Tuesday, May 15, 2007

THE MESSAGE OF NON-DUALITY, From India and Asia to the “Americas,” Part Six

Table of Contents

Today's Considerations
Recent Posts and Archives
Tools for Realization
Author's eBooks
Author's Paperback Books
Free eBooks
[These discussions of the Asia-India-“Native American” use of Advaita pointers are in response to an e-mail regarding the May 27th HBO presentation of “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” You may visit http://www.hbo.com/films/burymyheart/ if interested in details.]

CASE STUDY: A First-Hand Account of the Advaita Message as Transmitted by One of the Indigenous Peoples in the U.S. (Continued from yesterday)

A LESSON IN TOLERANCE AND NON-DUAL LOVE FROM AN AH-NI-YV-WI-YA GRANDMOTHER
F.: If the healing effect of the quiet was not being modeled by Grandmother, then wisdom was being shared. She spoke so infrequently that, when she did, her words seemed to merit more attention than usual. If wisdom was not being shared, then unconditional love was being demonstrated. In fact, most of her teaching was by example. It was she who offered my first lessons in tolerance and unconditional love. Grandmother married a white man and they had a dozen children together, all delivered in their small house. Over half of the children survived, and the marriage was reportedly idyllic until Grandfather succumbed to appendicitis. The non-dual-type love they shared was described when a character called “Kirk” recounts what she taught during the summers of childhood days:

His lesson in Applied Tolerance came during time spent with Grandmother and his grandfather. They modeled such tolerance perfectly. Grandfather went to church every Sunday, serving as the choir director; Grandmother went into the woods, exercising some kind of communion of her own. They never questioned the other’s practice; they never challenged the other’s beliefs; they never tried to change the other. They did what they did separately and felt just fine; and they did what they did together and felt just fine. Applied Tolerance. No judging. Total acceptance. Unconditional Love. (See Meditation Guide Volume Two for that passage and further discussion.)

[Please note: There has been past confusion among some site visitors regarding pointers about “acceptance.” As used here, it denotes a sense of merely “witnessing” without efforts to control and without arrogance or ego. It certainly does not suggest “accept everything, including abuse and ignorance and lies as well as the unreasonable, the illogical and the nonsensical.”]

Grandmother’s alignment with nature and Grandfather’s preference for his ultra-conservative, Southern Baptist dogma never created the slightest problem in their marriage. Why? Unlike persons who are trapped in their false selves, their egoism and their narcissism, neither grandmother nor grandfather was searching for an “opposite-sex clone of self.” I seek strength, not to be greater but to fight my greatest enemy—myself. There was no “church vs. forest” differentiation, so they saw no differences that needed to be debated nor any problems that needed to be resolved. Grandmother was fully Realized and therefore knew exactly where Grandfather was on "the path," but she made no judgment about that. No false self, no ego, no narcissism = no separation.

With no differentiation, then no one could be called on to conform to the ways of the other. In their egoless existence, neither tried to change the other, neither tried to control the other, and neither tried to make the other over into one’s own image. How could she have tried to make anyone over into her image when Grandmother was imageless? In the absence of a belief in the duality of “good vs. bad,” Grandmother had no means by which she could conclude that anyone was not “good enough for her.” That non-duality absence of “good vs. bad” never allowed her to classify anything. It never even allowed her to complain about the extremes in weather: when it’s hot it is hot and when it is cold it is cold.

In fact, the absence of duality prevented her from complaining about anything. Never did anyone in her presence ever feel inspired to say, “Why don’t you please shut up, at least for just a few minutes!” Never did anyone in her presence say, “What’s the deal with you—you’re never satisfied?” Never did anyone ever observe, “You’re still miserable although you’ve accumulated so many nice things and have everything that anyone should ever want…and more.” Never did anyone ever ask, “Why are you so judgmental?” Never did anyone ever charge, “You are so self-absorbed…such a total egomaniac.” Never did anyone say, “Could you stop nagging for a little while and just appreciate what you do have?”

TRYING TO FIND ONCE MORE THAT TASTE OF NIRVANA
In an earlier post, it was mentioned that “floyd” would go on a “multi-decade search” to try to find again the level of peace that was experienced during those summer retreats. Is it possible for you to relate to how truly tiring that search can be? Here’s the way it is explained, and discussed in more detail, in Meditation Guide Volume One:

In his energy-consuming search for salvation, he’d been dipped, dunked, sprayed, spayed, sprinkled and neutered; in the quest for truth, he’d been blessed, cursed, cussed, lectured, scolded and praised; in his pursuit of Life’s Meaning, he’d been communion’d, Om’d, grape-juiced, wined, ashram’d, accepted, rejected, Mu’d, and yoga’d; in his chase for service-work opportunities, he’d been pulverized, martinized, and frappéd; and in the endeavor to attain Life Eternal, he’d been baptized, Buddha’d, New Aged, powwow’d, Far Eastern Indianized, incensed, sage’d, Tao’d, Peru’d, Tibet’d, washed in the blood, dunked in the waters, and purportedly purified.

So what about you?” Can you relate? Are you tired of the search? It can end with a simple, seven-step process, but persons typically only turn to the simple Advaita process after having exhausted every other conceivable method and after exhausting themselves in the process. Are you ready to be done with self? Are you ready to recognize the Unseen and Eternal? Are you tired enough to try the simple way? Are you so tired that you can only walk seven more steps? Then you just might be ready. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
THE QUOTES ABOVE ON “APPLIED TOLERANCE” AND “THE ENERGY-CONSUMING SEARCH” ARE DISCUSSED IN THE MEDITATION GUIDE SET. INTERESTED IN ORDERING BOTH AT A REDUCED RATE?
  • Click MEDITATION GUIDE SET

  • INTERESTED IN INFORMATION ABOUT THE GUIDEBOOK FOR THE SEVEN-STEPS TO REALIZATION?
  • Click FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
  • 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