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)
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.)
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.
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.
