Amness enjoyed, for the rest of the manifestion.

Let us end this post, with another of Maharaj’s whispers of LOVE:

You are the timeless, spaceless, imperceptible being, and not what appears as a separate object... time-bound, finite and perceptible to the senses. 'Bondage' arises because you have forgotten your real being, the noumenon, and you identify yourself with the body, the phenomenon. But 'bondage' is not caused merely by identification with the body, which as an instrument is necessary for consciousness to remain in manifestation. Body and consciousness are naturally bound together and remain inextricably linked until the life-breath leaves the body at death, and the consciousness is released from its phenomenal form. What causes 'bondage' is not the association of the body with consciousness, but the imagined conception of an independent, autonomous entity which assumes doership, and takes responsibility for actions and their consequences.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – that guide You from the temporary fluctuating relative stance to abidance as Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 5– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

Moving house today, so ...

Part 5 of THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA will continue tomorrow.

THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 4– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

If you could step outside of this edifice you call yourself for a moment, you would see this consciousness in movement: everything in formation relative to ALL the parts ; the apparent multiplicity , that is actually a unicity; the seemly separate that is ONE. This is the non-dual view. This kaleidoscopic movement can be witnessed and enjoyed. It cannot be claimed or owned.

The perspective of the individual does not witness, but experiences as a participant. It is like a game of chess. If it is witnessed impersonally, there can be interest in the game, but it is of no consequence whether white or black wins or loses, or if the game ends in a draw. From the vantage point of the separate individual, the individual IS a chess piece – with a distinctive color, a role to play , prescribed movements to follow, opponents to defeat, and a side to bring to success. Personal? Attached? Self-involved? Of course.

Realization means the dissolution of the self-attached view of the personal player. In the Realized state, the game as a whole is simply witnessed. The labels: white, black, knight, king, queen, pawn are just that – labels, attributes, flavorings that give the temporary appearance of duality. Freed from the bondage of self-identification, post-Realization, the purified consciousness functions spontaneously, naturally. From the vantage point of Reality, it is impossible for the limited, self-identified perspective to exist. Any yet, from the subject-object perspective, the appearance is that the “Realized chess piece” plays the role it has been allocated.

Maharaj explains it this way:

… both this subject and its objects are just objects... interdependent, and existing only in the consciousness within which all manifestation takes place... in the same way that the subject and objects of the dream are both images projected and appearing in consciousness. You are neither the limited dream objects nor the limited dream ego. In relativity, you are the totality of the dream, you are the consciousness through which all manifestation appears. But in truth, you are that which remains when this consciousness and all its busy-making disappears. Only when the false is seen as false and is removed, will the truth shine forth. Eliminate the false and what remains is true.

Perhaps this quote together with the stark clarity of the chess game metaphor will shine the light of understanding on this subject-object misidentification. Let’s choose an arbitrary chess piece – the knight. Identified with the limited sense of self, you imagine yourself to BE the knight. You perceive yourself as a limited subject perceiving the separate and different objects that surround you in the relative: the other chess pieces, the chess board, the three-dimensional space through which you move. You identify with the attributes or labels associated with the knight – your color, your position on the board, your particular movements, your role in relation to the other chess pieces. Here is your simple mistake. You are NOT the knight. The knight is simply another object in this relative scene. Because there is this tint of “I AM”, of consciousness-awareness, you assume it is individual and personal. It is not. You are the ultimate subjectivity. You can NEVER experience Yourself. Can the eye see itself?

Why have You held this mistaken view? How did the confusion arise? Again – this is simple. Imagine that from the time the chess game was set up, You are told that:

• You are the individual chess piece – the knight.
• You have a distinct and unique role to play.
• You perform your role competently or incompetently – in other words you could be a “good knight” or a “bad knight”.
• You are "born" when the knight is placed on the chessboard.
• You "die" when the knight is removed from the chessboard.
• ... and perhaps there is a giant chess board in the sky and you will become an angelic chess piece post-"death".
  

The sense of “I AM”, the sense of being Yourself, is this impersonal consciousness-awareness without attributes, yet You mistakenly believe that this sense of self is what makes you a knight; or that it is your “knightness”.

Add to these myths, a barrage of lies about the nature and function of the other chess pieces (enemies, comrades-in-arms, etc), the chess board and the space in which the game occurs, and you are hypnotically caught in The Grand Illusion. With the belief that you are the knight, you are trapped in bondage, bound up with the requirements of the particular chess game. Personal and limited, you will experience agonies with every defeat, ecstasies with every victory, endless boredom when you are not moving in the game. You are caught in the dualistic highs and lows of attached, personal living. Imagine the freedom and relief, when You see that You are not the knight, You have never been the knight, and You can simply witness the game with all of its objects (including the knight) arising within You.

Now, you hear this line of reasoning, and perhaps the thinking mind conjures up a million objections: flaws in the metaphor; emotions of frustration because the self-limited individual view appears real; boredom because you’ve heard it all before; doubts about the credibility of this writer, or the Teachings. Whichever comfortable railroad tracks the personally-attached fictional mind usually travels, it will move down at this moment. The so-called “free-thinking” person is in reality as free as one of Pavlov’s salivating dogs.

One in a million will listen, understand and abide by the advice of the Guru, that ‘you are everything’; he accepts with conviction and becomes the words of the Guru. In most cases, the beingness assumes that it is a body that has taken shape, so one believes that he is born and will die. When there is no death and no birth, one can never be born and die. The identification with the body is so strong, like the hold of the serpent, that it is not easy to do away with it. But we are the eternal principle and not what we appear to be, the one who knows the seed of this world, realizes that it is an illusion, sits quietly and doesn’t blow a trumpet about it. In this world, if you start investigating everything, it would be mind boggling. Once having understood that it is all Maya, one becomes speechless. -- Maharaj

The LOVE whisperings of Advaita invite You to enter the silence in which what is false dissolves and what is true is revealed. Ask Yourself:

• Are You blowing a trumpet (typical in the Spiritual Ego phase where “you” think “you” know it all?)
• Are You fiddling around in the world of objects, self-identified, yet looking for clarity, meaning and perspective where none can be found?

Or

• Are You speechless – abiding in the silence with the full knowledge of Who You Are?

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – that guide You from the temporary fluctuating relative stance to abidance as Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 3– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

There is just ONE awareness expressing as I AM – which is the manifest, physically discernible form / movement /intelligence. This is the way all is. What splinters and shatters the Unicity is only the movement of thought:

I AM … separate
I AM … a demarcated, different, and unique individual
I AM … a seeker looking for a return to wholeness
I AM … a woman / man looking for a partner
I AM … a creative person wanting to express this creativity
Etc.

You are the ocean, but believe you are the small amount of water contained in a cup. Shatter the cup, and instantly You will see that in reality You are the ocean. How can the cup be shattered? It is an impossible task and completely effortless. The cup is just constructed of the thoughts you have about yourself as a separate individual. Currently, you believe these thoughts. You see yourself as a physical body, with a unique awareness functioning within a world of multiplicity. You have staked your claim, or “set up camp” as Maharaj would say, as a separate individual. From My point of view, if you are a separate individual searching for God, a separate individual searching for true love, or a separate individual searching for a beer at the local pub, there is no difference. Caught up in the world of forms, you focus on the object (God, true love, or beer). You cannot find yourself in any of these objects, whatever their appearance. Turn your gaze to the subject. See that in each example, the subject is the same:

A SEPARATE INDIVIDUAL … searching for God
A SEPARATE INDIVIDUAL … searching for true love
A SEPARATE INDIVIDUAL … searching for a beer at the local pub

Forget your grand vision of what you believe you are trying to accomplish. Accept once and for all that you have set up camp as a separate individual …and this is false. You believe you are the water in the cup desperately wanting to merge with the ocean. CHANGE YOUR STANCE. Forget that madness. You are only a separate cup because you are so committed to this line of thinking that you affirm it for yourself a million times a day. The door is already open – but you cannot see it because the thoughts are sticking a fictional “you” together. As you drop one or two thoughts, another ten stick to you. You will never escape by this route, because whatever you do entrenches this sense of separation. Give it up. Instead change your stance. Set up camp and stake your claim as the Absolute.

This is why Maharaj advises to stay with the I AM and to reject everything perceivable – Neti, Neti. You retreat from the sticky thoughts. When you do not touch them, they cannot stick to you. When the false thoughts stop sticking –in that empty space, uncluttered and silent – Reality can rush in. In other words, that cup will distintegrate through silent, detached observation. Perhaps it will slowly fade away; perhaps it will be eradicated instantly. Whether the disintegration is slow or rapid, the final moment will come when no cup remains. This is the peripetia – that marks the shift in camp from the view as the separate individual to the view as the Absolute. Can you see that in the stabilized state, the cup is absent –You are the ocean, there is no cup?

(This is where the neo-advaitan teachings are flawed. Can you see that Realization = no cup.? Realization does not mean that the cup still exists, but because intellectually it is understood to be constructed merely of thoughts, it can be ignored. No – the Nisarga Yoga offered here is a return to the thought-free, concept-free reality – no thoughts, no cup, no mind, no separation.)

As Maharaj explains:

The mistake of perception arises because the seeing is partial, because the seeing is only with the outer senses and a divided mind; it is not whole seeing from the source of seeing. That sense of existence, that sense of presence, that 'I amness', the unchanging subjective experience of self, cannot be seen by the senses, and, therefore, does not enter into the conceptions projected by the mind, which unceasingly carries on its objectification of everything. But, when the subjective is apprehended intuitively, then the concept of separate objects becomes untenable. Can the consciousness in you and the consciousness in me be different? Are they not separate only as concepts projected by the mind, and are they not in perfect unity when unconceived, when free of mind? And is not that knowing of the underlying unity, the very basis of love? And if all is subjective, if there is only unity, can there be any room for the objective? So-called objects are just illusory appearances in consciousness, appearances in the universal 'I amness', which by its name and its very nature is wholly subjective and permits no room for another, other than Self.

The invitation, as always, is to take these pointers into the silence; to rest in the natural intuitive knowing state, beyond the false sense of separation implied by cup of water and ocean, part and whole; beyond the dualism of subject and object, noumenon and phenomenon. Again and again, we return to the source, to the root, to the ground from which all dualities emerge – beyond being and unbeing.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – that guide You from the temporary fluctuating relative stance to abidance as Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 2– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING.

Is the surgeon who removes the cancerous tumor brutal, uncompassionate, unkind?
Is the naturopath who prescribes a rigid health plan to restore natural health, harsh and unloving?

We have our own fixed notions of how Realization and Enlightenment should look. We want our Teachings packaged in gentleness, kindness, unconditional acceptance. We forget that the false thoughts (sand grains cemented together) that bind this fictional self-identity (sandstone rock) are unlikely to just disentangle themselves and drop away. If this was the case, Realization would be an often-occurring and easily recognizable phenomenon; the norm, rather than the exception. Like the surgeon, the Advaitin teacher removes all false identities and false belief structures. Like the naturopath, the Advaitin Teacher provides the View of your natural state, and at a more refined level, purifies the consciousness so that the toxins of false understanding are eliminated. One method is surgical, incisive and direct; the other method is subtle, non-invasive, long-range. Both methods will have their effect.

Can You see that this is LOVE. While what is toxic and false is being removed, the process may appear UNLOVING, as ego states will seldom collaborate willingly with relinquishing their cherished ideas, opinions and sense of self. However, this is at the level of appearance only. In the absence of ego states, in the free-flowing no-thing-ness that characterizes purified AMNESS, the LOVE that has returned You to natural functioning will be seen for what it is. [In the early days of visiting this blog, “louise” sometimes reacted to postings that appeared sharp, hard, cutting. This was a reaction at the level of entrenched self-identity to the surgeon at work. (Here, “floyd’s” style is similar to “maharaj” – surgical and incisive; the “ego-slayer” at work.) Now, when these same postings are read, there is simply the recognition of LOVE whispering. It is instantly clear which step or false identity is being targeted by the surgeon for removal.]

However – as always in the relative sea of sharks, discernment on the part of the seeker is paramount. It is only ego states that may react with discomfort to the Teachings; the restoring of the already-present natural condition NEVER entails abuse or requires the seeker to act in a way that is demeaning, ritual-based, or personally debasing. In some spiritual circles, the methods on offer for eradicting the false involve bowing to the whims of the ego-bound personality of the non-realized teacher. Here are just two examples:

Requiring seekers to:

1. Stand in an icy lake and do prostrations for many hours to demonstrate commitment to a teacher and his teachings – resulting in the serious physical collapse of one seeker.
2. Sit in a plastic-covered sweat lodge for hours at the teacher’s instruction, purportedly to overcome a false sense of personal limitation – resulting in the deaths of some seekers

Healthy, natural functioning would not have led these seekers to accept and follow teachings that are abusive, dangerous and fundamentally unnatural. Would the deer stand in an icy lake, when the freezing temperatures push the body into danger? No – the deer would leave the icy lake and find a warm bed of straw or shelter. Would the deer remain in a dangerously hot location while desperate for water and struggling to breathe? No – the deer would leave that sweat house, and drink from the cool lake and rest in the shade. The deer spontaneously follows what is healthy, whole, and natural. The LOVE whisperings of Advaita move the seeker to spontaneous functioning that is healthy, whole, and natural. (For more posts on natural living, see: LIVING IN THE STYLE OF A REALIZED TEACHER, OR A HERON, OR A DEER, Part One and Two. Sunday, April 29, 2007)

The Advaitin Teacher perceives the seeker with clear sight; can see where the functioning is unnatural; where the belief structures are faulty; the root of the suffering – and precisely how freedom can be found by the removal of these impurities. However – the impurities are NEVER removed by requiring MORE unnatural acts and MORE unnatural thoughts. Instead, in the deep, blue shade, the teacher uses logic and reasoning to point out the false. The teacher activates the inner guru – that seed of purified consciousness – that like a GPS will safely and surely navigate the seeker home.

To this end, ask yourself:

• Can You see how the term “LOVE whisperings” can be applied to the pure consciousness as it speaks?

• Can You discern and witness when an ego persona is in reaction to a direct pointer of a Realized Teacher?

• Do You understand why ego personas “react” and “emote” when presented with certain pointers?

• Can You see that pointers that appear harsh and direct when heard through the filter of personality, can later be seen as neutral truths expressed via the purified consciousness?

• Can You discern via the inner guru when teachings “pretend” to be pure Advaita, yet are actually false teachings by a non-realized teacher?

The questions are rhetorical. In the silent consideration to which most visitors to this blog take these pointers, the words once expressed have the effect of removing the toxins that corrupt the pure consciousness. Some pointers may result in a “hard hit” or the surgical removal of a mass of false perceptions and beliefs; other pointers will simply eliminate a few more cherished ideas. In this silence, with the removal of the toxic overload of false beliefs, with the stripping away of what has been accumulated via conditioning, You return to Your natural state.

Let us end with the words of the master surgeon, Nisargadatta Maharaj:

‘Swaroop-siddha’ (stabilization in self-identity or the Self), what is that exactly? Many people visit here and they want to be happy, but those who visit here will not require happiness, they will be beyond it. When a sage stabilizes in his centre, he goes into quietude. You talk when food essence is there, but having understood both he transcends knowledge and ignorance. That Absolute principle does not know itself; clear all your doubts about your own self.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – that guide You from the temporary fluctuating relative stance to abidance as Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 1– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

Listen to the messages of LOVE – the constant calling to remove the barriers that prevent direct perceiving of the natural state.

• Let the skin of the “I” dissolve. – Maharaj

• The Real is permanent; the not real is transitory. – Floyd

• You are already in your true state. Because of the mind, duality comes in and therefore you are afraid. Fear not. Know your true state—your natural state—and be free of all of this. – Maharaj

Embedded in the words is the clear instruction. When the ears are open to hear, the intuition open to understand, the LOVE that whispers to You in each of these quotations is crystal clear. Like waves washing against a sandstone rock, these words will eventually wear you down. The sandstone rock appears solid, steadfast, unshakeable. Yet, the waves will ultimately break the bonds of cemented-together sand which give the temporary appearance of stone. This corrupted consciousness – I AM infiltrated with your billion ideas and opinions about yourself – create this rock-solid entity you call yourself. Are you so stable and intact? The sandstone rock is constantly in motion despite its appearance: fragments of rock break off, chemical bonds form and break, old sand washes away, new sand sticks. Looking at time lapse photography over a thousand years, the shifting, changeable nature of that “rock” will be seen. You gaze at the rock with such a small and limited perspective: a week, a year, 20 years, a hundred years. Open your perspective – look from the gaze of eternity. What is fixed and solid then? Where is that rock in a million years?

Now you cling to your limited perspective and see your body and sense of self-identity as firm and fixed. Look clearly. Just like the sandstone rock, the human being is constantly changing: cells are dying and growing; the air is circulating; the consciousness comes and goes like a table lamp that is switched on and off. At the level of mind and personality – this is constantly in flux. The thoughts and opinions change. Where is the boyfriend or girlfriend you thought you would love forever when you were 18? Where is the political ideology or world view that you formed 20 years ago? What views about God, religion and spirituality did you once have and how have they changed? See once and for all that the thoughts and ideas are so fleeting and temporary, they can never define you. The body is always in flux, and in any event has built-in obsolescence. The longest you may expect it to go on for is 80 years or so – then it’s back to the elements. Yet, you want to create stability from this flimsy bunch of twigs with a perspective of a few hundred years. Just because you have been conditioned to wear these blinkers does not mean you cannot take them off.

Before it formed, the raw ingredients that make up the sandstone rock were present: sand, organic materials, various mineral deposits. A particular combination of factors , geological and environmental, resulted in these raw materials coming together to create that “rock”. Later, these geological and environmental factors will shift and the raw materials will come apart again and the “rock” will no longer exist. We can complete the same deconstruction with the raw ingredients themselves: the sand and the minerals that cement the grains together; perhaps we will find calcium carbonate, clay, etc. If we adopt a microscopic perspective we can see the chemical building blocks themselves: silica; carbon; calcium. Elementary physical science explains the instability of these elements – how they combine and uncombine. All the elements - everything - cycles into and out of manifestation in this temporary shifting scene.

What about the chemical elements that combine to form what you call your physical body – and will uncombine when this physical form comes to an end? Can you see the castle of sand that you have built and labeled as yourself? In reality, this temporary clustering together of elements you call "you" has far less staying power than that chunk of sandstone rock.

The phrase “the LOVE whisperings of Advaita” may appear evocative and romantic. In reality, it is neither. When what is logical, impersonal and scientific is nakedly pointed out, when all that is false is removed, what remains? LOVE remains. LOVE with no opposite is the natural state. This is what the teachings whisper to You again and again. Listen:

• To abide in your true nature, prior to consciousness, you must go to the source of your beingness. – Maharaj

• I am beyond beingness and non-beingness, beyond consciousness and non-consciousness, and so are You. – Floyd

• Know that in this world nothing is permanent; search out what you were before this temporary state came and what you are after it goes. – Maharaj

• Liberation or awakening, then, is nothing other than understanding profoundly...
  that the seed of all manifestation is the impersonal consciousness...
  that what is being sought is the unmanifested subjective aspect, and...
  that, therefore, the seeker himself is the sought. – Maharaj
  

Like waves washing against the sandstone rock, these pointers, these whisperings, will wash away all that is false, all that is impure, all that binds this temporary, false sense of identity. Rest in the empty silence; in the dark blue shade. Allow this gradual erosion to reveal the truth of Who You Are.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – that guide You from the temporary fluctuating relative stance to abidance as Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

MARK HOUSTON


Mark took mahasamadhi

at 8:32 P.M., C.S.T. on

Friday, February 19, 2010.

Mark was an unequaled master at moving persons

to the third, spiritual level on the "path."

While I am in Austin TX arranging

a memorial per his request

and putting his business affairs in order,

Louise will be posting as planned,

starting next Tuesday.

There was a time when Mark and I both came very close to "death" as a result of having reached the third of seven levels on the "path" to Full Realization and having fixated there.

In that place, there was a nagging sense that "there has to be more," that "something is missing," that "this cannot be all there is."

After seeing the effects of that near-fatal state of "Spiritual Giantism" that is discussed on this site (discussed as a result on having had a direct experience with it and its toll), we had further discussions about the way the remainder of the manifestation would unfold.

(During that same period, Mark received a very generous offer from a pharmaceutical company to sell drugs...legally! He seriously considered leaving the recovery industry at that point.)

There was a period of several months when we discussed a change in direction for both of us. At the end of those discussions, Mark concluded that his forte was moving people to the spiritual state. I agreed with his decision.

In the meantime, the vision had come and the remaining four levels after religious / spiritual consciousness were revealed to me, so I concluded that I would spend the remainder of the manifestation pointing to that which is beyond the third (religious and spiritual) level which, along with all else, can sometimes inspire the egotistical belief that "I now have it all and I now know it all" attitude on one hand or the "there has to be more," "something is missing," "this cannot be all there is" conundrum on the other hand.

Mark agreed with my decision (often suggesting to some who complained that "maybe you should be quiet and open up and listen.")

And so it was that Mark continued with his spiritual approach and spiritual message that was level-appropriate for those in his audiences who required guidance through the first three levels leading up to the spiritual stage;

and so it was, also, that this speck of consciousness would begin speaking to another audience that had fixated at a level where they concluded, "There has to be more than this." As noted, Mark supported my decision 100%; moreover, his decision did not mean that Mark did not understand the next four levels, and we discussed them frequently. He asked questions about the vision and once said, "In some ways, the student has become the teacher."

At other times, he offered statements which revealed that he grasped fully what the remaining levels offer. We discussed the child ignorance stage; the undoing of the effects of programming and conditioning; the fact that "The Great Reality" did not refer to anything "personal" but to being fully in touch with reality;

the differentiation between the elemental body and the mind and personas vs. the True Self; understanding that Love is knowing I am everything; understanding that wisdom is knowing that I am nothing; the energy aspect of consciousness; the freedom that comes after Full Awareness comes; and the peace and bliss that manifest when the Absolute is overlaid on the relative.

Right up to the end, Mark's attachment was to the teachings which involved the first three levels that I also include in discussions to some degree. So it is. So it was. At guiding persons to that level, Mark knew no equal. If you are interested in how he lead seekers to the spiritual level and want to "hear" it in his own words, then you are invited to read the eBook version of the book which Mark co-authored,
A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-TRANSFORMATION: Attaining Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Emotional Sobriety

Therein, one can see the method used to begin to move "floyd," trapped in the insanity of ego-states and egotism and personality defects, to a transitional place from which all of the false ideas and concepts and beliefs were finally cast aside, paving the way for the Truth that cannot be stated to eventually be understood.

(Proceeds, per Mark's instructions, are used to assist those still suffering.)

As for those who feel that surely there is more, there is; yet the irony is that once "the more" is understood, then "the less-ness" begins to move seekers through a de-accumulation process that allows the limitless and unbinding and ego-less and nameless None-ness to be understood and enjoyed for the remainder of the manifestation.


Peace, Love, Wisdom, and Light

“I AM THAT; I AM” or just “I AM THAT”? REVIEW, Part Two

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.

F.: When a longer-than-usual series happens, the practice has been to provide a summative review of key pointers. That review will be offered over the next few days before Louise begins posting next Tuesday.

** During the process of casting aside all belief in duality, it becomes easy to believe in a “new duality” (the duality of a “lower” nature and a “higher” nature) and to assume a new identity with the “higher nature” rather than merely overlaying reality on the remainder of the relative existence.

** Even more arrogance is displayed by those who want to know it all and who want to show that they know it all. Here, the invitation is never to learn more but to unlearn it all, to discard belief in any and all concepts (which would have to include your religious and spiritual concepts as well).

VISITOR TO THE LOFT: “He was intent on breaking through their spiritual concepts and was not impressed with them in the least.”

** The deer abiding naturally does not know anything, so for those who are playing the role of “The Know-It-All,” the Nisargan option will be of no interest at all.

** Assuming religious identities or spiritual identities is still nothing more than the assumption of more false identities.

Questioner: What does Maharaj think about all the different religions?
Maharaj: As far as I am concerned all religions are based on concepts and emotions. Those emotions are so violent and absorbing that people have immolated themselves. All these experiences are totally useless. Do not repeat what you have heard, parrot-wise, unless you have it with the conviction that I have.

** If you associate with a group that encourages you to (1) become a member and then to (2) parrot their talk, then you will be forever blocked from that which can only be understood in the quiet, alone, when taking pointers into quiet contemplation. ("Well, they do some good." No, they do not. They indoctrinate you with more and more concepts, and the parroting they promote lulls you into a personality trance, causing you to talk in your sleep.)

** Why is the Nisarga Yoga, offered in conjunction with the Direct Path Method of teaching, the least popular? Because most persons do not prefer a direct approach. They desire that their personas be shown respect and kindness, only to be massaged away by the use of the most soothing, gentle kneading methods. Maharaj showed ego-states no such respect:

Maharaj: Insanity is universal. Sanity is rare. Yet there is hope, because the moment we perceive our insanity, we are on the way to sanity. This is the function of the Guru - to make us see the madness of our daily living. Life makes you conscious, but the teacher makes you aware.

** If seekers are to be made aware, then the instances of insanity must be made clear, ego be damned. The problem: insanity is so easy to see in others, but all personas come with blinders that make it almost impossible for persons to see the insanity generated by each of their own false selves.

** The arrogance that accompanies the persona of the “Know-It-All” also inspires adoption of other “lofty” ego-states as identities, i.e., "The Wise, Reforming Politician," "The Best Teacher of All," “The Religious One,” “The Spiritual Giant.”

** "The Religious Ones" and “The Spiritual Giants” assert that they know the one cause of everything that happens, namely, their god or power or force. That belief will block them from ever finding the true cause(s) of anything and everything.

** Such types often become identified with whatever they take THAT to be and would have all believe that they have transcended the Am-ness and are now stabilized in the THAT-ness only. Such a belief will prevent any possibility of stabilizing in the post-Realization Am-ness and abiding in a sane manner. Those persons are of the “I AM THAT ONLY” persuasion, totally religious or totally spiritual or totally godly or totally…God.

The deer looks not for God in anything, and the deer most certainly cannot find a God in anything, being mindless and belief-less (as are all naturally-living things).

Maharaj: This is our stupidity, verging on insanity.

** The evidence points more and more to the fact that natural living is sane and that unnatural / supernatural living is insane, all a part of the thought-to-word-to-deed sequence: the stupid thoughts Maharaj referenced will lead to stupid words verging on insanity. What else could possibly follow other than stupid and /or insane deeds?

** Seeing relative ignorance as ignorance and relative insanity as insanity does not block the re-purified consciousness from seeing the Oneness or from understanding the reality of Love.

** Ignorance and instability and insanity need not be.

Maharaj:“The moment we perceive our insanity, we are on the way to sanity.”

** The Nisargan invitation is to perceive personality disorders and outright insanity, to allow a Realized teacher to guide you along the “path” to sanity and Reality, and then to be free not only of the effects of personality disorders but also to be free of outright insanity as well.

** It has been noted that there are various ways to escape the insanity and the effects of personality disorders: some require professional, clinical assistance; some escape via Full Realization; and some escape via suicide.

** Yesterday, a man flew an airplane—kamikaze-style—into an office building in Austin, Texas, U.S.A., a building that housed employees of the I.R.S. (with which he had a long-running feud). He said that it was "time to end the insanity." That is one way. The "mind" that was the seat of his insanity has ended. The "mind" (and the insanity it always generates) could have also ended via Full Realization, but it did not in that case. The "mind," instead, did what it always does: it led to instability, to chaos, to fluctuations in moods from "glad" to "sad," and to ignorance and darkness.

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

Now you can receive for $40 a downloadable computer file version of the same 7-hour satsang that seekers receive when they visit for the Advaita Retreat with Floyd. You will be guided through the seven steps from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond).
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat

SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:

1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond

Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.

To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat

Option “A” is for the downloadable file version, Option “B” is used to order the DVD set for delivery inside the U.S., Option “C” for international orders.

For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.

[It is recommended that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]

2. BY READING these books in this exact order:
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
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
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
SAVE IF YOU BUY ALL ELEVEN AT ONCE:
(You may order the books one at a time or you may use the following link to acquire the entire 11-e-Book set on sale for $99 if ordered at one time with the “Buy Now” button below. For this option, there will be no download links provided; once the near-instant notice of payment is received from PayPal, your e-Books will be sent to you as e-mail attachments. All are printable for your convenience.)

PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" type="image" border="0">

You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.

3. BY 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

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

5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session

6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.

“I AM THAT; I AM” or just “I AM THAT”? REVIEW, Part One

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.

F.: When a longer-than-usual series happens, the practice has been to provide a summative review of key pointers. That review will be offered over the next few days before Louise begins posting next Tuesday.

** For some seekers, finding an understanding by which the I AM THAT can be reconciled with the I AM is a most confusing conundrum.

** The reconcilation can be a major challenge along "the path," and even among those claiming Full Realization, it is often never really understood.

** If one asks why an Advaitin would address any relative issues dealing with the Am-ness, with the Is-ness, then one might as well also ask why “floyd” did not ignore all of the discomforts involved with colon cancer, why a person drops very quickly any excessively hot object that might have been picked up, or why Advaitin teachers do not recommend dissociation or suicide if “none of this is real anyway.”

** “This” is as real as THAT; it is just that “this” is not as it appears to be.

** The summative Advaita statement is “I AM THAT; I AM.” Here, there is never a suggestion that the teachings have been in error all along; here, there is never a suggestion that the summative statement be changed to “I AM THAT ONLY AND THERE IS NO I AM.”

** The reason that the I AM remains in the summative statement of the Advaita teachings is that the “path”—the “journey”—really leads back to the Me which is temporarily manifested...just with certain new awarenesses.

** To deny the Am-ness would be as far removed from being in touch with reality as it would be to mistake the temporary Am-ness for the THAT-ness…to confuse the temporary with the eternal.

** The deer has nothing to discover. It is what it is and that is all; yet persons have much to discover and far more to un-discover...to un-learn.

** The only “justification” for persons taking the "journey" is because they have been programmed to believe lies about what they are as well as lies about the unnatural and supernatural ways that they should behave.

** The Advaita / Nisargan teachings are not about getting seekers hooked on the medicine. They are about offering the medicine that brings to an end (1) the sickness and (2) the beginning of natural and well living. Once a sickness is gone, the use of medicine should end and the enjoyment of healthy living should begin.

** If anyone thinks that he / she is on a mission to change persons or to make "the world" a better place, then arrogance-based delusions are at play.

** Relishing the post-Realization Am-ness has nothing at all to do with the non-Realized’s attachment to the I AM.

** The relative effects of the post-Realization Am-ness have nothing at all in common with the relative effects generated via pre-Realization Am-ness.

** For a seeker to dismantle the belief systems that have supported the false concepts associated with the pre-Realization Am-ness does not mean that the Am-ness itself must end. What ends is the limited and limiting identification with the Am-ness.

** The naturally-abiding deer does not think, “I AM.” It just IS; therefore, it does not think, “I AM THAT” either.

** There is as much nonsense and self-importance associated with those touting their enlightened state as there was when those same persons were embroiled in the nonsense and self-ish-ness of their pre-Realization state of Is-ness.

** The non-dualistic state is free of all beliefs, including the belief that one is “this” or one is “that.” The deer does not seek its "identity," and if persons had not been assigned or had not adopted false identities, they would not have to deal with the issue of Self-Realization either.

** Why even begin the “journey,” much less complete it, if the Am-ness is not to be enjoyed post-Realization? And why even complete the "journey" if, post-Realization, the only shift is that a new false identity (i.e., "The Religious One" or "The Spiritual or Supreme One") replaces former false identities?

** A sanctioning of the post-Realization Am-ness should never be interpreted as an endorsement of the pre-Realization Am-ness.

** This in not about “knowledge” of the Am-ness. It is about relishing in the beingness, in enjoying that which is natural, after the Am-ness is seen for what it is (and for what it is not).

** The post-programming beingness is most unnatural; the post-Realization beingness is perfectly natural.

** Those persons who want to be something (such as something elevated and higher and spiritual and therefore different, rejecting outright the “not-two” teaching), those persons will reject the Nisargan invitation to abide for the remainder of the manifestation without identity…to consider the nothingness as opposed to the something-ness.

** On the borderline, all beyond the relative realm has been seen and understood, but to those devaluing the post-Realization Am-ness and claiming to now “live in the Absolute” rather than “abiding with the Absolute overlaid upon the relative in order to enjoy fully the Am-ness,” the Nisargan’s option will be ignored.

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

Now you can receive for $40 a downloadable computer file version of the same 7-hour satsang that seekers receive when they visit for the Advaita Retreat with Floyd. You will be guided through the seven steps from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond).
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat

SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:

1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond

Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.

To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat

Option “A” is for the downloadable file version, Option “B” is used to order the DVD set for delivery inside the U.S., Option “C” for international orders.

For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.

[It is recommended that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]

2. BY READING these books in this exact order:
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
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
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
SAVE IF YOU BUY ALL ELEVEN AT ONCE:
(You may order the books one at a time or you may use the following link to acquire the entire 11-e-Book set on sale for $99 if ordered at one time with the “Buy Now” button below. For this option, there will be no download links provided; once the near-instant notice of payment is received from PayPal, your e-Books will be sent to you as e-mail attachments. All are printable for your convenience.)

You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.

3. BY 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

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

5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session

6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.

“I AM THAT; I AM” or just “I AM THAT”? Part Twenty-Six

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.

F.: Maharaj was not impressed at all with anyone who had assumed a spiritual persona, nor with anyone trying to flaunt her / his spiritual knowledge, nor with anyone who believed that he / she had attained some “higher level of consciousness or enlightenment.”

One visitor to his loft on 10th Lane, Khetwadi recalled a particular exchange between a visitor and M.:

He asked for questions. I remember one woman relaying a Buddhist analogy about using skillful means as a boat to the other shore which is Nirvana. Maharaj said "I would put you all into the boat, send you to the other shore and I would stay here on this shore!" He was intent on breaking through their spiritual concepts and was not impressed with them in the least.

He was more than willing to watch them use their "skillful means" to reach "the higher side," "the spiritual side," while he remained in the place where the post-Realization Am-ness could be enjoyed.

The same happened some years ago when a telephone call was answered and the following offer was extended: Hey, Bro. We're got a multi-millionaire who is going to build a retreat in the remote hills of California and he's going to provide housing and food for all of us and we're going to form a brotherhood and live in a Utopian-style mode of peace. He's partial to Buddhism and Hinduism, but he said that he wants us to integrate all of the religious and spiritual teachings of the ages, and he wants you to come with us and be a part of this. He really believes you'll have a lot to contribute.

The reply: "You guys go right ahead. Rock and roll. I think I'll stay right here where...I AM."

The woman's analogy about the boat reveals exactly what happens when one reaches the third of seven steps on the “path” to Full Realization (and supposedly to realization of the Oneness), namely, just more sense of separation.

The planet is dominated by billions who are separated from each other by religion and dogma, breaking off into this group or that…then this sub-group or that…then this splinter group or that.

Ninety-seven percent report that they are an active member of one religion or another; therefore, maybe 3% will ever have a chance to notice the nagging sense of separation; the arrogance involved with believing in the multiplicity rather than understanding the unicity;

the egotism involved in the sense of thinking that they are a part of one or more hierarchies that reinforce a false sense of division. They will remain dissociated from the realization that a sense of separation is a relative irritant.

For those that do begin a “journey” to Self and to the Oneness, most arrive at what they take to be some spiritual mindset or spiritual platform, and then what follows? Their beliefs that they are spiritual—and / or more spiritual than most—will continue to reinforce a sense of separation.

Now, they have “crossed to the other shore” and are separated from those left behind on the opposite shore who, they think, have attained neither the “spiritual knowledge” nor “the understanding that comes with being totally enlightened” nor the “higher level of consciousness” that allowed them to reach the separate shore.

The river that is actually “dividing them from others” (mentally) is the river of ignorance, fed by the polluting tributaries of arrogance and ego and egotism. The “shore” they are now standing on is a shore that is contaminated but which they think is totally pure.

What has washed up onto that shore is a stinking pile of refuge (called “ideas”); a huge heap of garbage (called “religious and spiritual concepts”); and mounds of trash (called “dualistic beliefs,” which allow them to believe that they have really “crossed over” and left "others" behind).

The false sense of egotism-supported separation is just more insanity as a speck of energy (with the property of being able to be conscious of) assumes the personal traits of WHO-ness, thinks it is some “Supreme Self,” and turns its back on the Am-ness that could be enjoyed fully if it were happening from a truly post-Realization, natural / nisargan stance.

Interesting, is it not, that those who claim they have found peace as a result of being super religious or super spiritual can become outrageously angry if a suggestion is offered that either “The Religious One” or “The Really Spiritual One” is nothing more than another assumed identity that is as false as any others they had assumed during their “pre-Realization” days.

Interesting, is it not, that there are those who claim to be a part of the “higher level of consciousness that is sweeping the globe”; who claim they know that higher levels of consciousness are manifesting on every part of the planet because a big name author wrote a book saying that it is so; but who actually do not even know what is going on with themselves…with their “selves”…with their newly-assumed personas.

Yet in spite of claims about their newly-found peace and love and tolerance, their minds and moods can become very chaotic and unstable if it is pointed out that their “new and improved and even superior” roles are still just roles and nothing more.

Such spiritual fanatics react as negatively to questions raised about their “spiritual concepts” as religious fanatics react when the fact is pointed out that Moses was a plagiarist whose writings are nothing more than a repetition of ancient pagan tales and that he merely inserted himself into the hero role of those ancient tales;

when questions regarding the divinity of Jesus are raised and when evidence of his humanity is noted; or when a fatwā is issued to kill someone for the sin-crime of drawing a likeness of Mohammed.

With 6.5 billion persons on the planet assuming either the identity of “The Religious One” or “The Really Spiritual One,” then the fact is that most persons will never understand the final understanding;

will never be free of the effects of personality / personas (clinging as they do to their “good roles” and their “so-much-better roles”); will continue to be unstable;

will be addicted to seeking or to their “new personas” or to chaos or to something; and will go to the grave or to the pyre after having been driven by unconscious (personality) motivators all of their lives.

What is more insane than believing that one is finally free when she / he has merely been transported from one prison to another? Every concept and idea and belief—whether secular or religious or spiritual—is one of the bars that forms the prison of the “mind.”

Those who think they are religious or spiritual and who think they have reached the end of the “path” have really just assumed a new false identity and are playing a new religious or spiritual role; thus, they are still trapped in the “mind” and are not Realized at all.

Is it any wonder that Maharaj would put all such types on a boat and have them sail away? From that delusional stance, choice will never happen, freedom will never happen, and peace will never happen.

Choice, freedom, peace, and stability will be as evasive and as illusive as they were before any “journey” ever began. Why? Because personality will remain the driving force behind every thought and word and deed, just as before the seeker even began trying to walk the “path” to Full Realization.

That which they long for will never be known, much less understood. So it is. Yet "where" they are on the “path” is understood because “floyd” was once there, too...just as dogmatic, just as closed, just as assured of his higher level of spirituality and consciousness; yet escape from the entrapment of the third step most happily came about.

Most will never escape that step because those at that third step still have so many desires. Most will not escape because certain fears remain, such as a fear of "losing something" like religious or spiritual status, or eternal continuity, or eternal reward, ad infinitum.

Most will never understand that there is really no one to lose anything; nor will they understand that the personas which think that loss is possible are nothing more than mirages, nothing more than imagined identities.

If You were truly willing to question it all—including pre-“journey” beliefs and post-“journey” beliefs as well—there a mini-explosion might happen at some point.

If all of the overrated ideas and concepts and beliefs came to be questioned, a shift might happen. In the beginning, the movement along the “path” might be slow because there will be a period when untruths are seen on a one-lie-at-a-time basis.

Later, though, there might be a full epiphany, a "Holy smoke! moment" when it is seen that it was all a lie. Then, it might also be seen that it does not matter anymore that it was all a lie because, at least now, no more lies are believed to be truth.

At that point, there will be a “casting aside of all ideas, emotions and attitudes” (including the religious and spiritual ideas, emotions and attitudes) and then AS IF, nisargan living can begin.

You will abide as if any of “this” has meaning but knowing it does not. The beingness (in the absence of the former belief in a do-er) will replace the doingness; nevertheless, what is to happen to meet relative needs such as food, clothing, and shelter will still happen.

Yet it will happen without attachment and without angst and without delusion; it will happen without chaos and fluctuations and fighting; it will happen with peace and stability. It will happen without insanity and without being driven by personality;

it will happen without the influence of the personality defects that controlled thoughts and words and deeds in the past (including the pre-religious and pre-spiritual personalities as well as the "supposedly post-Realization" religious and spiritual personalities).

The understanding of THAT will have done "it’s job," and then natural abidance as the post-Realization Am-ness will happen automatically and spontaneously without this principle—this unblocked and re-purified consciousness—having any concerns with anything, including the third step where the religious and spiritual roles had to be played.

Once that state is understood, then the post-Realization Am-ness state will unfold in a totally-different fashion wherein there is no longer a belief in differences; wherein there is no longer any role-player that must concern itself with spiritual exercises and religious duties; wherein natural living unfolds without any occupations or pre-occupation about the former “path” or “journey” (since all of it led to Me, anyway). Then, what Maharaj said will apply:

Everything is flowing out of that state, but this principle does not claim anything, is not involved in anything that is coming out of it, but this beingness is available…. This is a very, very, rare, natural samadhi state, the most natural state....

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

Now you can receive for $40 a downloadable computer file version of the same 7-hour satsang that seekers receive when they visit for the Advaita Retreat with Floyd. You will be guided through the seven steps from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond).
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat

SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:

1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond

Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.

To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat

Option “A” is for the downloadable file version, Option “B” is used to order the DVD set for delivery inside the U.S., Option “C” for international orders.

For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.

[It is recommended that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]

2. BY READING these books in this exact order:
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
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
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
SAVE IF YOU BUY ALL ELEVEN AT ONCE:
(You may order the books one at a time or you may use the following link to acquire the entire 11-e-Book set on sale for $99 if ordered at one time with the “Buy Now” button below. For this option, there will be no download links provided; once the near-instant notice of payment is received from PayPal, your e-Books will be sent to you as e-mail attachments. All are printable for your convenience.)

You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.

3. BY 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

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

5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session

6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.

“I AM THAT; I AM” or just “I AM THAT”? Part Twenty-Five

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.

FROM LOUISE (who will be posting next week) REGARDING THE FOLLOWING: “The teachings are simple; the difficulty—even among those who think they have attained the total Advaitin understanding—is to break free of the effects of any remaining beliefs and concepts and ideas.”

L.: So true – how to let go of the final kite string and surrender to the wind.

F.: Excellently put.

Now, as the series comes to a close, a few last pointers will be offered regarding the topic before the review. To continue with the thread from yesterday, there are other cases where the three-part scenario, which now occurs on a planet-wide basis, can be witnessed:

A. Persons assume a religious or spiritual identity and fixate at the third step on the seven-step journey to Full Realization
+
B. Persons then overvalue THAT (which 6.5 billion take to be something far different from what it really is)
+
C. Persons therefore devalue the Am-ness

In Irving, Texas, U.S.A., there is a woman who assumed the persona of “The Wife” for six decades. It was her sole identity for all of her adult years, other than “The Christian.” Nine years ago, her husband “died” (according to her beliefs) and went to heaven.

For nine years, she has been miserable throughout almost every waking hour. She has prayed for THAT to come—THAT in her belief system being an eternal reward; life eternal in heaven with God, along with Christ at his right hand; and life eternal with her husband.

The Am-ness means nothing to her. It is anathema. It is misery and suffering manifest. While arrogance usually drives persons to become “Spiritual Giants” at the third step, there is this other group such as that woman, so trapped in personality—in false identifications—that they also devalue the Am-ness while hoping for THAT so that their misery can end.

A second group devalues the Am-ness as much as those who have upgraded in their “minds” the illusion of “self” from “Men and Women” to “Really Good Men and Women” to “Religious and / or Spiritual Men and Women” to “Super Spiritual Beings” to “THAT.”

The second group is the group that so devalues the Am-ness and the personality-generated misery which they are suffering that they commit suicide. Hundreds of thousands worldwide take that action annually, many of them assuming the persona of…

…“The Ex-Spouse” or “The Ex-Lover” who “cannot go on” or who “does not want to go on” because a “relationship” has happened. (In the U.S., 59% of all women, and 41% of all men, are killed during “relationship breakups.” Often, those involve murder / suicides.)

…“The Ex Employee” who “cannot go on” or who “does not want to go on” because employment has ended.

…“The Ex Student” who “cannot go on” or who “does not want to go on” because of academic failure.

And the list could go on and on. Trapped in personality, such persons devalue the Am-ness and bring the manifestation to an end. While the case of (a) those who devalue the Am-ness because of job or relationship personas might seem to be quite different from (b) those who overvalue the THAT-ness and devalue the Am-ness after assuming religious and spiritual personas, the fact is that the results are exactly the same for both groups.

To claim Realization and then to live out the relative existence by adopting religious or spiritual personas that play religious games or spiritual games leaves those persons as far removed from Reality as those who want to die or those who kill themselves because of the personas they have adopted.

Among Nisargans, there is but one “justification” for completion of the complete “journey” to Full Realization: to overlay Reality upon the relative existence, to stop trying to live in an unnatural / supernatural fashion, and to abide naturally for the remainder of the manifestation of the consciousness.

The Ultimate Medicine first addresses misery and suffering and then paves the way for bliss to be relished during the relative, post-Realization Am-ness (which is the only opportunity during which that can happen and during which it can be known to be happening).

Why even seek the understanding that can bring bliss if it is not understood that the only chance to know and appreciate and experience the bliss is now, even as there is no delusion about there being any “knower” or “appreciater” or “experiencer”?

See, the Realized Nisargan contemplated the Absolute and the Void in order to undo all of the relative nonsense and ignorance and insanity that resulted from programming and conditioning; now, though, there is no occupation or preoccupation or involvement with THAT or with anything coming out of THAT. The understanding has led to an abidance as the natural state with stability...not with any going into or coming out of a samadhi state.

Maharaj: Everything is flowing out of that state, but this principle does not claim anything, is not involved in anything that is coming out of it, but this beingness is available…. This is a very, very, rare, natural samadhi state, the most natural state....

Once the nonsense is undone, all unnatural living ends and all efforts to live supernaturally (a.k.a., magically, religiously, spiritually, etc.) also end. Once all of that is undone, then natural living just happens.

Thus, “floyd” lived unnaturally and supernaturally when moving along the “path” as a seeker, but once Realization happened, then all of that ended. Today, abidance happens naturally and spontaneously, as with the deer.

How occupied do you think a deer is with anything other than the immediate Am-ness? If you have not moved beyond the third step of a seven-step “journey” to Full Realization, then it is your “mind,” with its programming-and-conditioning-generated-content, that functions as a time machine.

If you have not moved beyond the third step of a seven-step “journey” to Full Realization, then memories transport you to the past while imaginings move you into what you take the future to be. The past will churn up guilt and a sense of loss; the future will churn up desires and fears.

If you have not moved beyond the third step of a seven-step “journey” to Full Realization, you will remain trapped in the seeking of continuity and reward, and you will be saddled with supernatural thinking and unnatural behaviors:

kneeling and rising, praying and humming, burning scents and chanting chants, showing off what you take to be your elevated level of enlightenment and your “higher consciousness.”

If you have not moved beyond the third step of a seven-step “journey” to Full Realization, you cannot function spontaneously in the moment. You cannot live naturally. You cannot just be, now. You cannot enjoy stability for it will not manifest.

It is a fool who mistakes the dawn for the noon. “They” fooled you in the beginning. If you have accepted re-programming in a group, “they” have fooled you again. At some point, you have taken over and are now fooling yourself. The invitation here is to cast aside their concepts, to stop allowing them to fool you, and to stop fooling yourself.

Seek facts, not supposition. Seek rationality, not emotional intoxication. Seek truth and stop accepting their falsehoods as fact. Seek wisdom rather than religious or spiritual knowledge (a.k.a., learned ignorance). Seek the natural rather than the unnatural and the supernatural.

If you read a book by a world famous author and are sure you now “have it,” but eventually prove that you did not have it at all because soon you are looking for a book by another famous author to give you “the missing piece / peace,” then you will never know the stability of understanding THAT and then enjoying the Am-ness fully.

You will forever be “The Seeker” or "The Seeker Who Is Convinced He / She Has Found," but you will never be the one that really found Truth and peace and harmony and stability. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

Now you can receive for $40 a downloadable computer file version of the same 7-hour satsang that seekers receive when they visit for the Advaita Retreat with Floyd. You will be guided through the seven steps from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond).
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat

SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:

1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond

Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.

To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat

Option “A” is for the downloadable file version, Option “B” is used to order the DVD set for delivery inside the U.S., Option “C” for international orders.

For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.

[It is recommended that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]

2. BY READING these books in this exact order:
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
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
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
SAVE IF YOU BUY ALL ELEVEN AT ONCE:
(You may order the books one at a time or you may use the following link to acquire the entire 11-e-Book set on sale for $99 if ordered at one time with the “Buy Now” button below. For this option, there will be no download links provided; once the near-instant notice of payment is received from PayPal, your e-Books will be sent to you as e-mail attachments. All are printable for your convenience.)

You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.

3. BY 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

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

5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session

6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.