BEING RID OF self, Part One

[NOTE to Dana: No, the three body types mentioned yesterday are not ectodorph, mesodorph, and endodorph. The body types referred to yesterday are the three different metabolic types.]

FROM A SITE VISITOR: I appear to be still “trapped” or entranced at the level of personality.

FROM ANOTHER SITE VISITOR YESTERDAY: So how to eliminate self once and for all?

F.: The first consideration is this: all false personas have a ravenous appetite so they will never “feel full.” As a result of never “feeling fulfilled,” persons (the non-Realized) will always desire more. As more and more false personas are generated via the search for fulfillment, fear manifests since it is generally known on some level that false personas which desire continuity cannot last.

If you are feeling depressed or weighed down by the heaviness of personality, what it is that you desire? What do you think you have lost that would have made you happy? What do you think you need to be happy that you do not have?

Is it possible that whatever you think you lost, you never ready had to start with? Is it possible that, if you now had it, you would still not be happy? Is it possible that, if you were to find what you think you need to be happy, you would still not be happy?

Fear also involves the fear of losing what has been accumulated. Part of the Advaita “treatment plan” for fear and desire, therefore, is to be free of the effects of programming and conditioning and enculturation which drive accumulation. The programming and subsequent shift beyond programming’s effects can happen thusly:

20 years of being programmed to accumulate followed by usually 20 years of accumulating followed by either (a) a lifetime of continued accumulation or (b) a lack of any sense of fulfillment from accumulation which can, in turn, trigger Self-Inquiry followed by Self-Realization and de-accumulation followed by AS IF living

Of course, self-elimination can be accomplished in many ways: SELF-Realization is one way. Other methods employed by the non-Realized include suicide or suicide-by-cop or slow suicide by overeating or use of drugs or alcohol or tobacco, etc. Via those methods, persons try to eliminate what they take to be the self—the body and “mind” and personality.

Why does elimination of identification with the body and “mind” and personality seems so loathesome to persons? The desire for continuity of the false body and false “mind” and false personality is rooted in a lack of awareness of the True Self. Thus, Self-Love is understood by few while “self”-love is the fixation of the majority.

Each person (each among the non-Realized) has his/her own little personality cult, wosrshipping the leader…the self. The personality of the leader is all-important. Only the ideas and beliefs and concepts of the leader are given any value as the self “loves” the self. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

RELATED TO TODAY’S POST:

LIBERATION is a guide to elimination of personality; BULLSHIT is, among other things, an invitation to reject cultural influences to accumulate (including the accumulation of money and excess property and personas and more and more religious beliefs and/or spiritual knowledge and co-dependent entanglements that are intended to provide “happiness”):

Click LIBERATION

and

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

CATCHING UP ON ANSWERING THE MAIL

FROM A SITE VISITOR: You mentioned the limitations of teachers who “self-assign” labels but didn’t your teacher self-assign a label, “Nisargadatta Maharaj”?

F.: This site has a banner at the top of the page that allows seekers to know which yoga is offered here. Teachers in Bombay in the 70’s and 80’s had no such means, so the name “Nisargadatta” was used to allow seekers to know that the nisarga (natural) yoga would be offered in that loft.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: My faith in my guru is absolute, so I eat only what he tells me to eat.

F.: And Catholics, with their absolute faith in their religious-spiritual advisers, ate fish on Fridays because someone they thought holy told them to do so. Jews and others with their absolute faith in their religious-spiritual advisers, do not eat pork because someone they think holy told them not to.

And some with their absolute faith in their religious-spiritual adviser drank the Kool-Aid because a person they thought holy told them to do so. For thousands of years, persons have unquestioningly allowed others to convince them that diet is not just a matter of the physical realm but also has some "supernatural" and "magical" aspect as well.

Persons once accepted without question a religious-spiritual teaching that claimed an angry god could be made happy (and would make it rain) if a virgin was killed and if her body and blood were consumed by a priest and the people in the crowd as an act of “communion with god.”

The "spiritual advice" was, "Here's what you should eat and drink to be holy: you should eat this heart we're passing around, and you should drink this blood we're passing around." (In daily and weekly re-enactments of that barbarism, 1/3 of the people on the planet eat symbolic crackers and drink symbolic juice while others eat crackers and drink wine that they believe has been literally "transubstantiated" into body and blood.)

Similarly, many among the masses have accepted unquestioningly that what they do or do not eat, and what they do or do not drink, will make them "more religious" and/or "more spiritual" or even "holy." Yet those same persons who think they know as much as modern scientists and dietitians do not even know Who/What They Truly Are.

Some Eastern teachers know that certain seekers display a tendency toward the rajas (toward an energetic and active nature) while others display the darkness or passivity of tamas, but few understand those “natures” are linked to two of the three different body types.

Fewer still, in the East or West, have a clue that the bodies of the three varied body types require differing food plans if their bodies are to function in an optimal manner and if their body chemistry is to be balanced and if their emotions are to be stabilized.

Few know that consuming head lettuce can cause some to become moody; few understand that if the body chemistry is too-alkaline, that can trigger depression; and most have no understanding of the fact that a too-acidic body chemistry can trigger irritability. Few know that alkaline-acid imbalances can cause nightmares and “cold sweats” during sleep.

The masses believe moodiness and depression and irritability and nightmares and cold sweats are only about “mental conditions” or “being spiritually unfit.” Most have no awareness of the physical components that often drive those conditions.

Does all this pertain to the relative only? Of course, because there is no correlation between “food plans” and “levels of spirituality.” The physical body is a plant-food body, not a spiritual body, so all body types and food plans are strictly relative issues, not noumenal issues.

As for a food plan based in the belief that “one size fits all,” understand that what can appear to be wise noumenal guidance can actually be ignorant phenomenal sabotage. So it is.

Yet in all of nature, there is only one species—humans—who become programmed and conditioned and enculturated and thereby lose the awareness of what each should eat and should not eat…what each should drink and should not drink. Realization can remove the belief in "a person with attributes," but it does not alter the basic I AM requirements regarding food and clothing and shelter during the period of manifestation.

[Here, you will not be told what to eat or not eat and you will not be told what to drink or not drink. Here, as always, the invitation is to investigate objectively…or not. For those interested in additional information regarding the way that many relative conditions which are labeled “mental problems” are really physical problems, see FAQ’s at http://www.marielachney.com/ ]

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Where do you live?

F.: I do not live anywhere because I do not live. You may as well knell on the floor and speak into an electrical outlet in the wall and ask that energy where it lives.

I am manifested…not born…not dying…not living. I just AM, for now. I do not abide at, though I do currently abide as...as THAT. If you take all seven steps on the path to Full Realization, and if You understand consciousness / awareness and the Reality even beyond SELF-Realization, then the above will also be understood.

If not, then none of the preceding will be understood. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

RELATED TO TODAY’S POST:

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS

and

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

and

Click AN ADVAITA VEDANTA RETREAT

THE SEARCH WITHIN THE SEARCH, Part Seven

FROM A SITE VISITOR: i seek a sadguru, finding your site i read of different teaching methods, different appraoch, different yoga. I have study teachings of hinduism, buddhism,even islam,now find advaita vedanta. How to find in all this the sadguru who is for me? Anwar

F.: (Continued from yesterday) So, the two key (and no-so-popular pointers) about the seeker and the sadguru are these: (1) the sadguru who self-assigns the label of being "a spiritual teacher" cannot lead you any farther than halfway along the "path" and (2) the encounter with a sadguru is to be a limited engagement, not a "lifetime relationship."

"My teacher" typically allowed seekers to visit his loft for two sessions a day for a week or two, and then they were sent away to contemplate the pointers offered, to reject belief in lies, and to find the Truth within. The few who were allowed to remain for a longer period were those considered to have the potential to share "the natural yoga teachings" after that speck of consciousness called "Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj" was no longer manifested.

If a sadguru speaks to you at one point of moving to a “higher” level, so be it, but eventually, the message must transcend talk about that “level” and make clear that the issue is solely an issue of understanding and has nothing to do with any “higher level.”

Eventually, not only the guru’s message but also faith in, and contact with, the guru must give way to the message of the inner guru…of the inner resource. If Full Realization and abidance as the Absolute is to happen, then eventually even the spiritual pointers of your sadguru must be transcended.

To be in touch with the no-concept, non-duality Reality, all “kindergarten level spirituality” and all “high school level spirituality” and even “university level spirituality” must be transitioned. It's all involved only with the third of seven steps.

“My teacher” made clear that the spiritual subject matter must be covered, but if that level is not transcended, then what will happen is this, he said: “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.”

For those ready to advance beyond that stage, he made clear: “Whatever you have tried to understand during your spiritual search will prove false.”

Might the holy texts of any religion (or of any philosophy warped into a religion) be employed along the way? That certainly is a common happening, but Maharaj also said, “I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience."

Of the few who even begin to seek, most of those seekers will fixate at the spiritual stage, loving the emotional "high" that comes from hearing inspirational talks about "dreaming grandly" and "success" and "how to produce spiritual giants" and "finding the power to make wishes come true" and "having power now" and "Infinite Self-ness" and "gaining knowledge" and "acquiring power" and "making yourself strong" and "being at one with God" and "creating your own reality" (which is the practice of the truly insane).

All of that is relative, conceptualized nonsense, all the focus of "persons" who want to gain and who believe that they can. Yet ultimately, all nonsense and concepts and ideas are cast aside by the truly Realized.

So select a sadguru, sure, but understand that even dependence on the sadguru as well as the adoption of religious identities or spiritual personas must be transitioned. The second half of the “journey” from the false “I” to the Absolute can happen only (a) in the careful consideration and contemplation of pointers and (b) in the absence of identification with any persona (including those “old, bad ones” and the “new, good ones”).

Best regards as you complete your search within the search and then continue to search out the non-truths, reject all belief in those ideas and concepts, and then access the Truth within. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

RELATED TO TODAY’S POST:

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

and

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

and

Click LIBERATION

and

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

THE SEARCH WITHIN THE SEARCH, Part Six

FROM A SITE VISITOR: i seek a sadguru, finding your site i read of different teaching methods, different appraoch, different yoga. I have study teachings of hinduism, buddhism,even islam,now find advaita vedanta. How to find in all this the sadguru who is for me? Anwar

F.: So, anwar, considerations have been offered with the recommendation that many questions be answered before any selection of a sadguru takes place. To review:

Are you ready to search beyond the religious venues used so far? Do you know what you are searching for? Do you have a vision of the way you want the relative existence to unfold for the remainder of the manifestation? If you are still moved to investigate Advaita Vedanta, which “brand” will you pursue?

Will you search for a philosophical approach that focuses on the no-concept, non-dual Reality? Or do you prefer a religious version that speaks of “uniting with” and “connecting with” and "working to become at one with"? Or might you settle for a so-called "spiritual version" that tries to combine both of those?

Next, you will be given the pointer that most seekers hate: you must understand, anwar, that a sadguru by definition is “a spiritual teacher” and that those who assume that label will guide you only to the third step of the seven steps on the “path” to Realization, specifically, the religious or spiritual or religious-spiritual level.

That level is marked by the assumption of religious and/or spiritual personas as "new and improved" identities. Yet what of that condition which only manifests much farther along the "path" when the still-manifested-consciousness begins to function in a no-assumed-persona mode?

What of that level marked by Pure Witnessing in which there is only One, in which there is nothing to “join with,” “connect with” or “unite with”? What of abidance not as a “human being” or a “spiritual creature” or a “spiritual being” but as that which is beyond all beingness and non-beingness?

How could a search being conducted from the stance of a false identity (from the position of believing in a false persona) possibly lead to differentiating between the false and the true, even if that false persona is thought to be "a good one" which your "mind" is telling you has replaced all of your "bad ones"?

That speck of re-purified consciousness called “my teacher” said: “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.”

Are you interested in the type of “relationship” that is touted by the religious wherein you connect with a priest or preacher or imam or rabbi and commit to spend “a lifetime” together, allowing that person to guide you through every facet of the relative existence?

Or might you be interested in hearing the consciousness speak in a manner that (1) guides you to that which You already know but have forgotten and that thereby (2) makes it possible for You to go forth to live in a spontaneous, “AS IF,” natural fashion…enjoying the remainder of the manifestation from a position of neutrality, of peace, of total freedom, of needlessness, and of simple beingness rather than a "lifetime" of complex doingness? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

THE SEARCH WITHIN THE SEARCH, Part Five

FROM A SITE VISITOR: i seek a sadguru, finding your site i read of different teaching methods, different appraoch, different yoga. I have study teachings of hinduism, buddhism,even islam,now find advaita vedanta. How to find in all this the sadguru who is for me? Anwar

F.: Yesterday’s post, in noting the diversity of approaches and methods and yogas that are offered under the umbrella of “Advaita Vedanta,” suggested that you might consider several additional questions before continuing with your search for a sadguru to guide you to that for which you are searching. Here are those questions:

Would you consider that “finding a sadguru that is for you” is secondary to your own readiness to receive the Advaita Teachings? (That is why you are being offered a taste of the various forms of the Advaita teachings from which to select.)

Since your searching in the past was limited to religious venues (which are all rooted in duality), are you certain that you are truly ready for a message of no-concept, non-dual Reality? Might you actually prefer a version of Advaita Vedanta that offers concepts and duality?

While some who describe themselves with the term “Advaitins” will encourage seekers to focus on “holy or special scriptures” and to “connect some spiritual thing ‘A’ with some divine thing ‘B’,” others (as on this site) will point toward the unicity alone. Here, there will be no talk of “A” connecting with “B.”

Some Dvaitins, as opposed to certain Advaitins, will talk of…

…that (Whom) it is possible to know well only from good scriptures, (who is) comprehensively beyond all that is destructible and indestructible; (that) Nârâyana I worship always, who is flawless and of the nature of an uncountable number of good qualities.

The Advaitin that has reached the no-concept, non-duality understanding of Reality knows no that there is no “who” or Whom” and no “good” or “bad,” so certainly the re-purified consciousness is free of any notions about “good scriptures”; is free of the misconception that some things are “destructible” and some things are not; worships no other thing (which would be the height of duality); and is free of any beliefs about “good qualities” or “bad qualities.”

If such dualistic teachings seem to be of value or interest to you, anwar, then you will continue to search within organized religions or within ideologies or within philosophies that are overlaid with dogma.

So be aware that even among “Advaita Vedanta teachers,” there are those who follow a path of duality and would teach you more of that to which your study of hinduism has already likely exposed you.

They will speak of a Brahman that is "a Supreme Being" that is to be "worshipped." Some might speak to you of Shakti, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and of various sects. You must determine if (1) it is truly a no-concept, non-dual explanation of Reality that you would seek, or if (2) you would prefer something more traditional, or if (3) you would prefer something completely dualistic.

Similarly, the study of Buddhism likely exposed you to concepts about desire fulfillment, about perfection, about something presiding over this universe, about worship, about holy buildings and holy words, about power, about intentions, about “wholeness vs. unwholeness,” about free will, about specific causation, about being noble, about “right vs. wrong,” about “moral vs. immoral,” and about (the illusions of) body and mind and personality being made "complete."

Is the readiness there to abandon belief in all concepts? If not, is the readiness there to at least question your beliefs and concepts (which are not “yours” at all but are really “theirs”)?

Only those who are ready to transcend any notions about either “wrongdoing” or “righteousness” are ready for the pointers offered here. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
RELATED TO TODAY’S POST:

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

and

Click LIBERATION

and

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

THE SEARCH WITHIN THE SEARCH, Part Four

FROM A SITE VISITOR: i seek a sadguru, finding your site i read of different teaching methods, different appraoch, different yoga. I have study teachings of hinduism, buddhism,even islam,now find advaita vedanta. How to find in all this the sadguru who is for me? Anwar

F.: At the end of the 25 January 2008 post, you were asked:

What was your day like yesterday? If it was encumbered—if its activities were involved with being driven by programming and accumulation and gain and avoidance—then your involvement with various religions has not provided freedom and peace. Are you ready, therefore, to re-examine everything from a totally different perspective?

So far, your search has been conducted in the religious arena only. If you want to stay that course, "religious versions" of the Advaita Vedanta Teachings are available. But if your own experience with three different religions has provided enough evidence to prove that the answers cannot be found within organized religion, then you might be ready for a version of the Advaita Teachings that will allow you to expand your search beyond those venues and eventually Realize Fully.

NOTE: Since your search has crossed several religious lines, having studied three different religions, it could be that the consciousness called “anwar” might be open to the Advaita Teachings. The search by most persons is so restricted that they merely wander about within the same religion, merely visiting different churches or temples or denominations or sects. This is what has been witnessed more often in the U.S.: Christians who do not find what they seek at one Presbyterian church might try a different Presbyterian church. Some, as a result of not finding what they seek via that change, might continue to search within Christian venues; thus, “A Presbyterian” might become “A Baptist.” Some of those might seek further and become “A Methodist” (which is just a Baptist who can read). Another might become “A Christian Fundamentalist.” Of course, whether Christian or Muslim or Jew, a fundamentalist is one who has fun damning anything than is mental.

(OK…that part was just a diversion that also provided a little moment of fun. The point is, at least you have been willing to look at a variety of religions and also been willing to investigate Advaita as well. If you are ready to move beyond those venues which did not provide what you sought, that could qualify you as being ready for the non-dual message of Advaita that can move you along the remainder of the “path” to Full Realization.)

The next point, before you seek any further, is this: it would be wise to determine the manner in which you would have the remainder of the relative existence unfold. Are you currently interested in accumulation, or does moderation sound of interest? Do you prefer to reform “the world,” or would you consider re-forming your perspectives?

Do you seek solitude...or an audience? Is a lifetime involved with deep analysis and mind-expansion and knowledge-accumulation your goal, or do you seek to be free of the machinations of the mind? Are you into doingness...or beingness?

Do you seek power and control, or would you consider being free of those concepts? Do you seek peace...or prosperity? Do you prefer rituals and exercises rather than a quiet repasse? Are you willing to find which of three food plans is ideal for your body type, or do you prefer a sadguru who will tell you what you should eat in order to “be spiritual” (even though that sadguru hasn’t a clue about which of the three body types you have)?

If you uncover what it is that you truly seek, only then might you succeed in finding a “path” and a guide for the “journey.” With so many paths and so many guides, is it not necessary to understand that/THAT to which you would be guided?

To that end, additional questions will be offered tomorrow before you try to select a sadguru and the Advaita teaching method that might be appropriate for you. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
RELATED TO TODAY’S POST:

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

and

Click LIBERATION

and

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

THE SEARCH WITHIN THE SEARCH, Part Three

FROM A SITE VISITOR: i seek a sadguru, finding your site i read of different teaching methods, different appraoch, different yoga. I have study teachings of hinduism, buddhism,even islam,now find advaita vedanta. How to find in all this the sadguru who is for me? Anwar

F.: If this is sounding like some kind of “qualifying process,” Anwar, it is. The readiness is all, and trying to move a seeker along a path that s/he is not ready to travel could prevent the journey from being completed at a more appropriate time.

To allow you to (1) “test the Advaita waters” in order to assess your readiness and to (2) assist you in understanding natural living vs. supernatural or unnatural living and to (3) see if that is even of interest to you, other considerations will be offered.

First, are you seeking to gain, or are you willing to begin a process of de-accumulation? Those embroiled in dogma, identified as they usually are with their bodies and minds and personalities, are seeking to gain. Ultimately, they desire to gain not only eternal continuity but also eternal reward (as opposed to eternal punishment) as well.

The Realized Advaitin that points toward the no-concept, non-dual Reality will never tell you how to “gain heaven” and “avoid hell.” That teacher will tell you that heaven and earth and hell will fade away at the same rate of speed as the manifested consciousness fades away someday.

That teacher will also ask you, in one fashion or another, what you think you see when “anwar” stands before a mirror. If the reflection is seen to be something other than the real, then the teacher will ask WHO thinks he is witnessing the reflection. Then, the teacher will ask, “WHAT is it that is witnessing the supposed witness?”

If that sounds “far out,” compare that with the millions who eventually exclaim to a relationship partner, “I don’t even know who you are!” or the millions of persons who someday admit, “I don’t even know who I am.” Those statements are familiar to millions, if not billions. Why should the same pointer be considered “far out” when an Advaitin teacher tells you, “You do not know who you are” and “Persons do not know who they are”?

To continue with the “qualifying,” is there presently so much fear of loss and desire for gain that the prospect of losing yourself (your self) is anathema?

Did the words of “louise” that were posted recently—specifically, “the true identity is the background or awareness in which both of these states (happiness and unhappiness) happen”—strike an inner cord with a message of freedom that resonants yet, or did those words sound unreasonable?

What have you wanted in the past from those religions you studied? Are you willing to no longer want in the present? If so, some version of the Advaita Teachings might be for you.

As for natural living vs. supernatural or unnatural living, this consideration is offered: to put “your search” in perspective, and to narrow the focus of that search, understand that the relative existence of humankind originally unfolded in a natural manner that was not unlike that of birds and animals today:

the basic physiological needs for survival were addressed and then the rest of the existence was passed by engaging in often pleasurable activities.

Anthropologists suggest that in some of the more accommodating regions of the planet, only 2.5 hours per day were involved in survival activities. The rest of the day involved relaxing and playing. Such was the case with humankind for most of its history until the last 5000 years when concepts began to dominate and control persons.

Now, examples of humankind’s historical style of living can only be observed in the animal kingdom. With a third-floor balcony overlooking a terrace that leads down to a lake, a day does not pass without witnessing ducks, herons, squirrels, and other wildlife living naturally…spending a little time finding food and then relaxing and playing.

Their workload is limited. Yesterday, ducks were witnessed as they fed in the water and on land. They were seen while bathing. They were seen as they sat along the shoreline, napping with their heads beneath their wings. They were seen at play.

They modeled all-natural living, unencumbered by any of the frustrations that follow the domestication of persons who are programmed to work to accumulate and then work even more to maintain their accumulation of property and their accumulation of images and personas.

What of you? What was your day like yesterday? If it was encumbered—if its activities were driven by programming and desires to gain and fear-based avoidance—then your involvement with various religions has not provided freedom and peace. Are you ready, therefore, to re-examine everything from a totally different perspective? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

RELATED TO TODAY’S POST:

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

and

Click LIBERATION

and

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

THE SEARCH WITHIN THE SEARCH, Part Two

FROM A SITE VISITOR: i seek a sadguru, finding your site i read of different teaching methods, different appraoch, different yoga. I have study teachings of hinduism, buddhism,even islam,now find advaita vedanta. How to find in all this the sadguru who is for me? Anwar

F.: So, Anwar, the question for you to consider before going any further in a search for an Advaita Vedanta sadguru is, are you truly ready for the non-dual Teachings?

Once the search reaches the level where you are, most persons (specifically, over six billion of them on the planet) turn to organized religion for “the answers”…exactly as you have done in the past. Are you ready to transition beyond that level, or are you looking for more dogma, merely wrapped in different packaging?

Certainly, there are enough versions of the Advaita Vedanta Teachings available, and some are definitely presented more as a religion than as a philosophy. If the accumulation of even more dogmatic teachings interests you, then you will certainly be able to find a sadguru who will present the Advaita Vedanta teachings in the form of religious principles.

Other sadgurus are also available who will present the Advaita Vedanta teachings in the form of spiritual principles or lofty spiritual principles or even noble and sublime spiritual principles.

Yet the version of the teachings that provided the spark that ignited the gunpowder that completely blew away all belief in “floyd” (and, along with that, the belief in any concepts) was a philosophical version that was presented along with pointers that redirected the focus of the consciousness toward empirical evidence.

After “the explosion,” neither religion nor spirituality (nor even philosophy) remained. In an 11 June 2007 posting, the following was offered in this regards:

The Advaitin Douwe Tiemersma—a member of the Philosophical Faculty at Erasmus University in Holland at the time—explained it this way:

There are various religions [that] suffer from certain inherent limitations. They couch into fine-sounding words their traditional beliefs and ideologies, theological or philosophical. Believers, however, discover the limited range of meaning and applicability of these words, sooner or later. They get disillusioned and tend to abandon the systems, in the same way as scientific theories are abandoned, when they are called in question by too much contradictory empirical data.

Of course, religions thrive in spite of all of the scientific evidence and all of the “contradictory empirical data” that refute their teachings, but if you would find the truth, a study of the facts should make clear that your search must move beyond those systems.

The consideration then is, are you willing to question what you have been told and seek via a means that is totally beyond the systems employed so far? If so, that might explain why you have continued to search and why you discovered “Advaita Vedanta”: on some level, you realize that you have not been told the truth or at least that you have not yet found the truth.

So, to review: your search has uncovered a set of teachings called “Advaita Vedanta” that are presented by some teachers as a set of philosophical considerations, by others as religious dogma, and by many as a set of spiritual principles. In your effort to find “your sadguru,” the question must be asked:

Is your inclination to continue to search via religious venues or might you be interested in a philosophy that sets forth pointers that are being validated more and more each day by observable, scientific facts? “Versions” of both can be found under the heading of “Advaita Vedanta.”

In your study of hinduism, buddhism, and islam, you have merely been moving about within the third of seven steps on the “path” to Realization. There, searching via religious and/or spiritual vehicles happens. You have been moving about in a maze without seeking the exit which would allow you to move to the next stage of the “journey” to Full Realization.

Understand, however, that in the case of this speck of consciousness, Full Realization required the transcendence of that religious and spiritual level. Billions claim that they are content in their fixation at that point. So it is. The fact that you are continuing to search after all of your studying at that level might suggest that contentment has not manifested there.

You must now determine if you would remain at that “place” or complete the entire “journey” instead. Here, the invitation is to transcend all relative concepts and dualistic beliefs;

thereafter, the re-purified consciousness allows You (ItSelf) to “return to”—to “go back to”—that mode of functioning that was the multi-million-year norm, namely, living out the relative existence in an all-natural fashion instead of trying to live in a supernatural fashion. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

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THE SEARCH WITHIN THE SEARCH, Part One

FROM A SITE VISITOR: i seek a sadguru, finding your site i read of different teaching methods, different appraoch, different yoga. I have study teachings of hinduism, buddhism,even islam,now find advaita vedanta. How to find in all this the sadguru who is for me? Anwar

F.: Hello, Anwar. Your question is one that has been asked in one form or another for what is likely thousands of years, and there is little question that the challenge is more daunting now than ever in the history of humankind.

Your query will be addressed in the typical Advaitin manner which often involves looking at any particular subject from an entirely different angle (from “the back,” if you will, rather than from “the front”…so to speak).

Rather than, “Who can guide me to where I would go?” consider: if there is a sense that you would go somewhere, is it possible that the drive is really to “go back” or “to return,” not to “go forward” or to “go higher”? (Certainly, there is plenty of talk—and there are plenty of talkers—about that “going higher” if you think that is the goal.)

However, might there be some sense that you really want to “go back,” to “return home” (that is, go back to a time or place of peace and comfort and joy and solitude)? If that is the case, then would it not be helpful to first determine “where that is” and why you are no longer there?

What has happened that you must now seek? What do you sense that you need? What do you sense that you are separated from? Is it possible that the sensation is not real and that you are separated from nothing and that the only requirement for the search to end and for peace to manifest is to be aware of the unicity that is? If you "feel broken," is it possible that the feeling is an illusion and that wholeness already exists?

The now-commonplace restlessness of humanity has inspired most to engage in a search, or in multiple searches. For all, the most basic search is for food…for survival…for continuity. Fifty-percent on the planet will not be successful in even that most basic of all searches. Half of all humans on the globe will starve to death before reaching the age of an adult.

For some, the search is for sex. Whereas the original drive was based in physical satisfaction and the instinctive motivation to procreate in order for the species to survive, too often now the drive is warped with psychological games involving manipulation, control, or a search for unconditional acceptance. The latter is often inspired by a desire to assuage the ego or to try to mend the effects of earlier rejection.

For still more, the search is for relief from stress, anxiety, worry, and/or depression. For others, the search is for relief from the effects of trauma, insanity and/or personality disorders.

For some, the search is for something as infantile as a surrogate mother or father figure to provide in adulthood (1) some sense of security or (2) an opportunity to re-enact a childhood that was plagued by mental, physical and/or emotional suffering that was generated by incompetent parents.

(The subconscious goal in case #2 is to try to re-create that earlier set of circumstances and then try to “rewrite” that painful history and bring about a different, happier outcome. The search there is, of course, a search for happiness…the happiness that was “missed” then and which is, therefore, missed now.)

For others, the search is for the unconditional brand of love they did not receive early on. In the search for happiness and love and peace, most—just like you—have come to believe that a quest which reaches that level must involve the study of “holy writings” and the guidance of “holy leaders” (as with your study of hinduism, buddhism, and islam) or guidance from “a spiritual leader” (as in your search now for your sadguru).

When the search reaches that level, the dilemma that you face manifests, and never in the history of humankind have the waters been more muddied, what with so many paths and so many guides and so many methods and so many practices.

Global confusion has become the norm, and as persons seek to move beyond the confusion, the systems and the people who now claim that they can provide Anwar with all of the answers only compound the confusion.

Thus, you are invited to take today for consideration and see if something is revealed about what “the real problem” is before you continue with any further seeking of “the real solution.” Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

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Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

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Click LIBERATION

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Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

THE BACKGROUND

FROM A SITE VISITOR IN CAPE TOWN, AFRICA:

Hi Floyd,

Here is an email to say hello.

I found your series of shifting between states of happiness and unhappiness very helpful - and humbling. As much as I liked to believe that this "as if" state was authentic, this series helped me to see the illusion of this concept - how the true identity is the background or awareness in which both of these states (happiness and unhappiness) happen.

There is a growing familiarity with the vast spaciousness in which all arises - the awareness that watches the apparent Louise write this email. Before, I did not really "get" that I am not the body or the mind - although I thought I did. Now, when "I" look at the world, there is closer identification with the awareness that is seeing rather than a Louise that is seeing.

... and then the kid is rude and a mom persona pops up out of nowhere full of outrage ...

- as the ego personas appear I recognise them - can see the agendas - no judgement - just noticing - seeing Louise's various dances with more clarity.

The mind feels very unstable at times ... like I am going mad ... although I also have never felt more sane.

much love

Louise

F.: And hello to you as well, Louise, along with Peace and Love and Light. As in Your case, that series is still generating a volume of letters to the site. Many are reporting that identification with the background has begun to happen with more frequency. [The book CONSCIOUSNESS / AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond SELF-Realization covers that "background" topic in detail.]

Identification with THAT is now happening with many site visitors even as all this "stuff" is passing by in the foreground and is merely being witnessed, including, "the kid" or the "ex" or "the boss from hell."

[As an exception, one person/persona who continues to hate vehemently his "ex-wife" did write an attack letter after the post which reported that I, the consciousness, see an "ex" and "her relatives" as nothing more than highly corrupted specks of consciousness. He is sure that there is a "lying floyd" who "still hates them all and needs to admit it." When the happenings with those persons occurred, prior to "floyd's" Realization, emotional intoxication did most certainly happen as well. Post-Realization, "they" faded away. That is the guaranteed fate of all of the foreground "stuff." Peace comes if "they" fade away now, but all will fade away as the consciousness fades away and unmanifests. Why not let the fading happen now and enjoy the results? For another example, consider the pointer from the Advaitin Jesus who purportedly said, "Heaven and earth shall fade away."]

While the fluctuations between feeling sane or not, between feeling happy or not, and between identifying with THAT or not can all happen along the "journey," an "Aha" moment can come when all is seen to have been a figment of the imagination...all a series of illusions that have never been what they appeared to be.

Meanwhile, what you describe is an indicator of movement along the "path." A shift is obvious from what was revealed in your first e-mails and what is revealed now. You are moving beyond programming and denial and those other relative variables that block clear seeing.

(Programming inspires persons to "settle"...to rationalize. They will claim that moments of extreme joy, interspersed throughout a relative existence that is primarily boring or empty or even miserable, "make it all worthwhile." Denial inspires persons to ignore unhappiness or repressed anger or even deep-seated depression.)

The content of Your e-mail suggests that, though You might not have fixated unwaveringly in abidance as the Absolute, you are tasting that sweetness more and more frequently. In the meantime, continue to enjoy both the subject-object witnessing that is going on as well as the peace and lightness that manifest when the Pure Witnessing happens. f.

WHY BE RID OF THE FICTIONAL “MIND”? Review Part “B”

FROM A SITE VISITOR: I finally understand your pointer that even if arms and legs and organs are ‘lost’ I Am still Me. But now, how to be free of my racing mind, once and for all?

15. Persons want to use the “mind” to “heal the mind” or to “attain peace of mind.” That cannot be done.

16. Only after a discarding of the concepts of the “mind” (which inhibit the natural functioning of pure consciousness) can the pure consciousness become aware of itSelf. In the process, the unreasonable, insane, and illogical thoughts, words and deeds that were being generated via the “mind” will cease.

17. The “treatment” for what ails the non-Realized is the removal of misconceptions and erroneous beliefs which are blocking access to the pure consciousness.

18. Neither the addition of more concepts into the “mind” nor the use of concepts that are already present in the “mind” can provide the light that is required to remove erroneous beliefs and false impressions. The “Advaita Teachings” are really “non-teachings” and “un-teachings.”

19. Once Full Realization happens, no who remains as a do-er.

20. Most who think they have reached that “spiritual mind” stage also think that they have arrived at the place of high noon, of the brightest level of enlightenment; yet they mistake the dawn for the noon, having taken only three of the seven steps required for Full Realization.

21. Consciousness is rooted in the Absolute. The brain is rooted in the elements. The “mind” is rooted in programming, conditioning, lies, concepts, ideas, superstitions, myths, falsehoods, enculturation, and domestication.

22. See that mirages are mirages. One cannot “eliminate” illusions. One can only see them for what they are.

23. The “source” is not characterized by a “purified mind” or “re-purified mind.” The source was, is, and shall forever be…mindless. It is, in fact, Awareness with no awareness of awareness.

24. Persons can spend a lifetime “working on the mind,” but their labors in that regard will avail them nothing. What could it possibly avail persons traveling across a desert if they were to undertake the task of trying to eliminate all of the mirages that seem to appear along their path? Why not see illusions as illusions and be done with it all in one fell swoop?

25. That is the invitation here: to Realize fully and thereafter witness all as it happens nisarga-ly, functioning naturally without a mind—or multiple minds—that generate either (1) a non-stop whirlwind that churns up an unending cyclone of thoughts that eliminate any opportunity for stillness to manifest, or (2) subconscious motives that drive persons without their having the slightest awareness that they are being driven rather than making conscious decisions.

26. So-called "intelligence" is nothing more than the “mind’s” reflection of the real…not the real at all.

27. While phenomenal perceiving ("mis-perceiving") is made possible via that intellect, the “mind” hasn’t a clue regarding phenomenal mis-perceptions and noumenal reality.

28. If that buddhi continues to operate via the auspices of “the mind,” then pure consciousness will remain blocked. You Are the Self, but the “mind” prevents persons from realizing that; therefore, the non-Realized will never be free of the relative effects that plague their relative existence since the pure consciousness is not known.

29. The “mind” can become such a source of deception that it will convince persons to believe that the relative is the real, blocking them from ever being in touch with reality.

30. The “mind” can generate such delusion that it will ignore the fact that the cause of all is all and will thereafter be convinced that the cause of all is…providential.

31. It is humans—having been exposed to processes that have warped or blocked the originally pure consciousness—that must take certain steps if they would return the consciousness to its original condition during early manifestation. That is the exact (and continuous) condition of the consciousness manifested via birds and animals so long as that consciousness is not subjected to domestication and human influence.

Finally, the non-duality poet Shakespeare reported through the words of his character Hamlet, “…there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”

It is indeed thinking that generates duality; duality produces a desire to judge and label “others” as “good” or “bad”; judging generates a sense of separation and the resulting egotism; and separation and egotism spawn fluctuations of being happy and unhappy.

Fluctuations in being happy and unhappy insure not only turmoil and chaos but all other relative misery…even including wars; and the widespread delusion of the masses insures that they will continue to fail to see that—in regards to all of the relative mess referenced above—it is the “mind’s” thinking that makes it so. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

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Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

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Click LIBERATION

and

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

WHY BE RID OF THE FICTIONAL “MIND”? Review Part “A”

FROM A SITE VISITOR: I finally understand your pointer that even if arms and legs and organs are ‘lost’ I Am still Me. But now, how to be free of my racing mind, once and for all?

F.: And now, the review:

1. THE KEY POINTER: Because the “mind” is nothing more than a conglomeration of accumulated concepts and dualistic beliefs, it cannot possibly lead one to the no-concept, non-dual Reality.

2. You cannot possibly forget your “self” if you do not forget all of the other distractions being churned out by your chaotic mind, whether those thoughts are “spiritual” or “evil.” All thoughts are dualistic.

3. For persons failing in the search for peace and happiness, it matters not if the “mind” is churning out thoughts that focus on “God” or on “decadence.” In the peace and happiness of the no-concept, non-dual Reality, neither “good thoughts” nor “bad thoughts” happen…neither sin nor virtue exists.

4. Analysis paralysis will not move you along the “path.”

5. The non-Realized who finally conclude that “life is meaningless” often become suicidal; the Realized that finally conclude “life is meaningless” become joyous and free.

6. "Mind" must be transcended to Realize.

7. A “mind” is not needed to Realize since a conglomeration of lies cannot reveal Truth.

8. It is belief in the conceptualized, dualistic content of the “mind” that blocks the consciousness from being aware of the Truth of Oneness.

9. It is necessary to know thyself before You can know ThySelf; that is, everything you are not must be Realized—and eliminated as possible identities—before You can Realize THAT Which You Are.

10. Since a “mind” is a storehouse of accumulated external knowledge, the “mind” is of no use for tapping into that which is already known internally.

11. Since it is the “mind” which is full of concepts and which blocks the pure consciousness from knowing itSelf, obviously “the mind” cannot be an aid in the search for Self; instead, it will be an impediment.

12. The intent of the Direct Path teacher is to use argument to un-persuade, not to persuade; to de-program, not to program or re-program; and to expunge the conglomeration of pollutants that are referred to collectively as “the mind.”

13. “The non-Realized” are merely manifested specks of consciousness that have not been re-purified post-programming, post-conditioning, post-domestication, and post-enculturation.

14. The Direct Path Advaitin teacher’s invitation is not to “Think about all these 'profound things' that I have told you” but to "Allow these pointers to inspire you to start questioning everything that persons have told you." Only rebels will approach the starting gate of the “path” to Realization; sheep never will. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (TOMORROW: End of review)

RELATED TO TODAY’S POST:

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND” (There Is Only Peace If You’re Out of Your Mind)

and

Click LIBERATION

and

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT