THE FICTION REGARDING BODY AND MIND MUST BE UNDERSTOOD BEFORE DISCUSSING PERSONALITY, Part Five

An Advaita Vedanta realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, and dwelling in the natural state as taught by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Just “found” Advaita and just found your site. Been reading some recent entries. Have dealt with the fallacy of the body idea. All these years, looking for peace of mind—never considered there’s no such thing, as you say. Makes sense now. Problems with personality though I don’t get yet. Can you give me in a nutshell something that would help me understand that and the Nisarga yoga you mention? Thx. Frank.

F.: (Continued from yesterday) In a discussion that followed yesterday’s post regarding this simple message that can lead to simple living, Ginny raised the issue of “the paradox of simplicity.” In that regard, she observed:

I would not have been able to “become aware” or have “realized” if not for the years of bashing my head against the wall trying to assimilate the contradictions that were carried on a daily basis. Oddly this time is necessary…the going “back” through all the layers of delusion, the work that “pays off”. “Time” spent with You has only benefited me although early on it caused a great deal of disequilibrium or perceived confusion. Now it is freedom.

Ginny’s pointer regarding that which typically happens before “the readiness” manifests cannot be stated any clearer, so now the discussion will turn to the second part of your query: nisarga yoga. Nisarga (or natural) yoga is a system for delivering pointers whereby programmed persons can be freed from the constraints of beliefs and the effects of conditioning and live in a natural manner.

This most simple of all systems of yoga, in its purest form, makes clear that (a) this physical universe is subject to natural “laws” rather than “supernatural” or “human” laws and makes clear that (b) peaceful living can only happen unwaveringly if natural living happens. Why?

Beliefs about supernatural laws are based in myths and paganism and superstition and are popular among those who want power and control and rewards and continuity of body-mind personality (all of which involves nothing supernatural but which does involve concepts dreamed up by controlling, fearful, desirous men).

Human laws are based in egotism, in a desire to control, and in attempts to legislate away unfounded (but seemingly real) fears. They evolve from persons' fears, from their desires to exercise power, from a fear-based desire to “protect” the body-mind-personality triad, and from wanting to guarantee eternal continuity for that relative triad.

Thus, all that is considered to be “supernatural” and “human” is fictional nonsense, rooted in relative desires and relative fears. To understand what natural living is really like, therefore, one cannot look to humans for the model but can observe animals such as the deer instead.

While various yogas entail on-going spiritual practices that are intended to lead to spiritual experiences, nisarga yoga would move the seeker beyond that stage.

(That is why the pointer was offered earlier that the true nature of the body must first be understood. Once erroneous notions about “birth being meaningful” are understood to be false, then erroneous notions about “spirituality having some noble meaning” will also be understood to be false.)

Most systems of yoga are connected to certain religions of India and incorporate their dogma and practices. Many either instruct or invite seekers to use the systems to reach a “spiritual state.” Conversely, the purest form of nisarga yoga invites the seeker to reach the religious and/or spiritual level and then move beyond.

If a full understanding of the nisarga teachings manifests, then the remainder of the manifestation of consciousness (the remainder of “the relative life”) happens in a natural, rather than in an unnatural or supernatural, fashion. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TODAY’S POST:

Click LIBERATION

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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 SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

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Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

THE FICTION REGARDING BODY AND MIND MUST BE UNDERSTOOD BEFORE DISCUSSING PERSONALITY, Part Four

Advaita Vedanta enlightenment, realization, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality, nonduality, your original nature, and the means for dwelling in the natural state per Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Just “found” Advaita and just found your site. Been reading some recent entries. Have dealt with the fallacy of the body idea. All these years, looking for peace of mind—never considered there’s no such thing, as you say. Makes sense now. Problems with personality though I don’t get yet. Can you give me in a nutshell something that would help me understand that and the Nisarga yoga you mention? Thx. Frank.

F.: (Continued from yesterday) At the end of yesterday’s post, this pointer was offered:

If an awareness of all non-truths were to explode into consciousness one day, the light given off by that explosion would be so intense that it would burn away all personality.

Then, this question was received yesterday:

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Why all the discussion about personality being “burned away”? Keep it simple. Tell them it’s all illusion and it’s all relative and that’s that. End of story. Gerald

So, Gerald, how many Advaita readings did you read before coming to that simple conclusion? Were you introduced to the Advaita teachings by a neo-Advaita teacher who said, “You’re already enlightened, Gerald. That’s it. I have nothing more to tell you…now go”?

The banner at the top of this site makes clear that the “Direct Path Method” is employed here. In July of 2007 when the various methods of teachings were discussed, this was offered:

Contrary to the Neo-Advaita Method that says, “Why don’t you just get it? Understand it’s all illusion. Now you can go,” the Direct Path Method teacher offers other pointers and guides seekers through the steps that most require in order for Realization to happen.

Interestingly, in an e-mail in which you claim that personality is illusion, evidence of the Type Eight “Boss” persona is revealed and shows that “Gerald” still lives under the influence of personality. Yet your comment is shared in case Frank might well be a candidate for reaching the understanding via the neo-Advaita approach.

On the other hand, the Direct Path Method might provide the key, so the discussion here will continue.

And yes, these Direct Path teachings really are quite simple on a certain level. And yes, the effects (of believing in that figment of the imagination called “personality”) certainly are limited to the relative.

In terms of the Absolute, all of this—all of this dance, all of the discussions, all of the false identifications—all of it is admittedly meaningless. So why not dismiss it all with the point that “the results of believing that personas are real cannot occur in the Absolute…end of story”?

The answer is, “Because it is only post-Realization (and post-belief in personality) that the relative existence which you thought was so complicated is seen to be so simple. Pre-Realization, persons know so little about their true nature—about their true and simple condition—that the relative existence certainly appears to be quite thorny and convoluted and problematic.

It is only after the original nature is understood that dwelling in the peace of the natural state can happen for the remainder of the manifestation.

As long as a person such as “frank” or “gerald” has been (and remains) trapped in personality identification, the odds are that he will have been “a good boy” at times, “a bad boy” at times; “the lover” at times, “the abandoned one” at times; “the spouse” for a time and the divorcé at times; “the employee” at times and “the unemployed person” at times; ad infinitum.

It is that kind of relative existence that appears to be so complicated, not these teachings. All of those duality-inspired fluctuations will certainly seem highly complex and difficult as a person shifts from believing “I am this” to “No, wait—I’m not that anymore. Now, I’m something else.”

Such is the relative curse of personality assumption, and that is why the Advaitin teacher offering the understanding via the Direct Path Method will provide the exact steps required in order to “go back,” to “reverse to the source,” to “follow the path by which persons come” to be trapped in body-mind-personality identification.

True, it is in the relative only that these teachings have any relevance, but it is only in abidance as the Absolute that the relative existence can be free of “complications” and the misery of fluctuation and instability and chaos.

Again, it is only after the original nature is understood that dwelling in the natural state can happen for the remainder of the manifestation. Then only can peace happen. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

THE FICTION REGARDING BODY AND MIND MUST BE UNDERSTOOD BEFORE DISCUSSING PERSONALITY, Part Three

Advaita Vedanta realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, and the means for dwelling in the natural state per Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Just “found” Advaita and just found your site. Been reading some recent entries. Have dealt with the fallacy of the body idea. All these years, looking for peace of mind—never considered there’s no such thing, as you say. Makes sense now. Problems with personality though I don’t get yet. Can you give me in a nutshell something that would help me understand that and the Nisarga yoga you mention? Thx. Frank.

F.: (Continued from yesterday) To understand how to “go back, reverse, to the source” and to “follow the path by which you came,” is it not necessary to find the first point on the return “path” where no body and mind and personality identification had been taught and learned? Would that not be the "first target" to aim for in order to be free of belief in the falsehoods regarding the body and "the mind" and the personality?

Is it not obvious that the first point after the manifestation of consciousness but prior to being taught (and having learned) body identification and "mind content" and false identities (along with the development of personality) would be the child stage?

Take the “Child Ignorance” stage to be the stage where the child knows “I Am”…but nothing else. As with the deer abiding in the forest, an elemental brain has formed and the consciousness is manifest. That is all. Do you understand, therefore, why many Advaitin teachers advise beginners to focus on the "I Am" only as they begin a "journey" of following "in reverse" the "path by which they came" to body-mind-personality identification?

In that "Child Ignorance" stage which precedes the “learned ignorance” stage among humans, there are no ideas, no concepts, no learned ignorance, and no taught or adopted roles being accepted as false identities. No personality has developed so no personas are accepted as identities.

At that point, since no personality has developed, there is neither Multiple Personality Disorder nor any of the other many personality disorders that will manifest by early adulthood. Because the “I Am” (only) is known at that point, no accumulation of the concepts and ideas that will eventually be obstacles to Self-Awareness has begun.

Over the next few years, an opportunity would be available (as children grow and mature) for them to be made aware of Self, but personality begins to form as children are exposed to more and more of the dysfunction that now typifies the relative existence and which triggers a belief in the false self...and, eventually, in many false selves.

The first false self that will be adopted as a persona develops in reaction to exposure to various abnormal circumstances. That earliest persona will be one of the nine most basic personality types, such as “The Helper,” “The Performer,” “The Boss” or “The Peacemaker.” Later, so many roles will be assumed as identities that most persons of adult age cannot even begin to make a complete list of all the personas they have adopted.

Thus, even though the potential to understand Self might be present among youth of a certain maturity level, the formation of personality—and the assumption of false identities and the playing of false roles—will obscure clear seeing.

There, though not in a nutshell, is the relative problem with personality about which you inquired: it not only blocks the seeing of truth but also (when personas function in conjunction with the false content of “the mind”) all thoughts and words and deeds become controlled by personality, even as persons mistakenly believe that they are choosing their thoughts and deciding what they say and controlling what they do.

If that were the case, then 99% of the planet’s population would never do anything that is self-destructive or self-defeating or detrimental to that form-cum-consciousness. The historical record shows, however, that such damaging conduct, relatively speaking, has become the abnormal norm.

If an awareness of all non-truths were to explode into consciousness one day, the light given off by that explosion would be so intense that it would burn away all personality, but that is a rare occurrence indeed on this planet. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TODAY’S POST:

Click LIBERATION

and

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

and

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

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 FICTION REGARDING BODY AND MIND MUST BE UNDERSTOOD BEFORE DISCUSSING PERSONALITY, Part Two

Advaita Vedanta enlightenment, realization, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality, nonduality, your original nature, and the means for dwelling in the natural state per Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Just “found” Advaita and just found your site. Been reading some recent entries. Have dealt with the fallacy of the body idea. All these years, looking for peace of mind—never considered there’s no such thing, as you say. Makes sense now. Problems with personality though I don’t get yet. Can you give me in a nutshell something that would help me understand that and the Nisarga yoga you mention? Thx. Frank.

F.: Yesterday’s post offered this pointer:

Only is you truly understand all of the false beliefs regarding body and mind, beliefs that all persons (the non-Realized) think are true, can you be ready to discuss the relative dilemmas that are produced by belief in personality.

If it is not understood that there is an exact order to the process by which the manifested consciousness came to view the body and mind as self, then seekers will not be able to reverse out of being stuck in those misconceptions and move along the "path" and “find” the True Self.

Regarding this matter, Maharaj said, “…You should go back, reverse, to the source” and “Follow the path by which you came.”

Dennis Waite says, "As ever, in the philosophy of Advaita, the teaching is graded to suit the level of understanding of the student - and it is no use trying to 'jump levels' if we have not yet grasped the lower level principles."

He also says, "All levels of identification must be transcended and this should be done in a controlled and stepwise manner that has been validated through millennia of teaching. Attractive though it might seem, it is not possible to jump straight to the end."

So, there are “levels of identification,” ranging from identifying only with THAT Which You Are to identifying with the elemental body which You are not. There is an exact process by which seekers move from the basest level of body identification and “reverse to the source”—reverse to understanding THAT Which They Are.

When Maharaj advised seekers to “follow the path by which you came,” he was referring specifically to the path by which you came to believe that you are a body and that the content of your “mind” is truth and that you are the roles you play.

To be free of all three of those deceptions, you must take in an exact order the “seven steps” by which you and all persons came to be blocked from knowing THAT.

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

If you understand the hoax called the body and the hoax called “the mind,” only then can the hoax of personality be understood. Thus, Dennis cautions that you cannot “jump levels” on this “journey” of being free of believing in every hoax.

Many seekers want to “jump straight to the end” (often exclaiming in frustration, “Stop with all these pointers and just tell me who I am”). That is impossible. Each seeker must first find everything that he/she is not. Only then can an understanding of What You Are explode into consciousness.

Only then can you understand Your original nature; only then can you dwell in the natural (nisarga) state for the remainder of the manifestation of the consciousness; only then can attachment to ignorance and suffering and chaos end; only then can peace and joy happen. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

THE FICTION REGARDING BODY AND MIND MUST BE UNDERSTOOD BEFORE DISCUSSING PERSONALITY, Part One

Advaita Vedanta enlightenment, realization, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality, nonduality, your original nature, and the means for dwelling in the natural state per Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Just “found” Advaita and just found your site. Been reading some recent entries. Have dealt with the fallacy of the body idea. All these years, looking for peace of mind—never considered there’s no such thing, as you say. Makes sense now. Problems with personality though I don’t get yet. Can you give me in a nutshell something that would help me understand that and the Nisarga yoga you mention? Thx. Frank.

F.: Hello, Frank. Fresh out of nutshells, but maybe a few pointers could provide some additional understanding in the areas you request.

First, personality has been covered in detail. You can search the site:

1. Type “personality” in the white box next to “SEARCH BLOG”

2. Click “SEARCH BLOG”

3. After the search is done, click “EDIT” and “Find in this page”

4. At the bottom of the new screen, type personality again, then search each instance

Now, before moving to personality, some questions regarding your understanding of the body must be asked. Are you really aware of how the elements “came together”? Are you free of any notion that anything magical or supernatural is involved with the “coming together” of elements?

Are you completely aware of the fact that when those elements “go apart” someday, that particular set of elements will never form again (or be formed again or brought back together again by any power)? If so, then your understanding in regards to “the mind” should be visited.

As for “the mind,” do you truly understand that it is the “noise center” on this planet? Do you truly know that all internal noise—all of which can be likened to the chatter of a thousand monkeys—is generated by the mind?

Are you aware of the fact that all of the external noise that comes from persons and that pollutes the planet is also generated by the “mind” and its belief in ego-states that must be heard? Do you really understand that everything generated by that source is false?

Do you understand that peace comes with an understanding of truth and that chaos happens when the false is thought to be the truth? Do you truly accept that there is no such thing as peace of mind and that there can only be peace if you are out of your mind?

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

Are you really willing to discard all of the concepts you’ve been taught? Are you truly willing to stop all needless talking? Are you willing to listen instead? Do you accept that it is possible that you could be content at some point in the silence? Are you willing to devalue the “mind” which you have valued for so long?

Do you actually understand that the words spoken by persons are non-truths and that the only words which point toward the truth are those heard when the consciousness speaks?

Only is you truly understand all of the false beliefs regarding body and mind, beliefs that persons think are true, can you be ready to discuss the dilemmas generated by personality. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TODAY’S POST:

Click LIBERATION

and

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

"NETI-NETI" IS ALSO A THORN

Advaita Vedanta enlightenment, realization, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality, nonduality, your original nature, and the means for dwelling in the natural state per Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Finally, a real understanding of neti-neti after I read you last series. Thank you. I see now that my entire search or journey or whatever it should be called has always involved trying to get the “either” or the “or” and by trying to acquire more religious knowledge and then later more spiritual knowledge. I was in the box and did not consider looking outside the box. No wonder we get stuck and never complete the journey! Thanks again, Jesse.

F.: Exactly. Here, nothing will be given, including religious or spiritual knowledge. Religious and spiritual roles must be played near the mid-range of the “path,” but to refuse to see that those, too, are roles that must be abandoned will lead persons to end their “journey” with the false belief that they “have arrived” when they have not.

By the “journey’s” real end, all concepts and beliefs and roles will be taken away or gladly forfeited or discarded, should You come to understand. Those who have gained something new (such as religious or spiritual identities) are far from the end of the “path” where de-accumulation (including the forfeiture of all roles and identities) happens. Neti-neti is merely a tool available during the “taking away or discarding” process.

That process takes away the content of “mind” as well as the prized intellect, the taught knowledge, and the learned ignorance—all of which are given such merit and held in such high esteem among the non-Realized.

To emphasize for beginners on this “path,” understand that the “antidote” for the “sickened” consciousness requiring re-purification—or unblocking or a re-direction of focus—is not more programming or different programmed. What is required is an end to all programming.

(What does that tell you about being in "this program" or "that program" and working this program or that program? Just more programming…just more learned ignorance. Armchair psychology is worth what you pay for it: nothing. Past postings here make clear that, while every programmed and conditioned person on the planet reaches a point where persona-adoption generates personality disorders, the Advaita philosophy cannot provide—and does not claim to provide—the services of qualified, trained professionals which many cases require.)

For those persons who are ready for these teachings, the proper “Advaita treatment” requires “removal,” not addition, which involves de-programming and de-accumulation. More programming and more accumulation of more information in never required.

Thus, the advice of the Realized Advaitin is never to “use thorns to remove thorns and then save your thorns and revisit them daily.” It is merely to use thorns (the teachings being shared) in order to remove thorns (the concepts that have been taught/learned).

Afterwards, you’ll toss all the thorns. Who that is sane would focus for days or months or years on the spot where a thorn had once been? Who would attach to the original thorn that caused so much relative pain and suffering? Who would assign special value to the thorns used to remove thorns and feel some attachment to those thorns?

Neti-neti is a thorn that can be used to remove thorns. Once all thorns have been removed, you can relax and take it easy and function in an AS IF fashion for the remainder of the manifestation. Peace and Light. Please enter the silence of consideration.

THE “RELATIVE DILEMMA,” Part Six, The Conclusion

Advaita Vedanta enlightenment, realization, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality, nonduality, your original nature, and the means for dwelling in the natural state per Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: (Reference is to the 17 February 2008 posting) Today you wrote about the re-purified (or unblocked) consciousness. Which is it, or do those mean the same thing?

F.: (Continued from yesterday) Among persons, all trapped in duality as they are, their beliefs and “values” will display an element of such artificial ranges of alternatives as expressed via “either-or.”

What happens after the neti-neti understanding eliminates all former identities and beliefs and then leads to Realization? The elimination of duality; of beliefs; of "either-or" dilemmas arising from belief in limited, artificial ranges of alternatives; of judgmental thoughts about “good values” or “bad values”; as well as the elimination of all “either-or” reasoning fallacies.

The followed has been pointed out in previous posts:

I do not live anywhere because I do not live. 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.

Abiding as THAT, there are no “either-or” possibilities, there are no concepts, there is no duality, there are no limits, there are no dilemmas, there is no chaos, there are no fluctuations, there is no instability, there is no world to deal with, and there are no personality disorders because there is no personality.

There is neither a heaven nor a hell; there are no dual-minded persons; there is no sin; there is no virtue; there is no god; there is neither power nor weakness; there are no countries; there are no races. There is no one who is either good or bad; in fact, there is no one at all.

There are no impressions, memories or dogma. Eventually, a state was reached where there are neither lessons to learn nor anything to study, though the “journey” was marked by both, as well as by “questioning it all”; there is no faith, so there is certainly no blind faith; there are neither fears nor desires.

There is no “mind” and there are no traditions that must be blindly followed just because persons for decades or centuries before did those things blindly; there is no learned ignorance nor refusal to transcend spiritual and/or religious roles.

There are neither ideas nor attitudes nor concepts. There is neither mental intoxication nor emotional intoxication nor spiritual intoxication. There is nothing unnatural and there is nothing “supernatural.”

There are no personas so there is neither ego nor egotism. There is no thinking, so there is most assuredly no magical thinking of the type that assigns "supernatural cause" to naturally-occurring events.

When the consciousness speaks, there are no words in the vocabulary to express such concepts as “better than,” “not good enough for,” “different from,” “separate from,” “ownership,” “doer-ship,” “personal attributes,” or individuality.

Finally, for advanced seekers that would further their understanding of the functioning of the totality, try applying the neti-neti to the “self vs. Eternal Self” paradigm. Then understand that THAT is beyond the beingness and non-beingness, beyond self and Self, and beyond self-ness and Self-ness as well.

If you would understand your original nature and dwell for the remainder of the manifestation in the perfect peace that can happen only if all of your anthropomorphic notions are abandoned, then complete the seven-step “journey” to Realization and be free of all selfishness and all concepts of self-ness and Self-ness as well.

Find THAT which preceded the AM-ness, THAT which preceded the THAT of this universe, and then You will understand how it is that I was present for the formation of this universe..and all others as well. And how it is that You were too. Please enter the silence of consideration.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TODAY’S POST:

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

and

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

and

Click THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS

and

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

and

Click CONSCIOUSNESS

and

Click AN ADVAITA VEDANTA RETREAT

THE “RELATIVE DILEMMA,” Part Five

Advaita Vedanta enlightenment, realization, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality, nonduality, your original nature, and the means for dwelling in the natural state per Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: (Reference is to the 17 February 2008 posting) Today you wrote about the re-purified (or unblocked) consciousness. Which is it, or do those mean the same thing?

F.: (Continued from yesterday) Here are some additional examples of reasoning fallacies that generate the “relative dilemmas” that result from the masses being programmed and conditioned and domesticated and enculturated in ways that leave them handicapped with no ability to reason logically.

First, examples dealing with persons' “phenomenal issues”:

“Either you believe what I believe or you are not good enough to be in relationship with me.”

“Either you join with our country to attack others or you will be considered an enemy that can be attacked by us.”

“Either you allow our group to stay in power or our enemies will be successful at killing all of you.”

“Either you become an exact replica of me—reflecting my thoughts and words and deeds—or you need to admit that you obviously do not love me.”

Next, examples dealing with persons “philosophical issues”:

“Either you are ‘pro’ my ideas or you are ‘con’…you cannot function from a position of neutrality.”

“Either you believe one thing or you believe another…you can’t have ‘no beliefs’.”

“Either you think one set of beliefs and concepts are prized or you must replace those with another set of beliefs and concepts that you would be willing to fight for or even die for.”

“You must accept as truth either the concepts taught by one group or the concepts taught by another group. You cannot cast aside all concepts and function as a no-concept reality.”

“Either you believe that one specific event can be identified as the single cause for each thing that happens or you are mistaken.”

Next, examples dealing with what persons take to be their “religious or ideological or spiritual issues”:

“Either you define god the way I do are you are a heathen.”

“Either you eat what we tell you to eat or you are not spiritual.”

“Either you adhere to the principles of my dogma or you will burn forever in hell.”

“Either you give up your current beliefs and learn the new beliefs that we teach or you will ____ (fill-in-the-blank: “die,” “go to hell,” “be punished,” “suffer,” etc.)

“Either you adhere to the principles of my dogma or I have the right to kill you.”

“Members of our group can guide you and can tell you unequivocally what is either right or wrong.”

“Either you believe that everyone in New Orleans was plagued with negative karma, drawing the effects of Hurricane Katrina into their region, or you have no understanding of the way the universe works.”

“Someday you will go either to heaven or to hell.”

“Either you believe with unquestioning faith that there is one god who is an all-powerful, all-knowing male or you will die and suffer.”

Either you are sinful or virtuous…you cannot be ‘neither’.”

Note: For those who would realize, it must be understood that (a) “either-or” always involves duality and hence untruths; that (b) the “either-or” message is unnatural but is inherent, archetypally; and that (c) all “dilemmas” involve duality and are therefore based in delusion and nonsense.

It must also be understood that neti-neti (not "either-or") points toward the truth…toward the unicity. Once all former ideas and beliefs and concepts have dissolved after the manifestation of the neti-neti awareness, then only can one enter into an understanding of the no-concept, non-dual Reality. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

THE “RELATIVE DILEMMA,” Part Four

An Advaita Vedanta enlightenment, realization, nisarga yoga site discussing non-duality, nonduality, your original nature, and the means of dwelling in the natural state per Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: (Reference is to the 17 February 2008 posting) Today you wrote about the re-purified (or unblocked) consciousness. Which is it, or do those mean the same thing?

F.: (Continued from yesterday) Now, please review this definition offered at the beginning of this series:

The word “dilemma” (Greek, “di”=“two” and “lemma”=“alternatives, choices or propositions”) refers to a “difficult situation” where a person is forced to choose between two propositions, neither of which is a satisfactory alternative.

It can be seen, therefore, that every “difficult situation” in the relative existence is based in “di”...in duality. Too, understand that all dualistic beliefs are stored in that warehouse of fiction called the “mind.”

Furthermore, understand that once persons are “minded,” they become “dual-minded” persons who are unstable in all ways. A psychiatrist in one of David Baldacci’s novels tells one of his patients,

“…the answer to your problems is between your left and right frontal lobes. It’s a distance of about four inches and quite remarkable in that it contains trillions of bits of thoughts and memories that make you, you.”

Yes, the root of all “difficult situations” in the relative are rooted in the dualistic thoughts and memories stored in that portion of the elemental brain than is referred to as “the mind.” Therein, the false notion of “you” is housed, a notion that blocks awareness of the Real You. Thus "blocked," "you" really believe that "the false, imagined you" is really "you"; as a result, few can ever come to know the True Self.

Contradicting the dualistic “either-or” fallacy that traps the masses in illusion, the Advaitin poet Shakespeare has his character Hamlet offer this pointer: “…there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” So there is nothing that is either good or bad. It is only the thoughts and memories stored in that “four-inch area” that leads persons to take such "either-or" duality to be true.

And yes, the fictional “you” is nothing more than a mental image, a reflection of the “I” consciousness that supposes that it lives in “a world” that is also nothing more than a picture of your “I” consciousness.

The Advaitin Jesus reportedly said, "Heaven and earth shall fade away," meaning that when the consciousness fades away (un-manifests) from the form that persons take themselves to be, their "pictured world" and "pictured self" and "pictured heaven" will fade away as well. It's all in the "mind," not at all in Reality.

Yet that four-inch area of the brain prevents most from knowing the truth of their limitless, infinite, original nature, and that is why most persons will stay trapped within their limited and finite "minds" and will continue to employ their cultures' closed, “either-or” scenarios; that will prevent their looking “outside the box” at the third possibility: Neti-Neti.

Even more rarely do they consider the “neither-nor” possibility: “I am neither sinful nor moral; I am neither good nor bad.” ("Neti-Neti" reveals the truth of "not this; not this"...the truth of "neither-nor." If applied to each and every label and form/space and name, Advaitin seekers can eventually eliminate belief in every relative concept, including the "I" and "the world," and arrive at the eternal Truth.)

Understand how I am neither sinful nor virtuous and neither good nor bad and you’ll also see why this speck of consciousness is neither body nor mind nor persona. This pointer was offered earlier as well:

Programmed persons are trying to maneuver through their relative existence with “the handicap” of many “reasoning fallacies” that drive them to establish “impossible conditions” or “either-or fallacies” of duality where the two options they typically consider are both erroneous and based in illogical nonsense.

While some instances of “either-or” can be valid (a woman is either pregnant or not) the “either-or” scenarios used among the masses are typically fallacious. Only the objective witness of "neither-nor" can arrive at the Pure Witness, True Self state.

Tomorrow’s discussion will cite specific examples of reasoning fallacies that generate the “relative dilemmas” that result from the masses being programmed and conditioned and domesticated and enculturated in ways that leave them handicapped with no ability to reason logically. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

RELATED TO TODAY’S POST:

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 “RELATIVE DILEMMA,” Part Three

Direct path seekers of enlightenment and self-realization via Advaita Vedanta, known also as non-duality, Vedanta, nondualism, advaita, or nonduality, can find discussions here regarding your original nature and the means for dwelling in the natural state. The nisarga or natural yoga as presented by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is offered.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: (Reference is to the 17 February 2008 posting) Today you wrote about the re-purified (or unblocked) consciousness. Which is it, or do those mean the same thing?

F.: (Continued from 19 February 2008) Yesterday, this pointer was offered:

The fact is that no seeker’s movement along the “path” should be delayed by joining in the “blocked vs. warped vs. distracted” debate.

Instead, these key pointers remain:

1. Maharaj said that each person could realize merely by tapping into the inner resource or the inner guru except that there are “obstacles in the way.”

2. As far as illusions and concepts, “Vedanta” refers to the end of knowledge, so why not end now the dualistic accumulations of religious and/or spiritual knowledge (a.k.a., “learned ignorance”) and be free of those obstacles once and for all?

3. In addition to concepts as obstacles to Realization, even the beingness can obstruct the seeing of truth if it is not understood that the beingness, along with all concepts associated with it, is also illusion.

(Where You were in the days prior to conception, there too You were for thousands and millions of years…for infinity. Whether the beingness—the I AM—is or not, That You Are. Note also that terms such as “where” and “The Absolute” are used only for discussion and are otherwise meaningless.)

4. All assumptions regarding “individuality” are untruths to be discarded, nothing more than projections of consciousness, no different from the fact that the “world” (and all thought to be contained therein) is merely a picture of each person’s “I” consciousness.

Whether those assumptions, projections, learned ignorance, concepts, and illusions contribute to “warping” or to “blocking” or to “obstructing” is less relevant to the “journey” than realizing that those assumptions, projections, learned ignorance, concepts, and illusions include the following that must be discarded if Full Realization is to happen:

Belief in duality

Impressions

Memories

Dogma

Blind faith

Fears

Desires

The “mind”

Traditions

The refusal to at least question the thoughts and words of teachings from those considered “the authorities” (whether in the political, governmental, religious, educational, military, law enforcement, or spiritual fields)

Learned ignorance (especially of the variety of so-called religious and spiritual knowledge)

The refusal to transcend spiritual and/or religious roles

Ideas

Attitudes

Concepts

Emotions

The unnatural

The “supernatural”

Personas

Ego

Egotism

Mistaking uniformity for unicity

Assigning supernatural explanations for naturally-occurring events on the planet

Belief in “better than”

Belief in “not good enough for”

Belief in "different from"

Belief in “separate from”

Belief in “mine”

Belief in “doer-ship”

Belief in individuality

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TODAY’S POST:

Click WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

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Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

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Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

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Click THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS

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

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Click CONSCIOUSNESS

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Click AN ADVAITA VEDANTA RETREAT

THE “RELATIVE DILEMMA,” Part Two

Via this forum, seekers interested in non-duality, specifically in the direct path method of the advaita vedanta nonduality teachings, can find discussions regarding your original nature and the means for dwelling in the natural state. The nisarga (natural) system of yoga as presented by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj of the Navnath sampradaya lineage is offered.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: (Reference is to the 17 February 2008 posting) Today you wrote about the re-purified (or unblocked) consciousness. Which is it, or do those mean the same thing?

F.: (Continued from yesterday) As persons learn more and more false concepts that are taught post-manifestation, the consciousness focuses more and more on what it is not and less and less on THAT Which It Is.

With certain seekers, the consciousness senses its presence to a degree, allowing persons to conclude on some level that "I am more than a body"; however, full awareness of that presence (and exactly what it is that is present) happens less and less as more concepts are learned.

Other persons, farther removed from such awareness, often reach a point of saying, “I don’t even know who I am.” With some, an intimation of “immortality” might register, but most who sense that there is “something with continuity” will be programmed to believe that it is the body-mind-personality triad (or some “soulful” version thereof) that will “last forever.”

So, whether being “blocked” is discussed, or “being impure” is discussed, or “having its focus misdirected” is discussed, the real issue is to see

(a) the result of the blockage or impurity or misdirection and

(b) how the Teachings can remove the obstacles which are preventing the consciousness from being aware of ItSelf, from witnessing in a pure manner, from knowing the unicity, from understanding the Absolute, and from abiding thereafter as the Absolute for the remainder of the manifestation.

Therefore, there is no willingness here to debate the merits of one teacher’s expression of the dilemma as opposed to that offered by others. Why? Because the relative results and effects are the same, either way.

In satsang sessions in the past, some seemed to understand the issue more easily when one term was used while others seemed to grasp the teaching more readily if other explanations were used.

Yet all point toward the same phenomenon in essence and in effect, so here, you will find various terms used on various occasions, mainly determined by the readiness of the seeker and by the requirement of different seekers to receive different pointers.

The point is that the consciousness, once programmed and conditioned and enculturated (whether “warped,” “blocked,” “diverted” or “distracted”) is prevented from witnessing clearly and from differentiating true from false.

Some might consider “the mind’s” content of warped ideas and concepts to be the detriment to accessing the pure consciousness. Others conclude that it is the “mind’s” recall of “memories” and “impressions” and “non-facts presented as facts” that causes the dilemma.

That ability of two parts of the brain to store and recall concepts has (according to some) “blocked” the pure consciousness from knowing itself or has distracted it from remembering truth by tapping into the inner resource or inner guru.

PLS. NOTE: Here’s a quote from The Advaita Quote Site (http://advaitaquotes.blogspot.com/) that addresses all three factors involved and clarifies their differences:

“Consciousness is rooted in the Absolute. The brain is rooted in the elements. The ‘mind’ is rooted in wrong programming and faulty conditioning and lies and concepts and ideas and superstitions and falsehoods.”

The fact is that no seeker’s movement along the “path” should be delayed by becoming fixated on the “blocked vs. warped vs. distracted” debate. Merely question all that you have been taught and consider the suggestion that the “journey” to Realization is more about unlearning than it is about learning. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TODAY’S POST:

Click SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

and

Click IT’S ALL BULLSHIT

Click THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS

and

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

and

Click CONSCIOUSNESS

and

Click AN ADVAITA VEDANTA RETREAT