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.
This is the first joint posting and came about spontaneously. More may happen spontaneously…or not.
F.: If it is understood that body-mind-personality identification is a lie; that belief in the illusion of personality perpetuates all misery and suffering on the planet;
that 6.5 billion persons on the planet are using religion or spiritual groups to try to free themselves of misery and suffering; that contrary to their claims of now being "better," the actual result is the generating of a planet-wide sense of arrogance and separation and insanity and fighting and killing;
that all relative chaos manifests because the “good” personas / personalities that persons adopt are still driven by the arrogance / egotism that always accompanies the assumption of even the so-called “good” ego-states; then the question becomes: where is one to find the answer to this conundrum...to the personality-misery connection?
Of course 6.5 billion persons will tell you that the answer is to be found in their holy texts, but Maharaj equivocated not at all in making clear that such is not the case: “I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.” "What!?" some shout. "How dare he fail to recognize the authority of the Vedas!"
So why did Maharaj consider the content of the so-called “holy texts” for a time but then abandon them? The simple answer is that Maharaj began his journey because he was a Personality Type Four that was pre-wired to question; to rebel against authority; to seek authenticity; to access an internal guru that functioned as a BS detector that was activated early on; and to be able to spot nonsense as nonsense almost automatically.
[So, ironically, certain personality traits can move seekers to a personality-free state? Yes. A messy diaper should not be considered "the forever-acceptable condition," but it is necessary along the way. Personality cannot be avoided, but its mess-producing control over all thoughts and words and actions can eventually be eliminated.]
Maharaj came to realize what all who reach the third of seven stages on the seven-step “path” to Full Realization must realize if they are to transition their personalities / roles / personas / false identities of “The Super Religious One” or “The Spiritual Giant” and then complete the entire “journey,” namely…
that all such texts perpetuate a common mythology of “the personal.” All reinforce the deception that you are person, that your body is personal, that you have a mind that is personal to you, that you have a personality that is unique, and that the person can be forever, if only _____ ….
[Now, fill in the blank with all of the conditions that religious and spiritual "authorities" prescribe for body-mind-personality continuity, with all of the work that must be done for the entire lifetime, with all of the services that must be attended weekly or bi-weekly or tri-weekly or five times daily, facing in the “right” direction (in the case of the latter) during all five sessions.]
Moreover, in addition to perpetuating a false sense of “selfness,” such texts also disseminate untruths about personal and special “Selfness,” teaching that there is a “lower you” and a “Higher You” and that the “Higher You” can be godlike now and can be godlike forever and can eventually be God Himself / Herself / Itself / Themselves.
The Nisargan Advaitin teacher takes a far different approach that will seem to many persons to inflict pain with a calloused disregard for their “feelings”:
Louise: 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.
F.: One belief structure that the Advaitin will remove is the notion that some personal “one” can eventually be at one with god or can even be God Himself / Herself / Itself / Themselves. Why? Because the Realized Advaitin will discard all dualistic beliefs, included that one.
How can one claim an understanding of non-duality while believing that “A” can join with “B”? [That is rhetorical – do not send a response. It is already known how some can justify that concept and claim that “joining” does not imply two-ness.]
The notions that a “personal you or "You" can benefit from the power of a personal God now and can enjoy eternal continuity of body and mind and personality later are concepts that are common to all religions and are ideas that are supported in all so-called “holy texts” which reinforce the lie of “person” and personality and things personal and Personal.
That applies to the content of the Bible, the Qur’an, the Torah, the Amritbindu Upanishad, and most other “spiritual” or “religious” writings.
“Wait a minute!” some seekers with an Eastern bent to their search have exclaimed at retreats conducted here. “Of course those other texts contain superstition-based nonsense that drives persons into the insane state of mythomania. But surely he is not going to challenge the teachings of the Amritbindu Upanishad?!” Yet alas, he did, he does, he shall. “Explain!”
Well, consider this claim from the Amritbindu Upanishad: “That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings, who is the giver [Persona] of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe [Persona], the limitness being [Persona] – I am that.”
If a seeker does not see that
1. the words “whom” and “who” are personal pronouns used to refer to someone who is personal and that
2. talk of a “being” points to someone personal, which is quite different from beingness (and non-beingness and that which is beyond) and
if it is not clear that
3. the use of such personal pronouns as “Whom” and “Who” triggers the drawing of an often-unconscious conclusion that there is a personal, Supreme Being, then the seeker is being unconsciously influenced to believe in something personal that is not only a total illusion but that is also dualistic, as in “Supreme” vs. ...what?
Something not supreme? Something less than supreme that can unite with something Supreme? A being vs. a Better Being? A Supreme Being vs. lesser beings? All are dualistic falsehoods that reinforce not only a belief in duality but a belief in a presently personal self and a presently Supreme Self and the chance for a Personal Self to manifest in the future and to become an “Infinite Self.”
Personality, lesser personality, Supreme Person / Personality, and “A Grander Personality to Be” someday: all are cherished and sought-after but totally illusory personas. Where in any of that can one ever hope to realize the no-concept, non-dual, no-identity Reality or the nothingness prior to and beyond? Nowhere. Nowhere in any such texts or teachings or preachings.
Full Realization leads to an end of any and all personal identification for the seeker that might have been assumed or that might have been thought to be a future possibility. Maharaj: That Absolute principle does not know itself; clear all your doubts about your own self.
What? The Absolute principle with not know itself later? No. There will be no self or Self to know or to be known. And it is not a matter of the person or the personality coming to an end. It never existed to begin with. Mirages do not come to an end. They are but appearances in consciousness that are misperceived from the start.
L.: Realization means the dissolution of the self-attached view of the personal player. 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.
F.: Full Realization also eliminates not only a belief in anything “personal” or “Personal” now but it also eliminates any belief in anything personal or Personal that might be later. Ending all beliefs, in fact, Realization leads to the ending of the belief in any personal identification of a self now, of a Self later, of a “Supreme Person or Being” now, or in “Some Kind of Supreme Something with a Personal Identity Who Can Be Merged with Now or Later.”
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
that 6.5 billion persons on the planet are using religion or spiritual groups to try to free themselves of misery and suffering; that contrary to their claims of now being "better," the actual result is the generating of a planet-wide sense of arrogance and separation and insanity and fighting and killing;
that all relative chaos manifests because the “good” personas / personalities that persons adopt are still driven by the arrogance / egotism that always accompanies the assumption of even the so-called “good” ego-states; then the question becomes: where is one to find the answer to this conundrum...to the personality-misery connection?
Of course 6.5 billion persons will tell you that the answer is to be found in their holy texts, but Maharaj equivocated not at all in making clear that such is not the case: “I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.” "What!?" some shout. "How dare he fail to recognize the authority of the Vedas!"
So why did Maharaj consider the content of the so-called “holy texts” for a time but then abandon them? The simple answer is that Maharaj began his journey because he was a Personality Type Four that was pre-wired to question; to rebel against authority; to seek authenticity; to access an internal guru that functioned as a BS detector that was activated early on; and to be able to spot nonsense as nonsense almost automatically.
[So, ironically, certain personality traits can move seekers to a personality-free state? Yes. A messy diaper should not be considered "the forever-acceptable condition," but it is necessary along the way. Personality cannot be avoided, but its mess-producing control over all thoughts and words and actions can eventually be eliminated.]
Maharaj came to realize what all who reach the third of seven stages on the seven-step “path” to Full Realization must realize if they are to transition their personalities / roles / personas / false identities of “The Super Religious One” or “The Spiritual Giant” and then complete the entire “journey,” namely…
that all such texts perpetuate a common mythology of “the personal.” All reinforce the deception that you are person, that your body is personal, that you have a mind that is personal to you, that you have a personality that is unique, and that the person can be forever, if only _____ ….
[Now, fill in the blank with all of the conditions that religious and spiritual "authorities" prescribe for body-mind-personality continuity, with all of the work that must be done for the entire lifetime, with all of the services that must be attended weekly or bi-weekly or tri-weekly or five times daily, facing in the “right” direction (in the case of the latter) during all five sessions.]
Moreover, in addition to perpetuating a false sense of “selfness,” such texts also disseminate untruths about personal and special “Selfness,” teaching that there is a “lower you” and a “Higher You” and that the “Higher You” can be godlike now and can be godlike forever and can eventually be God Himself / Herself / Itself / Themselves.
The Nisargan Advaitin teacher takes a far different approach that will seem to many persons to inflict pain with a calloused disregard for their “feelings”:
Louise: 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.
F.: One belief structure that the Advaitin will remove is the notion that some personal “one” can eventually be at one with god or can even be God Himself / Herself / Itself / Themselves. Why? Because the Realized Advaitin will discard all dualistic beliefs, included that one.
How can one claim an understanding of non-duality while believing that “A” can join with “B”? [That is rhetorical – do not send a response. It is already known how some can justify that concept and claim that “joining” does not imply two-ness.]
The notions that a “personal you or "You" can benefit from the power of a personal God now and can enjoy eternal continuity of body and mind and personality later are concepts that are common to all religions and are ideas that are supported in all so-called “holy texts” which reinforce the lie of “person” and personality and things personal and Personal.
That applies to the content of the Bible, the Qur’an, the Torah, the Amritbindu Upanishad, and most other “spiritual” or “religious” writings.
“Wait a minute!” some seekers with an Eastern bent to their search have exclaimed at retreats conducted here. “Of course those other texts contain superstition-based nonsense that drives persons into the insane state of mythomania. But surely he is not going to challenge the teachings of the Amritbindu Upanishad?!” Yet alas, he did, he does, he shall. “Explain!”
Well, consider this claim from the Amritbindu Upanishad: “That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings, who is the giver [Persona] of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe [Persona], the limitness being [Persona] – I am that.”
If a seeker does not see that
1. the words “whom” and “who” are personal pronouns used to refer to someone who is personal and that
2. talk of a “being” points to someone personal, which is quite different from beingness (and non-beingness and that which is beyond) and
if it is not clear that
3. the use of such personal pronouns as “Whom” and “Who” triggers the drawing of an often-unconscious conclusion that there is a personal, Supreme Being, then the seeker is being unconsciously influenced to believe in something personal that is not only a total illusion but that is also dualistic, as in “Supreme” vs. ...what?
Something not supreme? Something less than supreme that can unite with something Supreme? A being vs. a Better Being? A Supreme Being vs. lesser beings? All are dualistic falsehoods that reinforce not only a belief in duality but a belief in a presently personal self and a presently Supreme Self and the chance for a Personal Self to manifest in the future and to become an “Infinite Self.”
Personality, lesser personality, Supreme Person / Personality, and “A Grander Personality to Be” someday: all are cherished and sought-after but totally illusory personas. Where in any of that can one ever hope to realize the no-concept, non-dual, no-identity Reality or the nothingness prior to and beyond? Nowhere. Nowhere in any such texts or teachings or preachings.
Full Realization leads to an end of any and all personal identification for the seeker that might have been assumed or that might have been thought to be a future possibility. Maharaj: That Absolute principle does not know itself; clear all your doubts about your own self.
What? The Absolute principle with not know itself later? No. There will be no self or Self to know or to be known. And it is not a matter of the person or the personality coming to an end. It never existed to begin with. Mirages do not come to an end. They are but appearances in consciousness that are misperceived from the start.
L.: Realization means the dissolution of the self-attached view of the personal player. 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.
F.: Full Realization also eliminates not only a belief in anything “personal” or “Personal” now but it also eliminates any belief in anything personal or Personal that might be later. Ending all beliefs, in fact, Realization leads to the ending of the belief in any personal identification of a self now, of a Self later, of a “Supreme Person or Being” now, or in “Some Kind of Supreme Something with a Personal Identity Who Can Be Merged with Now or Later.”
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.
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.
