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.
HOW THEY BEHAVE
F.: Pointers from yesterday:
** Prior to Realization, the capability for violence lies in wait, much like a volcano: dormant at times, active at times.
** The dormant tendency for violence can become active when one or more personas believe they are being hurt or being threatened or being shown anything less than "the due respect" which personas always desire and demand.
** Maharaj pointed out that, "Insanity is universal. This is the function of the Guru - to make us see the madness of our daily living." That which is not acknowledged cannot be treated. The Ultimate Medicine will have no appeal at all to sick persons who think they are well.
** Personas—thinking of themselves and focusing on their sense of loss and / or gain—generate violence on many levels, including "individual relationships," "ideological and religious conflicts," and "international conflicts."
VIOLENCE IN "INDIVIDUAL" "RELATIONSHIPS"
The very word "relationship" denotes pure duality with "A" relating to "B" and, eventually, "A" and "B" not relating to each other at all; duality is madness...is insanity; in turn, madness and insanity are the prerequisites for violence.
Those who deny their own propensity for violence can look at the extreme examples around the globe and conclude, by comparison, that they are "just fine," that they are...
** nothing like those violent people who throw acid on girls and women in theocratic societies because those females are attending school;
** nothing like that woman working in a Christian church who denies any capacity for cruelty but who knelt at the chancel in her church, prayed every day for a year that her God would kill her husband, told the husband of her efforts to arrange for God to kill him, told her husband of her disappointment that God had not yet answered her prayers, and expressed her displeasure that he was still alive; and
** nothing like those people who are behaving violently toward people in India or Pakistan or in some areas on the African continent or in Muslim theocracies or in the U.S. or even in "progressive nations like Sweden."
In 2008 in Sweden, a country with a relatively small population, over 28,000 women called the police to report that they had been assaulted; almost 21,000 of those assaults (75%) were made by someone living with the woman in "a close relationship."
Swedish police estimate that if the unreported assaults were included, the total would be closer to 80,000 per year. Maharaj: "Your being as a person depends on violence to others. Your very body is a battlefield, full of the dead and dying. Existence implies violence."
Others in denial believe that they are in "a loving relationship" and could never be cruel to their partner. The odds are 50-50 that not only can they be cruel or violent...they will be.
It has been noted here that 59% of the women killed in urban areas in the U.S. are killed by "a lover" or "a spouse" and that 41% of all men murdered are killed by their so-called "lovers or spouses."
[41% of the murders involve female-on-male? Yes. Nowadays, female-on-male efforts to control or abuse or strike out violently or to strike back violently is giving the old male-on-female statistics a run for the money. Again, Maharaj: "Your being as a person depends on violence to others. Your very body is a battlefield, full of the dead and dying. Existence implies violence."]
The words " 'til death do us part" have moved beyond the symbolic or idyllic and have become quite literal in far more "personal" "relationships" than not, and when it is death that "parts" persons who formerly claimed to love (and who promised to love forever but then eventually kill a "mate"), then cruelty and violence and savagery cannot be dismissed as "something that is happening elsewhere."
In more cases than not, the cruelty is not "there"; instead, it is within. And that cruelty within can also turn on itself—on the false self or selves. To say, "I cannot live with myself any more" involves two parties (the speaker and the false self or selves being spoken of ) and is, therefore, dualistic to the core.
Many miss the fact that violence can manifest during the relative existence not only in the physical form of grabbing, shoving, pushing, striking, beating, raping, torturing or killing; it can also manifest during the relative existence in other forms of abuse that include emotional and psychological forms that are triggered by the desires, fears, and arrogance that accompany the assumption of personality.
Desire and fear and arrogance are only present when personality is present, and when personality is present (which is always the case among the non-Realized masses) then there will forever be "lovers" and "haters"; "makers" and "breakers"; "givers" and "takers"; "peacemakers" and "peace-breakers."
In the relative existence with the only constant being change, however, it is guaranteed that "lovers" will at some point become "haters"; that "makers" will at some point become "breakers"; that "givers" will at some point become "takers"; that "peacemakers" will at some point become "peace-breakers."
What words have you heard from "lovers" or spoken by "lovers" that evidence cruelty or violence? When an ego-state is assumed and then upgrades itself, the stage is set for eventual violence and cruelty because that upgraded image will never receive the levels of respect that it believes it deserves.
In addition to the widespread denial of the potential for violence, some are lost even farther, in delusion. Some in that category have written to this site to suggest that "your job and Louise's job is to encourage everyone to visualize world peace and it will eventually manifest."
If the "world" is an illusion, and if persons driven by illusions generate violence, then how could "world peace" be anything other than an illusion? Would that visualizations might generate peace, but they cannot. One might as well visualize cheetahs no longer killing impalas and then believe that such visualizing will make it so.
[Here, "the job of the guru" is not defined by those with an e-mail account but by a speck that had Realized and allowed the then-pure consciousness to speak. Again, Maharaj: "This is the function of the Guru - to make us see the madness of our daily living."]
If (a) madness and insanity and distortion and delusion and arrogance are at the root of violence, and if (b) those are alleviated via Realization, but if (c) 97% are trapped in the madness and insanity of believing dogmatically that myths are real and if
(d) the global total that are Realized at any given time is in the thousands (based in Maharaj's estimate) then what chance is there that violence-inducing madness and insanity and distortion and delusion and arrogance will end?
Furthermore, arrogance and denial work together, allowing persons to see cruelty in others or around the globe but not in themselves...ignoring the cruelty that is driven by their false selves that are fighting for respect and for their very "existence" (even as artificial as that "existence" is).
Defy "The Boss" and see what cold cruelty can follow; stand up to "The Controller" in your "relationship" and see what violence can manifest; and in many cases, just be "a woman" or "a child" and see what happens. [And yes, "a man" can now be included at times as well.]
While some try to determine what could possibly be at the root of such violence toward "others" and "self"—some finding it to be an existential conundrum—the Realized Advaitin understands exactly what is behind such behavior.
The violence, when turned on itself, can inspire the thought, "I, whoever or whatever that is, cannot live with my self anymore." The Realized understand that it is the false self or selves that can no longer be tolerated.
As a result, there are 35,000 suicides per year in U.S. alone, over one million worldwide each year. Again, Maharaj: "Your being as a person depends on violence to others. Your very body is a battlefield, full of the dead and dying. Existence implies violence."
Is there a "cure" for the violence that comes with personality, with a sense of loss, with a sense of unmet gains or desires, with the madness of living out a relative existence that is completely out of touch with reality and with no understanding of the Absolute Reality"?
Yes. There is a medicine - an Ultimate Medicine - that can lead to Full Realization and that can allow the consciousness to speak and to say: "My path is totally non-violent. I mean exactly what I say: non-violent. Find out for yourself what it is. I merely say: it is non-violent."
Louise found Maharaj to be spot on. She wrote: Non-violence is only truly present in the absence of desire and fear. It's only when self-centredness falls away that violence ends; when the self (ego-sense) is present, everything is violent – everything is a movement to preserve and protect.
** The dormant tendency for violence can become active when one or more personas believe they are being hurt or being threatened or being shown anything less than "the due respect" which personas always desire and demand.
** Maharaj pointed out that, "Insanity is universal. This is the function of the Guru - to make us see the madness of our daily living." That which is not acknowledged cannot be treated. The Ultimate Medicine will have no appeal at all to sick persons who think they are well.
** Personas—thinking of themselves and focusing on their sense of loss and / or gain—generate violence on many levels, including "individual relationships," "ideological and religious conflicts," and "international conflicts."
VIOLENCE IN "INDIVIDUAL" "RELATIONSHIPS"
The very word "relationship" denotes pure duality with "A" relating to "B" and, eventually, "A" and "B" not relating to each other at all; duality is madness...is insanity; in turn, madness and insanity are the prerequisites for violence.
Those who deny their own propensity for violence can look at the extreme examples around the globe and conclude, by comparison, that they are "just fine," that they are...
** nothing like those violent people who throw acid on girls and women in theocratic societies because those females are attending school;
** nothing like that woman working in a Christian church who denies any capacity for cruelty but who knelt at the chancel in her church, prayed every day for a year that her God would kill her husband, told the husband of her efforts to arrange for God to kill him, told her husband of her disappointment that God had not yet answered her prayers, and expressed her displeasure that he was still alive; and
** nothing like those people who are behaving violently toward people in India or Pakistan or in some areas on the African continent or in Muslim theocracies or in the U.S. or even in "progressive nations like Sweden."
In 2008 in Sweden, a country with a relatively small population, over 28,000 women called the police to report that they had been assaulted; almost 21,000 of those assaults (75%) were made by someone living with the woman in "a close relationship."
Swedish police estimate that if the unreported assaults were included, the total would be closer to 80,000 per year. Maharaj: "Your being as a person depends on violence to others. Your very body is a battlefield, full of the dead and dying. Existence implies violence."
Others in denial believe that they are in "a loving relationship" and could never be cruel to their partner. The odds are 50-50 that not only can they be cruel or violent...they will be.
It has been noted here that 59% of the women killed in urban areas in the U.S. are killed by "a lover" or "a spouse" and that 41% of all men murdered are killed by their so-called "lovers or spouses."
[41% of the murders involve female-on-male? Yes. Nowadays, female-on-male efforts to control or abuse or strike out violently or to strike back violently is giving the old male-on-female statistics a run for the money. Again, Maharaj: "Your being as a person depends on violence to others. Your very body is a battlefield, full of the dead and dying. Existence implies violence."]
The words " 'til death do us part" have moved beyond the symbolic or idyllic and have become quite literal in far more "personal" "relationships" than not, and when it is death that "parts" persons who formerly claimed to love (and who promised to love forever but then eventually kill a "mate"), then cruelty and violence and savagery cannot be dismissed as "something that is happening elsewhere."
In more cases than not, the cruelty is not "there"; instead, it is within. And that cruelty within can also turn on itself—on the false self or selves. To say, "I cannot live with myself any more" involves two parties (the speaker and the false self or selves being spoken of ) and is, therefore, dualistic to the core.
Many miss the fact that violence can manifest during the relative existence not only in the physical form of grabbing, shoving, pushing, striking, beating, raping, torturing or killing; it can also manifest during the relative existence in other forms of abuse that include emotional and psychological forms that are triggered by the desires, fears, and arrogance that accompany the assumption of personality.
Desire and fear and arrogance are only present when personality is present, and when personality is present (which is always the case among the non-Realized masses) then there will forever be "lovers" and "haters"; "makers" and "breakers"; "givers" and "takers"; "peacemakers" and "peace-breakers."
In the relative existence with the only constant being change, however, it is guaranteed that "lovers" will at some point become "haters"; that "makers" will at some point become "breakers"; that "givers" will at some point become "takers"; that "peacemakers" will at some point become "peace-breakers."
What words have you heard from "lovers" or spoken by "lovers" that evidence cruelty or violence? When an ego-state is assumed and then upgrades itself, the stage is set for eventual violence and cruelty because that upgraded image will never receive the levels of respect that it believes it deserves.
In addition to the widespread denial of the potential for violence, some are lost even farther, in delusion. Some in that category have written to this site to suggest that "your job and Louise's job is to encourage everyone to visualize world peace and it will eventually manifest."
If the "world" is an illusion, and if persons driven by illusions generate violence, then how could "world peace" be anything other than an illusion? Would that visualizations might generate peace, but they cannot. One might as well visualize cheetahs no longer killing impalas and then believe that such visualizing will make it so.
[Here, "the job of the guru" is not defined by those with an e-mail account but by a speck that had Realized and allowed the then-pure consciousness to speak. Again, Maharaj: "This is the function of the Guru - to make us see the madness of our daily living."]
If (a) madness and insanity and distortion and delusion and arrogance are at the root of violence, and if (b) those are alleviated via Realization, but if (c) 97% are trapped in the madness and insanity of believing dogmatically that myths are real and if
(d) the global total that are Realized at any given time is in the thousands (based in Maharaj's estimate) then what chance is there that violence-inducing madness and insanity and distortion and delusion and arrogance will end?
Furthermore, arrogance and denial work together, allowing persons to see cruelty in others or around the globe but not in themselves...ignoring the cruelty that is driven by their false selves that are fighting for respect and for their very "existence" (even as artificial as that "existence" is).
Defy "The Boss" and see what cold cruelty can follow; stand up to "The Controller" in your "relationship" and see what violence can manifest; and in many cases, just be "a woman" or "a child" and see what happens. [And yes, "a man" can now be included at times as well.]
While some try to determine what could possibly be at the root of such violence toward "others" and "self"—some finding it to be an existential conundrum—the Realized Advaitin understands exactly what is behind such behavior.
The violence, when turned on itself, can inspire the thought, "I, whoever or whatever that is, cannot live with my self anymore." The Realized understand that it is the false self or selves that can no longer be tolerated.
As a result, there are 35,000 suicides per year in U.S. alone, over one million worldwide each year. Again, Maharaj: "Your being as a person depends on violence to others. Your very body is a battlefield, full of the dead and dying. Existence implies violence."
Is there a "cure" for the violence that comes with personality, with a sense of loss, with a sense of unmet gains or desires, with the madness of living out a relative existence that is completely out of touch with reality and with no understanding of the Absolute Reality"?
Yes. There is a medicine - an Ultimate Medicine - that can lead to Full Realization and that can allow the consciousness to speak and to say: "My path is totally non-violent. I mean exactly what I say: non-violent. Find out for yourself what it is. I merely say: it is non-violent."
Louise found Maharaj to be spot on. She wrote: Non-violence is only truly present in the absence of desire and fear. It's only when self-centredness falls away that violence ends; when the self (ego-sense) is present, everything is violent – everything is a movement to preserve and protect.
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
[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.)
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.
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:
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
