Thursday, February 19, 2015

THE IRONY OF REALIZATION: At First, It’s All-Important; Later, It Should Become Totally Unimportant

Table of Contents

Today's Considerations
Recent Posts and Archives
Tools for Realization
Author's eBooks
Author's Paperback Books
Free eBooks
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU

[You may scroll down to "Section Four" to find how to receive up to five, free eBooks which deal with a variety of non-dual topics]


F.: So what was the reaction to Maharaj’s abandonment of his Plan “A” version of the Ultimate Medicine which was a religious / non-dual compound?

And what was the reaction to Maharaj’s abandonment of his Plan “B” version of the Ultimate Medicine which was a spirituality / non-dual compound?

And what was the reaction to Maharaj’s shift to his Plan “C” version of the Ultimate Medicine which focused on the fact that the Ultimate Sickness is a mental / emotional sickness which begins with assuming personalities as false identities and then disintegrates into personality disorders which further disintegrate into a variety of neuroses and psychoses which call for a psychologically-based treatment for the sickness which infects the minds of the masses?

Here are some of the criticisms written by those who have no understanding at all about why he tried Plans “A” and “B” and why he abandoned later them:

From One Who Thought Plan A’s Religious / Non-Dual Treatment Was the Proper Way to Address the Ultimate Sickness: 

"At first when he was still listening to his guru he was telling the truth, like he did in 'I AM THAT.' In his other talks, his ego made him start telling things he dreamed up on his own that were not true." 
>
From One Who Thought Plan B’s Spirituality Was the Proper Way to Address the Ultimate Sickness but That Maharaj’s Version Was Too Light on Spirituality: 

"Maharaj was not really spiritual at all. He was religious, chanting and doing bhajans all day."

From One (Obviously Assuming the Role Of “The Spiritual Giant”) Who Thought Maharaj’s Plan B’s Spiritual Medicine Was the Proper Way to Address the Ultimate Sickness but That Maharaj’s Shift to Plan “C” - in Reaction to His Seeing That the Ultimate Sickness Is a Mental Sickness - Was All Wrong:

"He deteriorated from one of the great spiritual men of all times to one of the least spiritual people of all times."

From One Who Did Not Understand That Maharaj Cared Enough About the Earnest Seekers in His Loft That He Would Not Allow Those to Stay Who Were There to Show Off Their Spiritual Knowledge and Thus Prevent the Rest of the Seekers from Participating and Possibility Reaching the Understanding: <

"Maharaj talked about being peaceful but that was only lip service. He was a very angry man, throwing people out of sessions if they disagreed with him." 

From One Who Did Not Understand That Maharaj’s Pointers Were "Level Appropriate" and "Level Specific" and Who Did Not Grasp That a Pointer Maharaj Offered on Monday to Someone at Step Three on the Seven-Step Path Was Not Going to Be the Pointer Which He Would Offer on Tuesday to Someone at the Sixth Step on the Seven-Step Path:

"Maharaj was constantly contradicting himself." 

So it is. Those who do not know that there are five basic Non-Duality Teaching Methods will reject any pointer offered via the other four methods which he or she has never heard of. 


Those who do not know that the Ultimate Sickness is a mental and emotional illness will reject any approach which focuses on the core, mental issues involved with the Sickness and will reject any approach which does not reinforce their religious beliefs and the religious personas which they have been assigned or have adopted or which does not reinforce their spiritual beliefs and the spiritual personas which they have been assigned or have adopted.

Those who have never experienced firsthand the failure of religion to address the Ultimate Sickness will cling to a religious approach.


Those who have never experienced firsthand the failure of spirituality to address the Ultimate Sickness will cling to a religious approach.

Those who have not Realized Fully and are not abiding naturally will never let go of their assumed personas of “The Super Religious One,” “The Spiritual Giant,” or “The Super Seeker Who Will Seek Forever,” so they are also the ones who will never reach the state of Full Understanding which allows for relaxing and taking it easy and bringing to an end the belief that - in addition to the job required to meet one's relative requirements - a second religious or spiritual job is also a necessity. That is a belief which blocks any chance to enjoy a simple, unencumbered existence.

They will never enjoy the pleasure which can be enjoyed during the AM-ness for their new identity is that of the “THAT-ness” solely or of something “Supreme” or of some “Infinite Self.”

All of that “stuff” is the “stuff” of the pre-Realization existence, but it has nothing to do with a truly post-Realization existence.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

18 February 2015 



A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU



F.: TO REVIEW from yesterday: How Maharaj’s Version of the Ultimate Medicine Evolved 

MAHARAJ’S PLAN “A” for treating seekers with the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness 


Being led by a willingness to assist those suffering from the Ultimate Sickness, Maharaj set about the process of trying to find the Ultimate Medicine. He was led early to believe that religion (or a religious / non-dual combination message) might be able to address the Sickness. That could be called Maharaj’s Plan “A.” His teacher suggested that he offer bhajans five times per day (which he later reduced to an AM and a PM session) and that the sessions follow a format using those traditional bhajans (as a “hook” or “bait”) to attract those interested in Hinduism but to then inject non-dual messages as well. 
He tried that method for years, without success. 

Later, following the 1973 publication of I AM THAT, many non-Hindu seekers came, especially from North America and Europe.


MAHARAJ’S PLAN “B”
His new audience was made up of persons who were not interested in Hinduism but who were interested in “spirituality” and in “Eastern philosophies” and in non-duality to some degree. With that shift in audience, Plan “A” was abandoned and Plan “B” was taken up with a sense that a spiritual approach might provide the Ultimate Medicine which could treat the Ultimate Sickness.

Thus, Maharaj did not decide that “Plan A” was not working and that he was, therefore, going to try “Plan B.” As with “Plan A” initially and with “Plan B” later, he was influenced by the interests of his audience to focus first on a religious or religious / non-dual method of treatment for the Ultimate Sickness and later on a spiritual method of treatment for the Ultimate Sickness.

MAHARAJ’S PLAN “C” 

Only years later would Maharaj allow the inner resource / the inner guru - in combination with decades of trying one method and then another - to guide him to consciously shift to “Plan C” and then stay with that until the end.

Maharaj, having realized that the key symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness were (in his words, “ignorance, stupidity, and insanity”) he saw that those all dealt with mind identification and personality identification.

He saw that it was “the mind” which was “the seat of knowledge” (which, with humans, amounts to nothing more than what he called “learned ignorance”); he saw that the learned ignorance stored in “the mind” leads to thoughts and words and actions which are all marked by ignorance and stupidity; and he saw that that insanity is rooted in personality identification which leads to personality disorders (defined as “deeply ingrained and maladaptive patterns of behavior which begin to manifest by the age of five or six and which are typically full-blown by the time one reaches adolescence, resulting in long-term difficulties in relationships and in and inability to  function effectively in society”).

He saw more clearly than ever why the non-dual teachings begin by exposing the distortions of body and mind and personality identification and the perils and hazards that follow. He saw that personality / personalities develop as

(A) a response by children to the confusions and fears which they experience after spending years around their dysfunctional families (dysfunctional as the result of generations of persons having passed on to their offspring their learned ignorance);

and as

(B) the result of faulty and perverted and distorted programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and indoctrination and brainwashing (all of which lead to persons being driven by the ignorance and stupidity and insanity which Maharaj referenced).

Looking back at the failures of his early experiments when Plan “A” and Plan “B” each proved to be an ineffective treatment for the Ultimate Sickness, the reason for the inability of either religion or spirituality to be "the cure" became clear:>

Religion evolved from ancient myths (which were mere fabrications) and from ignorance-based superstitions. A myth is "a tale about some event which was transmitted orally and which became more inflated and extravagant and fanciful and exorbitant and outlandish and fantastical with each telling."

(Example: virgin births and worldwide floods used by a god to destroy almost all of humanity because people had offended him. Flood myths are a part of the teachings of scores of religions. So are virgin births. Christianity was not the first to evolve from a tale about a virgin birth. Twenty-two religions had already made claims that their “savior” or “prophet” was born of a virgin before Yeshu’a – a.k.a. “Jesus” - came along and had a mother who claimed she was not impregnated by her betrothed Joseph but was impregnated by “the Holy Spirit” or “God.” The Mormons teach that God literally came to earth and had sexual relations with Mary. All such tales are versions of a most inflated, extravagant, fanciful, exorbitant, outlandish and fantastical tale, yes?)

A superstition is defined as “an unreasoning awe or fear of something unknown, mysterious, or imaginary, especially in connection with religion.”

Maharaj saw clearly that anything based in inflated, extravagant, fanciful, exorbitant, outlandish and fantastical tales and based in things unreasonable and imaginary could never allow those suffering from insanity to be restored to sanity.>

He also saw that “spirituality” was 


(1) an outgrowth of religions, all of which are based in inflated, extravagant, fanciful, exorbitant, outlandish and fantastical tales and all of which are based in things unreasonable and imaginary;

and

(2) that those assuming the false identity of “A Spiritual Giant” often bragged that “I am spiritual, not religious! Our group is spiritual, not religious! Do not call us ‘religious’!” It became clear that those taking themselves to be “spiritual” was often more arrogant that those claiming to be religious, the ego-defense mechanism of “egotism” often appearing in higher levels among those deemed spiritual than among those claiming to be super religious.

No wonder neither Maharaj's Plan “A” version of the Ultimate Medicine nor his Plan “B” version of the Ultimate Medicine led to freedom from ego, from egotism, from distorted thinking, from belief in false myths and superstitions, from mind identification, or from personality identification.

It became clear that neither religion nor spirituality can treat the Ultimate Sickness’s duality-based issues such as ego assumption, egotism, distortion, delusion, nonsensical beliefs, mind identification, and personality identification because religion (and its progeny, spirituality) both reinforce ego assumption, egotism, distorted thinking, belief in false myths and superstitions, mind identification, and personality identification (which leads to personality disorders, neuroses, and psychoses).

Thus, the advice which was at the heart of Maharaj’s Plan “C” included these pointers:

(1) He advised seekers to stop reading the book I AM THAT (referred to as a “spiritual classic”), saying: "That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today" and I am "emphasizing different aspects."

What was “expounded at that time”? Religious and spiritual pointers.

What were the “different aspects,” the aspects he discussed which were different from the earlier religious and spiritual aspects? The mind aspects of the Ultimate Sickness.

Thus he said ("sneaking in" some non-religious and non-spiritual pointers along the way):

(2) "Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion. All this is happening in the objective world. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud."

(3) "Only that person will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end."

(4) "There is no question of elevating to a higher level. Here it is only a question of understanding."

(5) "Both the mantra and the faith in the mantra will get dissolved."

(6) "There is no progress."

(7) "First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and ... you pray to that God for something good to happen to you.

(8) “Whatever you have tried to understand during your spiritual search will prove false.”

(9) “From birth, what has made the body grow? It is no power in the world. It is the power of beingness, the atom, the Self, the consciousness … call it what you will.”

(10) “When the birth is disproved, the great noble meaning of spirituality and the meaning of this world—everything—is disproved.”

(11) “If they come face-to-face with that root, they will be stunned into silence.”

(12) “I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.”

(14) "Forget spirituality."

(15) Follow your “normal inclinations" - that is, their natural tendencies.

(16) "Do your normal duties." 


(17) "Just give up spirituality."


To be continued. 


Please enter the silence of contemplation. 


You may click on the "Older Posts" link at the bottom of this page to see other recent posts. You may use the SEARCH feature at the top right to search any of the other 2,400 + posts.



* * * * * 

SECTION THREE: WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED 

BY WATCHING AN ADVAITA RETREAT 
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat  
International buyers: note the separate option for those outside the continental U.S.  


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 

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

BY ARRANGING a one-hour session via Skype or telephone with Floyd. (Skype is a free service.)

Click the button to pay and you will be contacted to arrange a date and time for the call.






                   BY USING THE EBOOKS BELOW
                                              available at
                                Floyd Henderson's Website



Within minutes of purchase you can be reading any of the eBooks below on your mobile devices, including an iPhone, iPad, Android tablet, Android phone, laptop, home computer or Kindle reader.


 



 



 




Anthology of four books




Anthology of six books







A TWELVE-STEP JOURNEY TO SELF-TRANSFORMATION


For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 





 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 



 



 

 


 
 


 


 


 

 


 


 

 


 


 


 


 


 


 



 

SECTION FOUR:
FIVE FREE eBOOKS 
(Compliments of Andy Gugar, Jr.)

 The following eBooks are available without charge for you or for friends


I.

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





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

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




 Comments regarding the free eBook entitled “THE VISION”:

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


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


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


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

 III.




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

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

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


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

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


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

V.
"THE MOST DANGEROUS BELIEF OF ALL"


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

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

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

This 337-page eBook discusses those issues in detail.

To receive free copies, or to have us send free copies to your friends or relatives, send the request (or their email addresses) to the following name: 

nondualfloyd@gmail.com

SECTION FIVE:
FOR THOSE WHO PREFER A BOOK IN HAND TO READING eBOOKS, THESE PAPERBACK BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON.COM


(Four paperback book by Floyd Henderson and two by Dennis Waite)

Recent Posts and Archives

Tools Used by Other Seekers of Realization

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

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

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

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

Five Free eBooks

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

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

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

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

II.
"THE VISION"

Comments regarding the free eBook entitled “THE VISION”:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IV.
Seeking

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

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

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

V.
"THE MOST DANGEROUS BELIEF OF ALL"

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

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

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

This 337-page eBook discusses those issues in detail.

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