THE NON-EXISTENCE OF SELF – ONE SIDE OF THE COIN; AND THE TRUE MEANING OF SELF-LESS-NESS. PART 4– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

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.

"Wisdom is knowing I am nothing,

Love is knowing I am everything,
and between the two my life moves."
— Nisargadatta Maharaj

The understanding of the no-self reality can only be discerned when the movement of mind – tainted with what is perceived as positive and negative and governed by attraction and aversion – ends. As long as a sense of self-centeredness is present, there is the movement of desire and fear. This movement is entirely conceptual since there is no actual, existent “self” to “have” these desires and fears.

In the early stages of the “search” the self-centeredness is crude and obvious – for example: fixation as a self with a name, body, mind, personality; or perception of self as a separate person in a world of separate objects. Later, with the elimination of most gross identifications, the self-centeredness becomes refined and subtle, often difficult to see at all.

Let’s take the example of a circle of fine white powder placed on a black sheet of paper. Initially the circle of “self” is clearly seen, distinct and obvious against the background. This is the gross sense of self-identity that most persons believe is natural and normal. When you hear the “good news” as Maharaj says, about your true identity, and as the Teachings have their effect, this sense of self fades away; the powder is dusted away by the winds of true understanding. The circle is no long clear and bright. In other words, you now start to perceive accurately that the interior of the circle and its background are identical. You see that they have always been identical. The fine grains of white powder are just false ideas you had about yourself as a limited individual – temporary, fleeting, impermanent .

Can you see how first all you could perceive was a positive identification of the self-centre or ego, then later you perceive more accurately the absence of a self-centre and the intuitive sense of the underlying, always already present Self?

However, the faint outline of the edges of the circle may still be evident against the background, otherwise how would it be possible to know that the circle has ever been present? Its absence or non-existence implies its presence. What is this subtle, remaining delineation?

Non-duality means no separation – no this or that, inner or outer, higher or lower; foreground or background. Any sense of “this” implies a “that”; any sense of no-self implies a self; any sense of a self-centre implies a background which gives the centre its definition. What is that state, that pure and plain black sheet of paper, in which these terms and questions do not appear?

Self-enquiry is a form of gradual wearing down or erosion of self-identity. This keen observation of the self allows the false self-center to be clearly seen. The enquiry causes the powder to thin out, so that the background is perceived and becomes prominent. Identified with the background, the seeker must remain vigilant and aware. Are there traces of self-centeredness, however subtle, still present? Are there beliefs or concepts – however complex and true –about no-self, emptiness, selflessness, etc. that intoxify and define? What will allow the final erosion, the return to that state that is beyond birth and death, light and dark, self and no-self?

“Freedom comes through renunciation. All possession is bondage. If you do not have the wisdom and the strength to give up, just look at your possessions. Your mere looking will burn them up,” says Maharaj.

For the advanced seeker, have you identified your possessions – spiritual and conceptual – that give a sense of shape and identity to the false self-centre? Just because these “possessions” are precious and reflect truth, does not mean that they must not be abandoned. What are you clinging to, that you must throw overboard?

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

For extending teaching on the Advaitin Understanding – and the removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the various links on the right hand side of this blog or view the options offered below this post.

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

[THE YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE IN LARGER FORMATS BELOW WHICH MIGHT PROVIDE MORE COMFORTABLE VIEWING FOR SOME SITE VISITORS]

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.)

You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.

TRANSLATED ADVAITA EBOOKS AVAILABLE
Beginning today, the 11 Advaita eBooks listed at the end of this post are available in twenty-two non-English languages. If you are interested in purchasing an eBook in another language, click Contact Floyd to see if the language you prefer is available. Again, the quality of the translation cannot be guaranteed but it might make some pointers available to seekers that might not otherwise receive them. If you want to send a translated eBook to someone as a gift, that can also be arranged via the contact link above.
(Charges will include the regular price of the eBook + a US$10.00 translating fee.)

TO PAY FOR A TRANSLATION - US$10.00 - CLICK THE BUY BUTTON BELOW
(Contact Floyd before paying to be certain the language you prefer is available)

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.

YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA YOGA VIDEOS

Click on the arrow below to start Video One:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Two:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Three:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Four:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Five:

THE NON-EXISTENCE OF SELF – ONE SIDE OF THE COIN; AND THE TRUE MEANING OF SELF-LESS-NESS. PART 4– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

Note: The current series will resume tomorrow.

In the interim, you can select a topic of interest and watch the video discussion. The videos are located on the right hand side of the blog. To view, click the arrows in the center of the various videos or click the YouTube logo in the bottom right-hand corner to watch the videos on a larger screen on YouTube.

THIRTY-THREE DISCUSSIONS OF ADVAITIN TOPICS ON FIVE VIDEOS

Are you interested in a video discussion of any of the following topics: defining Advaita Vedanta; the Methods of Teaching; the Unicity / Nonduality; I AM THAT; I AM; Learning vs. Unlearning; the difference in a person vs. the Realized; the body-mind-personality triad or where you were before conception?

What about a video discussion of the following facts: that there is no body continuity; that you were not born and cannot die; that there was no creation; that there is no such thing as peace of mind; the different in “my mind” and “their mind”; the difference in the brain, the mind, and the consciousness; why you are not in the world; what the inner guru is; the connection between personality and suffering; or how persons upgrade illusions?

What about a video discussion of one or more of these topics: the link between role-playing / co-dependency and suicide; the difference in emotions vs. feelings and why the Realized feel but do not emote; religion vs. spirituality; why persons must question everything they have been taught if they are to Realize; the difference in Nisarga / natural living on one hand vs. unnnatural and supernatural living; or how it is that trillions have been wrong in their beliefs?

What about a video discussion of the fact that Christ taught the Advaita understanding; the Child Ignorance or Pre-”mind” State; Child Ignorance vs. Learned Ignorance; the two levels of witnessing; how all misery is rooted in desires and / or fears; the difference in Consciousness vs. Awareness; the difference in Real Love vs. false love; an understanding of “zero concepts”; or, an understanding of “The Nothingness”?

Those topics are discussed in the series of video interviews to the right. Scroll down and find the topic of interest and then note the video number (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5) and the counter number of the topic of interest on that video. Once you click on the video to begin, you may use your cursor to slide the counter marker to the right to find the exact point where the discussion of the topic you prefer actually begins.

VIDEO ONE: (Advaita Topics 1-9):
1. Defining Advaita Vedanta (Counter 28-55)
2. Methods of Teaching (Counter 55-1:44)
3. Unicity / Nonduality (Counter 1:44-2:39)
4. I AM THAT; I AM (Counter 2:39-3:31)
5. Learn vs. Unlearn (Counter 3:31-4:13)
6. Unlearn What? (Counter 4:13-4:44)
7. Person vs. Realized (4:44-5:25)
8. The Triad (Counter 5:25-7:45)
9. Before Conception (Counter 7:45-9:01)

VIDEO TWO: (Advaita Topics 10-16):
10. No Body Continuity / “ME” (Counter 1-56)
11. Not Born / No Creation / Cannot Die (Counter 56-2:00)
12. No Peace of “mind” / My “mind” / “Their “mind” (Counter 2:00-3:33)
13. Brain vs. “mind” vs. Consciousness (Counter 3:33-5:00)
14. Not in the World (Counter 5:00-6:03)
15. Inner Guru (Counter 6:03-7:15)
16. Personality-Suffering Connection / Upgrading Illusions (Counter 7:15-8:40)

VIDEO THREE (Advaita Topics 18-24):
18. The Role-Playing + Co-dependency + Suicide Link (Counter 1-2:05)
19. Upgrading / Downgrading Illusions (Counter 2:05-3:00)
20. Emotions vs. Feelings (Counter 3:00-4:22)
21. Religion and Spirituality (Counter 4:22-5:47)
22. Question All (Counter 5:47-7:13)
23. Natural vs. Unnatural vs. Supernatural Living (Counter 7:13-8:33)
24. When Trillions Are Wrong (Counter 8:33-9:20)

VIDEO FOUR (Advaita Topics 25-31):
25. Christ the Advaitin (Counter 1-1:50)
26. Child Ignorance / The Pre-”mind” State (Counter 1:50-3:40)
27. Child Ignorance vs. Learned Ignorance (Counter 3:40-4;39)
28. Two Levels of Witnessing (Counter 4:39-5:54)
29. Desires and Fears (Counter 5:54-6:41)
30. Consciousness vs. Awareness (Counter 6:41-7:20)
31. Real Love vs. false love (Counter 7:20-8:46)

VIDEO FIVE (Advaita Topics 32-33):
32. Zero Concepts (Counter 1-1:20)
33. The Nothingness (Counter 1:20-2:50)

THE NON-EXISTENCE OF SELF – ONE SIDE OF THE COIN; AND THE TRUE MEANING OF SELF-LESS-NESS. PART 3– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

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.

Please understand, feeling love for others, consciously and deliberately, cannot be done. That feeling of love must be understood and then love will unfold itself. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

With realization, action is without agenda – neutral. There is no preference for this way or that way. See if you can intuit this fundamental neutrality – action without the painted veneer of conditioning and forethought. Where then is the action with the color of selfishness? Where then is the action with the hue of selflessness? The action itself is neutral. After the fact it is daubed with the paint of positivity or negativity, falsehood or truth, by the conditioned mind. This creates suffering – binding you in the net of desire and fear, of attraction and aversion.

To be clear – you have your own ideas about selfless action. You perhaps believe it to be spiritual, even a sign of realization. You may aspire towards selflessness. You may repress thoughts and feelings that you believe are selfish. Probably, you are so attached to your concept of selflessness, that the words in this post will not be received neutrally.

What these words attempt to reveal, is that both actions – self-ish and self-less define a sense of selfhood. When you are painting, you can paint the actual form itself, or you can paint the background to bring the form into view. One technique focuses on the positive, the other focuses on the negative, but both techniques have the same result – a representation of form on paper. That form is the self – that sense of self-identity. From the Advaitin standpoint, what you are aiming at is that state, that understanding, that is beyond any definition of self.

Note: The intention here is not for you to instantly start behaving differently, to stop helping or caring. Instead, the invitation is to observe the more subtle movements of mind – how the negative and absence also gives rise to this subtle sense of self-identity.

Freedom is spontaneous action – beyond cause and motive. Spontaneous action is not pre-meditated. Without the knowledge of all causes, how can you know what is selfish or selfless? You make your assessment from your limited personal viewpoint. How can you know what action will result in a harmonious outcome? Or even if a harmonious outcome is appropriate? What is being referenced here is that more subtle range of actions outside of the body-mind-personality reactive complex.

Let’s examine this plainly: when there is action, how can you know if the action is selfish or selfless? You can only make that assessment by applying your knowledge – learned and acquired. Are you afraid that if you drop your knowledge of what is selfish and what is not, that the world will instantly dissolve into rampant egotism? Are you afraid that you will become a selfish man? See the absurdity here. The dissolution of knowledge does not result in suffering for you, for others, for the world. Remember Maharaj’s words from yesterday’s post: This is real liberation: to know that you are nothing. All your knowledge, including yourself, is liquidated - then you are liberated.

Maharaj says: Self-interest and self-concern are the focal points of the false. Your daily life vibrates between desire and fear. Watch it intently and you will see how the mind assumes innumerable names and shapes, like a river foaming between the boulders. Trace every action to its selfish motive and look at the motive intently till it dissolves. Discard every self-seeking motive as soon as it is seen and you need not look for truth; truth will find you.

Most advanced seekers have long identified and eliminated those self-seeking motives that result in actions deemed by the society to be overtly selfish, self-centred or egotistical. The invitation to the seeker here is to observe the actions that are commonly regarded as self-less, ego-less, often prompted by a denial of self or ego-centredness, a desire to help or serve others before the self. Can you discern a self-seeking motive at play here? What is the movement of desire or fear in the mind that influences this “self-less” agenda?

At the core of most self-less actions, is the seed of self-centredness. Only when action is purely without motive, and happens spontaneously without the movement of desire and fear, can it be described as true selflessness.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

For extending teaching on the Advaitin Understanding – and the removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the various links on the right hand side of this blog or view the options offered below this post.

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

[THE YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE IN LARGER FORMATS BELOW WHICH MIGHT PROVIDE MORE COMFORTABLE VIEWING FOR SOME SITE VISITORS]

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.)

You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.

TRANSLATED ADVAITA EBOOKS AVAILABLE
Beginning today, the 11 Advaita eBooks listed at the end of this post are available in twenty-two non-English languages. If you are interested in purchasing an eBook in another language, click Contact Floyd to see if the language you prefer is available. Again, the quality of the translation cannot be guaranteed but it might make some pointers available to seekers that might not otherwise receive them. If you want to send a translated eBook to someone as a gift, that can also be arranged via the contact link above.
(Charges will include the regular price of the eBook + a US$10.00 translating fee.)

TO PAY FOR A TRANSLATION - US$10.00 - CLICK THE BUY BUTTON BELOW
(Contact Floyd before paying to be certain the language you prefer is available)

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.

YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA YOGA VIDEOS

Click on the arrow below to start Video One:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Two:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Three:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Four:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Five:

THE NON-EXISTENCE OF SELF – ONE SIDE OF THE COIN; AND THE TRUE MEANING OF SELF-LESS-NESS. PART 2– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

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.

The sun does not shine for individuals. The words come out of the consciousness, spontaneously, as part of the total functioning. There are any number of experiences, some of them you like and you keep them in your memory and pamper them - that itself is suffering. All your experiences should be just part of the total functioning, happening spontaneously. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

The movement towards self-preference – based on desire and fear – is an aberration, a distorted spasm in a naturally and spontaneously functioning system. How can this aberration not result in suffering? The non-realized seeker clings to his or her desires and fears, believing that relinquishing them will result in loss or lack. This is laughable – relinquishing them will result in total freedom.

How do you step out of duality? You step out by giving up the dualistic mind – the dichotomies of either/or; me/you; us/them; good/bad; light/dark; selfish/unselfish; violent/non-violent etc, etc. These flavors appear appealing to you, but how can you know the taste of the flavorless with a mouth full of sweetness or bitterness. These flavors of dualistic conditioning are the filters that distort your natural sensing and functioning. This is why the invitation is always to enter silence, to rest in the dark blue shade beyond attributes, so that who you are – flavorless, colorless, limitless, formless, beyond self and non-self – can be discerned.

What is the flavorless state in which all flavors can be tasted? This is the question that must consume you. However, you are so occupied with one or another of the flavors that you like or dislike, that you forget the question. The flavors in and of themselves are neither helpful nor harmful. Essentially they are neutral. However, attachment with one or the other clouds your perception.

In the dark, blue shade, the exhausted mind can take rest. Observe the desires and fears as they appear … and disappear. Watch them only, without action or engaging the memory / self-identification mechanism. If the grasping mind moves to identify, simply observe – this movement is a hook in the world of hoops as Maharaj once described.

Your anxiety is that you have to forgo the flavors you cherish and enjoy. That is so. However, you will also forgo the flavors you dislike and avoid. This is the end of suffering. The reality is that conditioned by preference, and driven by fear and desire, you do not really know these flavors at all. Only in the non-preference state, beyond identification, can all flavors be known.

The movement of preference – what Maharaj describes as “keeping experiences in your memory and pampering them” is essentially a selfish act. Identified as a person, you cling to your apparent likes and dislikes. You are so conditioned that you cannot see that your preferences are bound up with your perceived “family”, “culture”, “nationality” and so on.

Perhaps like a sheep you acquire the same preferences as those around you; alternatively you may enjoy to strike out as the rebel and choose the opposite. Whichever way, you are responding to your environment and society. Your choices and preferences are not your own – they are symptoms of your programming and conditioning.

Naively, you may assume that the preferences are simply for what is obviously sensually pleasurable for the body; however the movement of preference can reveal itself in many guises: attachment to an ideology – religious or political; a wounded identity from the past e.g. recovered alcoholic; a self-help group; a spiritual or self-help programme; religious rituals and practices. These attachments (often less obvious to the seeker) can be described as what is sensually pleasurable for the mind.

Moving beyond preference, to the state of neutrality, is the equivalent of transitioning body, mind and personality identification. Until this transition is made, you are still bound, an active player in the game with the number pinned to your back. Later, you will witness the game, unconcerned about which side wins or loses, or what refreshments are provided at half-time. This is freedom from the hooks of desire and fear.

Understand – you are not a player in the game; nor are you the witness. Both are temporary identities – one has form, and the other is form-less. In the pure witnessing mode, there is no self-identity. However, this is not the final understanding.

Who are you beyond player and witness; form and form-less; flavor and flavor-less? Who are you beyond all definition? These Teachings invite you to abandon all concepts that are false, and then all concepts that are true. Remember, the Tao that can be named is not the real Tao. What is that state – outside of all concepts and absence of concepts?

Let’s end with Maharaj:

The real exists and is of the nature of witness-consciousness. Of course it is beyond the witness, but to enter it one must first realize the state of pure witnesssing. The awareness of conditions brings one to the unconditioned. We can talk only of the unreal, the illusory, the transient, the conditioned. To go beyond, we must pass through total negation of everything as having independent existence. All things depend on consciousness. And consciousness depends on the witness.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

For extending teaching on the Advaitin Understanding – and the removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the various links on the right hand side of this blog or view the options offered below this post.

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

[THE YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE IN LARGER FORMATS BELOW WHICH MIGHT PROVIDE MORE COMFORTABLE VIEWING FOR SOME SITE VISITORS]

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.)

You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.

TRANSLATED ADVAITA EBOOKS AVAILABLE
Beginning today, the 11 Advaita eBooks listed at the end of this post are available in twenty-two non-English languages. If you are interested in purchasing an eBook in another language, click Contact Floyd to see if the language you prefer is available. Again, the quality of the translation cannot be guaranteed but it might make some pointers available to seekers that might not otherwise receive them. If you want to send a translated eBook to someone as a gift, that can also be arranged via the contact link above.
(Charges will include the regular price of the eBook + a US$10.00 translating fee.)

TO PAY FOR A TRANSLATION - US$10.00 - CLICK THE BUY BUTTON BELOW
(Contact Floyd before paying to be certain the language you prefer is available)

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.

YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA YOGA VIDEOS

Click on the arrow below to start Video One:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Two:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Three:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Four:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Five:

THE NON-EXISTENCE OF SELF – ONE SIDE OF THE COIN; AND THE TRUE MEANING OF SELF-LESS-NESS. PART 1– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

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.

Self-knowledge is beyond all words and concepts. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

The mind is filled with false ideas. For example: I am a person; I was born and I will die; I sense myself “in here” and the world is “out there”; I can develop, improve, and become a better person; etc.

For a time, the methods of nisarga yoga replace these false ideas with true ideas. For example: Who I am is not personal; I am beyond birth and death; I am nothing and everything; who I am is the changeless reality – already pristine, that cannot be improved or developed.

One day, the understanding will dawn that these “true” concepts are simply used to neutralize the “false” concepts – thorns used to remove thorns. All concepts are at the level of learned or acquired knowledge – both “true” concepts and “false” concepts. What is the real understanding beyond words, beyond language, beyond conceptualization?

Let’s examine this pointer from another angle. Enculturated and conditioned, the seeker believes the “false” thoughts that he or she has a self-identity, an ego; that he or she is a person in the world. With the removal of these false thoughts through consideration of Advaitin pointers in silence, the seeker may replace these “false” notions with the “true” notions that the self is non-existent. However, this is simply the negative side of the coin which has two sides – self and no-self. Both sides must be seen for the understanding to dawn on you.

With the radical discovery of the absence or non-existence of self, many seekers believe they have “come home”, failing to recognise that they are still caught in duality. This false landing spot is easily observed by the Advaitin Teacher, who is able to guide the seeker beyond this temporary understanding. (Note: many self-proclaimed teachers have not themselves transitioned this step. They may be able to guide the seeker from self-identification to the no-self understanding; but will not be able to offer guidance beyond. The seeker – without the vantage point of the top of the mountain – may not be able to discern that the teacher has not transitioned fully. Advanced seekers, use your discernment on this point)

The entrained mind of the seeker tends to romanticize or deify the thought-less, concept- free Reality – to create in the mind another concept of a “free” or “realized” state. This ordinary reality, your true nature, is not “true” or “false”, “special” or “different”. The Advaitin seeker is invited to observe nature – the deer – for an example of this natural functioning. The deer is pure being – this temporary manifestation as deer is not characterised by false thoughts (for example: I am a deer, or I am a happy deer, or I am a spiritual deer); nor is it characterised by true thoughts (for example: I am the temporary manifestation of conscious energy.) The deer functions in the thought-less state – and as such is beyond the contraction that characterises the temporary manifestation of most persons.

When cold weather comes, the deer does not think “I am cold, I must find shelter.” The thought-free, self-free state is characterised by natural, spontaneous functioning – moving location happens, or not; finding wind-free shelter happens, or not; whatever else that occurs in that spontaneous moment / movement just happens.

The deer is not trapped by thoughts that result in harmful and chaotic consequences that override the spontaneous movement of consciousness: for example: “I need a cigarette to cope with the stress of the sudden onset of cold weather”; or “I am closer to God when I am standing in the wind and cold; or “Why should I find shelter; let my partner provide it.” Etc.

Functioning naturally, all that is required for the maintenance of the physical form happens, without preference, agenda or unnecessary planning. For the deer, there is no thought of self (false thought); there is no thought of no-self (true thought). There is no thought; no self-reflective movement at all.

The invitation of nisarga yoga is not to become wise, spiritual, special and different. Nor is the invitation to acquire more concepts and knowledge (although the acquisition of “true” concepts to replace “false” concepts is one step on the way to understanding). Instead, the invitation is to use a mind-less animal as a model for natural functioning to point to who you are beyond all concepts – true and false – and to function in that thought-less, thought-free state of pure being while manifested.

The vantage point of understanding enables this vast perspective. What is manifest is observed as an aspect of what is not manifest; both are discerned or intuited: self / non-self; being/non-being; I AM/I AM THAT. These conceptual labels reveal both sides of the coin, but are still concepts tainted with duality through the use of language and knowledge. Eventually – all of this knowledge will drop away. Freedom cannot be bound by structures of thought and word.

As Maharaj says: This is real liberation: to know that you are nothing. All your knowledge, including yourself, is liquidated - then you are liberated.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

For extending teaching on the Advaitin Understanding – and the removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the various links on the right hand side of this blog or view the options offered below this post.

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

[THE YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE IN LARGER FORMATS BELOW WHICH MIGHT PROVIDE MORE COMFORTABLE VIEWING FOR SOME SITE VISITORS]

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.)

You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.

TRANSLATED ADVAITA EBOOKS AVAILABLE
Beginning today, the 11 Advaita eBooks listed at the end of this post are available in twenty-two non-English languages. If you are interested in purchasing an eBook in another language, click Contact Floyd to see if the language you prefer is available. Again, the quality of the translation cannot be guaranteed but it might make some pointers available to seekers that might not otherwise receive them. If you want to send a translated eBook to someone as a gift, that can also be arranged via the contact link above.
(Charges will include the regular price of the eBook + a US$10.00 translating fee.)

TO PAY FOR A TRANSLATION - US$10.00 - CLICK THE BUY BUTTON BELOW
(Contact Floyd before paying to be certain the language you prefer is available)

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.

YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA YOGA VIDEOS

Click on the arrow below to start Video One:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Two:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Three:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Four:



Click on the arrow below to start Video Five:




.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj Pointers Shared in Past Discussions, Part Ten, The Conclusion

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: Does Louise teach the online classes?
F.: Yes. Details will be provided at the end of today's post.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: "I would be interested to read about the Advaitin perspective on the destruction of the Gulf of Mexico, the financial collapse, etc. (as relates to the relative, of course), because it does seem grim."

WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN THAT WOULD MAKE YOU BELIEVE THAT ANYTHING IS GOING TO "WORK PROPERLY," "ACTUALLY HAPPEN AS EXPECTED," OR "LAST"?
Contrary to what many claim, the universal norm is disorder, disorganization, and chaos. All the talk about "there must be a god - look how orderly the universe works" - is pure ignorance. All is chaotic and disorganized...forever coming together and forever coming part, forever combining and then exploding, always integrating and then dis-integrating.

Hubble pictures offer examples of the universal chaos, as in the case of systems forming and systems dis-integrating or with stars forming and stars exploding:

While bored persons become addicted to chaos, at some level most persons want order, and if fear-generating disorder is witnessed, persons desire some sort of explanation that shows how the disorder was an anomaly. But disorder is not an anomaly. Look around objectively. Can you name anything in the relative that persons touch that is not eventually botched?

"WHO" THINKS THEY CAN IDENTIFY A "SINGLE CAUSE"?
Knowledge seekers and know-it-alls want to know why things happen as they do so they can tell others why things happen as they do. In those groups, include religious people and many spiritual persons who have a simple answer for all that they believe to be good or bad: "It's divine intervention."

Persons who are ignorant about why hurricanes go where they go and why earthquakes happen as they do dream up some supernatural Causer as the cause. For them, when disorder or destruction happens, it is caused by a god using his reward / punishment tools:

** A Rajasthan bridge collapses and kills scores? Divine intervention. Not all died? A "miracle" - divine intervention.

**A Minnesota bridge collapses and kills several? Divine intervention. Some lived? A "miracle" - divine intervention.

** A hurricane passes through New Orleans but then levees collapse and the city floods (because the levee repairs were halted in order to re-direct funds to the Iraq war)? The explanation from one playing "The Spiritual One"? "An act of karmic balancing."

"WHO" EXPECTS THAT ANYTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN AS PLANNED?
Remove the supernatural explanations for natural happenings and the facts become clear: whatever has come together will eventually fall apart. The Laws of Thermodynamics [use the search tool at top right for other discussions of those laws] explain it all: stuff comes together, stuff comes apart...be it marriages or plant-food bodies or anything else "man-made" ("man-made" in quotes because that is another concept that is an illusion).

Whatever humans contrive is assured to be unnatural and, therefore, cannot last; yet the dependency on oil and the dependency on financial institutions to protect and enhance your retirement funds is no more insane than all of the other dependencies that have been discussed in this series, including:

dependency on people for happiness, for well-being, for an elevated lifestyle, or for "feeling good about yourself"; dependency on insane groups to lead you to sanity; dependency on supernatural beliefs to explain naturally-occurring events when ignorant of actual causes;

dependency on ideologies and religious and spiritual beliefs and philosophies - all generated by humans - that can only lead to disappointment and misery when their ignorance takes its toll in the end.

DEPENDENCIES DRIVE PERSONS TO TAKE ACTION, AND ACTION ALWAYS RESULTS IN MORE FREQUENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISORDER AND CHAOS
All dependencies evolve from the programmed, conditioned and blocked consciousness which inspires thinking...and "thinking within the box." That which evolves without conscious interference is natural for it is spontaneous. All which is not spontaneous is unnatural and therefore accelerates the chaos governed by the Law of Entropy [use the search feature for additional details of "entropy"].

Entropy is based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and the entropy / chaos connection is simple: nothing happens without making the universe a bit more disorganized; entropy is a measure of universal disorder, which is the universal norm.

Have you concluded that the relative existence on this planet is becoming crazier and crazier...more and more insane? Of course that is the case. Everyday that more happens, then the more disorganized (and unstable and chaotic) the existence must become. "I want to leave a better world for my children and grandchildren"? Tough luck. Insane. Impossible.

Because nothing happens without making the universe (and your "personal" existence) a bit more disorganized, the logic of the Advaitin argument for "being" rather than "doing" should be obvious. At least that approach can slow the movement toward chaos and disorder.

So see the pattern: persons accept and even seek dependencies; as a result of their dependencies, they are constantly "doing" rather than being; that which results from what they attempt to "do" brings disorder and cannot last, but persons always naively believe that it will:

"My marriage will be the exception and last forever. I depend on that"; and

"I - this body and mind and personality - will live forever. My faith allows me to depend on that"; and

"This bridge is fine - it will stand forever. I depend on it for my travels"; and

"We can depend on companies to drill for the oil we depend on. They are professionals and we can depend on the equipment made by men and women to function as expected and not generate chaos and disorder"; and

"We can depend on professional money managers to increase our investments and secure our future"; and

"I can depend on some persons to make me happy, to make me feel loved, and to give me a sense of fulfillment. I have to believe that and depend on it."

Yet the facts show that whatever comes together as a result of human activity will be exactly like everything else in the universe: it will come together, but it will, sooner or later (and more often sooner than later) come apart.

As long as humans expend energy - going and doing and zooming - they will (1) generate dependencies but will ignore the fact that (2) all dependencies will eventually bring about disorder and chaos and disorganization (be that about oil, finances, relationships, etc.).

THE "ADVAITIN PERSPECTIVE" YOU SEEK: TURN FROM SEEING THE "GRIM" RESULTS OF THOSE OTHER DEPENDENCIES AND SEE THE "GRIM" RESULTS OF YOUR OWN
Maharaj said the job of the Advaitin is to point out ignorance, stupidity, and insanity, so if someone wants to run a TV ad showing the ignorance and stupidity and insanity of a nation trapped in its dependence on oil, so it is;

however, the objective witness will observe without allowing externals to determine how the internal "feels." The objective witness will understand that any form of dependency is guaranteed to bring about misery.

Yet the "Advaitin perspective" you reference invites you to concentrate not on the insanity of national dependencies and international dependencies but on the insanity of your own "personal" dependencies. See that your own dependencies will bring to your relative existence far more chaos and disorder and misery than dependencies dealing with oil or financial institutions or any other events reported in newscasts.

You have spent your entire existence trying to depend on persons to make you "feel" okay by liking you or loving you. As long as you focus on what you call the "grim" results of oil and financial dependencies, you will be distracted from focusing on the grim results of your own relationship dependencies; on your dependency on family opinions; on your dependency on your nation for financial support, etc.

If you witness objectively, is there even the slightest comparison between (a) the level of chaos and misery that has come your way from events that have been covered in the news when compared to (b) the levels of chaos and misery that have come from your own dependencies?

Is it not the latter that have always led most often to the disorganization and chaos and disorder that have most impacted your relative existence? What is with the tendency of persons to talk about, to over-analysis, to gripe about and to focus on local and national and international events while totally ignoring the chaos and disorganization and disorder and misery and suffering that are the "grim" results of their own "personal" dependencies?

Is that not about ego and egotism? Best to stand back, stand independently, and just witness, yes? Going, doing, zooming - when driven by dependencies - can only bring disorder and disorganization and chaos in the end. Are you facing chaos, disappointment, a desire for stability to replace the instability of your relative existence? Then stop. Just...stop.

While on a bike ride this week, deer were witnessed as they stopped to lie in the cool, blue shade. Because they were being and not doing, they were not doing anything that would lead to misery or accelerate (the always inevitable) disorder and disorganization.

They were not dependent on anything but were just as free as the birds that were flying overhead. Living naturally, nothing is bungled and grim; living according to the will of your culture or according to others' values will always produce grim results.

THE SANITY OF INDEPENDENCE OVER DEPENDENCE AND THE WISDOM OF BEINGNESS OVER DOINGNESS
Consider: if you are abiding as the beingness, what can possibly be "messed up," "screwed up," bungled, spoiled, ruined, or grim? If you are merely being, how could you possibly accelerate the chaos that comes from doing?

To the contrary, do you see that it is doingness that always hastens the movement to chaos and collapse and disorder? Do you see that from a position of independence, there will be no "one" being driven to do, to generate dependencies that are assured to fail, and, therefore, no "one" to accelerate the laws that govern the "coming together" and the "coming apart"?

Only if Realized, though, is there choice, is there an opportunity to choose independence rather than being driven blindly to create one dependency after another, over and over again, learning (or unlearning) nothing in the process.

The invitation is to be totally free, to find the honest answer to "how free do you really want to be?" and then to determine if your answer reveals sanity or insanity and leads to peace rather than disorder.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

Much of what Louise has shared has resonated with many site visitors. to that end, some have inquired recently if Louise offers the online Advaita Internet Course. The answer is, "Yes."

Whether taking the course with Louise or Floyd, the price of the course includes all 11 of the Advaita eBooks, questions sent after completion of the assigned readings, replies to your answers, and follow-up as required.

With either teacher, you will be guided through all seven of the steps, in order, that lead from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond). For more specific information and details about the course, you may click on the link to the right.

Purchase at Discount the Advaita Internet Course with Louise
by
Clicking the Buy Now Button below:

Purchase at Discount the Advaita Internet Course with Floyd
by
Clicking the Buy Now Button below:

[THE YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE IN LARGER FORMATS BELOW WHICH MIGHT PROVIDE MORE COMFORTABLE VIEWING FOR SOME SITE VISITORS]

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.)

You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.

TRANSLATED ADVAITA EBOOKS AVAILABLE
Beginning today, the 11 Advaita eBooks listed at the end of this post are available in twenty-two non-English languages. If you are interested in purchasing an eBook in another language, click Contact Floyd to see if the language you prefer is available. Again, the quality of the translation cannot be guaranteed but it might make some pointers available to seekers that might not otherwise receive them. If you want to send a translated eBook to someone as a gift, that can also be arranged via the contact link above.
(Charges will include the regular price of the eBook + a US$10.00 translating fee.)

TO PAY FOR A TRANSLATION - US$10.00 - CLICK THE BUY BUTTON BELOW
(Contact Floyd before paying to be certain the language you prefer is available)

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.

YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA YOGA VIDEOS

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Click on the arrow below to start Video Five:





Please enter the silence of contemplation.