Advaita Vedanta: THE LIGHT MUST PRECEDE THE LIGHTNESS, Part Five

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.

Furthermore, for those who have developed a preference for any non-nisargan yoga or who prefer Traditional Advaita Vedanta, Neo-Advaita, Neo-Vedanta, or Pseudo Advaita: here you will only find the use of the Direct Path Method of teaching along with the Nisarga (Natural) Yoga.

Also, you will find here very few of the teachings offered by Maharaj in his earlier talks and far more of the message that he offered in his ultimate talks. Why? During his last years, he said of I AM THAT: "That book and whatever was expounded at that time was only relevant for that period. I am speaking differently today" and am "emphasizing different aspects." His final understanding, which was completely different from what he offered early on, is the basis of pointers here. Maharaj made clear at the end that the pointers in I AM THAT will take you to the midpoint of "the race"; only the pointers in his final talks point the way to "the finish line."

F.: Maharaj said:

" ... The source of all that is, is the Infinite Possibility, the Supreme Reality, which is in You and which throws its ... light and Love on every experience."

Yet the guru and / or the inner guru can shine the light about for minutes or days or months or years, shining the light on every self-destructive, personality-driven fear or desire and on every insane thought and word and deed that those generate, but those being driven by the hidden agendas of their personas will move along with eyes wide shut ... refusing to see anything that runs counter to the wishes of whatever ego-state or states have taken control of thoughts and words and deeds and have moved one onto a collision course with the worst imaginable consequences.

Ego-states are like certain mushrooms: where most everything requires light if it is to thrive, those mushrooms actually thrive in the darkness. Just as the light can fade out the colors of a painting left outside to the point that eventually nothing is left on the canvas, so it is when the light hits personas. They fade away.

But if they show up and take control, they become one of the most powerful forces on the planet. The Self wants no power and has no power, so it has no chance at all in a self vs. Self struggle.

Why? Because that is not the actual struggle anyway. The self is a mirage, so what has happened is that one have become divorced from the Real and in that void, self-delusion has moved in and is in charge of all thoughts and words and deeds. Consider:

How large is the source of light in this solar system? The sun is huge, yet one can use something as small as the palm of a hand, can raise it and put it over the eyes, and the light of something as huge as the sun will be blocked out by something as small as a palm.

When the relative challenges arise, what arises simultaneously is the duality of perception and mis-perception. If the Self witnesses, then all will be seen in proper perspective via the light. A sense of lightness will prevail. If self arises, then the light will be blocked, all will be mis-perceived, and the lightness will end. Darkness and heaviness will come.

Maharaj: "In my light they [things relative] come and go as the specks of dust dancing in the sunbeam. The light illumines the specks, but does not depend on them. Nor can it be said to create them. It cannot be even said to know them."

A friend recently faced the challenge of being at the center of three converging storms which left "her" with such an overwhelming sense of vulnerability and want and need and desire that the personas that were generating all sorts of fears and desires raised their hands to block out the light. In that rejection of the light, the lightness was also lost. She was tossed off center by the storms, something that can seemingly happen to selves but never to the Self which is the center.

Persona-inspired emotions led to motion (to fear or desire-driven actions) and those always lead persons to move into the darkness which, in turn, generates a sense of heaviness and misery and suffering or pain or all of the above.

When she finally stepped back from the brink and allowed the light to be shined on her mis-perceptions, she came to see that all is well; yet not a single circumstance had changed. Not even one of the storms has dissipated, yet she is witnessing it all from the platform above it all, from the platform where the light is shining down on all of the snakes that had seemed to be ropes.

How easy it is to see in the light that the snake is only a rope, but how far more difficult it is to see a snake when it appears to be a rope that is being tossed out to pull one out of the stormy seas.

In the darkness, it is impossible to see clearly, to see Reality, to differentiate true from false.

Maharaj: "It is like entering a dark room. You see nothing - you may touch, but you do not see - no colours, no outlines. The window opens and the room is flooded with light. Colours and shapes come into being. The window is the giver of light, but not the source of it. The sun is the source. Similarly, matter is like the dark room; consciousness - the window - flooding matter with sensations and perceptions, and the Supreme is the sun, the source both of matter and of light. The window may be closed, or open, the sun shines all the time. It makes all the difference to the room, but none to the sun. Yet all this is secondary to the tiny little thing which is the 'I am'. Without the 'I am' there is nothing. All knowledge is about the 'I am'. False ideas about this 'I am' lead to bondage, right knowledge leads to freedom and happiness."

And who but the insane do not desire happiness? To desire happiness is not the fault. The fault lies in the mis-perceiving, in mistaking a nightmare for a dream solution which could finally bring the much sought-after happiness and lightness.

Maharaj: "Desire by itself [is not either] right or wrong. It is nothing but striving for happiness. Having identified yourself with a speck of a body you feel lost and search desperately for the sense of fullness and completeness you call happiness."

Emotions are unnatural. Feelings can be natural, allowing one to be fully in touch with all that the relative existence can bring, but even those are to be transcended for they do not in the end bring freedom and happiness and lightness.

You deserve nothing less than an existence that is marked by the incredible lightness of being. You also deserve the means by which emotions and feelings can both be processed when they bring on darkness so that you can again return to the light which, in turn, brings lightness.

Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

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THE "ADVANCED SEEKERS' SET"

FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)

CONSCIOUSNESS / AWARENESS

FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS

THE FINAL UNDERSTANDING

THE SEVEN STEPS TO REALIZATION ESSAY SERIES

A Series of Essays Discussing THE FIRST STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE SECOND STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE THIRD STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE FOURTH STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE FIFTH STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE SIXTH STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

A Series of Essays Discussing THE SEVENTH STEP on the Seven-Step Path to Realization

THE "NO-DEATH" SERIES

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

The Myth Of Death

THE "BLISSFUL ABIDANCE" BOOKS

The Ultimate Sickness, The Ultimate Medicine

I AM THAT (vs. "This Is Who I Think I Am")

Freedom From Shifting Between States of Happiness and Unhappiness

LIBERATION

Why You Must Be Empty If You Would Be Full

What BLISS Is and What BLISS Is Not

When Reality Is Overlaid Upon the Relative

There Is Nothing That Is Personal (Including You and Including God)

Overcoming the Fear of Being Totally Independent

The Essence of the Teachings

SELF-Transformation Meditation Guide, Volume One

SELF-Transformation Meditation Guide, Volume Two

THE "RELATIONSHIP" SERIES

Casting Light on the Dark Side of Relationships

Finding REAL LOVE in an Unreal World

The Path to Freedom vs. The Path to Misery

THE "FREEDOM FROM DELUSION" SERIES

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace If You're Out of Your Mind)

THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS PERSONAL (Including You and Including God)

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ and HIS EVOLUTION

IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)

SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)

Jesus Christ the Advaitin

William Shakespeare the Advaitin

THE "FINANCIAL SANITY" SERIES

LIVING WITHIN YOUR MEANS

Ending Financial Problems by Understanding Your Personality

ADVENTURE / MYSTERY FICTION
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The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders [E-BOOK]

The Board of Directors of Wars [PAPERBACK]

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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."

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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.
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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]
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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.

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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."

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The Sequel to The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders:
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS

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The Board of Directors of Wars

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