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 note: The Annual Fall Book Sale is now under way. Most Non-Duality eBooks at floydhenderson.com are on sale at 30-50% off regular price.)
How can you be Yourself? First you need to discover all that you are not. Everything that you observe is temporary, fleeting, ephemeral – a temporary combination of elements that will soon un-combine. This morning, sitting in the sunshine, everything observed is of this temporary nature: the pot with the palm tree, the bare feet resting on the log, the bees buzzing amongst the nasturtiums. The naming of objects can go on and on. There is an apparent variety, yet the fundamental characteristics are the same – temporary, changing, finite.
Can you see that because of these characteristics, all that is observed is false? The Advaitin Teachings tell you to back away from all that is false and to locate what is unchanging, infinite, stable, and permanent. For this reason, at the outset the pointers assist you to draw the consciousness back from this multitude of objects.
Eventually, this backing away from untruth will have the desired effect, and the seeker will rest in the sense “I Am” without attributes. From this vantage point, consciousness is simply witnessed without attachment and involvement. WHO would attach? WHO would get involved? This sense “I Am” is impersonal consciousness – pure and unadulterated.
Yet, the “I Am” too is a temporary resting place, and ultimately the same deconstruction must be applied. However, it is only when stabilized as the pure consciousness, that the seeker will be able intuit the meaning that You Are What is Prior to Consciousness. See how these pointers, level appropriate for the seeker stabilized in the sense “I Am” guide you back still further.
“You are that, which is prior to the arrival of I-am-ness.” – Maharaj
This ‘I am’ is an announcement, it is not the real, it has come out of something else. What the real is, I am not trying to tell you, because words negate that. Whatever I am telling you, is not the truth, because it has come out of the ‘I am’ – Maharaj
[The final "stages” of the “journey” are described by floyd in two ebooks: Consciousness/Awareness: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization and From the Absolute to the Nothingness.]
At the outset, following the Advaitin pointers can seem like going mountaineering in the dark. Although you have a map and directions, the terrain is unfamiliar and it is easy to get lost. It is also easy to doubt the map and directions. In fact, at times it can even feel tempting to sink back into the unquestioning cult of society and forget the whole expedition. (However, once the desire to find yourself has been awoken, it is not easily abandoned. The vagaries of relative life will sooner or later prompt a return to the “search”. )
For the mountain climber, when the summit is attained it is possible to look back down the mountain and to see the path with perfect clarity. It is possible to spot obstacles, cul de sacs and false summits. However, when on the mountain itself, it is impossible to see with clear sight.
The Advaitin pointers are that direct map; they are the clear directions. They are expressed via the Pure Consciousness and their purpose is to guide the seeker from body identification to the Final Understanding of Reality.
Let’s end with a quote from Consciousness/Awareness:
“Being in touch with Reality” is actually about being in touch with nothing…freed from being in touch with anything that is not real, that is phenomenal, and that is mind-generated or culture-generated.
Awareness removes all identification with anything other than the void or nothingness, which means there is no identification at all.
Abidance as the awareness can happen even during the manifestation of consciousness and is the unconditional “condition” referred to by the terms Fully Realized, Enlightened, Liberated, Actualized, etc." – Floyd Henderson
Tomorrow – the conclusion.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – and removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)
Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com
