An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, 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.: Please consider these pointers from yesterday:
1. Maharaj: “Only in silence and in darkness can it [the Real] be heard and seen” and “The real is experienced in silence.”
2. The truth comes via the silence.
3. To know Truth, a no-statement, no-noise, no-talking setting is required; to know the false—even when it is delivered as “the gospel truth”—requires spoken words, noise, and mind-talk as well.
Then, consider the activity and doingness that the masses are involved in, convinced that they are hearing and then repeating “the gospel truth” while actually being blocked from knowing the Truth that can only be understood in the silence:
Ninety-seven percent of all persons claim a religious affiliation, and their religions are engaged in noisy singing, noisy shouting, noisy doingness, the noise of praying publicly, and the noise of hearing leaders speak.
Furthermore, millions worldwide claim to be members of spiritual groups, and their groups are engaged in noisy doingness, noisy praying publicly, hearing the noise of each other speak, hearing the noise when they speak themselves, and hearing the noise of group leaders speak.
Legitimate awareness can only come in the silence, when alone and focused on a Realized teacher’s suggestions or pointers or considerations. So wherefore corporate meetings with talk and talk and more talk and with group recitations in unison (repeated so often that eventually attendees chant the words in their sleep)?
Wherefore corporate worship with group singing, group shouting, and group recitations in unison (repeated so often that eventually attendees chant the words in their sleep)? Is it not obvious, in fact, that all of that noisy doingness amounts to nothing more than talking in their sleep?
Legitimate awareness can never come with the noise...can never come with talking and talking and talking some more; cannot come with shouting; cannot come with singing; cannot come with chanting, ad infinitum; additionally, is it not seen that, while Truth comes on silent feet, all false beliefs and self-delusion can only be disseminated via verbal-speak / mind-speak?
The members of one group that claims worldwide membership in the millions proclaim proudly via mind-speak / verbal-speak: “We are a spiritual group, not a religious organization,” after which they…
…gather for socialization; then go into a special room to talk about god; chant an opening prayer in unison; share a god-based (religion-based) message; collect a monetary offering halfway through the meeting; and finally close their hour of worship-like praise of their god with the Christian “Lord’s Prayer.”
Few examples could better illustrate the distortion, and the depth of the sleep from which they speak, than their self-contradictory disclaimer about not being religious, delivered while ignoring the pointer in their own literature which supports the teachings in this series: “With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource.”
Not an outer resource / god? No, an inner resource. Does an inner resource have an auditory voice? Does an inner resource need to go anywhere or do anything? Could it possibly? Can an inner resource speak to you “through others”? Would that not then be another "outer resource"? Does an inner resource shout or chant or hum or sing? Most assuredly not. Verbal-talk / mind-speak reinforces delusion and blocks awareness of Reality.
Talk—which is really just verbalized mind-speak—is the language of the lie; the silence is the non-language of the Truth. Yet beyond the verbal noise of speech, there is the noisier clatter of mind-speak. Some might set a goal such as this:
“Okay, today is the day I’m going for silence. I will shut my mouth for ‘x’ number of hours.” Yet that does not stop the noisier source of clamor, namely, the "mind." Seated as close to the ears as it is, there is never a moment of silence among the non-Realized with their non-stop "mind chatter."
In an effort to still the mind, background noise is often cranked up to the highest decibel levels possible; in an effort to escape the noise and discontentment generated by the mind, persons either (a) insanely try to drown out noise with noise or (b) try to outrun the noise with their incessant goingness and doingness and zoomingness.
Noise is the ghost that chases persons down the street, throughout their days, and throughout the term of their relative lives, inspiring more noise and more running and moving.
Maharaj: “You must realise yourself as the immovable, behind and beyond the movable, the silent witness of all that happens.”
If you are moving about in an effort to escape the noise of your mind, you will fail. If you are listening to the content of a mind, either “theirs” or “your own” (which is also “theirs,” actually) then you are believing lies.
Whatever persons (the non-Realized) talk about reinforces their belief in lies, and whatever lies are surfacing as mind-speak (the mind being the place wherein all lies are stored) will block them from understanding Truth.
Truth comes in the silence; verbal-speak / mind-speak lock persons into an attachment to the distortions that come via the noise of mouth-talk / mind-talk.
Why distortions? (1) Because verbal-speak / mind-speak are the purveyors of duality; (2) because all duality is a lie; (3) because verbal-speak / mind-speak are the dualistic vendors of differentiation rather than pointers to the Truth of the unicity:
[Maharaj: “Non-distinction speaks in silence. Words carry distinctions.”]
and (4) because verbal-speak / mind-speak reinforces the false belief in “an experiencing being” and blocks the ability to relish abidance in the non-personal beingness only:
Questioner: I call it the abeyance of the mind.
Maharaj: Call it silence, or void, or abeyance, the fact is that the three—experiencer, experiencing, experience—are not. In witnessing, in awareness, Self-consciousness, the sense of being this or that, is not. Unidentified being remains.
If your noisy talk and noisy thoughts (or the noisy talk and thoughts of your “influencers”) have convinced you that What You Actually Are is “an experiencing being with identity,” then that noise has resulted in distortion;
if your noisy talk and noisy thoughts (or the noisy talk and thoughts of your “influencers”) are blocking you from seeing your most obvious self-contradictions, then that noise has resulted in distortion;
and if your noisy talk and noisy thoughts (or the noisy talk and thoughts of your "influencers") have convinced you that you can verbally express the Truth—and in no uncertain terms, you believe—then that noise has resulted in distortion.
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
1. Maharaj: “Only in silence and in darkness can it [the Real] be heard and seen” and “The real is experienced in silence.”
2. The truth comes via the silence.
3. To know Truth, a no-statement, no-noise, no-talking setting is required; to know the false—even when it is delivered as “the gospel truth”—requires spoken words, noise, and mind-talk as well.
Then, consider the activity and doingness that the masses are involved in, convinced that they are hearing and then repeating “the gospel truth” while actually being blocked from knowing the Truth that can only be understood in the silence:
Ninety-seven percent of all persons claim a religious affiliation, and their religions are engaged in noisy singing, noisy shouting, noisy doingness, the noise of praying publicly, and the noise of hearing leaders speak.
Furthermore, millions worldwide claim to be members of spiritual groups, and their groups are engaged in noisy doingness, noisy praying publicly, hearing the noise of each other speak, hearing the noise when they speak themselves, and hearing the noise of group leaders speak.
Legitimate awareness can only come in the silence, when alone and focused on a Realized teacher’s suggestions or pointers or considerations. So wherefore corporate meetings with talk and talk and more talk and with group recitations in unison (repeated so often that eventually attendees chant the words in their sleep)?
Wherefore corporate worship with group singing, group shouting, and group recitations in unison (repeated so often that eventually attendees chant the words in their sleep)? Is it not obvious, in fact, that all of that noisy doingness amounts to nothing more than talking in their sleep?
Legitimate awareness can never come with the noise...can never come with talking and talking and talking some more; cannot come with shouting; cannot come with singing; cannot come with chanting, ad infinitum; additionally, is it not seen that, while Truth comes on silent feet, all false beliefs and self-delusion can only be disseminated via verbal-speak / mind-speak?
The members of one group that claims worldwide membership in the millions proclaim proudly via mind-speak / verbal-speak: “We are a spiritual group, not a religious organization,” after which they…
…gather for socialization; then go into a special room to talk about god; chant an opening prayer in unison; share a god-based (religion-based) message; collect a monetary offering halfway through the meeting; and finally close their hour of worship-like praise of their god with the Christian “Lord’s Prayer.”
Few examples could better illustrate the distortion, and the depth of the sleep from which they speak, than their self-contradictory disclaimer about not being religious, delivered while ignoring the pointer in their own literature which supports the teachings in this series: “With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource.”
Not an outer resource / god? No, an inner resource. Does an inner resource have an auditory voice? Does an inner resource need to go anywhere or do anything? Could it possibly? Can an inner resource speak to you “through others”? Would that not then be another "outer resource"? Does an inner resource shout or chant or hum or sing? Most assuredly not. Verbal-talk / mind-speak reinforces delusion and blocks awareness of Reality.
Talk—which is really just verbalized mind-speak—is the language of the lie; the silence is the non-language of the Truth. Yet beyond the verbal noise of speech, there is the noisier clatter of mind-speak. Some might set a goal such as this:
“Okay, today is the day I’m going for silence. I will shut my mouth for ‘x’ number of hours.” Yet that does not stop the noisier source of clamor, namely, the "mind." Seated as close to the ears as it is, there is never a moment of silence among the non-Realized with their non-stop "mind chatter."
In an effort to still the mind, background noise is often cranked up to the highest decibel levels possible; in an effort to escape the noise and discontentment generated by the mind, persons either (a) insanely try to drown out noise with noise or (b) try to outrun the noise with their incessant goingness and doingness and zoomingness.
Noise is the ghost that chases persons down the street, throughout their days, and throughout the term of their relative lives, inspiring more noise and more running and moving.
Maharaj: “You must realise yourself as the immovable, behind and beyond the movable, the silent witness of all that happens.”
If you are moving about in an effort to escape the noise of your mind, you will fail. If you are listening to the content of a mind, either “theirs” or “your own” (which is also “theirs,” actually) then you are believing lies.
Whatever persons (the non-Realized) talk about reinforces their belief in lies, and whatever lies are surfacing as mind-speak (the mind being the place wherein all lies are stored) will block them from understanding Truth.
Truth comes in the silence; verbal-speak / mind-speak lock persons into an attachment to the distortions that come via the noise of mouth-talk / mind-talk.
Why distortions? (1) Because verbal-speak / mind-speak are the purveyors of duality; (2) because all duality is a lie; (3) because verbal-speak / mind-speak are the dualistic vendors of differentiation rather than pointers to the Truth of the unicity:
[Maharaj: “Non-distinction speaks in silence. Words carry distinctions.”]
and (4) because verbal-speak / mind-speak reinforces the false belief in “an experiencing being” and blocks the ability to relish abidance in the non-personal beingness only:
Questioner: I call it the abeyance of the mind.
Maharaj: Call it silence, or void, or abeyance, the fact is that the three—experiencer, experiencing, experience—are not. In witnessing, in awareness, Self-consciousness, the sense of being this or that, is not. Unidentified being remains.
If your noisy talk and noisy thoughts (or the noisy talk and thoughts of your “influencers”) have convinced you that What You Actually Are is “an experiencing being with identity,” then that noise has resulted in distortion;
if your noisy talk and noisy thoughts (or the noisy talk and thoughts of your “influencers”) are blocking you from seeing your most obvious self-contradictions, then that noise has resulted in distortion;
and if your noisy talk and noisy thoughts (or the noisy talk and thoughts of your "influencers") have convinced you that you can verbally express the Truth—and in no uncertain terms, you believe—then that noise has resulted in distortion.
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.
