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.: The on-going thread continues:
Yesterday, from the Advaita-based novel The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders, the diversionary paths and directionless wanderings of the character Kirk were catalogued. On those various non-direct paths, he had been…
dipped, dunked, sprinkled, blessed, cursed, cussed, lectured, scolded, praised, communion’d, Om’d, grape-juiced, wined, ahsram’d, accepted, rejected, Mu’d, and yoga’d, 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.
The novel continued:
In the end, to Kirk anyway, the popular religions sounded too much like grocery-shopping, coupon-style: “We’ll redeem. We’ll save you.” Yeah, but will you triple my value on Wednesdays?!
Now some might say, “Ah, I see what’s missing. Here’s your problem. You’ve never been to the mountaintop and talked to The Wise Man you’ll meet there.” But Kirk would say, “Oh, but I have, O Sayer of the False.”
Yes, Kirk had even been to the mountaintop, or darn close to it, when he traveled from his home to the airport in Houston and into Albuquerque; from there, he rented a car, drove from that city into Santa Fe, New Mexico, and climbed—via his rented auto—up the side of the white-capped Sangre de Cristo Mountains, all for the promise of getting the chance to spend one hour with a full-blooded Cherokee Man of Wisdom, a Real, modern-day Soothsayer.
Once there, The Wise Man asked of Kirk, “Tell me what you have done so far on your search.” In his anal way at that time, Kirk took forty minutes to provide for the chief a detailed cataloguing of all of his spiritual work to date, as delightful a dose of divine workaholism as ever heard. Then the chief inquired, “OK. Now tell me all that you have not yet done on your search that you are planning to do.” That took Kirk another twenty minutes, enumerating the elements in his game plan for gaining greater godliness and even more spirituality in the future.
At the end of his one-hour session, which had come at the conclusion of a very long journey, Kirk finally fell quiet and looked at the chief. The chief gazed directly at Kirk, but not into Kirk’s eyes. The stare from the chief pierced to a depth much deeper than the eyes, not unlike an arrow shot with such force that it not only reached its target but breached its way through the objective as well. The look altered into one of those soul-penetrating stares, coming at Kirk from the now-narrowed eyes of a Wise Man, like a hawk’s glare fixed on a soon-to-be slain mouse. Several times, Kirk had to look down to sever this discomforting link, but each time he glanced up, the chief stared him down again.
Finally, the Cherokee rose, using the two canes now required for moving about on his ancient legs. Tottering over Kirk, he fixed his eyes again on this seeker, and Kirk became convinced that the Words of Wisdom he had come so far to hear would emerge within seconds. The words, Kirk trusted, would provide the penultimate key. That penultimate key would then be used in the ultimate act required for the opening of his mind to a new and definitive level of freedom and independence. He waited with bated breath; his pulse quickened; his mind seemed already to be opening more than ever before. Finally, just about to come his way—he felt assured—would be the Secret Knowledge that unravels all mysteries, the key that would allow Full and Final Knowingness to manifest.
Instead, the chief proclaimed in a way-too-matter-of-fact manner, “Well, then. You’re going to be a very busy boy.” And with that, the old man hobbled away, in a way that told Kirk without the least doubt at all that he would hear nothing more, ever, from the chief. Kirk’s breath was not now bated; his pulse quickened even more; his mind snapped shut like a spring-loaded trap. Kirk flashed back over all required to arrive in Santa Fe and to sit in the presence of the chief, all the time, all the money, all the effort, only to hear … that? Kirk’s pseudo-spirituality dissolved, replaced with fury. He thought suddenly that those two canes might better be used to serve up a brutal pummeling across the back and neck and head of this clearly Not-Wise-Man. Only later would the wisdom of the chief’s ten words become clear.
What about you? Have you been a very busy boy? Have you been a very busy girl? Are you going to continue being a very busy person? Have you planned out all of the other diversionary treks you intend to take along “the path”? Does a side trip to Buddhism await? Is a deeper trip into Taoism on the horizon?
Or will the rest of your quest throughout the relative existence drive you blindly from one teacher to another, from one popular speaker to another, from one ashram to another, from one church or synagogue to another, from one set of concepts to another...forever looking but never seeing?
Is more Christianity or Judaism or Islam or Hinduism in your future? What about a stopover at a New Age site? Have you attended a powwow with a big name teacher and endured the potentially-life-threatening heat of a sweat lodge?
Are you now practicing "Native American Spirituality" (meaning in most cases that such a claimant owns two Carlos Nakai CD’s and two amulets, the proper locations of which have been inadvertently reversed so that a Dream Catcher swings from the mirror of a vehicle and a Medicine Wheel hangs over a bed)?
Have you burned a sufficient number of incense sticks? Have you purified your environment with sage? Have you struck a special bowl on a special pillow with a special stick? Do you kneel on a special carpet or behind a special pew in a special building?
Have you continuously begged some other-world being(s) to fulfill your desires? Have you paid your tithe regularly? Have you visited holy sites in Peru and Tibet and around the globe? Have you been washed in the blood, dunked in the waters, and purportedly purified?
Have you attended prayers five times a day? Have you collected special pieces of crystal and set them out in a proper and special formation at special times of the year? Are you more creative than the typical follower, having dreamed up on your own all sorts of exercises and disciplines that you now practice? Do you believe that your privately-found revelations have made you special and different?
Do you claim to have been awakened at 4 A.M. by a God that wants to chat? Are you attending, on a daily basis and for life, the meetings organized by your spiritual group? Are you going to a holy building on Saturdays or on Sunday mornings and evenings, and maybe on Wednesdays as well? Might you be addicted to religious and / or spiritual workaholism without even being aware of the fact?
Or are you going to a special meeting every day, or to many such meetings every day, even though most of what is spouted there is nonsensical and insane? Have you adopted the belief that your suffering has made you special and empowered you to “save” people? Has your misery qualified you to rescue? Are you now assigning supernatural cause to natural events?
Have you read every book by the big name authors? Have you built your own private library in which those books are now displayed, though never to be touched again? How has any or all of that worked for you? What permanent "gain" has happened?
WHO thinks there has been gain, or (more distortedly) gain through loss and suffering? Again, one of the more nonsensical claims made by many persons is that "I had to do everything I did. Now, my suffering allows me to help others."
Was that not the problem? It was always about their own suffering rather than that of the persons who had to deal with them and their craziness and arrogance and sociopathic behavior on a daily basis during the relative existence. To quote Maharaj, "This is our stupidity, verging on insanity."
Have you never really wondered how it was that humans and human-like beings lived naturally for millions of years before special bowls and pillows and sticks and rugs and pews and incense and bells were manufactured? Or is your response to the invitation to "relax and take it easy" composed of a single shouted word: "Never!"
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
Yesterday, from the Advaita-based novel The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders, the diversionary paths and directionless wanderings of the character Kirk were catalogued. On those various non-direct paths, he had been…
dipped, dunked, sprinkled, blessed, cursed, cussed, lectured, scolded, praised, communion’d, Om’d, grape-juiced, wined, ahsram’d, accepted, rejected, Mu’d, and yoga’d, 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.
The novel continued:
In the end, to Kirk anyway, the popular religions sounded too much like grocery-shopping, coupon-style: “We’ll redeem. We’ll save you.” Yeah, but will you triple my value on Wednesdays?!
Now some might say, “Ah, I see what’s missing. Here’s your problem. You’ve never been to the mountaintop and talked to The Wise Man you’ll meet there.” But Kirk would say, “Oh, but I have, O Sayer of the False.”
Yes, Kirk had even been to the mountaintop, or darn close to it, when he traveled from his home to the airport in Houston and into Albuquerque; from there, he rented a car, drove from that city into Santa Fe, New Mexico, and climbed—via his rented auto—up the side of the white-capped Sangre de Cristo Mountains, all for the promise of getting the chance to spend one hour with a full-blooded Cherokee Man of Wisdom, a Real, modern-day Soothsayer.
Once there, The Wise Man asked of Kirk, “Tell me what you have done so far on your search.” In his anal way at that time, Kirk took forty minutes to provide for the chief a detailed cataloguing of all of his spiritual work to date, as delightful a dose of divine workaholism as ever heard. Then the chief inquired, “OK. Now tell me all that you have not yet done on your search that you are planning to do.” That took Kirk another twenty minutes, enumerating the elements in his game plan for gaining greater godliness and even more spirituality in the future.
At the end of his one-hour session, which had come at the conclusion of a very long journey, Kirk finally fell quiet and looked at the chief. The chief gazed directly at Kirk, but not into Kirk’s eyes. The stare from the chief pierced to a depth much deeper than the eyes, not unlike an arrow shot with such force that it not only reached its target but breached its way through the objective as well. The look altered into one of those soul-penetrating stares, coming at Kirk from the now-narrowed eyes of a Wise Man, like a hawk’s glare fixed on a soon-to-be slain mouse. Several times, Kirk had to look down to sever this discomforting link, but each time he glanced up, the chief stared him down again.
Finally, the Cherokee rose, using the two canes now required for moving about on his ancient legs. Tottering over Kirk, he fixed his eyes again on this seeker, and Kirk became convinced that the Words of Wisdom he had come so far to hear would emerge within seconds. The words, Kirk trusted, would provide the penultimate key. That penultimate key would then be used in the ultimate act required for the opening of his mind to a new and definitive level of freedom and independence. He waited with bated breath; his pulse quickened; his mind seemed already to be opening more than ever before. Finally, just about to come his way—he felt assured—would be the Secret Knowledge that unravels all mysteries, the key that would allow Full and Final Knowingness to manifest.
Instead, the chief proclaimed in a way-too-matter-of-fact manner, “Well, then. You’re going to be a very busy boy.” And with that, the old man hobbled away, in a way that told Kirk without the least doubt at all that he would hear nothing more, ever, from the chief. Kirk’s breath was not now bated; his pulse quickened even more; his mind snapped shut like a spring-loaded trap. Kirk flashed back over all required to arrive in Santa Fe and to sit in the presence of the chief, all the time, all the money, all the effort, only to hear … that? Kirk’s pseudo-spirituality dissolved, replaced with fury. He thought suddenly that those two canes might better be used to serve up a brutal pummeling across the back and neck and head of this clearly Not-Wise-Man. Only later would the wisdom of the chief’s ten words become clear.
What about you? Have you been a very busy boy? Have you been a very busy girl? Are you going to continue being a very busy person? Have you planned out all of the other diversionary treks you intend to take along “the path”? Does a side trip to Buddhism await? Is a deeper trip into Taoism on the horizon?
Or will the rest of your quest throughout the relative existence drive you blindly from one teacher to another, from one popular speaker to another, from one ashram to another, from one church or synagogue to another, from one set of concepts to another...forever looking but never seeing?
Is more Christianity or Judaism or Islam or Hinduism in your future? What about a stopover at a New Age site? Have you attended a powwow with a big name teacher and endured the potentially-life-threatening heat of a sweat lodge?
Are you now practicing "Native American Spirituality" (meaning in most cases that such a claimant owns two Carlos Nakai CD’s and two amulets, the proper locations of which have been inadvertently reversed so that a Dream Catcher swings from the mirror of a vehicle and a Medicine Wheel hangs over a bed)?
Have you burned a sufficient number of incense sticks? Have you purified your environment with sage? Have you struck a special bowl on a special pillow with a special stick? Do you kneel on a special carpet or behind a special pew in a special building?
Have you continuously begged some other-world being(s) to fulfill your desires? Have you paid your tithe regularly? Have you visited holy sites in Peru and Tibet and around the globe? Have you been washed in the blood, dunked in the waters, and purportedly purified?
Have you attended prayers five times a day? Have you collected special pieces of crystal and set them out in a proper and special formation at special times of the year? Are you more creative than the typical follower, having dreamed up on your own all sorts of exercises and disciplines that you now practice? Do you believe that your privately-found revelations have made you special and different?
Do you claim to have been awakened at 4 A.M. by a God that wants to chat? Are you attending, on a daily basis and for life, the meetings organized by your spiritual group? Are you going to a holy building on Saturdays or on Sunday mornings and evenings, and maybe on Wednesdays as well? Might you be addicted to religious and / or spiritual workaholism without even being aware of the fact?
Or are you going to a special meeting every day, or to many such meetings every day, even though most of what is spouted there is nonsensical and insane? Have you adopted the belief that your suffering has made you special and empowered you to “save” people? Has your misery qualified you to rescue? Are you now assigning supernatural cause to natural events?
Have you read every book by the big name authors? Have you built your own private library in which those books are now displayed, though never to be touched again? How has any or all of that worked for you? What permanent "gain" has happened?
WHO thinks there has been gain, or (more distortedly) gain through loss and suffering? Again, one of the more nonsensical claims made by many persons is that "I had to do everything I did. Now, my suffering allows me to help others."
Was that not the problem? It was always about their own suffering rather than that of the persons who had to deal with them and their craziness and arrogance and sociopathic behavior on a daily basis during the relative existence. To quote Maharaj, "This is our stupidity, verging on insanity."
Have you never really wondered how it was that humans and human-like beings lived naturally for millions of years before special bowls and pillows and sticks and rugs and pews and incense and bells were manufactured? Or is your response to the invitation to "relax and take it easy" composed of a single shouted word: "Never!"
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.
