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.
FROM A SITE VISITOR: "Watching the I Am" is an exercise. Ty
F.: Not if "the teacher's" directions are understood. When the consciousness is invited to witness the I AM only, the invitation is not about "doing something." The invitation is about doing nothing. The invitation, most accurately, is about stopping what you have been doing; namely, stop putting words after the phrase "I Am" because that is reinforcing belief in the false identities being assumed.
Reconsider an example used in an earlier posting: you are in a car travelling from one city to another. A massive pileup of cars is blocking your way, your "path." Until the wrecker arrives and removes each and every blockage, you cannot move any farther along your journey.
As you wait in your car for the blockages to be removed, do you believe that you are the car? No. You understand that what you are is that which is manifested within the car and is that which is merely witnessing. Are you the one removing the blockages? No. The blockages are being removed by the wrecker.
The pure consciousness, which is taken by seekers to be "my teacher," is the wrecker...wrecking the pileup of beliefs and concepts and ideas that are blocking the consciousness that You are from completing the "journey" to clear and pure witnessing. The involvement on the part of You, a speck of consciousness, is limited to witnessing the wreckage and to watching as it disappears. You are not doing anything.
Next, yesterday's post ended with this:
As noted in other series, the seeker / doer is one of the last illusions to fade. Now, whatever happens happens, but there is but the consciousness that is witnessing whatever unfolds even as whatever unfolds in natural only. The consciousness can do nothing beyond witnessing; all else, thought by a mind to be doing things, is delusion.
The thread then continued:
Q.: Yes – this is just the perspective I hoped to get from you – there was the sense there is some romanticism of the practices here. I have also been confused with this practice / non-doing thing.
The quandary is that if “i” then was bound at the level of body/mind identification or spiritual persona, “doing nothing” would not shift the false identification or erroneous view. However, with the later understanding of “no one” - would the false identifications drift away regardless in the absence of a doer – did “i” just claim ownership of the shifts after the fact?
F.: Likely. Now, what if you had found a teacher early on that could have shown you the way early on? Those such as you who are "wired" for receipt of a message of authenticity may have seen and rejected the lies and nonsense early on and grasped the truth early on. In fact, You did the first part of that on "Your own" - saw the BS as BS - but You needed someone to poin toward the truth. That was the search. A book's pointers might have resonated, (Salinger you have mentioned, for example) but the Truth did not come in full, so the next book was searched for...and that happened again and again and again.
Here, in the end, after months of reading Maharaj, the BS was affirmed but the Truth was still not seen until the vision came, and that came via the inner resource. Once the vision came, it was understood how the void to energy to awareness to manifested consciousness to blocked consciousness happened. The vision then revealed the way to back out of that mess.
One-half or one percent of all specks become "wired" by early experiences to question authority, to be able to sense phoniness, and to seek authenticity...to seek "The Authentic Self." Though rare, such specks are the likeliest candidates to tap into the inner guru and eventually to see truth because they are the ones "pre-wired" to question and rebel and to know that authority is the source of all nonsense dreamed up by persons.
Without such questioning (and rejection) no truth will ever be found. The considering and questioning and discarding is the "homework" assigned to a witnessing speck of consciousness. All other exercises and disciplines amount to nothing more than nonsense, futile activity, useless doingness.
Q.: When “i” pitched up for the first time in your inbox, with my first question, I was a seeker caught in the bondage of mind-body-personality identification. In the 30 years before, there were countless practices. What does it matter if the individual labels them worthy or hopeless – all are superfluous – they happen as part of this constantly moving sea of beingness – they never end.
F.: Actually they can, and should.
Q.: Either one's practices throw up more and more experiences, supposedly deeper and more refined, or the seeker dabbles around from one to another – usually a combination of both. All irrelevant. All that can be hoped for is eventual boredom or hopelessness. Here, in the response to that email, the ultimate medicine was offered and swallowed...like the red pill in the matrix; and so the illusion of individual fixation was lifted, and what is true is revealed. Everything that occurred before this point were just plays of light and form – ephemeral, unreal. As Maharaj says:
Maharaj: Out of a common heap of wheat, many types of edibles are prepared, using different methods. In the same way, there are many systems of spirituality. I am not interested in nibbling at the various delicacies — methods and techniques — but only in the main course, which is the primordial Source of all existence.
Q.: Unconsciously, the whole of this relative life, and all those practices, have been the attempt to answer [certain basic] questions. Today driving home, again this movement of LOVE and tears and recognition – as the realization came: there is no answer in consciousness – no objective answer out there. You can BE the answer – and so the answer is known.
F.: Yes, but first the notion that there was a "one" that practices or dabbles must be discarded. As long as persons give credibility to their practices or disciplines, nothing credible will be understood; as long as persons give credibility to their experiences - "good" or "bad" - then distortion shall continue;
Reconsider an example used in an earlier posting: you are in a car travelling from one city to another. A massive pileup of cars is blocking your way, your "path." Until the wrecker arrives and removes each and every blockage, you cannot move any farther along your journey.
As you wait in your car for the blockages to be removed, do you believe that you are the car? No. You understand that what you are is that which is manifested within the car and is that which is merely witnessing. Are you the one removing the blockages? No. The blockages are being removed by the wrecker.
The pure consciousness, which is taken by seekers to be "my teacher," is the wrecker...wrecking the pileup of beliefs and concepts and ideas that are blocking the consciousness that You are from completing the "journey" to clear and pure witnessing. The involvement on the part of You, a speck of consciousness, is limited to witnessing the wreckage and to watching as it disappears. You are not doing anything.
Next, yesterday's post ended with this:
As noted in other series, the seeker / doer is one of the last illusions to fade. Now, whatever happens happens, but there is but the consciousness that is witnessing whatever unfolds even as whatever unfolds in natural only. The consciousness can do nothing beyond witnessing; all else, thought by a mind to be doing things, is delusion.
The thread then continued:
Q.: Yes – this is just the perspective I hoped to get from you – there was the sense there is some romanticism of the practices here. I have also been confused with this practice / non-doing thing.
The quandary is that if “i” then was bound at the level of body/mind identification or spiritual persona, “doing nothing” would not shift the false identification or erroneous view. However, with the later understanding of “no one” - would the false identifications drift away regardless in the absence of a doer – did “i” just claim ownership of the shifts after the fact?
F.: Likely. Now, what if you had found a teacher early on that could have shown you the way early on? Those such as you who are "wired" for receipt of a message of authenticity may have seen and rejected the lies and nonsense early on and grasped the truth early on. In fact, You did the first part of that on "Your own" - saw the BS as BS - but You needed someone to poin toward the truth. That was the search. A book's pointers might have resonated, (Salinger you have mentioned, for example) but the Truth did not come in full, so the next book was searched for...and that happened again and again and again.
Here, in the end, after months of reading Maharaj, the BS was affirmed but the Truth was still not seen until the vision came, and that came via the inner resource. Once the vision came, it was understood how the void to energy to awareness to manifested consciousness to blocked consciousness happened. The vision then revealed the way to back out of that mess.
One-half or one percent of all specks become "wired" by early experiences to question authority, to be able to sense phoniness, and to seek authenticity...to seek "The Authentic Self." Though rare, such specks are the likeliest candidates to tap into the inner guru and eventually to see truth because they are the ones "pre-wired" to question and rebel and to know that authority is the source of all nonsense dreamed up by persons.
Without such questioning (and rejection) no truth will ever be found. The considering and questioning and discarding is the "homework" assigned to a witnessing speck of consciousness. All other exercises and disciplines amount to nothing more than nonsense, futile activity, useless doingness.
Q.: When “i” pitched up for the first time in your inbox, with my first question, I was a seeker caught in the bondage of mind-body-personality identification. In the 30 years before, there were countless practices. What does it matter if the individual labels them worthy or hopeless – all are superfluous – they happen as part of this constantly moving sea of beingness – they never end.
F.: Actually they can, and should.
Q.: Either one's practices throw up more and more experiences, supposedly deeper and more refined, or the seeker dabbles around from one to another – usually a combination of both. All irrelevant. All that can be hoped for is eventual boredom or hopelessness. Here, in the response to that email, the ultimate medicine was offered and swallowed...like the red pill in the matrix; and so the illusion of individual fixation was lifted, and what is true is revealed. Everything that occurred before this point were just plays of light and form – ephemeral, unreal. As Maharaj says:
Maharaj: Out of a common heap of wheat, many types of edibles are prepared, using different methods. In the same way, there are many systems of spirituality. I am not interested in nibbling at the various delicacies — methods and techniques — but only in the main course, which is the primordial Source of all existence.
Q.: Unconsciously, the whole of this relative life, and all those practices, have been the attempt to answer [certain basic] questions. Today driving home, again this movement of LOVE and tears and recognition – as the realization came: there is no answer in consciousness – no objective answer out there. You can BE the answer – and so the answer is known.
F.: Yes, but first the notion that there was a "one" that practices or dabbles must be discarded. As long as persons give credibility to their practices or disciplines, nothing credible will be understood; as long as persons give credibility to their experiences - "good" or "bad" - then distortion shall continue;
as long as persons rationalize suffering by claiming a future reward shall balance it out - and as long as persons claim their misery was acceptable since it now paves the way to "help others" - then they will remain trapped in their ego-states and misery with no understanding at all.
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.
