THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 5 – SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

Imagine a person in a pool of water and mud, stirred up so there is the appearance of muddy water. Bound at the level of the body and the mind, the person will churn about in the water, constantly making it muddy. The person will perceive the muddy water as “natural” and “normal” and live comfortably within it, despite its muddy appearance. Perhaps the person will experience feelings of “happiness” when he stops churning for a while and the water clears a little; although this will always a temporary reprieve, followed by more churning, and the feelings of “unhappiness” that are associated with the very muddy water. Bound at the level of the spiritual ego, there will likely be attempts to stabilize the clear water in the pool, by keeping the muddy particles at bay. Since personas are always in motion, “blowing their trumpets” in one way or another, these attempts never succeed, although they may give the appearance of succeeding for brief moments. So for periods, the person bound at the third step may experience feeling “at one with”, “spiritual”, “connected with their higher self”, “living their spiritual vision”, etc. However, these experiences will inevitably be followed by feeling “out of connection with”, “ego-bound”, and “unspiritual." In other words, the spiritually-bound persona is still churning about in the water, even if the churning thoughts and actions are believed to be "spiritual". By contrast, what happens when the so-called "person" in the pool simply stops moving and churning about? Eventually, all the muddy particles sink to the bottom of the pool, and the already present pristine, clear water is revealed.

The LOVE whisperings of Advaita are simple, yet few (less than one in a million) will truly understand, since few will have the wisdom to let go of the churning of mind-based activity; few will be prepared to drop this predilection with constantly stirring up the water in the pool; and even fewer will have the inclination to drop what is personality-driven, and rest in the still silence, the deep blue shade without words and thought.

A fundamental tenet of Advaita is that in the non-volitional state, the essence of pure consciousness is activated, and the intuitive understanding dissolves the filters of misidentification so the truth can be directly known. This “process” occurs in silence, and even during the temporary appearance of the subject-object, Teacher-seeker “relationship”, the seeker will be provided with pointers to take into silent consideration. [Notice how often persons fool themselves into thinking that they spend substantial amounts of time in silent contemplation, when in reality this so-called “silence” is characterized by: talking, preaching, listening to music, singing, chanting prayers, singing hymns, thinking; in other words , churning up the water in the pool through self-directed activity.]

The non-dual state is that in which what APPEARS to be differentiated is directly perceived as a Unicity; where the constant movement or flow between Noumenon and Phenomenon is directly perceived as ONE, as described accurately in the statement I AM THAT; I AM. The dark blue shade, the silence of contemplation, is a state without “eyes”, without differentiating borders. Here, it is possible for that false sense of the flavoring of individuality to dissolve. Language and thought (which arises from language) differentiate and divide this relative world into a multiplicity. While still in the bondage of identification, the seeker will perceive himself as a separate subject in a world of objects. The structures of language and thought reinforce this false view.

The unconditioned and undifferentiated silence of non-volitional action is what dissolves this false sense of separation. The fears, for example, of “becoming a robot” are ungrounded and absurd. The Teachings point to the total, radical elimination of self-identity. In the absence of self-identity, there is no one: no volitional person, no robot, no spiritual being. Instead, post-Realization, there is simply spontaneous functioning. As Maharaj explains:

The Absolute nounemality manifests itself through millions of forms which are created and destroyed every moment, and in this spontaneous functioning there is no place at all for the notion of any entity. Therefore, any action taken based on the notion that you are an autonomous, independent entity seeking 'liberation' will only lock you further into 'bondage'. When you analyze the situation you will discover that it is but consciousness seeking the unmanifested source of manifestation, and not finding it, because this consciousness, ever-moving, ever-active, is actually just seeking itself, in its serene, inactive, potential state. It is the seeker that is being sought. When this is deeply, intuitively perceived then the seeker will disappear and the Source will remain.

Ask Yourself:

• Are You churning about in the pool, acting out your various desires and fears, and constantly stirring up muddy water …or are You resting in the silence of non-volition where the already pure, clear water of awareness is revealed?

• Do You ACTUALLY enter the deep, blue, unconditioned silence of contemplation … or are you fooling yourself and calling your busy spiritual activities “silence”?

• Do You realize that identifying Yourself with what is differentiated, separate and bound up with language and thought is a barrier to true understanding?

• Have You directly understood that the multiplicity is perceived via false perception; that in reality there is simply the Unicity (ONE appearing as many), and your attachment to yourself as subject (separate individual in the work) keeps you in bondage?

The “serene, inactive, potential state” can never be experienced. THAT can never be named, described or labeled. “The absolute principle cannot know itself.” However, the direct intuitive understanding (which comes through consideration of these pointers in silence) dissolves the false barriers, the false sense of self-identity, and reveals Your true nature; Post-Realization what is intuitively known can be overlaid on the relative, and the Amness enjoyed, for the rest of the manifestion.

Let us end this post, with another of Maharaj’s whispers of LOVE:

You are the timeless, spaceless, imperceptible being, and not what appears as a separate object... time-bound, finite and perceptible to the senses. 'Bondage' arises because you have forgotten your real being, the noumenon, and you identify yourself with the body, the phenomenon. But 'bondage' is not caused merely by identification with the body, which as an instrument is necessary for consciousness to remain in manifestation. Body and consciousness are naturally bound together and remain inextricably linked until the life-breath leaves the body at death, and the consciousness is released from its phenomenal form. What causes 'bondage' is not the association of the body with consciousness, but the imagined conception of an independent, autonomous entity which assumes doership, and takes responsibility for actions and their consequences.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – that guide You from the temporary fluctuating relative stance to abidance as Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 5– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

Moving house today, so ...

Part 5 of THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA will continue tomorrow.

THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 4– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

If you could step outside of this edifice you call yourself for a moment, you would see this consciousness in movement: everything in formation relative to ALL the parts ; the apparent multiplicity , that is actually a unicity; the seemly separate that is ONE. This is the non-dual view. This kaleidoscopic movement can be witnessed and enjoyed. It cannot be claimed or owned.

The perspective of the individual does not witness, but experiences as a participant. It is like a game of chess. If it is witnessed impersonally, there can be interest in the game, but it is of no consequence whether white or black wins or loses, or if the game ends in a draw. From the vantage point of the separate individual, the individual IS a chess piece – with a distinctive color, a role to play , prescribed movements to follow, opponents to defeat, and a side to bring to success. Personal? Attached? Self-involved? Of course.

Realization means the dissolution of the self-attached view of the personal player. In the Realized state, the game as a whole is simply witnessed. The labels: white, black, knight, king, queen, pawn are just that – labels, attributes, flavorings that give the temporary appearance of duality. Freed from the bondage of self-identification, post-Realization, the purified consciousness functions spontaneously, naturally. From the vantage point of Reality, it is impossible for the limited, self-identified perspective to exist. Any yet, from the subject-object perspective, the appearance is that the “Realized chess piece” plays the role it has been allocated.

Maharaj explains it this way:

… both this subject and its objects are just objects... interdependent, and existing only in the consciousness within which all manifestation takes place... in the same way that the subject and objects of the dream are both images projected and appearing in consciousness. You are neither the limited dream objects nor the limited dream ego. In relativity, you are the totality of the dream, you are the consciousness through which all manifestation appears. But in truth, you are that which remains when this consciousness and all its busy-making disappears. Only when the false is seen as false and is removed, will the truth shine forth. Eliminate the false and what remains is true.

Perhaps this quote together with the stark clarity of the chess game metaphor will shine the light of understanding on this subject-object misidentification. Let’s choose an arbitrary chess piece – the knight. Identified with the limited sense of self, you imagine yourself to BE the knight. You perceive yourself as a limited subject perceiving the separate and different objects that surround you in the relative: the other chess pieces, the chess board, the three-dimensional space through which you move. You identify with the attributes or labels associated with the knight – your color, your position on the board, your particular movements, your role in relation to the other chess pieces. Here is your simple mistake. You are NOT the knight. The knight is simply another object in this relative scene. Because there is this tint of “I AM”, of consciousness-awareness, you assume it is individual and personal. It is not. You are the ultimate subjectivity. You can NEVER experience Yourself. Can the eye see itself?

Why have You held this mistaken view? How did the confusion arise? Again – this is simple. Imagine that from the time the chess game was set up, You are told that:

• You are the individual chess piece – the knight.
• You have a distinct and unique role to play.
• You perform your role competently or incompetently – in other words you could be a “good knight” or a “bad knight”.
• You are "born" when the knight is placed on the chessboard.
• You "die" when the knight is removed from the chessboard.
• ... and perhaps there is a giant chess board in the sky and you will become an angelic chess piece post-"death".
  

The sense of “I AM”, the sense of being Yourself, is this impersonal consciousness-awareness without attributes, yet You mistakenly believe that this sense of self is what makes you a knight; or that it is your “knightness”.

Add to these myths, a barrage of lies about the nature and function of the other chess pieces (enemies, comrades-in-arms, etc), the chess board and the space in which the game occurs, and you are hypnotically caught in The Grand Illusion. With the belief that you are the knight, you are trapped in bondage, bound up with the requirements of the particular chess game. Personal and limited, you will experience agonies with every defeat, ecstasies with every victory, endless boredom when you are not moving in the game. You are caught in the dualistic highs and lows of attached, personal living. Imagine the freedom and relief, when You see that You are not the knight, You have never been the knight, and You can simply witness the game with all of its objects (including the knight) arising within You.

Now, you hear this line of reasoning, and perhaps the thinking mind conjures up a million objections: flaws in the metaphor; emotions of frustration because the self-limited individual view appears real; boredom because you’ve heard it all before; doubts about the credibility of this writer, or the Teachings. Whichever comfortable railroad tracks the personally-attached fictional mind usually travels, it will move down at this moment. The so-called “free-thinking” person is in reality as free as one of Pavlov’s salivating dogs.

One in a million will listen, understand and abide by the advice of the Guru, that ‘you are everything’; he accepts with conviction and becomes the words of the Guru. In most cases, the beingness assumes that it is a body that has taken shape, so one believes that he is born and will die. When there is no death and no birth, one can never be born and die. The identification with the body is so strong, like the hold of the serpent, that it is not easy to do away with it. But we are the eternal principle and not what we appear to be, the one who knows the seed of this world, realizes that it is an illusion, sits quietly and doesn’t blow a trumpet about it. In this world, if you start investigating everything, it would be mind boggling. Once having understood that it is all Maya, one becomes speechless. -- Maharaj

The LOVE whisperings of Advaita invite You to enter the silence in which what is false dissolves and what is true is revealed. Ask Yourself:

• Are You blowing a trumpet (typical in the Spiritual Ego phase where “you” think “you” know it all?)
• Are You fiddling around in the world of objects, self-identified, yet looking for clarity, meaning and perspective where none can be found?

Or

• Are You speechless – abiding in the silence with the full knowledge of Who You Are?

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – that guide You from the temporary fluctuating relative stance to abidance as Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 3– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

There is just ONE awareness expressing as I AM – which is the manifest, physically discernible form / movement /intelligence. This is the way all is. What splinters and shatters the Unicity is only the movement of thought:

I AM … separate
I AM … a demarcated, different, and unique individual
I AM … a seeker looking for a return to wholeness
I AM … a woman / man looking for a partner
I AM … a creative person wanting to express this creativity
Etc.

You are the ocean, but believe you are the small amount of water contained in a cup. Shatter the cup, and instantly You will see that in reality You are the ocean. How can the cup be shattered? It is an impossible task and completely effortless. The cup is just constructed of the thoughts you have about yourself as a separate individual. Currently, you believe these thoughts. You see yourself as a physical body, with a unique awareness functioning within a world of multiplicity. You have staked your claim, or “set up camp” as Maharaj would say, as a separate individual. From My point of view, if you are a separate individual searching for God, a separate individual searching for true love, or a separate individual searching for a beer at the local pub, there is no difference. Caught up in the world of forms, you focus on the object (God, true love, or beer). You cannot find yourself in any of these objects, whatever their appearance. Turn your gaze to the subject. See that in each example, the subject is the same:

A SEPARATE INDIVIDUAL … searching for God
A SEPARATE INDIVIDUAL … searching for true love
A SEPARATE INDIVIDUAL … searching for a beer at the local pub

Forget your grand vision of what you believe you are trying to accomplish. Accept once and for all that you have set up camp as a separate individual …and this is false. You believe you are the water in the cup desperately wanting to merge with the ocean. CHANGE YOUR STANCE. Forget that madness. You are only a separate cup because you are so committed to this line of thinking that you affirm it for yourself a million times a day. The door is already open – but you cannot see it because the thoughts are sticking a fictional “you” together. As you drop one or two thoughts, another ten stick to you. You will never escape by this route, because whatever you do entrenches this sense of separation. Give it up. Instead change your stance. Set up camp and stake your claim as the Absolute.

This is why Maharaj advises to stay with the I AM and to reject everything perceivable – Neti, Neti. You retreat from the sticky thoughts. When you do not touch them, they cannot stick to you. When the false thoughts stop sticking –in that empty space, uncluttered and silent – Reality can rush in. In other words, that cup will distintegrate through silent, detached observation. Perhaps it will slowly fade away; perhaps it will be eradicated instantly. Whether the disintegration is slow or rapid, the final moment will come when no cup remains. This is the peripetia – that marks the shift in camp from the view as the separate individual to the view as the Absolute. Can you see that in the stabilized state, the cup is absent –You are the ocean, there is no cup?

(This is where the neo-advaitan teachings are flawed. Can you see that Realization = no cup.? Realization does not mean that the cup still exists, but because intellectually it is understood to be constructed merely of thoughts, it can be ignored. No – the Nisarga Yoga offered here is a return to the thought-free, concept-free reality – no thoughts, no cup, no mind, no separation.)

As Maharaj explains:

The mistake of perception arises because the seeing is partial, because the seeing is only with the outer senses and a divided mind; it is not whole seeing from the source of seeing. That sense of existence, that sense of presence, that 'I amness', the unchanging subjective experience of self, cannot be seen by the senses, and, therefore, does not enter into the conceptions projected by the mind, which unceasingly carries on its objectification of everything. But, when the subjective is apprehended intuitively, then the concept of separate objects becomes untenable. Can the consciousness in you and the consciousness in me be different? Are they not separate only as concepts projected by the mind, and are they not in perfect unity when unconceived, when free of mind? And is not that knowing of the underlying unity, the very basis of love? And if all is subjective, if there is only unity, can there be any room for the objective? So-called objects are just illusory appearances in consciousness, appearances in the universal 'I amness', which by its name and its very nature is wholly subjective and permits no room for another, other than Self.

The invitation, as always, is to take these pointers into the silence; to rest in the natural intuitive knowing state, beyond the false sense of separation implied by cup of water and ocean, part and whole; beyond the dualism of subject and object, noumenon and phenomenon. Again and again, we return to the source, to the root, to the ground from which all dualities emerge – beyond being and unbeing.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – that guide You from the temporary fluctuating relative stance to abidance as Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 2– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING.

Is the surgeon who removes the cancerous tumor brutal, uncompassionate, unkind?
Is the naturopath who prescribes a rigid health plan to restore natural health, harsh and unloving?

We have our own fixed notions of how Realization and Enlightenment should look. We want our Teachings packaged in gentleness, kindness, unconditional acceptance. We forget that the false thoughts (sand grains cemented together) that bind this fictional self-identity (sandstone rock) are unlikely to just disentangle themselves and drop away. If this was the case, Realization would be an often-occurring and easily recognizable phenomenon; the norm, rather than the exception. Like the surgeon, the Advaitin teacher removes all false identities and false belief structures. Like the naturopath, the Advaitin Teacher provides the View of your natural state, and at a more refined level, purifies the consciousness so that the toxins of false understanding are eliminated. One method is surgical, incisive and direct; the other method is subtle, non-invasive, long-range. Both methods will have their effect.

Can You see that this is LOVE. While what is toxic and false is being removed, the process may appear UNLOVING, as ego states will seldom collaborate willingly with relinquishing their cherished ideas, opinions and sense of self. However, this is at the level of appearance only. In the absence of ego states, in the free-flowing no-thing-ness that characterizes purified AMNESS, the LOVE that has returned You to natural functioning will be seen for what it is. [In the early days of visiting this blog, “louise” sometimes reacted to postings that appeared sharp, hard, cutting. This was a reaction at the level of entrenched self-identity to the surgeon at work. (Here, “floyd’s” style is similar to “maharaj” – surgical and incisive; the “ego-slayer” at work.) Now, when these same postings are read, there is simply the recognition of LOVE whispering. It is instantly clear which step or false identity is being targeted by the surgeon for removal.]

However – as always in the relative sea of sharks, discernment on the part of the seeker is paramount. It is only ego states that may react with discomfort to the Teachings; the restoring of the already-present natural condition NEVER entails abuse or requires the seeker to act in a way that is demeaning, ritual-based, or personally debasing. In some spiritual circles, the methods on offer for eradicting the false involve bowing to the whims of the ego-bound personality of the non-realized teacher. Here are just two examples:

Requiring seekers to:

1. Stand in an icy lake and do prostrations for many hours to demonstrate commitment to a teacher and his teachings – resulting in the serious physical collapse of one seeker.
2. Sit in a plastic-covered sweat lodge for hours at the teacher’s instruction, purportedly to overcome a false sense of personal limitation – resulting in the deaths of some seekers

Healthy, natural functioning would not have led these seekers to accept and follow teachings that are abusive, dangerous and fundamentally unnatural. Would the deer stand in an icy lake, when the freezing temperatures push the body into danger? No – the deer would leave the icy lake and find a warm bed of straw or shelter. Would the deer remain in a dangerously hot location while desperate for water and struggling to breathe? No – the deer would leave that sweat house, and drink from the cool lake and rest in the shade. The deer spontaneously follows what is healthy, whole, and natural. The LOVE whisperings of Advaita move the seeker to spontaneous functioning that is healthy, whole, and natural. (For more posts on natural living, see: LIVING IN THE STYLE OF A REALIZED TEACHER, OR A HERON, OR A DEER, Part One and Two. Sunday, April 29, 2007)

The Advaitin Teacher perceives the seeker with clear sight; can see where the functioning is unnatural; where the belief structures are faulty; the root of the suffering – and precisely how freedom can be found by the removal of these impurities. However – the impurities are NEVER removed by requiring MORE unnatural acts and MORE unnatural thoughts. Instead, in the deep, blue shade, the teacher uses logic and reasoning to point out the false. The teacher activates the inner guru – that seed of purified consciousness – that like a GPS will safely and surely navigate the seeker home.

To this end, ask yourself:

• Can You see how the term “LOVE whisperings” can be applied to the pure consciousness as it speaks?

• Can You discern and witness when an ego persona is in reaction to a direct pointer of a Realized Teacher?

• Do You understand why ego personas “react” and “emote” when presented with certain pointers?

• Can You see that pointers that appear harsh and direct when heard through the filter of personality, can later be seen as neutral truths expressed via the purified consciousness?

• Can You discern via the inner guru when teachings “pretend” to be pure Advaita, yet are actually false teachings by a non-realized teacher?

The questions are rhetorical. In the silent consideration to which most visitors to this blog take these pointers, the words once expressed have the effect of removing the toxins that corrupt the pure consciousness. Some pointers may result in a “hard hit” or the surgical removal of a mass of false perceptions and beliefs; other pointers will simply eliminate a few more cherished ideas. In this silence, with the removal of the toxic overload of false beliefs, with the stripping away of what has been accumulated via conditioning, You return to Your natural state.

Let us end with the words of the master surgeon, Nisargadatta Maharaj:

‘Swaroop-siddha’ (stabilization in self-identity or the Self), what is that exactly? Many people visit here and they want to be happy, but those who visit here will not require happiness, they will be beyond it. When a sage stabilizes in his centre, he goes into quietude. You talk when food essence is there, but having understood both he transcends knowledge and ignorance. That Absolute principle does not know itself; clear all your doubts about your own self.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – that guide You from the temporary fluctuating relative stance to abidance as Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

THE LOVE WHISPERINGS OF ADVAITA. PART 1– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

Listen to the messages of LOVE – the constant calling to remove the barriers that prevent direct perceiving of the natural state.

• Let the skin of the “I” dissolve. – Maharaj

• The Real is permanent; the not real is transitory. – Floyd

• You are already in your true state. Because of the mind, duality comes in and therefore you are afraid. Fear not. Know your true state—your natural state—and be free of all of this. – Maharaj

Embedded in the words is the clear instruction. When the ears are open to hear, the intuition open to understand, the LOVE that whispers to You in each of these quotations is crystal clear. Like waves washing against a sandstone rock, these words will eventually wear you down. The sandstone rock appears solid, steadfast, unshakeable. Yet, the waves will ultimately break the bonds of cemented-together sand which give the temporary appearance of stone. This corrupted consciousness – I AM infiltrated with your billion ideas and opinions about yourself – create this rock-solid entity you call yourself. Are you so stable and intact? The sandstone rock is constantly in motion despite its appearance: fragments of rock break off, chemical bonds form and break, old sand washes away, new sand sticks. Looking at time lapse photography over a thousand years, the shifting, changeable nature of that “rock” will be seen. You gaze at the rock with such a small and limited perspective: a week, a year, 20 years, a hundred years. Open your perspective – look from the gaze of eternity. What is fixed and solid then? Where is that rock in a million years?

Now you cling to your limited perspective and see your body and sense of self-identity as firm and fixed. Look clearly. Just like the sandstone rock, the human being is constantly changing: cells are dying and growing; the air is circulating; the consciousness comes and goes like a table lamp that is switched on and off. At the level of mind and personality – this is constantly in flux. The thoughts and opinions change. Where is the boyfriend or girlfriend you thought you would love forever when you were 18? Where is the political ideology or world view that you formed 20 years ago? What views about God, religion and spirituality did you once have and how have they changed? See once and for all that the thoughts and ideas are so fleeting and temporary, they can never define you. The body is always in flux, and in any event has built-in obsolescence. The longest you may expect it to go on for is 80 years or so – then it’s back to the elements. Yet, you want to create stability from this flimsy bunch of twigs with a perspective of a few hundred years. Just because you have been conditioned to wear these blinkers does not mean you cannot take them off.

Before it formed, the raw ingredients that make up the sandstone rock were present: sand, organic materials, various mineral deposits. A particular combination of factors , geological and environmental, resulted in these raw materials coming together to create that “rock”. Later, these geological and environmental factors will shift and the raw materials will come apart again and the “rock” will no longer exist. We can complete the same deconstruction with the raw ingredients themselves: the sand and the minerals that cement the grains together; perhaps we will find calcium carbonate, clay, etc. If we adopt a microscopic perspective we can see the chemical building blocks themselves: silica; carbon; calcium. Elementary physical science explains the instability of these elements – how they combine and uncombine. All the elements - everything - cycles into and out of manifestation in this temporary shifting scene.

What about the chemical elements that combine to form what you call your physical body – and will uncombine when this physical form comes to an end? Can you see the castle of sand that you have built and labeled as yourself? In reality, this temporary clustering together of elements you call "you" has far less staying power than that chunk of sandstone rock.

The phrase “the LOVE whisperings of Advaita” may appear evocative and romantic. In reality, it is neither. When what is logical, impersonal and scientific is nakedly pointed out, when all that is false is removed, what remains? LOVE remains. LOVE with no opposite is the natural state. This is what the teachings whisper to You again and again. Listen:

• To abide in your true nature, prior to consciousness, you must go to the source of your beingness. – Maharaj

• I am beyond beingness and non-beingness, beyond consciousness and non-consciousness, and so are You. – Floyd

• Know that in this world nothing is permanent; search out what you were before this temporary state came and what you are after it goes. – Maharaj

• Liberation or awakening, then, is nothing other than understanding profoundly...
  that the seed of all manifestation is the impersonal consciousness...
  that what is being sought is the unmanifested subjective aspect, and...
  that, therefore, the seeker himself is the sought. – Maharaj
  

Like waves washing against the sandstone rock, these pointers, these whisperings, will wash away all that is false, all that is impure, all that binds this temporary, false sense of identity. Rest in the empty silence; in the dark blue shade. Allow this gradual erosion to reveal the truth of Who You Are.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – that guide You from the temporary fluctuating relative stance to abidance as Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

MARK HOUSTON


Mark took mahasamadhi

at 8:32 P.M., C.S.T. on

Friday, February 19, 2010.

Mark was an unequaled master at moving persons

to the third, spiritual level on the "path."

While I am in Austin TX arranging

a memorial per his request

and putting his business affairs in order,

Louise will be posting as planned,

starting next Tuesday.

There was a time when Mark and I both came very close to "death" as a result of having reached the third of seven levels on the "path" to Full Realization and having fixated there.

In that place, there was a nagging sense that "there has to be more," that "something is missing," that "this cannot be all there is."

After seeing the effects of that near-fatal state of "Spiritual Giantism" that is discussed on this site (discussed as a result on having had a direct experience with it and its toll), we had further discussions about the way the remainder of the manifestation would unfold.

(During that same period, Mark received a very generous offer from a pharmaceutical company to sell drugs...legally! He seriously considered leaving the recovery industry at that point.)

There was a period of several months when we discussed a change in direction for both of us. At the end of those discussions, Mark concluded that his forte was moving people to the spiritual state. I agreed with his decision.

In the meantime, the vision had come and the remaining four levels after religious / spiritual consciousness were revealed to me, so I concluded that I would spend the remainder of the manifestation pointing to that which is beyond the third (religious and spiritual) level which, along with all else, can sometimes inspire the egotistical belief that "I now have it all and I now know it all" attitude on one hand or the "there has to be more," "something is missing," "this cannot be all there is" conundrum on the other hand.

Mark agreed with my decision (often suggesting to some who complained that "maybe you should be quiet and open up and listen.")

And so it was that Mark continued with his spiritual approach and spiritual message that was level-appropriate for those in his audiences who required guidance through the first three levels leading up to the spiritual stage;

and so it was, also, that this speck of consciousness would begin speaking to another audience that had fixated at a level where they concluded, "There has to be more than this." As noted, Mark supported my decision 100%; moreover, his decision did not mean that Mark did not understand the next four levels, and we discussed them frequently. He asked questions about the vision and once said, "In some ways, the student has become the teacher."

At other times, he offered statements which revealed that he grasped fully what the remaining levels offer. We discussed the child ignorance stage; the undoing of the effects of programming and conditioning; the fact that "The Great Reality" did not refer to anything "personal" but to being fully in touch with reality;

the differentiation between the elemental body and the mind and personas vs. the True Self; understanding that Love is knowing I am everything; understanding that wisdom is knowing that I am nothing; the energy aspect of consciousness; the freedom that comes after Full Awareness comes; and the peace and bliss that manifest when the Absolute is overlaid on the relative.

Right up to the end, Mark's attachment was to the teachings which involved the first three levels that I also include in discussions to some degree. So it is. So it was. At guiding persons to that level, Mark knew no equal. If you are interested in how he lead seekers to the spiritual level and want to "hear" it in his own words, then you are invited to read the eBook version of the book which Mark co-authored,
A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-TRANSFORMATION: Attaining Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Emotional Sobriety

Therein, one can see the method used to begin to move "floyd," trapped in the insanity of ego-states and egotism and personality defects, to a transitional place from which all of the false ideas and concepts and beliefs were finally cast aside, paving the way for the Truth that cannot be stated to eventually be understood.

(Proceeds, per Mark's instructions, are used to assist those still suffering.)

As for those who feel that surely there is more, there is; yet the irony is that once "the more" is understood, then "the less-ness" begins to move seekers through a de-accumulation process that allows the limitless and unbinding and ego-less and nameless None-ness to be understood and enjoyed for the remainder of the manifestation.


Peace, Love, Wisdom, and Light