An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.
F.: Some of the major obstacles to Realization that are to be avoided include:
1. The "mind": a repository of false ideas, false concepts, and false beliefs.
2. The egotism-driven desire to associate with the famous.
Maharaj warned that one way to assure that you will never Realize is to seek out a “big name” teacher. He said that if you seek out the big name teachers, you will get what you deserve (that being a reinforcement of ego and egotism by aligning with the famous rather than ending ego and egotism completely).
Maharaj’s warning was modified here to suggest that, "If you seek via the big name teachers, you will never get what you do 'deserve' or seek."
3. Falling prey to conditioning and programming and acculturation that reinforce (a) magical thinking, (b) acceptance of myths and superstitions (a.k.a., the original pagan beliefs that have evolved into modern dogma) as fact rather than fiction, and (c) the blind acceptance of lies presented as unquestionable truths.
4. Proud ignorance:
(a) For example, a "former relative" who affirmed that everything wrong with America is rooted in progressive and liberal teachings and who identified "American universities" as the main source of all that is so detrimental.
(b) Last month, a man from Oklahoma - a state in the U.S. that is ranked educationally in the bottom 10 of the 50 states - defensively dismissed the significance of that low ranking and turned the criticism to Maharaj and Floyd and "others like us" who "criticize the ignorant." He suggested that less-educated people are actually "happier" and that they are "generally nicer people" and that it's "arrogant to call them ignorant."
First it was asked, "Don't tell me that you're really going to make an argument for ignorance?" Secondly, there is no criticism of the ignorant. Actually, there is no such thing as "the ignorant"; there are those who take themselves to be persons who, via programming and conditioning, suffer from having been taught lies as truth, who suffer from learned ignorance.
There are but specks of consciousness that are blocked from seeing truth because of the obstacles of false ideas and concepts and beliefs that have been accumulated and that block the pure consciousness from witnessing the difference in what is true and what is false.
Third, the argument that "ignorance is bliss" is just another myth, perpetuated by those who have assumed a personal identification and who, according to Maharaj, "do not realise that your present waking state is one of ignorance," explaining that "An ignorant man is ignorant of his ignorance."
Maharaj said, "The proper role of a Guru is to dispel ignorance" because "Ignorance causes sorrow," not bliss.
On another occasion he said that "Realisation is but the opposite of ignorance" and linked ignorance to "the cause of sorrow."
He said, "The circles of ignorance may be ever widening, yet it remains a bondage all the same" and spoke of being "imprisoned by one's ignorance."
One key form of ignorance he identified as the "ignorance of the true nature of things, of their causes and effects." When that is the case, one is set up to believe in myths and superstitions and dogma and is set up to develop a propensity for equating fictitious spiritual laws with factual scientific laws, a willingness to accept anecdotal claims as fact, and a tendency to love and worship a god or to adopt the notion that "the universe" is a force that is available and at their beck and call to grant every relative wish they have.
Maharaj: "To love and worship a god is also ignorance" and to believe that one can use the mind - a storehouse of lies - to control "the universe" and to attain whatever their relative-based false selves desire is also ignorance.
To be set up to be fooled (to be a fool as a result of being trained to believe in any single form of foolishness) is to be set up to be fooled by every other form of foolishness as well.
To be set up to be fooled is to be set up to think magically and to buy into the newest forms of snake oil that are being peddled by the latest set of charlatans, namely, false concepts that were first sold to persons by a set of charlatans in the mid 1900's and the same type of concepts that are gaining a new, paying audience nowadays.
Several decades ago the talk was about "the power of positive thinking" - one half of a dualistic pair of concepts with "negative thinking" at the opposite extreme. [For more, see the November 2009 series entitled, "The Delusion Regarding 'Positive Thoughts instead of Negative Thoughts'"]
In addition to the concept that linked "thoughts" and "power," the talk in the mid-1900's was also about "Pragmatic Christianity" and about "Divine Science"; was about "The Science of the Mind" and "The Science of the Power of the Mind" (tantamount to "The Science of the Power of Mirages" or "Tapping into the Power of an Imaginary Image"); and was about "New Thought."
Within two decades, that led others to links various diseases and disorders to certain thoughts and states of minds and all of that laid the groundwork for the most recent outcropping of snake oil and magical thinking and "spiritual laws," including the so-called "Law of Attraction."
For those persons (A) suffering from one or both of the most common forms of addiction (the primary addiction being to control and the secondary addiction being to power which can give them control) let it be noted that if those persons (B) want to cling to those addictions, this will be the time to close this page. Why?
Because the next obstacles to Realization to be discussed include:
5. magical thinking,
6. a desire for control and power,
7. a willingness to believe that there is some "spiritual-like" force called "the universe" that can be influenced to give you the relative things that you selfishly desire,
8. the ignorance of the belief that there is something that is (a) noumenal and that is (b) all-knowing and all-powerful and that (c) has regard for phenomenal things and that (d) can be "played" and controlled and manipulated to fulfill phenomenal wishes, and
9. the willingness to pay a small fortune for one of the modern-day snake oil salespeople to teach you how to use your mind to control the controlling force of the universe, making you even more powerful than "the grandest force in the universe" by giving you the power to control "The Controller" or "The Controlling Force."
Tomorrow: Understanding the primary facts about "the Law of Attraction," specifically, that
(A) your attraction (addiction) to control and power will allow
(B) those who are selling the newest version of magical thinking and
(C) those who are promising to show you how your mind can be used to attain unlimited power and control are, in the end,
(D) only going to attract your money to them and to their $5000.00 / seat seminars or to their books that feed the addiction of the masses to attain control by attaining power.
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
1. The "mind": a repository of false ideas, false concepts, and false beliefs.
2. The egotism-driven desire to associate with the famous.
Maharaj warned that one way to assure that you will never Realize is to seek out a “big name” teacher. He said that if you seek out the big name teachers, you will get what you deserve (that being a reinforcement of ego and egotism by aligning with the famous rather than ending ego and egotism completely).
Maharaj’s warning was modified here to suggest that, "If you seek via the big name teachers, you will never get what you do 'deserve' or seek."
3. Falling prey to conditioning and programming and acculturation that reinforce (a) magical thinking, (b) acceptance of myths and superstitions (a.k.a., the original pagan beliefs that have evolved into modern dogma) as fact rather than fiction, and (c) the blind acceptance of lies presented as unquestionable truths.
4. Proud ignorance:
(a) For example, a "former relative" who affirmed that everything wrong with America is rooted in progressive and liberal teachings and who identified "American universities" as the main source of all that is so detrimental.
(b) Last month, a man from Oklahoma - a state in the U.S. that is ranked educationally in the bottom 10 of the 50 states - defensively dismissed the significance of that low ranking and turned the criticism to Maharaj and Floyd and "others like us" who "criticize the ignorant." He suggested that less-educated people are actually "happier" and that they are "generally nicer people" and that it's "arrogant to call them ignorant."
First it was asked, "Don't tell me that you're really going to make an argument for ignorance?" Secondly, there is no criticism of the ignorant. Actually, there is no such thing as "the ignorant"; there are those who take themselves to be persons who, via programming and conditioning, suffer from having been taught lies as truth, who suffer from learned ignorance.
There are but specks of consciousness that are blocked from seeing truth because of the obstacles of false ideas and concepts and beliefs that have been accumulated and that block the pure consciousness from witnessing the difference in what is true and what is false.
Third, the argument that "ignorance is bliss" is just another myth, perpetuated by those who have assumed a personal identification and who, according to Maharaj, "do not realise that your present waking state is one of ignorance," explaining that "An ignorant man is ignorant of his ignorance."
Maharaj said, "The proper role of a Guru is to dispel ignorance" because "Ignorance causes sorrow," not bliss.
On another occasion he said that "Realisation is but the opposite of ignorance" and linked ignorance to "the cause of sorrow."
He said, "The circles of ignorance may be ever widening, yet it remains a bondage all the same" and spoke of being "imprisoned by one's ignorance."
One key form of ignorance he identified as the "ignorance of the true nature of things, of their causes and effects." When that is the case, one is set up to believe in myths and superstitions and dogma and is set up to develop a propensity for equating fictitious spiritual laws with factual scientific laws, a willingness to accept anecdotal claims as fact, and a tendency to love and worship a god or to adopt the notion that "the universe" is a force that is available and at their beck and call to grant every relative wish they have.
Maharaj: "To love and worship a god is also ignorance" and to believe that one can use the mind - a storehouse of lies - to control "the universe" and to attain whatever their relative-based false selves desire is also ignorance.
To be set up to be fooled (to be a fool as a result of being trained to believe in any single form of foolishness) is to be set up to be fooled by every other form of foolishness as well.
To be set up to be fooled is to be set up to think magically and to buy into the newest forms of snake oil that are being peddled by the latest set of charlatans, namely, false concepts that were first sold to persons by a set of charlatans in the mid 1900's and the same type of concepts that are gaining a new, paying audience nowadays.
Several decades ago the talk was about "the power of positive thinking" - one half of a dualistic pair of concepts with "negative thinking" at the opposite extreme. [For more, see the November 2009 series entitled, "The Delusion Regarding 'Positive Thoughts instead of Negative Thoughts'"]
In addition to the concept that linked "thoughts" and "power," the talk in the mid-1900's was also about "Pragmatic Christianity" and about "Divine Science"; was about "The Science of the Mind" and "The Science of the Power of the Mind" (tantamount to "The Science of the Power of Mirages" or "Tapping into the Power of an Imaginary Image"); and was about "New Thought."
Within two decades, that led others to links various diseases and disorders to certain thoughts and states of minds and all of that laid the groundwork for the most recent outcropping of snake oil and magical thinking and "spiritual laws," including the so-called "Law of Attraction."
For those persons (A) suffering from one or both of the most common forms of addiction (the primary addiction being to control and the secondary addiction being to power which can give them control) let it be noted that if those persons (B) want to cling to those addictions, this will be the time to close this page. Why?
Because the next obstacles to Realization to be discussed include:
5. magical thinking,
6. a desire for control and power,
7. a willingness to believe that there is some "spiritual-like" force called "the universe" that can be influenced to give you the relative things that you selfishly desire,
8. the ignorance of the belief that there is something that is (a) noumenal and that is (b) all-knowing and all-powerful and that (c) has regard for phenomenal things and that (d) can be "played" and controlled and manipulated to fulfill phenomenal wishes, and
9. the willingness to pay a small fortune for one of the modern-day snake oil salespeople to teach you how to use your mind to control the controlling force of the universe, making you even more powerful than "the grandest force in the universe" by giving you the power to control "The Controller" or "The Controlling Force."
Tomorrow: Understanding the primary facts about "the Law of Attraction," specifically, that
(A) your attraction (addiction) to control and power will allow
(B) those who are selling the newest version of magical thinking and
(C) those who are promising to show you how your mind can be used to attain unlimited power and control are, in the end,
(D) only going to attract your money to them and to their $5000.00 / seat seminars or to their books that feed the addiction of the masses to attain control by attaining power.
Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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:
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:
Now you can receive for $40 a downloadable computer file version of the same 7-hour satsang that seekers receive when they visit for the Advaita Retreat with Floyd. You will be guided through the seven steps from identification with the false "I" to the Absolute (and beyond).
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:
1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond
Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.
To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
Option “A” is for the downloadable file version, Option “B” is used to order the DVD set for delivery inside the U.S., Option “C” for international orders.
For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.
[It is recommended that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]
2. BY READING these books in this exact order:
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS
[Provides the final preparation for the seeker to be directed along the “path”]
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
[Directs the seeker along the “path”]
CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute)
[Allows the seeker to understand the functioning of the totality, the manifestation, and what is involved with the un-manifestation]
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
SAVE IF YOU BUY ALL ELEVEN AT ONCE:
(You may order the books one at a time or you may use the following link to acquire the entire 11-e-Book set on sale for $99 if ordered at one time with the “Buy Now” button below. For this option, there will be no download links provided; once the near-instant notice of payment is received from PayPal, your e-Books will be sent to you as e-mail attachments. All are printable for your convenience.)
For more information or to order, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
SIX WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:
1. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk Video (DVD) Set, or the same retreat available as a downloadable file. Either will provide an entire seven-hour retreat / series of satsang sessions showing three seekers being guided through all seven steps by Floyd and can provide viewers with an “experiential,” step-by-step series of satsang meetings that will move the viewers from identification with the I to abidance as the Absolute and then to abidance as That Which Is beyond
Some seekers are already using the computer file version and the DVD sets for meetings in groups in homes, playing the retreat, pausing for discussion, etc.
To find out more or to purchase the DVD set or the downloadable computer file version of the retreat, click:
DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
Option “A” is for the downloadable file version, Option “B” is used to order the DVD set for delivery inside the U.S., Option “C” for international orders.
For the download, Paypal will send me a notice that payment has been received and then I will send by e-mail the downloading instruction, password, etc.
[It is recommended that you watch the video with pen and paper in hand. Write whatever you need clarified. You'll see that there are constant reviews and you might find an answer later in the seven-hour presentation. Then, after you watch it all, there will be a common ground for discussion. Purchase of the DVD’s or the file will include the right to clarifications and answers to your specific questions via e-mail.]
2. BY READING these books in this exact order:
IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
[Those two prepare the seeker to question it all]
THE MEDITATION GUIDES
[Provide a broad overview of the understanding]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
[Begins to free the seeker of body identification and the desire for body continuity]
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of the false content of the “mind”]
LIBERATION
[Shows the seeker how to be free of the subconscious motivators of personas]
THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS
[Provides the final preparation for the seeker to be directed along the “path”]
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
[Directs the seeker along the “path”]
CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute)
[Allows the seeker to understand the functioning of the totality, the manifestation, and what is involved with the un-manifestation]
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
[Provides the seeker the wisdom to understand the Noneness as well as the Oneness]
Purchase an e-Book now and begin reading it in minutes (except with e-checks that can take 7-10 days). Trusting our clients as we do, all e-Books are provided to you in printable form.
SAVE IF YOU BUY ALL ELEVEN AT ONCE:
(You may order the books one at a time or you may use the following link to acquire the entire 11-e-Book set on sale for $99 if ordered at one time with the “Buy Now” button below. For this option, there will be no download links provided; once the near-instant notice of payment is received from PayPal, your e-Books will be sent to you as e-mail attachments. All are printable for your convenience.)
You may visit The Official Website of Floyd Henderson for information on each book.
3. BY ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes
For information, visit Information on the Advaita Classes on the Internet
To enroll visit Enroll in the Advaita Internet Course
4. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat for satsang with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.
5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session
6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.
3. BY ENROLLING in the Online Advaita Classes
For information, visit Information on the Advaita Classes on the Internet
To enroll visit Enroll in the Advaita Internet Course
4. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat for satsang with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.
5. BY ARRANGING satsang by telephone in the U.S. or by Skype internationally:
Use the Contact link for details or for information on making arrangements for a session
6. BY ARRANGING for floyd to travel to your location and meet with you or your group. Use the contact link above to discuss details.
The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders offers the non-duality message by way of a mystery-adventure novel, discussing the movement from pain to healing to awakening to peace.
From Dr. R.F. Maley, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus and former Head of the Department of Psychology, University of Houston: "Floyd Henderson's book, The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders, is a fun read and an interesting mystery, but perhaps more importantly it serves as a vehicle for blending Eastern Philosophy and Native American Spirituality to make an intellectually challenging novel. The book's insights into both relationships and authoritarian conditioning of people in our society make it a must read, tracing the roots of narcissistic, sociopathic and psychopathic behaviors to the very core of the culture. This truly witty and politically-incorrect study of the aggressive nature of 'the American character' offers not only a diagnosis but also a treatment plan, making the book an excellent supplemental reading in courses such as psychology, anthropology, philosophy, sociology and counseling."
You may purchase your copy of the ebook version of THE TWICE-STOLEN NECKLACE MURDERS then start reading within minutes:
The Sequel to The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders:
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS
For a paperback or eBook version of the book, click:
[THE YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE IN LARGER FORMATS BELOW WHICH MIGHT PROVIDE MORE COMFORTABLE VIEWING FOR SOME SITE VISITORS]
[RE: The "Subscribe To" feature: In some cases, all of the month's postings might be sent the first time after subscribing; after that, you should receive only one day's posting at a time.]
YOUTUBE ADVAITA VEDANTA YOGA VIDEOS
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Please enter the silence of contemplation.
