HOW IT CAN APPEAR TO SOME THAT THEY ARE REALIZED WHEN THEY ARE NOT REALIZED AT ALL, Part Seven

An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.

Announcing the closing of the Non-Duality Bookstore as the focus in the future will be on providing books electronically. See at the end of this post an offer to receive at lower-than-eBook prices the last of the paper books remaining in stock at 50% off with free shipping in the U.S. and half-price shipping internationally.

Also, see details below for starting your own “Advaita In-Home Study Group”

F.: To review: as with many seekers in satsang over the years, many site visitors have also asked questions or made statements which disclose that they really have no understanding at all of the way to distinguish between thinking one is Realized and actually being Fully Realized.

It has been noted in this series that one must understand all that one is not before being prepared to understand That Which One Truly Is (and then to understand the Reality of the totality that is even beyond “Self-Realization.”) Similarly, it must be understood what Realization is not before being able to grasp what it is.

The 28 April 2009 post provided a partial list of some pointers toward non-Realization. E-mails had suggested that maybe the specks called Maharaj and Floyd are not Realized, seemingly showing anger and having some persons leave satsang sessions.

It should also now be understood (if you would understand what "Realization is not") that one of the major misunderstandings regarding “what Realization looks like” has been perpetuated in certain so-called “spiritual groups” that prize their concept of "acceptance of everything" as being "a key to happiness."

On one level, Advaitins do understand that there is no one to accept or to reject. (A deer, functioning in its no-mind manner, has no facility for deciding to accept or deciding to reject. What happens with the deer merely happens, and it happens naturally. So it is among the Realized.)

On the relative level, however, this should be understood: just because Reality has been overlaid on the relative does not mean that some “super-spiritual person” suddenly exists that will tolerant or accept whatever happens in the relative. As discussed yesterday, a religious or spiritual or super-spiritual person is an illusion. There is no such thing as a "super-accepter" or "super-tolerater."

That is why Maharaj was Fully Realized though he did not accept or tolerate blocked specks that came into the loft to show off, to argue in behalf of their ideologies, to take control of the forum, or to try to display the arrogance of their assumed religious or spiritual roles.

Thus, the charge that “If you were Realized, you’d practice tolerance and acceptance of all things” is just more nonsense. Consider: in Louisiana this week, a visit took place where a woman is facing a “relative problem.” A family of skunks has nested beneath a deck on her property.

Once it was learned where the skunks were, there was never even the slightest notion that “I am so evolved, I can accept and tolerate anything, so I think I'll pay a visit to the skunks." There was no belief that "I can take skunks or leave them, and I am better off when I apply that type of dualistic idea to everything in the relative."

Instead, I left the skunks alone. I stayed in a place that was nowhere near them, and that is also the way that the abidance happens now: few know "where I live," but be assured that it is nowhere near where "they" think it is.

Never was there a notion that “In fact, being around skunks would be a new experience…I might learn something from being around them or I can at least prove how accepting I am if I am able to stay around them for a time and not be 'bothered.' Yes, that's it...I shall hang with skunks to display my high level of tolerance for all to see.”

Post-Realization, relative behavior takes on a manner that persons would call “sane.” That suggests a psychic change when in fact there is no mind to change. The “change” that occurred was the rejection of all former beliefs that illusions were real. The "change" was merely the discarding of the content of the “mind” and thereafter functioning in a no-concept, non-dual, no-mind fashion.

There are many elements of the relative in addition to skunks that can “stink things up” in many ways: mental problems, emotional intoxication, chaos, “relationships” with insane persons, physical abuse, mental abuse, emotional abuse, religious abuse, spiritual abuse, ad infinitum. Now, there is no "hanging around those things" because some believe that "floyd should be accepting and tolerant of everything."

While the Realized function without attachment (that is, while witnessing happens on two levels) and while the emotional intoxication associated with ego-states ends, feelings do not. These postings would not be happening if there was a tolerance of—or acceptance of—all of the nonsensical results of conditioning that contribute to planet wide suffering.

The Realized still feel, and the degree of feeling—versus emoting—is not lessened post –Realization. It is sharpened because being at One with All generates empathy during the relative for the relative plight of all sufferers.

Knowing the roots of misery and suffering, never conclude that the Realized are so tolerate and accepting that psychic unhealthiness or emotional intoxication or suffering caused by programming and conditioning are things that the Realized should be "comfortable with."

Attachment to the concept of "acceptance" inspires dissociation, not freedom and peace, so be not misled by pseudo-philosophical and pseudo-spiritual teachings and preachings about the nobility of “acceptance” among those claiming to be “truly changed for the better" or "truly evolved.” Such teachings or preachings are just more nonsense.

Next, before looking at the type of evidence that can indicate Realization has happened, there are a few more pointers that mark the crossing of the borderline between non-Realization and Realization.

Persons begin to question what they have been taught all their lives, seeing that it does not seem to make sense. A willingness to listen to what could not be heard in the past manifests. The willingness to question what “they” told you is a prerequisite for even beginning the “journey.”

There is suddenly a shift in perspective. Persons that are ready to move along the “path” from the “I” to the Absolute stop assigning value to the "inconsequences" which were previously believed to have been of such consequence.

The phrase “much ado about nothing” suddenly becomes a relative consideration. The discussion of what happens during the relative after Realization is overlaid upon it will be discussed tomorrow.

For today, the invitation is to take the pointers above into consideration and determine if you have reached the point of total readiness. If so, what does the term “readiness” suggest in regards to the “journey” and in regards to “the movement along the entire length of the path”? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

TABLE OF CONTENTS BELOW:
1. REALIZATION AIDS
2. ADVAITA BOOK SETS-50% off
3. MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ADVAITA
4. DONATIONS

1. REALIZATION AIDS
The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set
The following three books make up
“The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set”
and should be read in the order below.

BOOK ONE
(click the picture for more information)

BOOK TWO
(click the picture for more information)

BOOK THREE
(click the picture for more information)


2. ADVAITA BOOK SETS-50% off
THE FOLLOWING NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE IN THE STORE IN LIMITED SUPPLY AND WILL BE OFFERED WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.

NON-DUALITY BOOK SET:
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Meditation Guide (Advanced Volume)
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings
$79 for the set (50% off) + free shipping and handling.

3. MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ADVAITA
THE “ADVAITA IN-HOME STUDY GROUP” PACKAGE
Host an Advaita Study Group in your home with the following materials for you and three other seekers:
3 copies-From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
3 copies-Consciousness / Awareness
3 copies-From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Take turns reading passages and then discussing the pointers.
All 9 books for $90.00 ($30 each / participant) + free S&H in the U.S.
(Only one paperback set remains in the store)

(The “BUY NOW” button allows you to pay with credit card or PayPal)
Most titles are also available as eBooks
Visit
The Official Website of Floyd Henderson

4. DONATIONS
FROM SIM IN KENTUCKY, U.S.A.: How about a donate button? I give monthly to a blog about locations and reviews of a particular type of restaurant we like. I’d sure donate to this blog.

FROM “ANONYMOUS”: Almost every visitor brought Maharaj food or flowers. I’d like to treat you to a meal if you tell me how to do so with my credit card!

FROM LOUISE, SOUTH AFRICA: [Consider the case of an acquaintance who] added a donate button to his site. Regular blog readers were happy to support the site in this way.

F.: Okay—so it’s done, but note that the postings and responses are offered without charge, as is access to the library of 1,300 Advaitin essays archived on the site.

That said, any donation will be appreciated. Thank you.

HOW IT CAN APPEAR TO SOME THAT THEY ARE REALIZED WHEN THEY ARE NOT REALIZED AT ALL, Part Six

An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.

Announcing the closing of the Non-Duality Bookstore as the focus in the future will be on providing books electronically. See at the end of this post an offer to receive at lower-than-eBook prices the last of the paper books remaining in stock at 50% off with free shipping in the U.S. and half-price shipping internationally.

Also, see details below for starting your own “Advaita In-Home Study Group”

F.: This series has provided an opportunity to see that there is as much misinformation and misunderstanding about "what Realization is" vs. "What Realization is not" as there is about beginninglessness and creation-lessness and creator-lessness; about beingness and non-beingness and what is beyond; and about the falsity of other concepts such as memories, time, birth, and death.

It has also been shown that there is as much misunderstanding about the difference in “True Realization” and “Falsely-Assumed Realization” as there is about the difference in consciousness vs. awareness; as about how to overlay Reality on the Amness;

as about non-doership even as the Is-ness Is; as about the difference in pain vs. suffering; and as there is about the difference in persons, personas and personality vs. an unblocked speck of consciousness.

Many impediments to Full Realization have been witnessed over the years, including what could be called “The Big Catch-22 of Advaita” which is this: the very step on the seven-step “journey” that much be reached (specifically, the assumption for a time of religious and spiritual personas) is ironically a step that is made not of stone but of quicksand.

Rather than being able to stand on a step with solid footing and then move on after a time, the religious-spiritual step becomes a trap for most seekers. The trap appears to offer such secure standing that its intended purpose as a temporary respite on the “journey” is mistaken for the final destination.

Yet the third step has no foundation in truth so it will pull seekers of Truth (seekers of an actual understanding of the functioning of the totality) from the “path” to Truth and into its depths of darkness.

Seekers then become entwined in the bog, in the ancient roots that evolved from myths and superstitions and lies, and all the while, the murky bog is mistaken by persons entrapped therein to be the ultimate source of light. The dullness of dawn appears to be the brightness of high noon.

It was noted earlier that the seven-step path from identification with the false “I” to understanding and abiding as the Absolute is a seven-step “journey” and that the assumption of religious and/or spiritual personas must almost always happen.

The question is, therefore, “How can those playing such roles come to understand that they are mistaking the dawn for the noon and then move on?” Few ever will. Most have gurus or religious or spiritual guides that assure them the religious/spiritual level is the ultimate.

As pointed out earlier, however, if the seeker reaches the Absolute, that seeker is “in a place” where there is no “one,” much less anyone who can play religious or spiritual roles.

Via this “journey,” the seeker of Full Realization is going back to the Absolute in reverse order (that is, in a way that is the exact opposite of the way she/he moved from the Absolute to the manifestation and eventually to identification with the false “I”). Steps 1 to 7 were taken "coming in," generating seven degrees of separation from Reality.

To return to being fully in touch with Reality, therefore, the steps must be taken from 7 to 6 to 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 1. There can be no skipping of any step because each step “on the way in” set up specific obstacles that blocked the consciousness from being able to see Truth.

Each step must be dealt with in order to reverse out of the mess by removing the obstacles in the order in which they were set into place by way of programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication.

Imagine you left the light and entered a dark cave. Then imagine that a rockslide blocked the way to the light outside. Can you begin clearing away the rockslide that is blocking freedom and peace by reaching through and moving out of the way the rocks that are at the most-distant place from the cave entrance?

Of course not. You must begin with the rocks that are next to your present position and move those out of the way in the exact way they are blocking you from the light. Those that fell closest to you must be removed, and you must work your way back from where you are if you would eventually also remove the blockages that are at the most distant point from where you presently are...blocked at the mouth of the dark cave in which you have been trapped.

As the Absolute originally, there was that which was beyond the beingness and the non-beingness. “There,” prior to the manifestation, there was no state-of-being-religious and there was no state-of-being-spiritual.

To complete this "journey" and return “there” is to be in a no-role, no-persona state, and no religious role or spiritual role was played “there” back “then” (prior to the manifestation of consciousness); thus, there is no validity whatsoever to such roles when they are being played during the manifestation.

All role-assumptions came after the manifestation, so when persons reach the religious or spiritual step on the "path" and assume that they have completed the entire "journey," they are deceived. They are still being fooled.

The Absolute is beyond any role assumption, but the seeker who is still not free of identifying with "good" ego-states (and the accompanying egotism) love their religious/spiritual persona;

therefore, it can be seen why the nisarga yoga is likely the “least popular” of all yogas, because the understanding is that to abide as the Absolute is to abide without any notions about beingness or about being anything, including “being spiritual.” To follow the “I AM” with any noun or adjective is a statement of fiction.

“I am spiritual” is as bogus a statement as “I am my body” and “I am my mind” and “I am my personality/personas.” Nisarga living is not "spiritual living" (which usually involves doing "spiritual things" and "spiritual exercises" and "hanging out with other spiritual persons" and "looking spiritual" and "behaving spiritually," whatever any of that might be assumed to involve).

As Ashley pointed out earlier in her e-mail, persons can try to mimic whatever religious or spiritual living is supposed to look like, but does that mean that Full Realization has occurred or does it reveal that play-acting is still going on and thereby reveal that Realization has not happened at all?

So nisarga living is natural living, and what "religious giant" or "spiritual giant" is about to forfeit his/her supernatural status-producing activity? Most will not, loving their false-sense-of-security-producing and false-sense-of-being-in-the-know-producing activities and roles.

Via the process of playing like one is religious or spiritual (and talking the talk and exhibiting behaviors that the role-players think will exhibit evidence of their being Fully Realized) such actors are automatically revealing that they are not what they claim and are not what they think they are. They are still believing that some assumed role(s) can be a True Self or a Real Identity.

In fact, since That Which I Am is beyond beingness and non-beingness, then there is no self or Self at all. What can be labeled for the sake of discussion as the “True Self” is merely the Pure Witness (more accurately, just second level witnessing) that happens when the consciousness becomes capable of seeing clearly as a result of all blockages (all concepts and beliefs and ideas) having been discarded.

So that “Witness” is not really a "Self" either since it has no form that can be pointed to as having “selfness” or “Selfness.” To believe in a "self" or a "Self" (when You have been told that You are beyond beingness and even non-beingness) is the result of ego-state adoption and attachment to the same egotism that sustained all other false identities. Such egotism is still at work if one is trying to sustain any religious or spiritual identity/role/persona.

See why so many come here, get a glimpse of what Nisarga-style functioning is like, and move on? They are so attached to their rituals and exercises and activities (which they believe are sustaining their new, "good" ego-states of “The Religious One” or “The Spiritual One” or both) that they reject any consideration which suggests they have not yet reached even the halfway point on the seven-step “path” to Full Realization and abidance as THAT.

So they most assuredly hate and reject the following type of pointer that is offered on an Advaita Vedanta Quotes Site:

Pray all the prayers that you think you need to pray; knell, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate as much as you think you need to kneel, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate; read all the “holy” books that you think you need to read; visit all the “sacred” sites or “sacred” men that you think you need to visit; chant or hum every chant or hum you think you need to chant or hum; ring every bell you think you need to ring; and burn every stick of incense that you think you need to burn. But when you are done with all of that, realize that you—and all persons who are fixated in a stage and are playing their religious or spiritual roles—are mistaking the dawn for the noon. Realize that praying and knelling and bending over and stooping and lying prostrate and reading and visiting and chanting and humming and ringing and burning (and every other external thing you try to use to be more spiritual or to try to demonstrate how spiritual you are) will actually block you from finding the truth which can only be found within after certain pointers are taken into quiet and solitary consideration.

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

TABLE OF CONTENTS BELOW:
1. REALIZATION AIDS
2. ADVAITA BOOK SETS-50% off
3. MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ADVAITA
4. DONATIONS

1. REALIZATION AIDS
The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set
The following three books make up
“The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set”
and should be read in the order below.

BOOK ONE
(click the picture for more information)

BOOK TWO
(click the picture for more information)

BOOK THREE
(click the picture for more information)


2. ADVAITA BOOK SETS-50% off
THE FOLLOWING NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE IN THE STORE IN LIMITED SUPPLY AND WILL BE OFFERED AT 50% OFF WHEN BOUGHT AS A PACKAGE:

While quantities last, the following package deal is being offered: Receive all nine (9) of the paperback books listed below for $88 total with free shipping in the U.S. and ½ price shipping internationally.

NOTE: Only one full set remaining. The offer will become an eight-book set after the next order.

NON-DUALITY BOOK SET:
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide I
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide II
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings

To order, click
Non-Duality Book Set
then add the package to the shopping cart and follow the checkout procedure to the secure pay site.

3. MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ADVAITA
THE “ADVAITA IN-HOME STUDY GROUP” PACKAGE
Host an Advaita Study Group in your home with the following materials for you and three other seekers:
4 copies-From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
4 copies-Consciousness / Awareness
4 copies-From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Take turns reading passages and then discussing the pointers.
All 12 books for $120.00 ($30 each for the four participants) + free S&H in the U.S.
(ONLY ONE SET OF THESE TWELVE BOOKS REMAINS IN THE STORE)

(The "Buy Now" button allows you to pay with any credit card or with PayPal)

Most titles are also available as eBooks
Visit
The Official Website of Floyd Henderson

4. DONATIONS

FROM SIM IN KENTUCKY, U.S.A.: How about a donate button? I give monthly to a blog about locations and reviews of a particular type of restaurant we like. I’d sure donate to this blog.

FROM “ANONYMOUS”: Almost every visitor brought Maharaj food or flowers. I’d like to treat you to a meal if you tell me how to do so with my credit card!

FROM LOUISE, SOUTH AFRICA: [Consider the case of an acquaintance who] added a donate button to his site. Regular blog readers were happy to support the site in this way.

F.: Okay—so it’s done, but note that the postings and responses are offered without charge, as is access to the library of 1,300 Advaitin essays archived on the site.

That said, any donation will be appreciated. Thank you.

HOW IT CAN APPEAR TO SOME THAT THEY ARE REALIZED WHEN THEY ARE NOT REALIZED AT ALL, Part Five

An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.

Announcing the closing of the Non-Duality Bookstore as the focus in the future will be on providing books electronically. See at the end of this post an offer to receive at lower-than-eBook prices the last of the paper books remaining in stock at 50% off with free shipping in the U.S. and half-price shipping internationally.

Also, see details below for starting your own “Advaita Study Home Group”

F.: In the following e-mail received yesterday, one site visitor followed through, purchased a CD with quiet music cycling at a slow, alpha rate, and shared this description of the ambient sound and peace connection that is quite different from the claims made about a loud noise and clarity connection:

I really don't know how to explain the "experience" of these alpha sounds. I've just been sitting with it all. Even my dog looks at peace when its played. Its really something to see how peaceful she seems when I play the theta track especially. For me though, I've been working with the Alpha track, and the only idea that kept coming up was that the world is something that never did, has, or ever will come at me but instead, its coming from me. Everything is coming from me. I can definitely put a logical finger on it, but it has a deeper meaning to it beyond logic. Thanks again for the info. Gerard

F.: Dogs, other animals, plants, and humans all thrive when the brain oscillates at a natural, low-decibel, slow cycle rate. Regards, f.

Now, to continue the reply to these comments:

FROM A SITE VISITOR:

*** please listen to this tape that includes all of the noise of Ketwadi Street

***there is no separate self to be in the presence of noise and chaos

*** I listen to heavy metal and there is far more clarity

***realized people I know prefer skyscrapers to trees W.D.

Next, as for this talk about there is no separate self in the presence of noise, what has happened to the Am-ness? Has the pointer been changed from I AM THAT; I AM to I AM THAT; I AM NOT?

There has been no such change of the summative message of Advaita, but what is revealed is this: persons can hear a few pointers, can assume the role of “The Deep, Philosophical One,” can assume they are Fully Realized, and can then end up being farther out of touch with reality than before they ever heard the word “Advaita.”

As for listening to certain music for a while in order to cultivate a religious or spiritual persona and then seeing that such behavior was steeped in image and phoniness, that shows “progress” along the “path”; however, to substitute loud and noisy music and then claim clarity to be the result is as equally out of touch.

As for, “Are there common traits among the realized?” everything is "in common," period. The traits associated with the Am-ness as it happens post-Realization are identical across the board and are the exact opposite of the traits of the non-Realized that appeared in the 28 April 2009 post.

Furthermore, there are certain genetically-transferred archetypes that are common to all of humanity and could show irritated, stressed, and anxious persons exactly what it is that is missing in their lives and what it is in their modern cultures that differs from what typified the type of environment that facilitated peace and happiness among human-like forms for millions of years.

The following is also shared in the book FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS. Over a period of thirty-three years, nearly 5000 persons were polled during discussions concerning the movement away from the madding crowd.

(NOTE: Most of those polled did not have the option of arranging a literal retreat from society. Some other “method” was required for finding freedom and peace, and that is another part of what these teachings provide.)

Prior to the polling, the participants were told that humans have stored in a subconscious location the vision of a quiet place, a place that they would consider to have all of the attributes of "the perfect hideaway" or "the ideal area for 'escape'."

It was explained that they were not to try to describe a geographical place that they have actually visited but were to try to tap into the recesses of their consciousness and describe that place within which can only be visualized and that has always been there but has seldom been accessed.

Next, they were asked to list the words that best described the place and its surroundings. In 95% of all responses, six common traits were always mentioned:

1. remote; 2. quiet 3. a place of solitude because no other humans are anywhere near (meaning one can be alone there without feeling lonely); 4. water; 5. the gentle sounds of water (waterfall, brook, stream) and, some mentioned, the sound of a gentle breeze blowing through trees; and 6. wildlife, such as birds.

What do all of those elements have in common? All of the elements are natural. What is the opposite of those natural traits? Over-populated areas; noisy areas; dry areas; areas with harsh sounds; and areas with no natural wildlife.

The Cherokee grandmother (mentioned in previous posts on this site) used a term employed by the indigenous peoples to describe that “non-place place”: she called it “The Medicine Place” or “The Healing Place,” reached by conducting a “Spirit Journey” (hence, the title of the CD linked on this site).

The Nisargan—functioning spontaneously in an all-natural fashion—moves automatically to the quiet. Consider the counterparts in nature: when in the presence of noise, the deer moves to the quiet. Make noise in the water where a fish is swimming and it was dart away from the noise. Birds fly away when humans walk through the woods making noise.

In fact, in all of nature, there is only one form that has been so warped and so distorted and so far removed from what is natural that it will seek out noise: that is the human, specifically, those humans that have been so distorted and so far removed from what is natural that they are now being driven by a "mind" and by their false personas that makes them think they prefer noise over peace and quiet.

And no matter how often efforts are made to redirect their faulty thinking, it still guides them most often into a "fantasy land mode" that is void of facts and logic and reason. Is it not time to give up on the "mind" that generates such thinking, considering its flawed history and all of the relative problems that result from such thinking?

Here the invitation is to question and to consider and then eventually to unlearn what has been learned and then find within what You know; however, that "first line of attack" against nonsense does not work for many. The more-applicable message for them would be to parallel Maharaj’s approach when he met his teacher.

He was so ready for freedom and peace that he unquestioningly accepted all that his teacher taught. That is going to be the only chance for some seekers who must be free of the “mind” (which is the seat of so many distortions that persons who are attached to the content of that “mind” will never see clearly if that content is not discarded).

If I am your teacher via these postings or sessions or retreats, and if questioning and challenging have not resulted in Realization, then you might consider another tact. Stop debating, stop talking, and stop “acting” Realized.

Instead, start taking the pointers I offer into quiet consideration with complete openness and willingness. Stop questioning the present teacher for awhile and start questioning all of your past teachers: parents; priests or preachers or gurus or imams; politicians; school teachers; relatives; spouses; friends; and everyone else whose messages contributed to the miasma that is now your “mind” (and thus got you into the mess that you are in right now if not Realized Fully).

And know, based not only on the Advaita teachings but also on proof provided via scientific research, that peace and quiet are natural and that excessive noise and disharmony are not; know that as long as a self or selves remain, there will be no seeking of the quiet because the voices of the false selves that emanate from the “mind” are deafening.

Understand why the ego thinks it must speak and must generate sounds and noise. Understand that an illusory “mind” is a prerequisite for the continued belief in ego-states and in the notion that excessive noise can drown out the sounds of an endlessly noisy “mind.”

If it is freedom and peace you seek, then this site is for you. If you do not want freedom and peace—if you are being driven to think and talk and behave in a way that is contrary to the natural way that persons lived for millions of years before language development set the stage for warped programming and bizarre conditioning to become the abnormal "norm"—then there are millions of other sites and billions of non-Realized persons who will reinforce most willingly your unnatural acculturation and who will listen to and accept wholeheartedly both nonsense and foolishness. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

BELOW:
1. REALIZATION AIDS
2. ADVAITA BOOK SETS-50% off
3. MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ADVAITA
4. DONATIONS

1. REALIZATION AIDS
The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set
The following three books make up
“The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set”
and should be read in the order below.

BOOK ONE
(click)

BOOK TWO
(click)

BOOK THREE
(click)


2. ADVAITA BOOK SETS-50% off
THE FOLLOWING NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE IN THE STORE IN LIMITED SUPPLY AND WILL BE OFFERED AT 50% OFF WHEN BOUGHT AS A PACKAGE:

While quantities last, the following package deal is being offered: Receive all nine (9) of the paperback books listed below for $88 total with free shipping in the U.S. and ½ price shipping internationally.

NOTE: Only one full set remaining. The offer will become an eight-book set after the next order.

NON-DUALITY BOOK SET:
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide I
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide II
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings

To order, click
Non-Duality Book Set
then add the package to the shopping cart and follow the checkout procedure to the secure pay site.

3. MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ADVAITA
THE “ADVAITA IN-HOME STUDY GROUP” PACKAGE
Host an Advaita Study Group in your home with the following materials for you and three other seekers:
4 copies-From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
4 copies-Consciousness / Awareness
4 copies-From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Take turns reading passages and then discussing the pointers.
All 12 books for $120.00 ($30 each for the four participants) + free S&H in the U.S.
To order this set, you must use
the Contact link to make arrangements for payment and to provide shipping information.
FOUR PAY OPTIONS:
VISA, MC, MONEY ORDER, CASHIER’S CHECK
(ONLY ONE SET OF THESE TWELVE BOOKS IS LEFT IN THE STORE)
Most titles are also available as eBooks
Visit
The Official Website of Floyd Henderson

4. DONATIONS

FROM SIM IN KENTUCKY, U.S.A.: How about a donate button? I give monthly to a blog about locations and reviews of a particular type of restaurant we like. I’d sure donate to this blog.

FROM “ANONYMOUS”: Almost every visitor brought Maharaj food or flowers. I’d like to treat you to a meal if you tell me how to do so with my credit card!

FROM LOUISE, SOUTH AFRICA: [Consider the case of an acquaintance who] added a donate button to his site. Regular blog readers were happy to support the site in this way.

F.: Okay—so it’s done, but it should be noted that these postings and responses to all questions submitted to the site are offered without charge. The 1,300 Advaitin essays available on the site, compiled over a four-year period, are also all available to everyone without any fee or charge. Know too that via this site, all serious contacts are answered one-on-one and/or on the site, also without charge.

Finally, please know that there should never be an assumption that there is any obligation on your part to donate; additionally, donors will not receive anything that is not also available to non-donors. That said, any donation will be appreciated. Thank you.

HOW IT CAN APPEAR TO SOME THAT THEY ARE REALIZED WHEN THEY ARE NOT REALIZED AT ALL, Part Four

An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of MahaSraj.

Announcing the closing of the Non-Duality Bookstore as the focus in the future will be on providing books electronically. See at the end of this post an offer to receive at lower-than-eBook prices the last of the paper books remaining in stock at 50% off with free shipping in the U.S. and half-price shipping internationally.

Also, see details below for starting your own “Advaita In-Home Study Group”

F.: It is appropriate now to review where the series has been and where it is going. Ashley mentioned “parameters” and a “gauge” in an earlier posting. Neither are a codified part of the teachings, but at various points along the “path,” a teacher might offer pointers that are level-appropriate in “the early going” that will be cast aside later; hence, thorns can be used to remove thorns, but eventually all thorns will be cast aside.

Earlier, markers of a relative existence devoid of Realization were offered; soon, markers of a post-Realization relative existence will be provided. In the previous series, the focus was on persons who claim that the Realized don’t look Realized, revealing those persons' preconceptions and misconceptions about the way that the Realized function during the manifestation.

Now, the focus had turned to include a discussion of those who think they are Realized but most assuredly are not. The Realized teacher knows. With a few words or a simple question from a seeker, the teacher can determine where the seeker is on the “path” (or can determine that the seeker is not on the “path” at all).

This part of the discussion is being moved forward by addressing an e-mail received recently from one who thinks Realization has happened when it has not. The responses here can serve to re-direct that seeker (that being a "maybe" at best, but not likely);

however, the responses and that e-mail can provide a “real-time” example for other seekers of the way that the “mind” (always filled with fiction and delusion) can continue to drive a person in nonsensical ways in spite of whatever degrees of “religious work” and/or “spiritual work” have supposedly been done.

As long as one is identified with the body and the mind and the personality (i.e., with personas, with multiple personalities) then a person who believes he has cast aside all of his "old bad" personas and has replaced those with “new and improved and good” personas (of the spiritual variety, for example) will never Realize.

There is no difference at all in playing the role of “The Total Jerk” and playing the role of "The Super Spiritual One." Both are simply roles, both are phony, both are false, and both will reinforce a sense of separation (contrary to “The Spiritual Person’s” claims to the contrary);

further, to halt a journey before it is even halfway complete while being convinced that one has reached the final destination is delusional and will block any chance for Full Realization to happen. Four steps remain after reaching the "religious or spiritual" step. You are going back, all the way back to the Absolute, and you were not playing religious or spiritual roles there or then; thus, that cannot possibly be "the end" of the "journey."

So, that said, the discussion will continue. It should be seen the way in which one who is mistakenly convinced that he has Realized fully can still fabricate stories, can avoid the truth, can dream up nonsensical conclusions and beliefs and concepts, and can make baseless claims that show not even the slightest attempt at being impeccable with words.

Understand, too, that there has never been a “personal attack” issued from this site. Why? There is no person to attack. It would be tantamount to screaming, “Why are you attacking that mirage? Leave it alone!” What is happening is this:

When nonsense is being displayed, then pointing at the nonsense must precede pointing toward the Truth. As long as a person is clinging to nonsensical thoughts and nonsensical words and nonsensical behaviors, no chance of seeing truth can happen. It is no different from the requirement that you see all that you are not before You can see That Which You Truly Are.

Thus, all of this is merely an invitation to see what has been blocking the consciousness from seeing clearly in order to see the effects that will follow being driven by the concepts which are stored in a “mind” and which are blocking the consciousness from knowing ItSelf and from knowing Truth. So, to continue:

FROM A SITE VISITOR:

*** please listen to this tape that includes noise

***there is no separate self to be in the presence of noise and chaos

*** I listen to heavy metal and there is far more clarity

***realized people I know prefer skyscrapers to trees W.D.

The planet is populated with pro-noise advocates because the population is dominated by ego and egotism and because ego prefers noise for two reasons especially: (1) to impress others, egotistically and (2) to try to drown out the noisy “mind.”

Again, though, understand that the Realized teacher does not send a seeker away with the final pointer, “Now, go forth and, by the way, shut up!” It has been witnessed instead that those seekers that have Realized just happen to talk less...just happen to gravitate toward the silence, but that happens spontaneously and automatically. There is no person any longer to be “a chooser.”

As shared with Ashley earlier this week, to try to train myself' to live in the moment, and not grasp, or reflect, or obsess, etc. is evidence that a “self” remains and is trying to be a do-er…trying to do this or that or whatever seems like what a Realized person might do.

But there is no such thing as “a Realized person.” That is an oxymoron. Realization ends the illusion that a person/persona is real. For the sake of sharing the teaching with seekers at the most basic level, such terminology might be used, but that will be discarded by the end.

The word “Realization” is nothing more than an effort to try to describe the condition that exists when all of the blocks that were set up by programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication have been removed and the consciousness can therefore see ItSelf and Truth.

It is not something that is ordered by a teacher or sought out by a protégé. It is something that merely happens after completing all seven steps from identification with the "I" to abiding as the Absolute.

An effort can be made early on to try to assign “traits” or labels, merely as teaching aids, but actually nothing more is involved than seeing the post-Realization, spontaneous happenings that begin to mark the remainder of the manifestation.

Humans, lost in ego and egotism and thus quite unique in that regard among all living things, love to seek out or create high-decibel noises. All other living things—plant or animal—naturally prefer lower-decibel sounds. [Yes, science has even shown that plants thrive when in the presence of soft music played at lower decibel levels and at slower cycles.]

And entrainment works in both directions: (A) the hectic and frenzied mind will seek out hectic and frenzied sounds and hectic and frenzied environments just as (B) hectic and frenzied sounds will lead the brain to entrain and function at hectic and frenzied levels.

That is, among other reasons, why persons become addicted to chaos: such an addiction is a product of the unnatural conditioning and abnormal programming that have produced a chaotic “mind” that seeks out chaotic words and sounds and behaviors in order to find or shape an external environment that aligns with the internal chaos. Chaos…not clarity. No clarity…just chaos.

When a life that is totally insane and chaotic is "normalized," then insanity and chaos will be normalized (or even upgraded beyond “normal” to “good” or even “really good”). While an opinion was expressed about music type B providing more clarity than music type A, no mention was made of the third possibility: silence in place of both.

That third option will continue to be avoided as long as the current beliefs and concepts drive persons to attempt to drown out noise with...noise! What insanity, yes? So what vibrational rates mark your environment and your brain or “mind”?

You are energy, and energy is forever vibrating. The difference in the appearance of a person and a tree is their differing vibrational rates only. The consideration is, therefore, “At what rate are you vibrating? At what rate is your ‘mind’ vibrating?”

This pointer is offered in the book FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS (see below):

Bliss” is merely an undisturbed, unconcerned vibration. Preoccupations and concerns activate a disturbance when the natural vibrational pattern of anything is forced to shift. Apply what is happening to the phenomenal planet to grasp what can happen to the phenomenal body-“mind” under those conditions: because ice caps are melting as a result of global warming, a slight tilt is happening along the axis of the globe. That is triggering not only all of the physically-observable results on the planet but is also generating mental and emotional effects on life forms as well. When vibrational patterns shift from natural to unnatural movements, phenomenal effects result because of the disturbance of that which is natural. Only the natural vibrational pattern of Awareness will allow “bliss” to happen (again, “bliss” being nothing more than that).

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

BELOW:
1. REALIZATION AIDS
2. ADVAITA BOOK SETS-50% off
3. MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ADVAITA
4. DONATIONS

1. REALIZATION AIDS
The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set
The following three books make up
“The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set”
and should be read in the order below.

BOOK ONE
(click)

BOOK TWO
(click)

BOOK THREE
(click)


2. ADVAITA BOOK SETS-50% off
THE FOLLOWING NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE IN THE STORE IN LIMITED SUPPLY AND WILL BE OFFERED AT 50% OFF WHEN BOUGHT AS A PACKAGE:

While quantities last, the following package deal is being offered: Receive all nine (9) of the paperback books listed below for $88 total with free shipping in the U.S. and ½ price shipping internationally.

NOTE: Only one full set remaining. The offer will become an eight-book set after the next order.

NON-DUALITY BOOK SET:
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide I
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide II
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings

To order, click
Non-Duality Book Set
then add the package to the shopping cart and follow the checkout procedure to the secure pay site.

3. MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ADVAITA
THE “ADVAITA IN-HOME STUDY GROUP” PACKAGE
Host an Advaita Study Group in your home with the following materials for you and three other seekers:
4 copies-From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
4 copies-Consciousness / Awareness
4 copies-From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Take turns reading passages and then discussing the pointers.
All 12 books for $120.00 ($30 each for the four participants) + free S&H in the U.S.
To order this set, you must use
the Contact link to make arrangements for payment and to provide shipping information.
FOUR PAY OPTIONS:
VISA, MC, MONEY ORDER, CASHIER’S CHECK
(ONLY ONE SET OF THESE TWELVE BOOKS IS LEFT IN THE STORE)
Most titles are also available as eBooks
Visit
The Official Website of Floyd Henderson

4. DONATIONS

FROM SIM IN KENTUCKY, U.S.A.: How about a donate button? I give monthly to a blog about locations and reviews of a particular type of restaurant we like. I’d sure donate to this blog.

FROM “ANONYMOUS”: Almost every visitor brought Maharaj food or flowers. I’d like to treat you to a meal if you tell me how to do so with my credit card!

FROM LOUISE, SOUTH AFRICA: [Consider the case of an acquaintance who] added a donate button to his site. Regular blog readers were happy to support the site in this way.

F.: Okay—so it’s done, but it should be noted that these postings and responses to all questions submitted to the site are offered without charge. The 1,300 Advaitin essays available on the site, compiled over a four-year period, are also all available to everyone without any fee or charge. Know too that via this site, all serious contacts are answered one-on-one and/or on the site, also without charge.

Finally, please know that there should never be an assumption that there is any obligation on your part to donate; additionally, donors will not receive anything that is not also available to non-donors. That said, any donation will be appreciated. Thank you.

HOW IT CAN APPEAR TO SOME THAT THEY ARE REALIZED WHEN THEY ARE NOT REALIZED AT ALL, Part Three

An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.

Announcing the closing of the Non-Duality Bookstore as the focus in the future will be on providing books electronically. See at the end of this post an offer to receive at lower-than-eBook prices the last of the paper books remaining in stock at 50% off with free shipping in the U.S. and half-price shipping internationally.

Also, see details below for starting your own “Advaita Study Home Group”

F.: Flavius Vegetius Renatus said more than 1600 years ago, “Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum!” or “Let he who desires peace prepare for war.” Of course, his point was that a nation can only guarantee the peace by defeating ones enemies or by those enemies knowing that the potential for their annihilation is an unquestionable given.

Yet Flavius's point is still valid today with a literal interpretation: if you choose to advocate peace on a planet that still reflects for the most part the ancient Aryan penchant for fighting and destroying, then be prepared for persons (the non-Realized who are dominated by ego and egotism) to rise up and challenge any pro-peace, pro-quiet suggestions you might offer.

Persons on the planet might give lip service to “the value of peace and silence,” but when the majority are addicted to chaos and noise, then any suggestion that peace and silence might be worth considering will have little or no appeal to those trapped in their ego-states.

The ego must talk. The ego hates the silence. Silence is an antidote for the sickness of ego, and the ego feels threatened by silence. Look at a current example for relative happening in the U.S. to see how little peace is truly valued:

a president who suggested that peace and negotiation can be the first option and that militarism and bombing should be the last option is labeled with such terms as “wimp” and “spineless” and more derogatory words that will not be repeated; instead, the belief of many persons is, “Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum!”

So the point is, if you believe that most persons want to be able to enjoy the silence and that most persons prefer peace to fighting and debating and arguing and being addicted to chaos, review the history of the persons on this planet as well the current mindset of persons on this planet.

One woman said, “I love to fight because making up is so much fun,” and she thought that showed depth rather than ignorance. Thus, these teaching remain, as always, for the few.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Can music (theta delta etc) be an "aid" to help one in their contemplations and considerations? Is this something worth supplementing along with non-dual inquiry? I'm serious. You seem to know more about this then I do. Gerard

Gerard, there is some evidence that alpha-range sounds played in the background might facilitate the consideration of pointers. Theta is for visualization and/or dreaming, and delta is for deep sleep, so forget those two for the purpose or understanding pointers. Dr. Jeffrey Thompson leads the field in entrainment research and sells an alpha wave CD, if you’re interested. (His delta CD has been recommended for persons with sleep issues.)

Again, because Maharaj noted correctly that science would one day support the teachings, the science in this regard will be discussed. Brain waves are divided into four states:

Beta: Corresponds to 14 to 40 cycles per second and is associated with a fully awake and conscious state. That is the frequency in which persons seem to spend most of their awakened time, yet many are actually walking about in a near-theta (trance) state or in a delta-like (sleep) state.
Alpha: Corresponds to 8 to 13 cycles per second and is associated with relaxation, concentration, and calmness. This is also the state of persons engaged in daydreaming, enjoying certain types of music or natural scenery, or in the first stages of falling asleep.
Theta: Corresponds to 4 to 7 cycles per second and is generally associated with deep meditation, hypnosis, or "altered states of consciousness." This state can allow for insights, for accessing the Self, for enhancing the body’s healing potential, and for inspiring creativity. This state can be accessed during deep meditation, or during the intermediate stages of falling asleep.
Delta: Corresponds to 3.9 cycles or less per second and is generally associated with deep, dreamless sleep or unconsciousness.

It is the lower brainwave ranges that are associated with clarity and peace. In regards to the information shared above with Gerard, science has proven that brain wave synchronization can provide a shortcut at times to those states that many seek via meditation, working under the principle of brain wave entrainment or resonance.

Dr. Thompson explains that entrainment is the process by which vibrations of one object cause another object to oscillate or vibrate at the same rates (that is, they synchronize).

The discussion of the four states of brain waves above show that brains operate within a specific range of frequencies, and Thompson’s decades of research have shown that—in the presence of brain wave synchronization sounds—the fluctuations in brain wave activity begin to resonate in harmony with the ambient auditory stimuli.

It's well known that rhythms and beats can have a direct effect on personal moods, be it by lowering or by increasing brain wave rates. Thompson notes that some types of ambient sound can help people relax, and he names “classical music and new age music” as examples. There are other types of music, his research shows, that can make persons hyper-vigilante, irritated, aggressive and tense. He identified “heavy metal and rap music” as examples of the types of music that produce those effects.

The invitation now is to apply the facts revealed after decades of research by scientist Thompson to the pointers offered by Advaitin Dennis Waite and the correlation he discussed between ambient sounds and clarity / peace...or a lack thereof. Waite’s discussion of the types of music and their effects regarding satsa~Nga, sattva, rajas, tamas, manas, buddhi is an example of the accuracy of Maharaj’s assertion that science would someday provide factual evidence to support the validity of the teachings.

Again, however, the pointer has never been that “the Realized only listen to this and never to that.” Enjoy whatever might be thought to be enjoyable, relatively speaking. A key pointer here has always been, however, that just because “they” fooled you does not mean that you have to keep fooling yourself or that you should keep trying to fool others.

Listen to what you will, but do not contradict all scientific and Advaitin evidence by claiming that noise at certain rapid wavelengths or high decibel levels can produce clarity when science proves that such noise is really inducing hyper-sensitivity, irritation, aggression, and tension.

And do not try to fool others into thinking that there are “realized people you know who said they prefer skyscrapers to trees.” That’s a total fabrication. No such discussion ever occurred, and if it had, it would not have been a Realized speck involved in such talk.

Further, to W.D., if impeccability of word and elimination of all pride and ego is what you are seeking, then admit that since you are among the non-Realized, you know no Realized speck that could or would have discussed skyscrapers vs. trees with you.

Understand that along the “path,” the propensity for "talking BS" and "blowing smoke" will stop…all non-essential talking is reduced...and eventually all such talking merely for the sake of talking and being heard comes to an end. These same pointers were offered to you in early 2000 or so, yet here in 2009 are more examples of the use of words that have not the slightest element of truth.

Are these pointers beyond "tough love"? Is this “too-tough-love”? It might be had I not seen your continuing pattern of self-destructive behavior over the last years—a pattern which you have evidently not seen—that could have provided one relative alarm after another.

Thus, this is about neither “tough love” nor “too-tough-love.” This is being caring enough about you finding You to call you out on your confusion and to point you toward the Truth. It is about your being free of the machinations of a delusion-filled, illusion-filled “mind.”

Each instance in a series of on-going self-defeating behaviors was available to provide factual evidence that everything you have done so far is still not working and that a shift to total honesty and actual clarity is really being called for. To believe that a history of insane, destructive behavior can end if one single behavior ends is both insane and destructive, relatively speaking.

Additionally, follow-up e-mails trying to explain how you have been misunderstood are motivated by ego, so they are not being read and they won’t be read. If you would be free of ego, take these considerations into the silence and replace your distorted thoughts and dishonest words with no-thoughts and with honest words. That is the prerequisite for You to possibly see all Truth later.

Thus, the invitation is to stop fooling yourself and to cast aside the ego and the egotism that report pure fiction as truth in an effort to gain support for a belief or an opinion, especially when two key Advaitin pointers are to [1] be impeccable with your word(s) and to [2] be free of all beliefs, once and for all.

Meanwhile, all site visitors are invited to see that Realization has nothing to do with favor/oppose dualities or with or tolerance/intolerance dualities. There are no Realized deer that oppose noise vs. non-Realized deer that prefer noise. There are deer, and they only live naturally, and as a result of living naturally, they spontaneously move to quieter areas if noise erupts...no thoughts involved...no choices involved...no preferences involved. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

BELOW:
1. REALIZATION AIDS
2. ADVAITA BOOK SETS-50% off
3. MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ADVAITA
4. DONATIONS

1. REALIZATION AIDS
The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set
The following three books make up
“The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set”
and should be read in the order below.

BOOK ONE
(click)

BOOK TWO
(click)

BOOK THREE
(click)


SIX PAY OPTIONS:

2. ADVAITA BOOK SETS-50% off
THE FOLLOWING NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE IN THE STORE IN LIMITED SUPPLY AND WILL BE OFFERED AT 50% OFF WHEN BOUGHT AS A PACKAGE:

While quantities last, the following package deal is being offered: Receive all nine (9) of the paperback books listed below for $88 total with free shipping in the U.S. and ½ price shipping internationally.

NOTE: Only one full set remaining. The offer will become an eight-book set after the next order.

NON-DUALITY BOOK SET:
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide I
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide II
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings

To order, click
Non-Duality Book Set
then add the package to the shopping cart and follow the checkout procedure to the secure pay site.
SIX PAY OPTIONS:

3. MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ADVAITA
THE “ADVAITA IN-HOME STUDY GROUP” PACKAGE
Host an Advaita Study Group in your home with the following materials for you and three other seekers:
4 copies-From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
4 copies-Consciousness / Awareness
4 copies-From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Take turns reading passages and then discussing the pointers.
All 12 books for $120.00 ($30 each for the four participants) + free S&H in the U.S.
To order this set, you must use
the Contact link to make arrangements for payment and to provide shipping information.
FOUR PAY OPTIONS:
VISA, MC, MONEY ORDER, CASHIER’S CHECK
(ONLY ONE SET OF THESE TWELVE BOOKS IS LEFT IN THE STORE)
Most titles are also available as eBooks
Visit
The Official Website of Floyd Henderson

4. DONATIONS

FROM SIM IN KENTUCKY, U.S.A.: How about a donate button? I give monthly to a blog about locations and reviews of a particular type of restaurant we like. I’d sure donate to this blog.

FROM “ANONYMOUS”: Almost every visitor brought Maharaj food or flowers. I’d like to treat you to a meal if you tell me how to do so with my credit card!

FROM LOUISE, SOUTH AFRICA: [Consider the case of an acquaintance who] added a donate button to his site. Regular blog readers were happy to support the site in this way.

F.: Okay—so it’s done, but it should be noted that these postings and responses to all questions submitted to the site are offered without charge. The 1,300 Advaitin essays available on the site, compiled over a four-year period, are also all available to everyone without any fee or charge. Know too that via this site, all serious contacts are answered one-on-one and/or on the site, also without charge.

Finally, please know that there should never be an assumption that there is any obligation on your part to donate; additionally, donors will not receive anything that is not also available to non-donors. That said, any donation will be appreciated. Thank you.

HOW IT CAN APPEAR TO SOME THAT THEY ARE REALIZED WHEN THEY ARE NOT REALIZED AT ALL, Part Two

An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.

Announcing the closing of the Non-Duality Bookstore as the focus in the future will be on providing books electronically. See at the end of this post an offer to receive at lower-than-eBook prices the last of the paper books remaining in stock at 50% off with free shipping in the U.S. and half-price shipping internationally.

Also, see details below for starting your own “Advaita Study Home Group”

FROM A SITE VISITOR: I think I understand where ‘heavy metal person’ was coming from. Like, how do we know we aren’t just mimicking what our concept of a realized person is? Like, OK, I can let go of all the programmed stuff I knew was BS anyway. And I can 'train myself' to live in the moment, and not grasp, or reflect, or obsess, etc. But how do I know that’s not my mind conforming to a new pattern? There must be some way to gauge it, right? So he/she wants a list. This is what a realized person looks like: A, B, C. And if I comply with A, B, C, then I must be on the right track. And if I don’t comply, I want to know why I can’t substitute D for C. Give me a formula, and I’ll apply it. I think that's why religion is so addictive: they give you the parameters, and if you stay within them-you win! Follow the yellow brick road, and you'll get to see the wizard! For me, I want to be realized, but then maybe I won’t know I’m realized. The ego is still involved, isn’t it? It’s kind of like, how do you know when you’re dead? Well, if you’re dead, you don’t know it. If I’m realized, will I know it, and does wanting to know it mean I’m not realized yet? Help! Ashley S.

F.: [Continued from yesterday with a discussion of the four stages that seekers must pass through with the guidance of a Realized teacher]

Stage 1. This is the stage where persons know not and know not that they know not (which includes almost all among the masses and, as you have accurately stated, especially the billions playing within the parameters defined by religions. Add “spiritual groups” to the list as well.)

Stage 2. Next is the stage where seekers know not but suddenly know that they know not. (Trapped as they are in their ego-states and the accompanying egotism, most persons will never even reach this stage. People who take themselves to be "The Religious Person" or "The Spiritual Person" are sure they know. To hear an Advaitin teacher say that the teacher knows nothing [and nothingness, and that there is nothing to learn] sounds insane, and to suggest to persons playing either a religious role or a spiritual role or both that what they think they know is merely learned ignorance is taken by the non-Realized to be "fighting words.")

Stage 3. Third is the stage where seekers know but know not that they know. (Why? Because the truth is already within, but it is not yet known consciously. Here, the teacher-as-guide necessity should be clear.)

Stage 4. And the final stage is when Realization manifests…when You know and You know that You know. All of the blockages have been removed by this point, the blockages that prevented the consciousness from knowing ItSelf and from knowing the Truth that it has known all along but that it could not “pull forth” into awareness.

[Note: Regarding “If I’m realized, will I know it?” do you see the relevance to "Stage Three"? See that in the very asking is the answer. You are already Realized, but you do not know it, so the answer for almost all seekers would be, “No.” A teacher is required in order for a final, accurate determination to be reached.]

The non-Realized (that is, those specks of consciousness that have been blocked from seeing...that have been blindfolded) cannot possibly see what must be seen to move through the four stages.

A guide is required if one is blind or blindfolded. That, as you pointed out, can only happen during the manifestation, the "dead" not knowing they are "dead," the unmanifested consciousness incapable of knowing anything. If it is to happen, awareness of Truth must happen NOW. Best regards, Peace and Light.

Pointers offered in response to e-mails received in the last two days:

1. Back to the perfect model of natural living: in the final analysis/understanding, it can be seen that the deer really has neither a preference for the quiet nor a lack of tolerance for noise. It just automatically moves to the quiet. The Realized move toward peace, the sane automatically move toward the sane, and the insane gravitate to the insane. In the end, there is no "one" to be moved or to be attracted to or to be not attracted to. The analogy of the deer's position of neutrality as the body goes here or goes there is most revealing.

2. To think that maybe you are being “intolerant” if you are no longer attracted to BS is merely a misunderstanding. What has happened is that you have reached the point of sanity and the point of abiding naturally, which has nothing whatsoever to do with "intolerance." Maharaj was not being "intolerant" when persons were invited to leave the loft. He was cutting short the potentiality of BS, the infusion of nonsense into a discussion, a display of arrogance, and/or the potential of providing a platform for the advocacy of the unnatural or the supernatural.

3. Those seeking to foster a “lofty” image can talk of having found “tolerance and acceptance” as their noble keys to happiness, but you likely know persons who have developed a tolerance for huge amounts of alcohol, yet they are neither “lofty” nor “noble” in their acceptance of that condition of "tolerance."

4. What does the mindless deer do—automatically and spontaneously—when noise occurs? This is so simple if you care at all about understanding what is natural and what is not. The seeker of the nisarga understanding does—the non-Realized don't. So it is.

Is it becoming clearer why it is a fallacy to believe that what happens naturally—such as the movement toward peace and quiet among the Realized—actually involves certain “personas” or “personal” preferences? That is a completely erroneous belief.

In the end, the shift to the peace and quiet has nothing to do with any “personal” preference, the spontaneous shift only happening in the absence of all persons/personas. Such is the manner of abidance in the post-Realization state.

Now, if there is a preference for noise, that most certainly does involve a “personal” preference—a preference typical among persons, among the non-Realized. Exercise your preferences all you like, but understand that belief in, and attachment to, anything personal is evidence of the fact that Realization has not happened. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set
The following three books make up
“The Advanced Seekers’ Book Set”
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BOOK ONE


BOOK TWO


BOOK THREE


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From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide I
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide II
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings

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