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.
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.
FROM A SITE VISITOR: How can the fluctuations end when I read one line and then a line later that contradicts that and a line later that contradicts that one. I don’t see how I’ll ever understand what you are teaching and then settle down. Is this a spiritual journey or not.
F.: Again, understand that if a sage is offering pointers that are supposedly contradictory, they are actually level-appropriate pointers which are relevant for a seeker at one point on the “path” but that will (a) be irrelevant at a later point and that will (b) not be appropriate for a seeker currently at a different level.
The issue of seemingly contradictory pointers and the irony involved was discussed in September of 2005 and the following will be offered again now because of the query above. Regarding a “spiritual journey” to Realization, requiring pointers from a Realized teacher that seem to be marked by irony after irony:
To try again to make this clear, the “spiritual” role assumed along the way happens at the third of seven steps to Realization (See From the I to the Absolute: A Seven-Step Journey to Reality). Neither that role, not any role or identity, is “the end goal.”
Thus, the next irony involves the fact that a spiritual role is just a role and that all roles are false and block the path to Realisation unless the seeker transitions beyond that role and all roles.
Too, it is ironic that there is no real “journey” at all. You Are complete, You Are already That Which is sought, You have nowhere to go, and You have nothing more that needs to be gained.
Ironic, too, is the fact that the Realized teacher who speaks to protégés much prefers not to speak at all. It is also ironic that You Are already free but have believed lies told and have not remembered the inner truth that is already within.
And yes, ironically, one must experience all the conditioning and programming and religious and / or spiritual roles that separate one from reality. Ironically, persons must live unnaturally and, even once on the "path," must live supernaturally and be driven by magical thinking for a time.
All of that must be "done" in order finally to be free of all doingness, to be free of all unnatural living, to be free of all supernatural living, and then to live naturally...free of all the slings and arrows of the variable, racing, troubling “mind.”
Only then can Realization happen which—in turn—results in just being, in watching things happen or not, in experiencing feelings but being free of emoting and reacting and over-reacting from a state of emotional intoxication.
“Thinking” (which is generated from an illusory mind that is nothing more than the storehouse of lies, myths and concepts) will disappear to the degree that attachment to, and belief in, lies and myths and concepts disappear. Few can escape the conditioning and programming that make necessary the “journey.”
The programming to accumulate, and the subsequent efforts to accumulate, must be followed by a period of Self-Inquiry and Realization and de-accumulation before one can stabilize “in reality.”
After the understanding, all happens…or not. What is the relative existence like, when lived in an AS IF fashion (i.e., as if anything in the relative matters but knowing it does not)? That can be known by considering these questions: How is your sight? Do you have to think to see? Do you have to work to see? Do you have to do daily exercises to see?
Or, are these the two relevant facts: if one cannot see, one cannot see; otherwise, seeing just happens. Once persons “see” that they are not a body that was born, once they “see” that they are not defined by their thoughts, once they “see” that they are not the spiritual or religious roles they have played...
...then the de-accumulation of beliefs and concepts and ideas can lead to the peace of Child Ignorance, to witnessing, to knowing the “True Self,” to understanding the beingness and the non-beingness, and to being in touch with Reality. From there, the doing stops and the being begins. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
F.: Again, understand that if a sage is offering pointers that are supposedly contradictory, they are actually level-appropriate pointers which are relevant for a seeker at one point on the “path” but that will (a) be irrelevant at a later point and that will (b) not be appropriate for a seeker currently at a different level.
The issue of seemingly contradictory pointers and the irony involved was discussed in September of 2005 and the following will be offered again now because of the query above. Regarding a “spiritual journey” to Realization, requiring pointers from a Realized teacher that seem to be marked by irony after irony:
To try again to make this clear, the “spiritual” role assumed along the way happens at the third of seven steps to Realization (See From the I to the Absolute: A Seven-Step Journey to Reality). Neither that role, not any role or identity, is “the end goal.”
Thus, the next irony involves the fact that a spiritual role is just a role and that all roles are false and block the path to Realisation unless the seeker transitions beyond that role and all roles.
Too, it is ironic that there is no real “journey” at all. You Are complete, You Are already That Which is sought, You have nowhere to go, and You have nothing more that needs to be gained.
Ironic, too, is the fact that the Realized teacher who speaks to protégés much prefers not to speak at all. It is also ironic that You Are already free but have believed lies told and have not remembered the inner truth that is already within.
And yes, ironically, one must experience all the conditioning and programming and religious and / or spiritual roles that separate one from reality. Ironically, persons must live unnaturally and, even once on the "path," must live supernaturally and be driven by magical thinking for a time.
All of that must be "done" in order finally to be free of all doingness, to be free of all unnatural living, to be free of all supernatural living, and then to live naturally...free of all the slings and arrows of the variable, racing, troubling “mind.”
Only then can Realization happen which—in turn—results in just being, in watching things happen or not, in experiencing feelings but being free of emoting and reacting and over-reacting from a state of emotional intoxication.
“Thinking” (which is generated from an illusory mind that is nothing more than the storehouse of lies, myths and concepts) will disappear to the degree that attachment to, and belief in, lies and myths and concepts disappear. Few can escape the conditioning and programming that make necessary the “journey.”
The programming to accumulate, and the subsequent efforts to accumulate, must be followed by a period of Self-Inquiry and Realization and de-accumulation before one can stabilize “in reality.”
After the understanding, all happens…or not. What is the relative existence like, when lived in an AS IF fashion (i.e., as if anything in the relative matters but knowing it does not)? That can be known by considering these questions: How is your sight? Do you have to think to see? Do you have to work to see? Do you have to do daily exercises to see?
Or, are these the two relevant facts: if one cannot see, one cannot see; otherwise, seeing just happens. Once persons “see” that they are not a body that was born, once they “see” that they are not defined by their thoughts, once they “see” that they are not the spiritual or religious roles they have played...
...then the de-accumulation of beliefs and concepts and ideas can lead to the peace of Child Ignorance, to witnessing, to knowing the “True Self,” to understanding the beingness and the non-beingness, and to being in touch with Reality. From there, the doing stops and the being begins. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
Now you can receive for $40 a downloadable computer file version of the same 7-hour satsang that seekers receive when they visit for the Advaita Retreat with Floyd. You will be guided through the seven steps from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond).
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita RetreatFor more information or to order, click:
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 recommended 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 recommended 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.
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.
