An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Noneness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Now available on DVD or downloadable computer file:
seven hours of satsang with floyd guiding seekers through all seven steps (in their exact order) to Realization. See details at the end of this post.
seven hours of satsang with floyd guiding seekers through all seven steps (in their exact order) to Realization. See details at the end of this post.
F.: In the U.S., where the average citizen has accumulated an extra twenty-three pounds of weight, such products as Miracle Whip Lite, Coke Lite, Ranch Style Dressing Lite, etc. have gained popularity. What has not gained popularity, in the U.S. or in most places on the globe, is Life Lite.
Accumulation is the order of the day planet-wide, so the historical “lifestyle” of humans or "human-likes," a lifestyle which anthropologists report as having been “simple” and “non-complex” for millions of years, has all but disappeared.
Certainly, obstacles have always been in the path of all life-forms which are all fairly vulnerable on this planet; however, simplicity vs. complexity has nothing to do with obstacles. The complexities that manifest among humans are the result of a “mind” and the assumption of personas; that is, complications, in the end, are always rooted in dualistic beliefs.
The heaviness replacing the “lite” happened to you. At some other point in history, you would have been given a simple life…Life Lite, if you will. Now, though, the odds are great that any chance for such liteness / lightness has been stolen from you. Now, if the manifestation is extended for long enough, the complications will manifest.
The circumstance where Life Lite was typical has become a rarity because of the additional, heavy baggage that is being dragged along on the “trip,” and the source of that heaviness is…duality.
Consider two examples provided here by nature during the last two nights: rising before dawn yesterday morning, the garbage which had accumulated during the week had to be set out so it could be collected and hauled away. Stepping outside, it was noticed that three deer were sleeping in the front yard in the long, black shadows that ran across the lawn because of a neighbor’s “security lights” that were shining from behind the trees.
The movement was slow and quiet so as not to disturb them. They all lifted their heads, witnessed the coming and the going. Back inside the house and peering out the window, it was observed that they had returned to their rest.
They had brought nothing with them. They had brought along no baggage. They assigned no importance to the place where they sleep. They always travel…lite. They witness what comes and what goes without attachment. If human actions indicate that maybe they should move to a place with fewer disturbances, they move.
That was yesterday morning. This morning, nature provided a different kind of show, one with far less peace and quiet. A cool front moved into the region from the northwest. As the cooler temperatures merged with the warmer southern temperatures here, all kinds of atmospheric turmoil resulted.
The lightning blazing across the sky made the night into what seemed more like the day. The thunder rolled and shook the house. The vibrations were so heavy that the peace and the rest were interrupted. And why? Because of duality—because the cool met the warm.
So it is in the relative. There will be dualities. There was no escaping the effects of the storm this morning, and similarly for persons, there will never be any freedom from the turmoil of the relative existence as long as abidance as the natural state is avoided because of attachment to all of the relative-ness which plagues the existence of the non-Realized.
Which of those two scenarios would best exemplify the characteristics of your relative existence? Is the case more like the deer that rest, that travel light, that witness, that relax, and that sometimes have to move in order to be able to enjoy the quiet?
Or is the case more like the rumblings and the shakings and the booming noise and an atmosphere marked by chaos? Do you think you are in the darkness and must work and work and work to find the light, or do you know that there is no differentiation?
This exchange happened recently:
VISITOR: I woke at 3 AM – fiddled about for an hour or two – then went back to bed – lying down and watching the darkness as per usual. In the darkness, I noticed something interesting: that the quality of darkness was the same with the eyes closed or open. No difference. Watching this darkness, there was suddenly the awareness of vast empty space – deep, palpable, silent – empty of anything. The occasional thought pitched up and faded away without affecting this silent black space in any way. Of course, the practice kicked in – who is observing this empty space? - so there was simply observation of this vast silent empty blackness.
F.: Yes, and the reality of the vastness of that no-seer darkness is in marked opposition to the unreality of all that is supposedly seen in the light by a supposedly real observer. In the darkness, what can be witnessed is the vast and eternal noneness; what can be felt and understood is the eternal oneness; and the understanding then allows for distinguishing between the trueness of the Noumenal and the falseness of the phenomenal. In that, there is the understanding of Real Love and the end of the false sense of separation, and the delusion of aloneness is displaced by the sense of al-oneness.
More to the point, have you seen that there is no duality of light and dark? When you look into the sky at night and see the moon because the light is reflecting from its surface, have you been fooled into thinking that the light is not also all around the moon and simply not seen because it is not being reflected?
There is no darkness. There is only the non-reflected light. There is no heavy life. There is only the Lite Life that is not seen because the light is not being reflected as a result of the impure or blocked consciousness;
additionally, that means that there is no one to seek enlightenment…no one to experience “the rumblings and the shakings and the booming noise and an atmosphere of chaos” that only seem to be real because misperception is the rule among the non-Realized.
There are only the personas that think they are experiencing the rumblings and the shakings and the booming noise and an atmosphere of chaos when they believe that they are real and that they are being hurt or interfered with or threatened. Yet all persons and many "seekers" are so confused that they mistake the dawn for the noon, the light for the dark, the dark for the light, and the heavy for the lite.
Further, You are the light that you seek, and if you find that You / that Light, then Life Lite will manifest as well. The question is, has the garbage been set out? Has it all been hauled away? It is not in a disposable bag; instead, it was placed between your ears by those who stole your chance at simplicity. Take back what was stolen. That is the invitation here. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
Accumulation is the order of the day planet-wide, so the historical “lifestyle” of humans or "human-likes," a lifestyle which anthropologists report as having been “simple” and “non-complex” for millions of years, has all but disappeared.
Certainly, obstacles have always been in the path of all life-forms which are all fairly vulnerable on this planet; however, simplicity vs. complexity has nothing to do with obstacles. The complexities that manifest among humans are the result of a “mind” and the assumption of personas; that is, complications, in the end, are always rooted in dualistic beliefs.
The heaviness replacing the “lite” happened to you. At some other point in history, you would have been given a simple life…Life Lite, if you will. Now, though, the odds are great that any chance for such liteness / lightness has been stolen from you. Now, if the manifestation is extended for long enough, the complications will manifest.
The circumstance where Life Lite was typical has become a rarity because of the additional, heavy baggage that is being dragged along on the “trip,” and the source of that heaviness is…duality.
Consider two examples provided here by nature during the last two nights: rising before dawn yesterday morning, the garbage which had accumulated during the week had to be set out so it could be collected and hauled away. Stepping outside, it was noticed that three deer were sleeping in the front yard in the long, black shadows that ran across the lawn because of a neighbor’s “security lights” that were shining from behind the trees.
The movement was slow and quiet so as not to disturb them. They all lifted their heads, witnessed the coming and the going. Back inside the house and peering out the window, it was observed that they had returned to their rest.
They had brought nothing with them. They had brought along no baggage. They assigned no importance to the place where they sleep. They always travel…lite. They witness what comes and what goes without attachment. If human actions indicate that maybe they should move to a place with fewer disturbances, they move.
That was yesterday morning. This morning, nature provided a different kind of show, one with far less peace and quiet. A cool front moved into the region from the northwest. As the cooler temperatures merged with the warmer southern temperatures here, all kinds of atmospheric turmoil resulted.
The lightning blazing across the sky made the night into what seemed more like the day. The thunder rolled and shook the house. The vibrations were so heavy that the peace and the rest were interrupted. And why? Because of duality—because the cool met the warm.
So it is in the relative. There will be dualities. There was no escaping the effects of the storm this morning, and similarly for persons, there will never be any freedom from the turmoil of the relative existence as long as abidance as the natural state is avoided because of attachment to all of the relative-ness which plagues the existence of the non-Realized.
Which of those two scenarios would best exemplify the characteristics of your relative existence? Is the case more like the deer that rest, that travel light, that witness, that relax, and that sometimes have to move in order to be able to enjoy the quiet?
Or is the case more like the rumblings and the shakings and the booming noise and an atmosphere marked by chaos? Do you think you are in the darkness and must work and work and work to find the light, or do you know that there is no differentiation?
This exchange happened recently:
VISITOR: I woke at 3 AM – fiddled about for an hour or two – then went back to bed – lying down and watching the darkness as per usual. In the darkness, I noticed something interesting: that the quality of darkness was the same with the eyes closed or open. No difference. Watching this darkness, there was suddenly the awareness of vast empty space – deep, palpable, silent – empty of anything. The occasional thought pitched up and faded away without affecting this silent black space in any way. Of course, the practice kicked in – who is observing this empty space? - so there was simply observation of this vast silent empty blackness.
F.: Yes, and the reality of the vastness of that no-seer darkness is in marked opposition to the unreality of all that is supposedly seen in the light by a supposedly real observer. In the darkness, what can be witnessed is the vast and eternal noneness; what can be felt and understood is the eternal oneness; and the understanding then allows for distinguishing between the trueness of the Noumenal and the falseness of the phenomenal. In that, there is the understanding of Real Love and the end of the false sense of separation, and the delusion of aloneness is displaced by the sense of al-oneness.
More to the point, have you seen that there is no duality of light and dark? When you look into the sky at night and see the moon because the light is reflecting from its surface, have you been fooled into thinking that the light is not also all around the moon and simply not seen because it is not being reflected?
There is no darkness. There is only the non-reflected light. There is no heavy life. There is only the Lite Life that is not seen because the light is not being reflected as a result of the impure or blocked consciousness;
additionally, that means that there is no one to seek enlightenment…no one to experience “the rumblings and the shakings and the booming noise and an atmosphere of chaos” that only seem to be real because misperception is the rule among the non-Realized.
There are only the personas that think they are experiencing the rumblings and the shakings and the booming noise and an atmosphere of chaos when they believe that they are real and that they are being hurt or interfered with or threatened. Yet all persons and many "seekers" are so confused that they mistake the dawn for the noon, the light for the dark, the dark for the light, and the heavy for the lite.
Further, You are the light that you seek, and if you find that You / that Light, then Life Lite will manifest as well. The question is, has the garbage been set out? Has it all been hauled away? It is not in a disposable bag; instead, it was placed between your ears by those who stole your chance at simplicity. Take back what was stolen. That is the invitation here. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:
1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond
Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.
To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
Option “A” is for the downloadable file version, Option “B” is used to order the DVD set for delivery inside the U.S., Option “C” for international orders.
For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.
[It is recommend that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]
2. BY READING these books in this exact order:
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS
[Provides the final preparation for the seeker to be directed along the “path”]
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
[Directs the seeker along the “path”]
CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute)
[Allows the seeker to understand the functioning of the totality, the manifestation, and what is involved with the un-manifestation]
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
SAVE IF YOU BUY ALL ELEVEN AT ONCE:
(You may order the books one at a time or you may use the following link to acquire the entire 11-e-Book set on sale for $99 if ordered at one time with the “Buy Now” button below. For this option, there will be no download links provided; once the near-instant notice of payment is received from PayPal, your e-Books will be sent to you as e-mail attachments. All are printable for your convenience.)
1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond
Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.
To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
Option “A” is for the downloadable file version, Option “B” is used to order the DVD set for delivery inside the U.S., Option “C” for international orders.
For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.
[It is recommend that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]
2. BY READING these books in this exact order:IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS
[Provides the final preparation for the seeker to be directed along the “path”]
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
[Directs the seeker along the “path”]
CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute)
[Allows the seeker to understand the functioning of the totality, the manifestation, and what is involved with the un-manifestation]
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
SAVE IF YOU BUY ALL ELEVEN AT ONCE:
(You may order the books one at a time or you may use the following link to acquire the entire 11-e-Book set on sale for $99 if ordered at one time with the “Buy Now” button below. For this option, there will be no download links provided; once the near-instant notice of payment is received from PayPal, your e-Books will be sent to you as e-mail attachments. All are printable for your convenience.)
You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.
3. BY ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes
For information, visit Information on the Advaita Classes on the Internet
To enroll visit Enroll in the Advaita Internet Course
4. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat for satsang with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.
5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session
6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.
SUBMITTING ADVAITA VEDANTA POETRY FOR PUBLICATION
Visit
Submitting Advaita Vedanta Poetry for Publication
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 1,400+ Advaitin essays archived on the site.
That said, any donation will be appreciated. Thank you.
3. BY ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes
For information, visit Information on the Advaita Classes on the Internet
To enroll visit Enroll in the Advaita Internet Course
4. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat for satsang with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.
5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session
6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.
SUBMITTING ADVAITA VEDANTA POETRY FOR PUBLICATION
Visit
Submitting Advaita Vedanta Poetry for Publication
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 1,400+ Advaitin essays archived on the site.
That said, any donation will be appreciated. Thank you.
