Advaita and “De-”, Part Five

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.

F.: The invitation of this series is to shift to a state of de-specialization, to de-accumulation, to de-personalization, to de-identification, to de-conceptualization, to decrease, to deflation, to deletion, and to detachment.

De-Conceptualization
To understand the way that concepts are dreamed up and then drive thoughts and words and deeds, one must understand the way that the “mind” has devolved over the millennia from being an asset to a liability among humankind. (“Mind” is placed in quote marks since it is not real but is just a conglomeration of fictional ideas and beliefs.)

The following description of part of the content of the book There’s No Such Thing as Peace of Mind (There Is Only Peace if You’re Out of Your Mind) addresses the problem of the “mind” as it now functions:

The book explores the history of the human brain, including the fact that for millions of years, human and human-like beings functioned without any mind. The book uncovers the ways that the brain evolved over the ages and developed an ability to store and retrieve memories. It then shows how the original memories were used constructively but how programming and conditioning changed all that and created a "mind" that most often overrules the brain and generates relative-existence harm and destruction.

Similarly, the book shows the way that personality develops during childhood as a means for survival and adaptation but later becomes a liability when those childhood personality traits continue to drive adult thinking and behavior.

Ultimately, the book shows why Advaitin sages for centuries have correctly identified the "problems of the planet" as being rooted in body-mind-personality identification and offers suggestions for being free of all of that nonsense via Realization.

Now that the relative problem with the “mind” is understood, consider the definitions of “concept” in order to understand the distortions that are produced by the “mind / concept” connection:

“A concept is a unit of thought, formed by mentally combining some or all the characteristics of a concrete or abstract, real or imaginary object. Concepts exist in the mind as abstract entities independent of terms used to express them.”

“A concept is something retained in the mind from experience and/or imagination.”

“A concept is something conceived in the mind, as in a thought or notion, especially when it concerns generalization from particular instances.”

“A concept is the mental representation of beings, things, qualities, actions, locations, situations, relations, etc.”

Consider first, “A concept is a unit of thought, formed by mentally combining some or all the characteristics of a concrete or abstract, real or imaginary object. Concepts exist in the mind as abstract entities independent of terms used to express them.”

In the book FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven Step Journey to Reality), the transcripts of a series of satsang sessions are offered. The organizer arranged the use of a large meeting room at a church which also hosted twelve-step meetings throughout the week.

The 35-45 minute satsang sessions were to be conducted over several weeks as all seven steps on the "path" to Realization were to be discussed. (As usual, the number of seekers in attendance diminished as the weeks passed, and those attending the last sessions were small enough in number for those final meetings to be conducted at home.)

While sessions were still being held at the church, a member of a twelve-step group heard about what he would characterize as “my blasphemous teachings” going on next door, so he came in to disrupt the sessions and to defend his conceptualized god.

[Note: The teachings in his group’s literature include the advice to “choose your own concept of God.” He joined most persons in such groups who ignore the fact that the same literature says that most of their founders did not consider their “Higher Power” to be a personal god but considered it to be an “inner resource”—not unlike Advaita’s “inner guru”.]

Again, “a concept is a unit of thought, formed by mentally combining some or all the characteristics of a concrete or abstract, real or imaginary object. Concepts exist in the mind as abstract entities independent of terms used to express them.”

So a concept of anything—in this case, of “a god”—is actually nothing more than “a thought” in the “mind” (which is a collection of false beliefs) and results in the taking of an “abstraction” (such as an “imaginary” personal god) and assigning a "concrete" nature to that which is an abstract conceptualization. Then, in “the mind,” that abstract entity is taken to be real and personal and physical and tangible and material.

In that man's group, there can be as many concepts as there are persons: there can be the concept of a mean, vengeful god; there can be the concept of a “celestial-Santa-Claus god” who is kind and giving; there can be the concept of an “absentee god” who operates in the style of the police and is never there when you really need him; or there can be the concept of a dualistic, judgmental god that knows if you've been "good" or "bad" and will reward or punish accordingly.

The man became quite angry when it was pointed out that “choosing your own concept” was tantamount to “just making it up.” And that is the problem with concepts: they are just made up, just dreamed up by persons, and then they are passed along as truth to the masses who accept learned ignorance as fact because of their blind faith that preempts questioning anything taught by an authority figure.

Though the fellow in his meetings shared the ways that his god gave him peace and serenity, his words and actions the day he interrupted the satsang sessions proved that there was no validity at all to his claims.

And though his literature suggests casting aside “ideas and emotions and attitudes” (that is, beliefs), it was quite obvious that his concepts, ideas, emotions and beliefs were totally in charge, dis-empowering a person who was convinced that he had power via “his Power.”

And that is always the case when persons are operating under the auspices of their dreamed up concepts and ideas and beliefs: they will be emotionally intoxicated and will walk about in ignorance, believing that they are enlightened (that is, believing that they are being bathed in the light of the noonday sun) though they really cannot see clearly since they are actually standing in the limited light of the dawn. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

[The discussion of the call for de-conceptualization will continue on Friday after having returning from a business trip.]

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 Retreat

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.)

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.

Advaita and “De-”, Part Four

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.

F.: While the Realized have no desires, there are nisarga (natural) longings among persons that most are not aware of: the longing for a simple existence rather than the complex existence that is now so prevalent; a longing for a peaceful quietness rather then the noise of things relative that involve so much strum und drang; a longing for the less-ness in place of the drive for accumulation.

The invitation of this series is, therefore, to shift to a state of de-specialization, to de-accumulation, to de-personalization, to de-identification, to de-conceptualization, to decrease, to deflation, to deletion, and to detachment.

De-Personalization and De-identification
These Advaita teachings provide an opportunity for seekers to shift from (a) a conceptualized relative existence that is steeped in duality and in the assumption of personal (but false) identities to (b) an understanding of the no concept, non-dual, impersonal Reality.

Abidance as a person—as one living under the auspices of personality and allowing false personas to drive thoughts and words and deeds—will guarantee fluctuation and instability, will assure times of seeming happiness interspersed throughout times of misery, and will often eventually result in extended periods of total chaos.

Along the “path,” there is a step when the religious and spiritual personas (which had to be assumed for a time) are discarded, after which the True Self is witnessed. What is actually happening is the Pure Witness is finally witnessing itSelf.

Yet if Krishna's observations about the beingness, the non-beingness, and being even beyond the non-beingness were accurate, and if the meaning of those pointers is understood, then there can be a period when abidance happens as the Absolute.

However, even that is not the original, formless nature, for even the varied types of energy all have some type of form. No, the formless, non-personal, non-identity nature lies prior to consciousness and prior to the Absolute.

What was prior to consciousness and prior to the Absolute? What even predated the manifestation of all fields of energy in this particular universe? The void. The nothingness. Hence, Maharaj did not say "You are the consciousness" to one at the end of the “journey” if that seeker was ready for the final pointers. He did not say to seekers at that point that “You Are the Absolute.”

To those that were ready for the ultimate medicine containing the message of ultimate clarity, he said, “From my angle, you are nothing. You have no identity.”

Contradicting Maharaj, some teachers nowadays offer what they call “Personal Growth Yoga” and speak of “identification with the definite.” The irony contained in such bastardized versions of non-duality, with all such talk about "personal growth" and accumulating even more "identification," are epidemic; thus, the indications for treatment via the ultimate medicine are as pervasive as the epidemic.

The primary methods of teaching Advaita already offer considerable variety in their approaches, but when all of those methods are distorted with personal messages about personal identification, then the followers of such distorters will never know the freedom and peace of natural living.

Natural living happens either among (1) the non-human life-forms on the planet or among (2) the few seekers that eventually Realize Fully. Those who claim that they have Realized Fully but are still assuming the personal identity of “The Spiritual One” have not even passed the third of the seven steps on the “path” to Full Realization.

Those who think that they are being bathed in the noonday sun but are actually standing in the dimmer light of dawn have not Realized Fully. Those living in an unnatural and / or supernatural mode have not Realized Fully.

And those who have not undergone total de-personalization and total de-identification have not Realized Fully and will never be able to abide for the remainder of the manifestation in the nisarga fashion. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

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 Retreat

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.)

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.

Advaita and “De-”, Part Three

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.

F.: While the Fully Realized have no desires, there are nisarga (natural) longings that most persons will never touch; however, among those with a propensity for Realization, the presence of those longings is sensed as they stir an inner awareness—a "yearning," if you will—that includes:

the longing for a simple existence rather than the complex existence that is now so prevalent among persons; a longing for a peaceful quietness rather then the noisy, relative things that involve so much strum und drang; a longing for the less-ness in place of the drive for accumulation.

The invitation of this series is, therefore, to shift to a state of de-specialization, to de-accumulation, to de-personalization, to de-identification, to de-conceptualization, to decrease, to deflation, to deletion, and to detachment.

De-Accumulation
Some theorists speak of “the human desire to return to the womb.” Their hypothesis stops short of reality…of Reality. The real longing is to return to the original state that was prior to the womb, prior to conception, prior to the manifestation of consciousness.

The natural longing for formlessness must necessarily be prior to "the womb time" when elements took a particular form now referred to as “the human body.”

Note first how the earlier, simple existence of human forms has been made most complex, most heavy, for these spaces now called "humans" or "persons." The natural longing for the lightness of formlessness is for that which is far lighter than any space formed via elemental combinings, so the longing is to move “farther back” than merely to the womb.

The seeming weightiness of the relative existence nowadays has little to do with the accumulation of physical bulk among some persons. The most burdensome weight is a result of persons having accumulated ego-states and concepts and ideas and beliefs.

That ensuing heaviness is one of the reasons that accumulation is unnatural and is also why “the incredible lightness of merely being” is the state sought during the manifestation, even as most persons will never be in touch with that longing.

[Even those who occasionally sense that longing will seldom surrender to the urge, their programming to accumulate always driving them to return to their quest to move onward and upward in their cultures rather than to "de-" (to move away from) the superficial elements of their societies and to follow the "path to the real" in the reverse order of the steps that led them into their current, heavy existence.]

From that understanding, it should be fairly simple to see that accumulation is unnatural and that de-accumulating would be the natural process to undertake after the first twenty years of the relative existence (during which persons are programmed and conditioned to “get” and "to acquire" and "to accumulate").

Fear and desire are the sources of misery, so it is only in the absence of fear and desire that peace and freedom can manifest and flourish. To de-accumulate would preempt the chance for fear (of loss) and for the constant desire (to gain) to produce misery and suffering.

De-accumulation is taken rather exactly by many seekers—some of whom enter into “the forest dweller stage” quite literally. Other seekers “downsize” their living arrangements or reduce the quantity of belongings inside. Some “zen out” their environment, their involvements, or their material goods, yet none of that is a prerequisite for Realization (though any or all of that often happens spontaneously post-Realization).

Yet the invitation to de-accumulate for those that would Realize Fully involves, more than anything, ending the belief in those further acquisitions (since programming and conditioning began) that are but hearsay. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

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 Retreat

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.)

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.

Advaita and “De-”, Part Two

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.

F.: Yesterday’s post included these pointers:

**What persons have lost touch with are the nisarga (natural) longings, including the natural longing to return to the formlessness, and the upcoming posts will focus on the “de-” and not on the “ad-”; and

**the invitation is, therefore, to shift to a state of de-specialization, to de-accumulation, to de-personalization, to de-identification, to de-conceptualization, to decrease, to deflation, to deletion, and to detachment.

DE-Specialization
Consider, therefore, the pointers offered in regards to “de-specializing.” In terms of the Advaitin teachings, the invitation of "de-" is to move away from belief in any notion that “you are special.”

You are not special by parentage, by heritage, by nationality, by race, by party, by affiliations, by intelligence, by financial standing, by association, by accumulation, by religiosity, by spirituality, by anything.

The invitation of de-" is also to move away from the arrogance of belief in differentiation and special-ness to an understanding that (a) not only are you not special but that (b) “you” are not at all.

Recently an e-mail was received with this: “What is it about persons that make them believe that they are so special?” The short answer was “programming, conditioning, acculturation and domestication along with excessively heavy doses of ego and egotism.”

As explained many times on this site, and to adumbrate the pointer from Maharaj that was shared yesterday, “After the information given to you by the mother, that you are a boy or girl, all your further acquisitions are but hearsay.”

What are those “further acquisitions?” The phrase used here yesterday to point toward those acquisitions was “the inflation of ego and egotism.” What is acquired after the information given by the mother is one false role after another which are all soon inflated and upgraded in the “mind” of the one assuming such roles.

Call those acquisitions “false identities” or “personas” or “stage characters” or “personalities” or “false self / selves” or “individuals” or “roles” or “ego-states,” it matters not. Inflation and upgrading will happen. “Lover” will always elevate itself to “Super Lover” status; “Spouse” will always elevate itself to “Super Spouse”;

“Boss” will be elevated to “Super Boss,” ad infinitum. Then the misery begins because “The Lover” only requires a co-dependent “lover” to exist, but “The Super Lover” must have “A Super Lover” to maintain its illusion of self-ness and special-ness; yet no one will be able to meet the criteria set forth by the false identity that upgrades its false self.

Therefore, no super spouse counterpart will ever be good enough for “The Super Spouse” and no super employee counterpart will ever be good enough for “The Super Boss.” When the “further acquisitions” reach scores in number, the sources of misery will also reach scores in number.

Acquire four-score false identities over the period of a decade or two, upgrade the selves to some "super special" status, and ten to twenty years of frustration and / or misery will be guaranteed to follow.

In the end, what is key to understanding the delusion of belief in being special is understanding the fact that when an ego-state is acquired, then ego-defense mechanisms trigger in order to support and defend and maintain that false image…that totally bogus identity.

The more acquisitions there are, the more rationalization will be used, the more projection will be used, the more victimization and blame will be used, and the more egotism will manifest.

Eventually, once immersed in an ocean of ostentatiousness, full-blown waves of grandiosity and pomposity and arrogance will be whipped up by the tempest of pretentiousness;

then the “minds” of persons immersed thusly in their sense of being “special” and “better than” will be flooded with a tsunami of beliefs about “separation” and “hierarchies” and “differentiation.”

“Won’t spirituality address the issue and return one to a state of humility and a sense of at-one-ment?” it has been asked. The reply is always:

“Note how far removed ‘The Really Special Spiritual Giants’ on the mountaintop are from what they perceive to be the lowly, non-special masses who are walking about in the darkness of the shadows of the valleys below;

“note how ‘Super Spiritual Personas’ believe that the masses could join them on the mountaintop if only the masses would but learn what the spiritual ones have learned; note how the ones on the mountaintop want others to think as they think, talk as they talk, and do as they do. Then answer your own question.”

The acquisition of any persona—be it one thought to be “good” or one thought to be “bad”—will…

(A) always trigger a sense of status and a sense of special-ness, and will…

(B) always trigger a resulting sense of better-than-ness and—therefore—a false sense of separation and belief in duality.

So blinded are persons by the egotism that always accompanies the assumption of ego-states that they will believe that the ocean differs from the sea, that some swells are better than others, and that floating along on a wave of self-absorption is the grandest way of all to move about.

What, other than a belief in duality, could possibly result from such notions about being special and being different and being unique? The invitation is to de-specialize, that is, to cast aside any and all notions about being “special” and “different.” You are not. Nothing is.

Days are not “special” or “different from” or “holier” than other days, and no books are “special” or “different from” or “holier” than other books; weather is neither “good” nor “bad,” so there are no “especially nice days” or “really bad days.”

There are no nations that are “special” or “different from,” and there are no persons who are “special” or “different from.” To believe the opposite is to be trapped in the ignorance of duality. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

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 Retreat

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.)

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.

Advaita and “De-”, Part One

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.

F.: One of the many ironies of the Advaitin teachings is the fact that, while inviting seekers to be rid of any notions about “uniqueness,” the teachings are unique in that they offer nothing—that they, in fact, offer…Nothing.

Another irony is that, while the prefix “ad-” means to “add something,” Advaita uses the prefix “de-” in order to present its pointers. The invitation is, therefore, to shift to a state of de-specialization, to de-accumulation, to de-personalization, to de-identification, to de-conceptualization, to decrease, to deflation, to deletion, and to detachment.

The prefix “de-”, meaning “from” or “away” or “away from,” is used by Advaitin teachers to point seekers in the direction of the exact, clear-cut steps along a “path” that would move those seekers away from their attachment to beliefs to a detachment from beliefs (beliefs which are not their own anyway but are the beliefs dreamed up by “others”);

away from the inflation of ego and egotism to a condition of deflation along the “path” to Realization; away from the notion that one is expansive and powerful and righteous and full of religious and spiritual knowledge (a.k.a., “learned ignorance”) to being devoid of all that;

and away from fighting or struggling or working to preserve false identities—and away from being driven to spread false ideologies and dogma—to the destruction of unjustifiable confidence and blind faith in all that is false.

The teachings do offer, ultimately, nothing. Here are (1) some of the questions that have been raised here during satsang by seekers who were trying to gain something or to add on something rather than to move "away" or "from" or "away from" and (2) the way that Maharaj would have responded:

“But what of my need to try to understand this world, to attain the skills to cope with the relative existence?”

Maharaj: “The world is nothing but the picture of your own 'I' consciousness.”
F.: Why would anyone believe that skill is needed to cope with a mirage?

“But you speak of this ‘form,’ this ‘space.’ I must add to my body of awarenesses an understanding of what this form, this space, really is.”

Maharaj: “Prior to taking this form, you were formless; spontaneously the form came, and when the form came there was a natural longing to return to the formless state. When you want to return to the formless, desireless state, then only you come here, to seek what you are.
F.: What persons have lost touch with, as a result of programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication, are the nisarga (natural) longings, including the natural longing to return to the formlessness.

“But surely I must add on—that is, acquire—spiritual knowledge if there is ever to be any chance to Realize.”

Maharaj: “Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion. All this is happening in the objective world. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud.”

“But I see others…they are before my very eyes. If Advaita can point to two levels of witnessing, should I not gain an understanding of what it is that I am witnessing?”

Maharaj: “If you are not, can others be there?”

“If you teach that there is truth, then surely there must be some truth to what I have been taught so far.”

Maharaj: “After the information given to you by the mother, that you are a boy or girl, all your further acquisitions are but hearsay.”

“Then why do you add to my daily practices the use of a mantra?”

Maharaj: “Both the mantra and the faith in the mantra will get dissolved."

“If you speak of a path, then surely I must accumulate some knowledge in order to progress along that way.”

Maharaj: “There is no progress.”

“If there are Advaita teachings, which there are, then surely I must gain an understanding of the Advaita concepts.”

Maharaj: “Go to zero concepts.”

“Well, once I experience Realization, will I not have gained an understanding of what I really Am”?

Maharaj: “Both experience and experiencer will disappear” and "You have no identity."

“You have advised that I stay with the ‘I Am’ and acquire an understanding of this Is-ness, the Amness, this beingness. Such an understanding would be in addition to what I already know.”

Maharaj: “When you are thoroughly knowledgeable, you will come to the conclusion that this beingness is also an illusion.”

“I was religious. Now I am spiritual. Surely there have been some things added via my spiritual practices that are necessary.”

Maharaj: “Whatever you have tried to understand during your spiritual search will prove false” and “When the birth is disproved, the great noble meaning of spirituality and the meaning of this world—everything—is disproved.”

“But to be free of the faith I have had in false beliefs, must I not now have faith in you, my guru…my teacher?”

(F.: All must happen in a particular order to move from identification with the "I" to abidance as the “not I,” to function spontaneously as a “no I.” That does not, however, suggest that the means is the end.)
Maharaj said, “I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.”

“But I thought the whole deal was about finding the True Self—finding what I really am.”

Maharaj: “From my angle, you are nothing and again "You have no identity."

And that is why the upcoming posts in this series, as with all pointers offered here, will focus on the “de-” and not on the “ad-.” Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

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 Retreat

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.)

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.

An Advaitin Explanation of Why the Masses Delight in “The Hero Being Placed on a Pedestal” and “The Hero Falling from Grace,” The Conclusion

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.

F.: The bottom line is that persons delight in putting other persons or groups on a pedestal because of psychological identification: my teacher / friend / spouse / is important—is a “big name”—so I am made greater by the connection and, ergo, I am also “big” and important;

or, “My sponsor / preacher / imam / etc. is a bigshot so I am a bigshot by association”; or, “My team won and beat the other team, so I feel like a winner”; or, "My favorite player won the tournament and so it is almost as if I won the tournament.”

All such nonsense inspires persons to place others “on a pedestal.” Once, when that pointer was offered in satsang, it was asked, “Are you not associating yourself with Maharaj?” The reply: “How could that which is One 'relate' or 'associate' at all?”

Manifested, I am exactly that which was called “Maharaj”; unmanifested, I will be that which what was called Maharaj presently is. If there is only “A,” how could there be an “A-B” association?

But why, conversely, do persons also delight in the hero’s fall? While the sleepwalking masses buy into culture-wide programming and conditioning as well as mass-marketed images, the consciousness knows on some level when one's self is a fraud and has no tolerance for that which is fraudulent.

Denial is one of many ego-defense mechanisms that blocks awareness of the false ego-states that are assumed, yet in the absence of clinically-diagnosable insanity, sociopathy, or total dissociation, there can manifest among persons at least a slight inkling that “I am as phony as can be…a total fraud.”

Yet the power of the ego-defense mechanisms that are available to support distorted beliefs will usually prevail, so the level of hatred for one’s own false self / selves is short-lived and is soon projected onto others. When that happens, persons delight upon the occasion of the fraudulent being exposed as fraudulent.

Then, egotism leads to the conclusion that "I am even better than that one who had been universally admired." The condition of persons on the planet, therefore, is marked by their being fooled: fooled into believing that the images being fabricated and displayed by other persons is real and fooled into believing that their own images are real.

They hate to be fooled but have no clue—post-programming and conditioning—that they have never been anything except fooled. In the interest of being free of delusions—and free of the subsequent misery and suffering that accompanies being delusional—then maybe it should not be only famous athletes or religious heroes or spiritual idols that are knocked off pedestals.

Maybe it should be themselves—the false selves of all persons—that should be removed from the mental pedestal on which persons absorbed in false identities place themselves. Maybe parents should be removed from a pedestal if the result is a belief such as “they must have been great…look how well I turned out”;

maybe their preachers and priests and rabbis and imams should be removed from the pedestal if persons would stop being fooled by the dissemination of nonsense; maybe one’s political party or culture or ideology or nation should be removed from the pedestal.

Only if belief in such hierarchical notions of separation end can one begin to move along the seven-step “path” to Realization and know the unicity rather than continuing to believe in the false notions regarding multiplicities. 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 Retreat

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.)

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.

THIRTY-THREE ADVAITA TOPICS DISCUSSED ON FIVE VIDEOS

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.

F.: The video discussions of a variety of Advaitin topics that are listed below are offered for all site visitors. Upon returning from an out-of-town assignment, the current series will continue. Peace, Love, Light, f.

ADVAITA VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE

If you want to share the five Advaita videos on your own site, you are invited to do so without charge. Click on the links above and to the right under “Links and Resources.” You’ll be transferred to the video sites and there you will find the embedding codes that you can copy and paste onto your html pages.

Below are five lists containing thirty-three Advaitin subjects that are discussed on the YouTube videos that follow each of the lists.
(The numeric counter information is provided so that you can move to the exact location in the videos to find any particular discussion that might be of interest)

Advaita Topics 1-9:
1. Defining Advaita Vedanta (Counter 28-55)
2. Methods of Teaching (Counter 55-144)
3. Unicity / Nonduality (Counter 144-239)
4. I AM THAT; I AM (Counter 239-331)
5. Learn vs. Unlearn (Counter 331-413)
6. Unlearn What? (Counter 413-444)
7. Person vs. Realized (444-525)
8. The Triad (Counter 525-745)
9. Before Conception (Counter 745-901)
Click on the arrow below to start Video One and topics 1-9:



Advaita Topics 10-16:
10. No Body Continuity / “ME” (Counter 1-56)
11. Not Born / No Creation / Cannot Die (Counter 56-200)
12. No Peace of “mind” / My “mind” / “Their “mind” (Counter 200-333)
13. Brain vs. “mind” vs. Consciousness (Counter 333-500)
14. Not in the World (Counter 500-603)
15. Inner Guru (Counter 603-715)
16. Personality-Suffering Connection / Upgrading Illusions (Counter 715-840)
Click on the arrow below to start Video Two and topics 10-16:



Advaita Topics 18-24:
18. The Role-Playing + Co-dependency + Suicide Link (Counter 1-205)
19. Upgrading / Downgrading Illusions (Counter 205-300)
20. Emotions vs. Feelings (Counter 300-422)
21. Religion and Spirituality (Counter 422-547)
22. Question All (Counter 547-713)
23. Natural vs. Unnatural vs. Supernatural Living (Counter 713-833)
24. When Trillions Are Wrong (Counter 833-920)
Click on the arrow below to start Video Three and topics 18-24:



Advaita Topics 25-31:
25. Christ the Advaitin (Counter 1-150)
26. Child Ignorance / The Pre-”mind” State (Counter 150-340)
27. Child Ignorance vs. Learned Ignorance (Counter 340-439)
28. Two Levels of Witnessing (Counter 439-554)
29. Desires and Fears (Counter 554-641)
30. Consciousness vs. Awareness (Counter 641-720)
31. Real Love vs. false love (Counter 720-846)
Click on the arrow below to start Video Four and topics 25-31:



Advaita Topics 32-33:
32. Zero Concepts (Counter 1-120)
33. The Nothingness (Counter 120-250)
Click on the arrow below to start Video Five and topics 32-33:



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 Retreat

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.)

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.

An Advaitin Explanation of Why the Masses Delight Equally in “The Hero Being Placed on a Pedestal” and “The Hero Falling from Grace,” Part Three

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.

F.: Persons attached to the relative existence will believe in images and illusions, will upgrade those illusions, will be shocked when they find that nothing more than a false image was at play but will seldom see that the upgrading of an illusion is as senseless as believing an illusion to be real in the first place. Yet nothing in that sequence will prevent persons from engaging in the same sequence of nonsense again and again.

While this series began with an employee commenting on a rich athlete's fall from grace, such fluctuating “rises” and “falls” happen constantly among the non-Realized who never enjoy any continuous stability or steadiness at all.

Pedestal placement and image fabrication and belief in image are based as much in myth as are current religions that are nothing more than updated versions of pagan religions that were based in myth and superstition and non-fact. To believe that any person is "different from another" or "better than another" is based as much in mythology as tales of Zeus and Thor.

As for the instability that marks the lives of non-Realized persons, it's not only about swinging from beliefs about zero to hero to zero again. What makes them happy one day makes them sad the next; what they thought they loved about another person, they will eventually find that they hate.

Their moods will be tossed around not unlike a piece of paper being blown about in the wind; moreover, one day the winds blow them in one direction, the next day, the winds blow them in the opposite direction. Similarly, what persons admire in a persona that they upgrade will often be seen to have been pure fiction, misperceptions being the abnormal norm among the non-Realized.

And what is the most popular platform of differentiation that the non-Realized masses use to build their illusions? The hierarchy. In that regard, the following has been shared here on occasion:

Ego is believing that there's a vast multiplicity arranged in a hierarchy and that you're the pinnacle; humility is knowing that you're nothing, no-thing; Love is knowing that You, with a capital 'Y,' are everything.

And in Western cultures, which have long tried to force their distortion-based views upon peoples around the globe, their hierarchical rankings very often involve body / sex, personality, and wealth.

The message that turns persons into what cultures label as "monsters" is this: "We are nothing significant in this society, but you are everything to us and we 'love' you! As a result, many of us will love you with our bodies, will play any role you want us to play, and will—oh, yes—want you to share the wealth with us someday."

So the surprise is...?

BODY-MIND-PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION

BODY
When identified with nothing more than the physical form, then there will be a drive to kneel and worship at the altar of the body—and often to pay very heavy tithes or fees as a result.

When fixated at the level of identification with the physical space only (a level that leaves persons as far removed from understanding the Absolute and the Void beyond as any person can be) then one will accept all of the separatist nonsense that is set forth by many cultures.

Thus, cultures define what a “good” body looks like and what a “bad” body looks like, and the effects of the collective mind drive persons to rank self and others in a hierarchy: “That one is a ‘10’.” “The one over there is only a ‘4’.” “I have low esteem because I know I’m about a ‘3’.”

PERSONALITY
In such cultures, the ones labeled “The ‘10’s’” develop a sense of entitlement, believing that they are owed more than others and deserve more than others, based in nothing more than their place on “the looks hierarchy” or “the wealth hierarchy”; thus, the Advaitin invitation to de-accumulate will never even be considered.

Having been programmed and conditioned to believe that they should be allowed to operate outside the cultural boundaries that they believe only apply to “the non-special ones,” many internalize the Type Eight Personality and take themselves to be “The One in Control,” “The One Who Has Power and Wants to Exercise It,” “The One More Deserving of a Particular Person Than That Person’s Spouse,” “The Possessor,” “The Owner of Stuff,” "The Owner of People," ad infinitum.

Once persons become trapped in such personas and the “mind-set” of those personas, there manifests a perceived need for constant stimulation, for “living on the edge,” and for sexual promiscuity.

They will believe that they are all-powerful and all-knowing; that they are entitled to have every wish fulfilled; that societal boundaries do not apply to them; and that their impact on others is of no concern. Extreme narcissism and grandiosity will drive their thoughts and words and deeds. In other words, they fit exactly the profile of a sociopath.

In the absence of understanding the body and mind and personality motivators, persons are surprised—even shocked—when they see that the one who had been placed on the pedestal has suddenly fallen from grace…when they see that “the emperor, all along, had no clothes.”

Members of various cultures are active participants in the programming and the conditioning of their “heroes” to believe that they are “special” and “different” and “better than” others and that the societal rules do not apply to them.

The heroes will agree with the public’s message and will therefore act as if they are special and different from others and better than others and more deserving then others; ironically, at some point, that same culture willingly joins into the movement to reclassify “the hero” as “a zero” because the hero bought into the culture's nonsense and misperceptions.

MIND
The only acceptable “mind” among the non-Realized masses is the one that generates thoughts and words and actions that fit the cultural mold and that honors the notions of separation and ranking and a willingness to accept without questioning the culture’s views about what makes their fellow persons either “heroes” or “zeroes.” That, in turn, reinforces belief in the false concept of separation.

THE BELIEF IN THE FALSE CONCEPT OF “SEPARATE”

Reference was made in last Saturday’s post to “the many ego-based but all-illusion hierarchies that the non-Realized are forever dreaming up.” Along with rankings by body style and importance, persons also buy into the notions of social hierarchies, of financial hierarchies, and of personal hierarchies.

From such belief in “high rank,” “average rank,” and “low rank,” the entire planet has been turned into a huge hen yard with pecking orders that reinforce a false sense of separation as well as a belief in such concepts as “different-from-ness” and “better-than-ness” and “worse-then-ness.”

Hierarchies are required for pedestal placement and for falls from grace...hierarchies amounting to nothing more than dualistic notions, separatist concepts, and reinforcers of the lie of multiplicity rather than truth of the unicity. On this topic, Maharaj provided insight:

Questioner: According to [certain competent people], there exists a hierarchy of beings, from the lowest to the highest…”
Maharaj: “Even if it is [so], it is so only from the mind’s point of view….”

The only ones “above the fray” are those who have Realized Fully and that, as a result, can differentiate true from false, can distinguish image from Reality, and can discern fiction from fact...a play from what is real.

Maharaj said: "Once you realise that there is nothing in this world which you can call your own, you look at it from the outside as you look at a play on the stage or a picture on the screen, admiring and enjoying, but really unmoved."

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

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 Retreat

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.)

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.