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F.: Why did Maharaj and his contemporaries and his predecessors speak so often and so disparagingly about the personality? Because they understood (1) that all misery and suffering was the result of either hoping for something or fearing something and (2) that all hoping / desiring and fearing are generated by personality.
How could peace, much less bliss, ever become manifest and become the constant condition for the remainder of the relative existence if one is desiring something that has not come or if one is fearing something that might come?
Aggravating the efforts of seekers to stabilize in the bliss is (A) the fact that, if persons do get what they wish for, they soon will not want it; and (B) the fact that what is feared seldom happens whereas the things that truly disrupt peace during the relative existence usually come without having being anticipated at all.
Maharaj said, "Desire not, fear not, observe the actual, as and when it happens, for You are not what happens; You are to whom it happens. Ultimately even the observer You are not. You are the ultimate potentiality of which the all-embracing consciousness is the manifestation and expression."
He made clear that the very search for pleasure and the memory of pain (and the desire to avoid it) are the actual causes of misery and displeasure. The entire process is a vicious, "Catch-22"-type cycle.
Here, that lesson came only after decades of stupidity, ignorance, insanity, and totally bizarre, personality-driven thoughts and words and actions; yet throughout all those decades, "floyd" was sure that he was in charge and was making choices...neither of which was true.
To fail to understand the way that personality unconsciously controls everything that one thinks, everything that one says, and everything that one does is to fail to understand what must be understood and abandoned if freedom is ever to come.
And if happiness and bliss are to come, they must be preceded by, not followed by, freedom. Freedom from personality must come first, and it only comes at the end of the third of the seven steps to Realization when all identity is abandoned, when all beliefs are abandoned, and when all concepts are abandoned.
If Maharaj was correct in estimating that only a few thousand on the planet are truly Realized at any given time, it is only that many or fewer that understand how personality forms, how it has such power and control over every aspect of the existence of the non-Realized, how to identity specifically the personality types that are driving someone, and how then to be free of what has been seen and understood.
Globally, there is almost a complete and total lack of understanding about what personality is and how it blocks clarity, peace, freedom, and bliss. Consider:
Questioner: "I am trying to rejoin the personality back to the real self."
Maharaj: "The personality (vyakti) is but a product of imagination. The self (vyakta) is the victim of this imagination. It is the taking yourself to be what you are not that binds you. The person cannot be said to exist on its own rights; it is the self that believes there is a person and is conscious of being it. Beyond the self (vyakta) lies the unmanifested (avyakta), the causeless cause of everything. Even to talk of re-uniting the person with the self is not right, because there is no person, only a mental picture given a false reality by conviction. Nothing was divided and there is nothing to unite."
Nothing is more prized among the non-Realized than their identity, no matter how false it is. Roles, personas, personality, multiple personalities, stage characters (all with their hidden agendas, desires, and fears) are esteemed and cherished, even as they are the corroding elements of the relative existence.
It is as if one's cancer is presently controlling every aspect of the way that the relative existence is unfolding in a miserable manner and as if one is nevertheless loving that cancer dearly, as if one is attached to that which is bringing misery and suffering but cannot "connect the dots" and see that it is that which is loved so dearly that is destroying any chance for an enjoyable existence to happen.
Maharaj: Self-limitation is the very essence of personality.
What is required to be free of the limiting and debilitating effects of personality? A process, specifically, a process requiring an outer guru (the last outer resource to be engaged) and an inner guru. Yet that is not enough.
There must be a preliminary process prior to that main process. Meaning? Meaning one cannot know truth directly but must arrive at the truth which is within but which can no longer be accessed because of the blockages that prevent the pure consciousness from witnessing clearly.
The miasma of programming and conditioning and acculturation and domestication that generated personality / personalities must be removed by seeing the lies first, by first knowing all that is false. The guru guides the seeker through that preliminary process (which is the only purpose of the first two eBooks in the online course offered here: not to adopt new beliefs but to be willing to question and abandon all former and present beliefs).
The "Direct Path" method of teaching in a misnomer to one degree: the "path" to Truth is not direct; it first veers off into the darkness of ideas and concepts and beliefs and sheds light on all that is false. The false must be seen and dispelled before the "path" is cleared for completion of the "journey" to Truth, to Reality.
Only after all of the seeker's past and present beliefs and ideas and concepts have been seen to be invalid can the seeker move farther along the "path," guided by the outer guru until the inner guru (the inner resource) takes over the task, destroys the remaining obstacles or obstructions, and allows the pure consciousness to complete the "journey" to knowing the Self.
Maharaj: "The inner Guru is not committed to non-violence. He (it) can be quite violent at times, to the point of destroying the obtuse or perverted personality."
Maharaj: "As long as you are enmeshed in the tribulations of a particular personality, you can see nothing beyond it."
At that point of being restored to sanity (by having been freed from the ignorance of believing lies to be truth and mistaking self for Self), then one is also freed of the insanity of cherishing the cancer of personality.
The irony is that personality / personalities all along generated the illusion that relief (and even pleasure) could only come when each persona's desires were met and when each persona's fears were avoided. Yet it is not taking the actions that seemingly support the illusory personality that allows the happiness and bliss to manifest.
It is the very opposite that allows relief to come, namely, removing every illusory support for every illusory personality that has been assumed.
Maharaj: "The dissolution of personality is followed always by a sense of great relief, as if a heavy burden has fallen off."
That is exactly what happened here as belief in each and every personality fell away, ending with the dissolution of those personalities which are usually the last to go among seekers on this "path," namely, the religious persona, the spiritual persona, the seeker persona, and the knower persona.
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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)
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.
