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.: So many persons in the West find the notion of "living small" to be anathema; others strapped economically are considering the possibility; some might find the idea appealing but find more excuses to rationalize why they cannot live smaller:
"The family is too large; our possessions will not fit into a smaller place; we have grown accustomed to our lifestyle and traveling around the world is just what we do now; we have to have our weekends at the lake house to decompress after a week of work, we have to wear designer clothes to project the image we need in order to succeed, etc."
The irony of agreeing to at least try living smaller, and then finally living small, is that it is the only means by which you can "Live Large"; that is, live in an unlimited, unrestricted, boundless, infinite, limitless fashion.
Who or what has it "easier" in this neighborhood: (1) those in the $3.5 million lakeside villas with annual property taxes that are more than the cost of the house from which these blogs are posted? Or (2) the ones living in a smaller house the size of the one occupied by this space called "floyd"? Or (3) the deer that roam about freely?
Ultimately, this is not about giving up the basic requirements for "living" but is more about giving up attachment to whatever is presently inspiring desires and preventing non-attachment:
Maharaj: "In the end, you reach a state of non-grasping, of joyful non-attachment, of inner ease and freedom indescribable, yet wonderfully real."
A literal example of living small that led to living larger - relatively speaking - is provided via the example of Jay Shafer, founder of The Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. He began living small, then responded to requests from others who sought the same.
The result is, his company which builds small houses has become very large, though he continues to live small. In Absolute rather than relative terms, that is an example of the way that de-accumulating and living small can allow the Realized to Live Large - not by establishing a company and inflating one's income but by feeling totally unencumbered, unlimited, unrestricted - more like the deer here than the so-called owners of the waterside estates.
So-called? Of course. They do not own their houses; their houses own them. They work 80 and 90 hours per week in order to earn what is required to maintain what they have accumulated and to maintain their lifestyle. Some have even bought very expensive people to occupy their very expensive homes. They do not grasp that the costs of maintaining accumulations usually far exceeds the initial cost of every accumulation.
To live small, or to at least try to live smaller, generates a new frame of reference for the seeker which can eventually set the stage for de-accumulating the "mind" of the concepts that have been amassed that also prevent enjoying the simplicity and lightness of lessness.
Next, one need not give away all material goods and move into a cave in order to abide spontaneously with an appreciation of smallness or lessness. The one that understands (A) there is nothing that is truly possessed
and
the one that understands (B) the kind of non-attachment that De Niro spoke of in the movie Heat when he offered a pointer about not having anything in your life that you can't walk away from in 30 seconds
will be the one living small and living free because of the abandonment of attachment to anything accumulated.
Maharaj advised: "Let go your attachment to the unreal and the real will swiftly and smoothly step into its own."
Yet these pointers are most often dismissed without consideration or will even trigger fear, especially among those attached to their false roles and bogus identities:
Maharaj: "I am not attached. I am nothing, and nothing is afraid of no thing. On the contrary, everything is afraid of the Nothing, for when a thing touches Nothing, it becomes nothing. It is like a bottomless well, whatever falls into it, disappears."
Furthermore, if not free of attachment to things and people accumulated, then one cannot be happy:
Maharaj: "...attachment is bondage, detachment is freedom. To crave is to slave."
Attachment to "material, outer accumulations" cannot compare to the bondage of attachment to "inner, non-material accumulations" (such as concepts and ideas and beliefs and personas). All attachment to everything and to everyone accumulated must be abandoned if one would live small and thus live independently and only then live in peace.
That which you cannot let go of in thirty seconds is not your source of happiness; it is that which shackles you. Everything or everyone accumulated that you believe is required to feel "whole" and "complete" and "happy" - those things or persons are your manacles, your chains.
They restrain you and, instead of giving you a sense of well-being as a result of living large in a phenomenal sense, they block You from Living Large in a noumenal sense. The "path" offered via various venues listed below is the "path" to de-accumulation, to freedom and independence, and - only then - to the bliss of non-attached, spontaneous living.
"The family is too large; our possessions will not fit into a smaller place; we have grown accustomed to our lifestyle and traveling around the world is just what we do now; we have to have our weekends at the lake house to decompress after a week of work, we have to wear designer clothes to project the image we need in order to succeed, etc."
The irony of agreeing to at least try living smaller, and then finally living small, is that it is the only means by which you can "Live Large"; that is, live in an unlimited, unrestricted, boundless, infinite, limitless fashion.
Who or what has it "easier" in this neighborhood: (1) those in the $3.5 million lakeside villas with annual property taxes that are more than the cost of the house from which these blogs are posted? Or (2) the ones living in a smaller house the size of the one occupied by this space called "floyd"? Or (3) the deer that roam about freely?
Ultimately, this is not about giving up the basic requirements for "living" but is more about giving up attachment to whatever is presently inspiring desires and preventing non-attachment:
Maharaj: "In the end, you reach a state of non-grasping, of joyful non-attachment, of inner ease and freedom indescribable, yet wonderfully real."
A literal example of living small that led to living larger - relatively speaking - is provided via the example of Jay Shafer, founder of The Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. He began living small, then responded to requests from others who sought the same.
The result is, his company which builds small houses has become very large, though he continues to live small. In Absolute rather than relative terms, that is an example of the way that de-accumulating and living small can allow the Realized to Live Large - not by establishing a company and inflating one's income but by feeling totally unencumbered, unlimited, unrestricted - more like the deer here than the so-called owners of the waterside estates.
So-called? Of course. They do not own their houses; their houses own them. They work 80 and 90 hours per week in order to earn what is required to maintain what they have accumulated and to maintain their lifestyle. Some have even bought very expensive people to occupy their very expensive homes. They do not grasp that the costs of maintaining accumulations usually far exceeds the initial cost of every accumulation.
To live small, or to at least try to live smaller, generates a new frame of reference for the seeker which can eventually set the stage for de-accumulating the "mind" of the concepts that have been amassed that also prevent enjoying the simplicity and lightness of lessness.
Next, one need not give away all material goods and move into a cave in order to abide spontaneously with an appreciation of smallness or lessness. The one that understands (A) there is nothing that is truly possessed
and
the one that understands (B) the kind of non-attachment that De Niro spoke of in the movie Heat when he offered a pointer about not having anything in your life that you can't walk away from in 30 seconds
will be the one living small and living free because of the abandonment of attachment to anything accumulated.
Maharaj advised: "Let go your attachment to the unreal and the real will swiftly and smoothly step into its own."
Yet these pointers are most often dismissed without consideration or will even trigger fear, especially among those attached to their false roles and bogus identities:
Maharaj: "I am not attached. I am nothing, and nothing is afraid of no thing. On the contrary, everything is afraid of the Nothing, for when a thing touches Nothing, it becomes nothing. It is like a bottomless well, whatever falls into it, disappears."
Furthermore, if not free of attachment to things and people accumulated, then one cannot be happy:
Maharaj: "...attachment is bondage, detachment is freedom. To crave is to slave."
Attachment to "material, outer accumulations" cannot compare to the bondage of attachment to "inner, non-material accumulations" (such as concepts and ideas and beliefs and personas). All attachment to everything and to everyone accumulated must be abandoned if one would live small and thus live independently and only then live in peace.
That which you cannot let go of in thirty seconds is not your source of happiness; it is that which shackles you. Everything or everyone accumulated that you believe is required to feel "whole" and "complete" and "happy" - those things or persons are your manacles, your chains.
They restrain you and, instead of giving you a sense of well-being as a result of living large in a phenomenal sense, they block You from Living Large in a noumenal sense. The "path" offered via various venues listed below is the "path" to de-accumulation, to freedom and independence, and - only then - to the bliss of non-attached, spontaneous living.
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:
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
Received 19 August 2010 from one that just completed the entire course:
I would like to extend deepest appreciation towards you for these teachings that you have offered. It has been most valuable towards what may not have been revealed throughout this manifestation labeled "anthony." Understanding Truth and finding words for gratitude are one as is all. Thank you again for pointing "me" to THAT and the understanding that came as well. Hopeful for future "contact"! Sincerely, Anthony M. W.
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
Received 19 August 2010 from one that just completed the entire course:
I would like to extend deepest appreciation towards you for these teachings that you have offered. It has been most valuable towards what may not have been revealed throughout this manifestation labeled "anthony." Understanding Truth and finding words for gratitude are one as is all. Thank you again for pointing "me" to THAT and the understanding that came as well. Hopeful for future "contact"! Sincerely, Anthony M. W.
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.
