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)
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
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.
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.
