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.: Yesterday's thread continues:
It would be as if you and your son were standing in a desert looking at a mirage. He has been told that the phenomenon before his eyes is labeled "mirage" in his culture and that the mirage is something concrete and tangible that he can feel and hold and touch and do things with. What exercises could you assign that would remove that distortion?
Any exercise he tried would be undertaken from within the bubble of his "mind"...from within the limited and narrow vacuum of the beliefs and concepts with which he had been programmed. As in the tale of "Br'er Rabbit," anything that is handled with hands that are soiled by tar will also end up being smeared with that same tar.
Nothing pure and clear could possibly come from any exercise conducted with that which is so utterly contaminated; thus, the requirement of a "Realized teacher" to point the way. Then, how much exercise or activity is really involved with merely seeing via the consciousness that You presently Are?
So of course the arrogant woman attached to her spiritual role said that "she speaks English but I speak Swahili." If any teachings offer only what has already been heard (that is, if the same contaminants that set in place the original programming and conditioning and knowledge pool are being spouted over and over), then those words will never cut through the miasma but will only reinforce the blockages instead.
Suppose your son has also been taught such nonsense as, "Mirages can make you happy at times and sad at times. They are the source of pleasure and joy in your life, but the source of occasional suffering as well. Such duality is fine...just the way it is...and acceptance of such duality is the key to happiness. You can look to mirages for strength in times of trouble, but your misery is really just something to either be denied or tolerated...never addressed. But know this above all: you will never feel whole unless you seek the mirage and join with it in a holy union." What exercises could be assigned to un-do such beliefs?
Would it work to say, "You must run and try to grasp the mirage and then you'll understand that it's not real"? Impossible, since the mirage is ever in the distance, never to be reached because it is not real. It is an illusion. What can a supposed do-er ever really do in regards to an illusion? Nothing. The supposed do-er can only imagine that it is doing something with something that actually does not even exist:
"My spiritual exercises and disciplines make me a better person as a result of getting closer to god or being at one with god." Really? My daughter had an imaginary friend, Dabuh, when she was very young. Would her engagements with Dabuh have ever been able to help her, teach her, enlighten her?
Could she enter into some activities whereby the thoughts and words of that imaginary friend might be anything other than what was already in the mind of my daughter? Could the mind that generated that which is imagined accomplish anything more than what the same mind will overlay on the exercise? No. In the end, all that can happen in such cases is that everything will eventually be covered in the same mental and emotional and cultural tar mentioned earlier.
So would there be any activities I could assign that would give any value at all to my daughter's exchanges with Dabuh? As Maharaj said, you might as well talk to a couple about an unborn child that they think has been born. Would there be any exercises I could assign that would improve their thinking or beliefs? At most, such exercises would only offer up new beliefs to try to replace the old erroneous beliefs, and the new beliefs would be as much hogwash as the former.
So there is no one to do and nothing to do...except to witness. Sometimes a child might be looking for the sun that was witnessed the day before but that is presently being obscured by clouds. The clouds might be blown away and it seems the sun suddenly appears.
Or one might drive the child via automobile to a location that is 20 miles east; then, a cloudless area might be reached and the sun might be seen. Thereafter, the child would believe that, to see the sun, you must always drive 20 miles to the east...that it cannot be seen from where the child was but can only be seen by engaging in some activity that involves going elsewhere, taking a journey to somewhere else, doing something.
Yet the fact is, such traveling and doing was not required at all. From the original location, the child will eventually be able to witness the sun when the clouds are removed from the equation. All that is needed is for a teacher to say, "The sun is there and always has been. You need not go anywhere to see it. You need but understand that there are things which can block the light, but they can be blown away at some point."
The most that the consciousness can "do" is witness without action, without any do-er supposedly doing. Everything thought to be done is thought by the mind to have been done, and anything evolving from the mind is pure fiction.
Q.: Clear!
F.: Now, back to the Houston to New York trip: the most efficient manner for traveling from point “A” to point “B” is a direct path, but few will take the direct path. Certainly, the direct path was not the one taken here during the decades of searching.
In the Advaita-based novel The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders, the diversionary paths and directionless wanderings of the character Kirk were recounted thusly:
In his energy-consuming search for salvation, he’d been dipped, dunked, sprayed, spayed, sprinkled, and neutered; in the quest for truth, he’d been blessed, cursed, cussed, lectured, scolded, and praised; in his pursuit of Life’s Meaning, he’d been communion’d, Om’d, grape-juiced, wined, ahsram’d, accepted, rejected, Mu’d, and yoga’d; in his chase for service-work-opportunities, he’d been pulverized, martinized, and frappéd; and in the endeavor to attain Life Eternal, he’d been baptized, Buddha’d, New Aged, powwow’d, Far Eastern Indianized, incense’d, sage’d, Tao’d, Peru’d, Tibet’d, washed in the blood, dunked in the waters, and purportedly purified. Then in the end, each of the religious or spiritual leaders had always charged him a percentage of his total income for the whole sorry treatment, plus a building-fund-tax and a foreign-missions-surcharge to boot—all in spite of the complete ineffectiveness of their claims to “redeem and save.”
Can you relate?
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
It would be as if you and your son were standing in a desert looking at a mirage. He has been told that the phenomenon before his eyes is labeled "mirage" in his culture and that the mirage is something concrete and tangible that he can feel and hold and touch and do things with. What exercises could you assign that would remove that distortion?
Any exercise he tried would be undertaken from within the bubble of his "mind"...from within the limited and narrow vacuum of the beliefs and concepts with which he had been programmed. As in the tale of "Br'er Rabbit," anything that is handled with hands that are soiled by tar will also end up being smeared with that same tar.
Nothing pure and clear could possibly come from any exercise conducted with that which is so utterly contaminated; thus, the requirement of a "Realized teacher" to point the way. Then, how much exercise or activity is really involved with merely seeing via the consciousness that You presently Are?
So of course the arrogant woman attached to her spiritual role said that "she speaks English but I speak Swahili." If any teachings offer only what has already been heard (that is, if the same contaminants that set in place the original programming and conditioning and knowledge pool are being spouted over and over), then those words will never cut through the miasma but will only reinforce the blockages instead.
Suppose your son has also been taught such nonsense as, "Mirages can make you happy at times and sad at times. They are the source of pleasure and joy in your life, but the source of occasional suffering as well. Such duality is fine...just the way it is...and acceptance of such duality is the key to happiness. You can look to mirages for strength in times of trouble, but your misery is really just something to either be denied or tolerated...never addressed. But know this above all: you will never feel whole unless you seek the mirage and join with it in a holy union." What exercises could be assigned to un-do such beliefs?
Would it work to say, "You must run and try to grasp the mirage and then you'll understand that it's not real"? Impossible, since the mirage is ever in the distance, never to be reached because it is not real. It is an illusion. What can a supposed do-er ever really do in regards to an illusion? Nothing. The supposed do-er can only imagine that it is doing something with something that actually does not even exist:
"My spiritual exercises and disciplines make me a better person as a result of getting closer to god or being at one with god." Really? My daughter had an imaginary friend, Dabuh, when she was very young. Would her engagements with Dabuh have ever been able to help her, teach her, enlighten her?
Could she enter into some activities whereby the thoughts and words of that imaginary friend might be anything other than what was already in the mind of my daughter? Could the mind that generated that which is imagined accomplish anything more than what the same mind will overlay on the exercise? No. In the end, all that can happen in such cases is that everything will eventually be covered in the same mental and emotional and cultural tar mentioned earlier.
So would there be any activities I could assign that would give any value at all to my daughter's exchanges with Dabuh? As Maharaj said, you might as well talk to a couple about an unborn child that they think has been born. Would there be any exercises I could assign that would improve their thinking or beliefs? At most, such exercises would only offer up new beliefs to try to replace the old erroneous beliefs, and the new beliefs would be as much hogwash as the former.
So there is no one to do and nothing to do...except to witness. Sometimes a child might be looking for the sun that was witnessed the day before but that is presently being obscured by clouds. The clouds might be blown away and it seems the sun suddenly appears.
Or one might drive the child via automobile to a location that is 20 miles east; then, a cloudless area might be reached and the sun might be seen. Thereafter, the child would believe that, to see the sun, you must always drive 20 miles to the east...that it cannot be seen from where the child was but can only be seen by engaging in some activity that involves going elsewhere, taking a journey to somewhere else, doing something.
Yet the fact is, such traveling and doing was not required at all. From the original location, the child will eventually be able to witness the sun when the clouds are removed from the equation. All that is needed is for a teacher to say, "The sun is there and always has been. You need not go anywhere to see it. You need but understand that there are things which can block the light, but they can be blown away at some point."
The most that the consciousness can "do" is witness without action, without any do-er supposedly doing. Everything thought to be done is thought by the mind to have been done, and anything evolving from the mind is pure fiction.
Q.: Clear!
F.: Now, back to the Houston to New York trip: the most efficient manner for traveling from point “A” to point “B” is a direct path, but few will take the direct path. Certainly, the direct path was not the one taken here during the decades of searching.
In the Advaita-based novel The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders, the diversionary paths and directionless wanderings of the character Kirk were recounted thusly:
In his energy-consuming search for salvation, he’d been dipped, dunked, sprayed, spayed, sprinkled, and neutered; in the quest for truth, he’d been blessed, cursed, cussed, lectured, scolded, and praised; in his pursuit of Life’s Meaning, he’d been communion’d, Om’d, grape-juiced, wined, ahsram’d, accepted, rejected, Mu’d, and yoga’d; in his chase for service-work-opportunities, he’d been pulverized, martinized, and frappéd; and in the endeavor to attain Life Eternal, he’d been baptized, Buddha’d, New Aged, powwow’d, Far Eastern Indianized, incense’d, sage’d, Tao’d, Peru’d, Tibet’d, washed in the blood, dunked in the waters, and purportedly purified. Then in the end, each of the religious or spiritual leaders had always charged him a percentage of his total income for the whole sorry treatment, plus a building-fund-tax and a foreign-missions-surcharge to boot—all in spite of the complete ineffectiveness of their claims to “redeem and save.”
Can you relate?
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.
