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.: Would the seeker’s attitude in the following exchange make any sense at all to you?
Teacher: “What is it that you seek?”
Seeker: “I have set out to find one million dollars someday.”
Teacher: “I have millions of dollars and I give one million to any seeker who comes my way. Here it is.”
Seeker: “No, I’m not going to take that one million dollars from you because I do not want a million dollars as a gift but as a reward for living a ‘good’ life in the ‘right’ manner for my entire existence. I want to earn it, not receive it as a gift.”
Teacher: “And how will you earn it?”
Seeker: “I will rise early in order to read inspirational words and then enter into samadhi for fifteen minutes every morning of my life; I will burn candles and special scents; I will engage in all sorts of spiritual and/or religious exercises; I will read holy texts; I will teach meditation courses to help other seekers; I will study with the most famous teachers whose fame is surely an indication that they know the truth and can teach it; I will visit holy places and wear holy clothes and cut my hair in a special way and will eat the foods that are prescribed by my teacher; I will be celibate; I will nurture my spiritual self and feed my soul and shift to higher and higher levels of consciousness; I will be at one with the Supreme. Then, I will receive my reward.”
Teacher: “But that which you seek is here, now, available to you. You can begin now to enjoy the gift and you need not work and work and work at living in so supernatural a way. You can accept the gift now and abide in a totally natural, easy, simple way. For example, you need not go into samadhi and out of samadhi; instead, it can be your natural, uninterrupted state. Your existence could be so simple, right NOW.”
Seeker: “I do not seek a simple life for now but for some later time. For now, I shall seek the simple life by living a complex life, consumed in special activities that make me feel special and that, indeed, will make me special and will allow me to remain special as long as I continue my pursuits.”
Teacher: “So you choose the path of toil and activity and effort and exertion and delay and postponement and striving when you could have that which you seek right now? Is it possible that all of that activity to which you have dedicated yourself is really about creating and maintaining certain images that you want to have of yourself and that you want others to have of you?”
Seeker: “You are such a cynic. I do not accept the gift you offer. I am leaving to go and do what I must do to be the best person that I can be. Part of being a better person is not accepting gifts but forever working for everything I get. I will work and earn the rewards that come throughout the day as a result of lofty and noble activities.”
As mentioned yesterday, all religions and most spiritual movements or programs or philosophies involve the assumption of new personas, being better, gaining power, enjoying rewards now and forevermore, finding a way to live in some supernatural fashion.
Why do some love what they take to be a supernatural existence—rooted in magical-thinking and inspiring scorn for the simplicity of natural living? Is it possible that the “journey” from the arrogance that is generated by personal, “self”-identification can come to a grinding halt at the halfway point of "the path" to Full Realization because another form of arrogance manifests as a result of adopting a “spiritual” persona as an identity?
Is it possible that the arrogance inspired by self-absorption can be replaced by spiritual arrogance as a result of believing that one's thoughts and words and deeds are happening at a supernatural level? Is it possible that the invitation to de-accumulation can be warped into accumulation of “good roles” and “new and improved personas” and “spiritual ego-states”? In early 2006, that exact scenario was discussed with a site visitor:
“The path you have followed so far is a path of accumulation: you have accumulated spiritual knowledge and you have accumulated new ego-states. Spiritual Giantism will soon arrive if it has not already, and its constant companion, spiritual arrogance, cannot be far behind.
“The Advaita path is a path of de-accumulation. The closer one moves toward being back in touch with reality, the more spiritual knowledge will fade; ego-states and labels will fall away; the irony of the perception that you need to “work in order to be able to rest” is seen; ideas and concepts and emotionalism will fall away; chaos ends; fighting for your beliefs will stop; reactions and over-reactions will end.
“A sense of lightness will be known as You are relieved of the heaviness of past accumulations. You will carry less and less until nothing remains to be carried...including the weight of all those past selves or roles or personas and all of the burdensome stress and work and egotism that come with them.”
Interesting, indeed, that those who talk so much about “the beingness” are actually totally absorbed in the doingness, merely shifting from the doings of their former “bad” personas to the doings of their new, “good” personas that are involved with what they think is “supernatural”—subsumed, as Maharaj said, in their “kindergarten level spirituality” and forsaking the simplicity of natural abidance.
In fact, when “restored to sanity”—that is, when seeing happens via the re-purified consciousness—then it will be understood that the notion that you must “work to rest” is far more than ironic but is a concept that is so absurd that it can only be believed in, to use Krishna's terminology, "by fools" (that is, but those who have been totally fooled). Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
Teacher: “What is it that you seek?”
Seeker: “I have set out to find one million dollars someday.”
Teacher: “I have millions of dollars and I give one million to any seeker who comes my way. Here it is.”
Seeker: “No, I’m not going to take that one million dollars from you because I do not want a million dollars as a gift but as a reward for living a ‘good’ life in the ‘right’ manner for my entire existence. I want to earn it, not receive it as a gift.”
Teacher: “And how will you earn it?”
Seeker: “I will rise early in order to read inspirational words and then enter into samadhi for fifteen minutes every morning of my life; I will burn candles and special scents; I will engage in all sorts of spiritual and/or religious exercises; I will read holy texts; I will teach meditation courses to help other seekers; I will study with the most famous teachers whose fame is surely an indication that they know the truth and can teach it; I will visit holy places and wear holy clothes and cut my hair in a special way and will eat the foods that are prescribed by my teacher; I will be celibate; I will nurture my spiritual self and feed my soul and shift to higher and higher levels of consciousness; I will be at one with the Supreme. Then, I will receive my reward.”
Teacher: “But that which you seek is here, now, available to you. You can begin now to enjoy the gift and you need not work and work and work at living in so supernatural a way. You can accept the gift now and abide in a totally natural, easy, simple way. For example, you need not go into samadhi and out of samadhi; instead, it can be your natural, uninterrupted state. Your existence could be so simple, right NOW.”
Seeker: “I do not seek a simple life for now but for some later time. For now, I shall seek the simple life by living a complex life, consumed in special activities that make me feel special and that, indeed, will make me special and will allow me to remain special as long as I continue my pursuits.”
Teacher: “So you choose the path of toil and activity and effort and exertion and delay and postponement and striving when you could have that which you seek right now? Is it possible that all of that activity to which you have dedicated yourself is really about creating and maintaining certain images that you want to have of yourself and that you want others to have of you?”
Seeker: “You are such a cynic. I do not accept the gift you offer. I am leaving to go and do what I must do to be the best person that I can be. Part of being a better person is not accepting gifts but forever working for everything I get. I will work and earn the rewards that come throughout the day as a result of lofty and noble activities.”
As mentioned yesterday, all religions and most spiritual movements or programs or philosophies involve the assumption of new personas, being better, gaining power, enjoying rewards now and forevermore, finding a way to live in some supernatural fashion.
Why do some love what they take to be a supernatural existence—rooted in magical-thinking and inspiring scorn for the simplicity of natural living? Is it possible that the “journey” from the arrogance that is generated by personal, “self”-identification can come to a grinding halt at the halfway point of "the path" to Full Realization because another form of arrogance manifests as a result of adopting a “spiritual” persona as an identity?
Is it possible that the arrogance inspired by self-absorption can be replaced by spiritual arrogance as a result of believing that one's thoughts and words and deeds are happening at a supernatural level? Is it possible that the invitation to de-accumulation can be warped into accumulation of “good roles” and “new and improved personas” and “spiritual ego-states”? In early 2006, that exact scenario was discussed with a site visitor:
“The path you have followed so far is a path of accumulation: you have accumulated spiritual knowledge and you have accumulated new ego-states. Spiritual Giantism will soon arrive if it has not already, and its constant companion, spiritual arrogance, cannot be far behind.
“The Advaita path is a path of de-accumulation. The closer one moves toward being back in touch with reality, the more spiritual knowledge will fade; ego-states and labels will fall away; the irony of the perception that you need to “work in order to be able to rest” is seen; ideas and concepts and emotionalism will fall away; chaos ends; fighting for your beliefs will stop; reactions and over-reactions will end.
“A sense of lightness will be known as You are relieved of the heaviness of past accumulations. You will carry less and less until nothing remains to be carried...including the weight of all those past selves or roles or personas and all of the burdensome stress and work and egotism that come with them.”
Interesting, indeed, that those who talk so much about “the beingness” are actually totally absorbed in the doingness, merely shifting from the doings of their former “bad” personas to the doings of their new, “good” personas that are involved with what they think is “supernatural”—subsumed, as Maharaj said, in their “kindergarten level spirituality” and forsaking the simplicity of natural abidance.
In fact, when “restored to sanity”—that is, when seeing happens via the re-purified consciousness—then it will be understood that the notion that you must “work to rest” is far more than ironic but is a concept that is so absurd that it can only be believed in, to use Krishna's terminology, "by fools" (that is, but those who have been totally fooled). 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.
