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.
THE DECEIT OF MIND CONTINUITY
F.: Who has not heard persons say: “I changed my mind”? The “mind” is ever-changing, so there is no continuity in terms of any given state that it might be in from one instant to the next.
For example, what persons think they “love,” they will eventually think they hate; what they think they believe today, they can abandon belief in tomorrow; what they are so sure of at one age they can be totally unsure of at another:
“I should marry her” is often followed a few days later by, “Deep down inside, I know that I really don’t want to spend a lifetime with her.”
"I should leave him" will often be followed by "No wait, I should stay with him."
Fifty to sixty percent of the time, “Until death do us part” becomes “I think I’m going to die if I don’t get away from him/her.”
“He is a great lover” more often than not becomes “My gosh, he’s a sex maniac!”
“This is a dream job” almost always becomes, at some later point, “What a nightmare this job has turned out to be.”
“He has a great work ethic” often becomes “He’s an emotionally-unavailable workaholic!”
And, as one site visitor pointed out yesterday at a place of employment that receives contracts from the Department of “Defense,” the “minds” of many there changed from
“What a wimp this president is…he can’t make a decision about sending more troops or not and about escalating the war or not”
to this (after a speech in which he announced a decision to send more troops and to escalate):
“You know, he actually sounded very presidential last night.”
Maharaj noted that such constant instability and fluctuations leads to a sequence in “relationships” that persons repeat over and over, shifting from one ego-state to another, from one persona to another, moving from "stranger" to "acquaintance" to "friend" to "lover" to "fiancé / fiancée" to "spouse" to "enemy" to "mortal enemy."
The “mind” has no continuity, shifting from views about loss to perceptions of emolument; from “feeling upbeat” to “feeling down”; or from thinking people "are really good at heart" to hating all of humanity.
More perverse than the notion that mind continuity is happening now, however, is the nonsensical belief that there can be mind continuity later…and forever. The belief that a “mind” can survive intact post-manifestation is one of the more delusional of all of the delusions dreamed up by persons.
The notion that a mind can exist after a body rots away or is burned shows the degree to which programmed persons can be out of touch with reality. The “mind” only lasts as long as the parts of the brain in which it stores and retrieves its content lasts. Maharaj said that science would advance someday to the point that it will prove the validity of all of these teachings. Here's the science in this case:
In the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex, memories are stored in language format. In the right hemisphere, memories are stored in spatial, auditory, and visual modes. The temporal lobe deals with information retrieval. If, within the limbic system, the amygdala malfunctions, then a loss of recent memory can happen.
It can be seen from those facts that the brain functions not unlike the computer on which these words are being typed and stored and not unlike the computer on which the words are retrieved and read by site visitors. Data is stored and data is recalled.
That said, who could possibly believe anyone who tells them that (A) this computer can be burned until there is nothing left but the original elements from which it was made but (B) it can still store data and you can still retrieve data by using it?
Who could possibly believe anyone who tells them that (C) this computer can be exposed to the elements and allowed to rust away and rot away until there is nothing left but the original elements from which it was made but (D) it can still store data and you can still retrieve data by using it?
How truly naïve one would be to accept such statements as truth. Yet billions of persons on the planet believe concepts that are no different from the nonsensical ideas set forth in those two scenarios.
Persons actually believe (1) that a brain can rot away or be burned; (2) that the cerebral cortex and its hemispheres can return in an ash-to-ash and dust-to-dust manner to the universal pool of elements;
(3) that the temporal lobe and the limbic system and the amygdala can fade away when the brain no longer exists; but (4) that they—in one personal form or another—will be called before a god post-manifestation to…
…(A) be held accountable for all of the sins (a.k.a., “transgressions”) for which they did not ask forgiveness during the manifestation, and (B) to remember every sin ever committed during the manifestation,
and (C) to recall from memory everything about the manifestation, and (D) to know everyone they knew during the manifestation and (E) to recognize them when they all reunite after what they call “death” and "judgment."
They actually believe that the subjective and fictional content that made up what they called “their minds” can still be recalled even though the elemental brain in which that subjective and fictional content was stored, and from which it was recalled, no longer exists.
They actually believe that a “mind” can continue to function post-manifestation in the same manner in which it functioned during the relative existence, even after the elemental brain no longer exists, and they believe that because they never question the authority figures who tell them what they should believe.
They would not believe that a burned or rusted and rotted out computer can continue to function as it did prior to burning or decomposing; they would not believe that a shattered glass can still hold water; they would not believe that they can continue to live in a house that has burned to the ground.
Why? Because they have not been told those things by one whom they think to be holy, by one who has assumed a most grandiose role and claims to be “God’s Representative on Earth,” or by one whose words they refuse to question because that person chose an occupation that includes a pulpit from which other claims (and equally audacious assertions) can be made.
As for the few on the planet who are not trapped in the effects of the programming and conditioning that have marked the last 5000-6000 years among humans, it is those few alone that have Realized and that know there is no continuity of a “mind” now and there will be no continuity of a “mind” later.
It is those few who understand that there is no birth so there can be no rebirth; that there are no personal beings who are living and dying; that there is no post-manifestation beingness that will be pleasured by rewards or tortured by punishments; and that if bliss and joy are to be known, they can only be known now. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
F.: Who has not heard persons say: “I changed my mind”? The “mind” is ever-changing, so there is no continuity in terms of any given state that it might be in from one instant to the next.
For example, what persons think they “love,” they will eventually think they hate; what they think they believe today, they can abandon belief in tomorrow; what they are so sure of at one age they can be totally unsure of at another:
“I should marry her” is often followed a few days later by, “Deep down inside, I know that I really don’t want to spend a lifetime with her.”
"I should leave him" will often be followed by "No wait, I should stay with him."
Fifty to sixty percent of the time, “Until death do us part” becomes “I think I’m going to die if I don’t get away from him/her.”
“He is a great lover” more often than not becomes “My gosh, he’s a sex maniac!”
“This is a dream job” almost always becomes, at some later point, “What a nightmare this job has turned out to be.”
“He has a great work ethic” often becomes “He’s an emotionally-unavailable workaholic!”
And, as one site visitor pointed out yesterday at a place of employment that receives contracts from the Department of “Defense,” the “minds” of many there changed from
“What a wimp this president is…he can’t make a decision about sending more troops or not and about escalating the war or not”
to this (after a speech in which he announced a decision to send more troops and to escalate):
“You know, he actually sounded very presidential last night.”
Maharaj noted that such constant instability and fluctuations leads to a sequence in “relationships” that persons repeat over and over, shifting from one ego-state to another, from one persona to another, moving from "stranger" to "acquaintance" to "friend" to "lover" to "fiancé / fiancée" to "spouse" to "enemy" to "mortal enemy."
The “mind” has no continuity, shifting from views about loss to perceptions of emolument; from “feeling upbeat” to “feeling down”; or from thinking people "are really good at heart" to hating all of humanity.
More perverse than the notion that mind continuity is happening now, however, is the nonsensical belief that there can be mind continuity later…and forever. The belief that a “mind” can survive intact post-manifestation is one of the more delusional of all of the delusions dreamed up by persons.
The notion that a mind can exist after a body rots away or is burned shows the degree to which programmed persons can be out of touch with reality. The “mind” only lasts as long as the parts of the brain in which it stores and retrieves its content lasts. Maharaj said that science would advance someday to the point that it will prove the validity of all of these teachings. Here's the science in this case:
In the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex, memories are stored in language format. In the right hemisphere, memories are stored in spatial, auditory, and visual modes. The temporal lobe deals with information retrieval. If, within the limbic system, the amygdala malfunctions, then a loss of recent memory can happen.
It can be seen from those facts that the brain functions not unlike the computer on which these words are being typed and stored and not unlike the computer on which the words are retrieved and read by site visitors. Data is stored and data is recalled.
That said, who could possibly believe anyone who tells them that (A) this computer can be burned until there is nothing left but the original elements from which it was made but (B) it can still store data and you can still retrieve data by using it?
Who could possibly believe anyone who tells them that (C) this computer can be exposed to the elements and allowed to rust away and rot away until there is nothing left but the original elements from which it was made but (D) it can still store data and you can still retrieve data by using it?
How truly naïve one would be to accept such statements as truth. Yet billions of persons on the planet believe concepts that are no different from the nonsensical ideas set forth in those two scenarios.
Persons actually believe (1) that a brain can rot away or be burned; (2) that the cerebral cortex and its hemispheres can return in an ash-to-ash and dust-to-dust manner to the universal pool of elements;
(3) that the temporal lobe and the limbic system and the amygdala can fade away when the brain no longer exists; but (4) that they—in one personal form or another—will be called before a god post-manifestation to…
…(A) be held accountable for all of the sins (a.k.a., “transgressions”) for which they did not ask forgiveness during the manifestation, and (B) to remember every sin ever committed during the manifestation,
and (C) to recall from memory everything about the manifestation, and (D) to know everyone they knew during the manifestation and (E) to recognize them when they all reunite after what they call “death” and "judgment."
They actually believe that the subjective and fictional content that made up what they called “their minds” can still be recalled even though the elemental brain in which that subjective and fictional content was stored, and from which it was recalled, no longer exists.
They actually believe that a “mind” can continue to function post-manifestation in the same manner in which it functioned during the relative existence, even after the elemental brain no longer exists, and they believe that because they never question the authority figures who tell them what they should believe.
They would not believe that a burned or rusted and rotted out computer can continue to function as it did prior to burning or decomposing; they would not believe that a shattered glass can still hold water; they would not believe that they can continue to live in a house that has burned to the ground.
Why? Because they have not been told those things by one whom they think to be holy, by one who has assumed a most grandiose role and claims to be “God’s Representative on Earth,” or by one whose words they refuse to question because that person chose an occupation that includes a pulpit from which other claims (and equally audacious assertions) can be made.
As for the few on the planet who are not trapped in the effects of the programming and conditioning that have marked the last 5000-6000 years among humans, it is those few alone that have Realized and that know there is no continuity of a “mind” now and there will be no continuity of a “mind” later.
It is those few who understand that there is no birth so there can be no rebirth; that there are no personal beings who are living and dying; that there is no post-manifestation beingness that will be pleasured by rewards or tortured by punishments; and that if bliss and joy are to be known, they can only be known now. 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.
