Advaita Vedanta: CAUSATION and RELATIVE EVENTS AND BEHAVIORS: "Evil?" Or Ignorance, Stupidity, and Insanity? Part Twenty-Seven in the Series

Today's "DAILY CONSIDERATION" for You

"AFTER THE INFORMATION GIVEN TO YOU BY THE MOTHER, THAT YOU ARE A BOY OR GIRL, ALL YOUR FURTHER ACQUISITIONS ARE BY HEARSAY"

Yesterday, an example was provided of how varied and distorted persona-driven perspectives can be. It was noted how very different the reactions in the U.S. have been to (A) two "good" Christians who, by withholding a simple dosage of antibiotics, caused the deaths of two of their children as opposed to (B) two "evil" Muslims who killed a child and two adults (and, yes, wounded many others).

Consider the bizarre processes involved to set the stage for either happening; consider how many insane links in a chain of causation were required in both cases; and consider how persona-assumption drove the processes that led to "A" and "B" happening.

If a parent tells a child, "You are a boy" or "You are a girl," that will not be questioned by the child; furthermore, once that is accepted, then also accepted will be the parents' and the culture's beliefs about how a boy should act or how a girl should act.

Also accepted is the parents' and culture's beliefs about how a "good" boy will act or how a "good" girl will act.

Additionally, if a parent tells a child, "You are a Christian," that will not be questioned; furthermore, once that is accepted, then also accepted is the parents' and the culture's beliefs about how a "good" Christian should act.

If a parent tells a child, "You are a Muslim," that will not be questioned; furthermore, once that is accepted, then also accepted is the parents' and the culture's beliefs about how a "good" Muslim should act.

In other words, once the "further acquisitions" of false identities are assigned or adopted - even though those identities are all based in "hearsay" - those personalities (with their hidden agendas and their fears and their desires) will drive all thoughts, which will drive all words, which will eventually determine all actions.

After programming, domestication, acculturation, conditioning, brainwashing, and indoctrination have generated false body-mind-personality identification(s), then whatever happens with any person after that will be a result of being on "auto-pilot." Why? Because any and all ability to choose will have been relegated to the false identities.

That is why non-dualists use the analogy of persons "sleepwalking" through the relative existence: everything with sleepwalkers happens mechanically, involuntarily, and unconsciously, all driven by the agendas of personas that were assigned during the programming, domestication, acculturation, conditioning, brainwashing, and indoctrination stages.

[Some persons nowadays talk about someone having been "radicalized" by someone else, but the fact is that everything about the programming, domestication, acculturation, conditioning, brainwashing, and indoctrination processes is radical. Is it not "radical" to believe any of the following:

"Kill people if they belong to a different religion or sect."

"A virgin had a baby and remained a virgin, and the baby was both the son of God and the son of the woman (but was also God Himself and was a Holy Spirit as well.)"

"God loves you unconditionally but He will cast you into fire if you break any of His rules and will make you suffer the pain of being burned forever."

"Of the seven billion people on the planet, it is the 350,000,000 of us who make up the greatest nation of all."

"We will fight to the death to honor the Commandments set forth by another religion while we ignore the two new Commandments presented by the one we call 'Our Lord,' but in spite of the fact that we praise the Commandments from that other religion (including 'Thou shalt not kill') every now and then we have to give lethal injections to some of our citizens and every now and then we have to bomb and kill the citizens of other nations as well."

Crazy. Nuts. Or as Maharaj put it, wracked by "stupidity, verging on insanity."]

So, to look at the way that programming, domestication, acculturation, conditioning, brainwashing, and indoctrination set the stage for insane acts (acts which most ideologues and religious persons and which many spiritual persons blame on "evil") consider:

Just for the sake of discussion, suppose a parent tells a child, "You are a bird." If that is accepted, then it should be no surprise that the unquestioning child (driven by blind faith in what he has been told) will act like a bird on occasion.

So in that imaginary scenario, what if the child is out and about with a younger friend and tells that friend, "You know, I am many things: I am a boy, but I am also a bird." The friend has heard the entire culture backing up that story, so the friend replies: "Yeah, I heard that. That is so cool! I wish I could fly."

Then the child might say, "Well, I'm going outside of town to where the cliffs are and I'm going to jump off and fly over the ocean for a while. Do you want to ride along on my back?"

And suppose the young friend says, "You bet! That would be the greatest thing ever." So the young friend accepts as truth the older boy's beliefs about his multiple identities and accompanies him to the open field that is next to the cliffs. Once there, he jumps onto the back of the older boy, the boy who had unquestioningly accepted the word of those who taught him to believe that he is "a bird" and to believe that "a bird" truly defines who he is.

Then, events unfolded in this manner: the older boy, holding the younger on his back, began running toward the edge of the cliff. The witnesses nearby did not see what happened as the two sailed over the edge. They could not see the older boy when he began flapping his arms, as if trying to fly. They could not see the two boys as they plunged out of sight beyond the edge of the cliff, and they did not see the final splat as the boys landed on the coastal rocks below.

Some of the witnesses just screamed, a few felt faint, and others were immobilized by the shock and horror of what had just happened before their very eyes; but those who ran to the edge of the cliff looked down to see two broken, bloody bodies sprawled awkwardly across the boulders below.

In their later descriptions of the incident, as they recounted for the authorities what they had seen, there were some slight but insignificant variations in their narratives; one thing they all agreed on, however, was that the older boy was the most evil person they had ever seen in their lives.

One said that he would never be able to erase from his mind the memory of what he has seen, namely, that the most evil boy in the history of the entire state had talked his younger friend into hopping on his back but - rather than taking him for the enjoyable ride about the field that the younger lad has expected - his evil friend instead began racing toward the edge of the cliff and dove off.

"It was nothing short of cold-blooded murder," one said. Another added, "Yes, he just killed himself and his young friend as well ... in cold blood! I have never seen anyone in my life who is that wicked and foul and immoral and sinful."

Because one witness had been making a video of the scenery around the cliffs and ocean and had thus caught on film the incident (and the graphic, bloody aftermath on the rocks below), the media began showing the event to the nation. Over a three-day period, they showed the 10-second recording over 10,000 times, so soon the entire traumatized nation was in agreement: that older boy was the most evil in the entire world.

You see, if one does not understand what is involved in chains of causation, they will misunderstand everything that they see.

So, some considerations:

1. Regarding the boy (who accepted with unquestioning faith that he really was exactly what his parents and culture told him he was), was that boy "evil" because he took certain actions as a result of believing in a false identity that his parents and culture had assigned to him? No. He was one of the billions every day who accept and believe everything that they are told without question, though what they are told is not based in fact but is based in (a) the ignorance of their programmers and in (b) faith and their faith.

2. Having brought about relative "tragic consequences" while acting like a bird because he was told that he was a bird, was that child actually driven by "evil," or was that child driven by the ignorance and insanity that was disseminated in his home and throughout his culture?

3. Could it be said that every "further acquisition" - and in fact all false identities that are assigned to persons or that are assumed by persons - are all rooted in ignorance? Definitely.

4. Can it be said that all "broken relationships," fighting, killing, murder, wars, and all instances of relative chaos are almost always rooted in the assignment of personas or in the assumption of personas? Yes.

5. Can it be said that there is no single greater source of persona-assignment and persona-assumption than religion? Yes (right down to pronouncing that two people "are now husband and wife." Note that it is the belief in those two false identities alone that account for over 50% of all murders annually in the U.S.)

How simple the solution could be. Maharaj said: "From my angle, you are nothing. You have no identity." End of story. End of chaos. End of what persons mistakenly call "the results of evil."

Maharaj: "This problem of things, good and evil in themselves, does not exist in my world"

and

"In your world the pleasant is good and the painful is evil."

How to be free of the narcissism and entitlement and arrogance and insanity that result from that mindset? Be free of the influence of the #1 source of all distortion and ignorance and insane acts. Understand this instead:

Maharaj: "When the birth is disproved, the great noble meaning of spirituality and the meaning of this world—everything—is disproved."

The chances of persons being relieved of ignorance and being restored to sanity? Slim. In an ebook below, there is a discussion about what the non-duality teachings can and cannot do in that regard. For some, professional treatment is indicated; for others, non-duality might lead the way. The problem? Once an ego-state is assumed, then egotism kicks in to support it, and egotism prevents ignorance from spotting ignorance and prevents insanity from spotting insanity. So it is.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

Questions?
Submit them to:

Comments?
Just hang on to those please.

A Non-Duality Online Course is currently available at a reduced rate. See above for details.

[Received from Mac, 10/17/12]:

"Glad to see the online teaching offered at a discount. Hopefully, more who are ready will be able to take the course. For me, the course was the beginning of the unlearning that led to the trip to the lake for a retreat and the understanding."

SHIFTING THE FOCUS FROM THAT WHICH DOES NOT WORK TO THAT WHICH DOES, Part One

A "movement" or "shift" happened here that added another parallel to the many parallels in terms of the phenomenal "experiences" and the noumenal revelations that "Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj" and "Floyd" share in common. (Many visitors over the years have said that they also shared the same parallels with "Maharaj" and "Floyd" as well.) In the case of "Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj" and "Floyd": 1. both grew up in very poor families 2. both moved to populated areas to seek employment opportunities 3. both exhibited business skills that led to their opening and operating many businesses and to their having a large number of employees working for them 4. both succeeded financially 5. both became attached to accumulating; 6. both married and had a family 7. both were initially religious 8. both moved away from organized religion and became interested in "spiritual" matters, finding and following the teachings of a big name teacher (or, in "Floyd's" case, many big name teachers) 9. both had highly religious wives who were quite displeased with the shift away from religion and toward "spirituality" 10. both began to feel empty in spite of all of their "spiritual seeking" and in spite of all of their accumulated "spiritual knowledge";

11. both began to de-accumulate after both saw that they could survive quite well on a fraction of the income they had been making 12. both had wives who were unhappy when the de-accumulation stage was entered and both had wives who became unhappy about their husbands' focus on non-duality and who blamed their unhappiness on no longer having a religious husband (The facts be known, in both cases the unhappiness involved the fact that their husbands were no longer interested in - or willing - to work 80+ hours per week and that their husbands were no longer interested in accumulating wealth and possessions and providing the rich lifestyle to which their wives had grown accustomed) 13. both eventually came to see that the religious and spiritual states were also ego-states, and both saw that there are far more steps on the "path" to complete after reaching the religious and spiritual steps and after playing those roles which are the third of seven steps on the entire "path" 14. both "lost" their wives (one via "death," the other through divorce); 15. both accelerated their seeking; 16. both entered into the "forest dweller stage" 17. both Realized 18. both began to de-accumulate even more 19. both began sharing the teachings 20. for years, both answered questions in whatever order those questions were received, though both said that the movement from identification with the false "I" / "I's" involved an exact, step-wise manner of moving along a "path" that involved "going back" in the same (but reverse order) of the way they "came in" - that is, the way that the manifestation happened and the way that the consciousness was blocked through seven stages that resulted in their becoming identified solely with their false personas, with the content of the "mind," and eventually, with the body. But the most significant awareness that finally came to both after years of offering satsang and after having answered thousands and thousands of questions was this: After years of "Maharaj" offering satsang in his loft, and after years of "Floyd" offering satsang in meeting halls and in his home and via what one site visitor called "Floyd's electronic loft," this fact became obvious to both: "Maharaj" came to see in the 1970's and into 1980 and 1981 that his approach was not working and "Floyd" finally came to see the same.

21. Both saw that many who heard the teachings are not going to understand (Maharaj reporting that "only 1 in 100,000 are going to 'get' this" understanding) 22. both soon saw that even more than expected of those who heard the teachings were not going to understand (Maharaj modifying his "guesstimate" and reporting that "only 1 in 1,000,000 are going to 'get' this" understanding) 23. eventually both saw that even far more than expected of those who heard the teachings were not going to understand (Maharaj eventually concluding that "only 1 in 10,000,000 are going to 'get' this" understanding). And the failings were not the fault of seekers. A "one -in-ten-million" estimate is proof that satsang was not working for most seekers, and the evidence here lately is proof of the same.

Both "Maharaj" and "Floyd" invited seekers to focus on the exact, step-wise "path." Yes, during satsang, "Maharaj" sometimes alluded to the steps while discussing them in no particular order - but he never once laid out the steps in the exact order in which they had to be completed. That was not his teachings style or approach.

Therefore, another movement or shift is happening here spontaneously after reflecting on the more than two decades since the teachings were first offered here and looking at the results of Maharaj sharing pointers in his loft and looking at the results of "Floyd" sharing pointers in this electronic loft: Looking objectively at his results, Maharaj's satsang method of sharing - in the end and by his own admission (only "one out of 10,000,000") - did not produce the intended outcome.

Looking objectively at the results here when using an "electronic loft" satsang method of sharing has not produced the intended outcome nearly as often as any of the three "face-to-face" methods used with seekers by which they have been led through the seven steps in order. Here, the body is growing older, of course. Mahasamadhi could be taken today, or it could be taken in twenty years.

Obviously, that cannot be known. But the decision here has been made that whatever amount of the relative existence remains shall be spent in sharing the teachings in the ways that have been seen over the last 20+ years to be the most effective methods.

Looking back over the list of those that have truly received the understanding, it is seen that Robert R. read all of the books, then took the online Advaita course and then completed some face-to-face Skype sessions to receive the final clarifications required. It was seen that Mac read all of the books, completed the online course, and then attended a retreat where he was guided through the seven steps. Mac said that the online course work inspired him to attend the retreat in order to be able to receive the final "pieces." It was seen that Andy Gugar, Jr. read all of the books, then came here for a retreat and was taken through the seven steps in order, and then returned once more for the final clarifications required. After reviewing the shifts that happened with him after attending two retreats, he reaffirmed this past week his commitment to helping spread the non-duality, nisarga understanding as presented here. As a result of seeing what has "worked" during the last 20+ years of sharing the non-duality understanding - and seeing what had not "worked" as well - changes will be made.

SHIFTING THE FOCUS FROM THAT WHICH DOES NOT WORK TO THAT WHICH DOES, Part Two

In "Part One," examples were given of seekers that were led to Realization not by satsang but by following the various protocols outlined farther down this page which provide the understanding in the step-wise, orderly, required fashion which moves seekers along a "path" that is as prescribed by Maharaj ... "going back" in the "reverse order" by which the consciousness manifested and became blocked.

However, conversations with some that just read the majority of the books have revealed that they certainly seem to have grasped the understanding and Realized as well. As a result of seeing what has "worked" during the last 20+ years of sharing the non-duality understanding - and seeing what has "not worked" as well - changes are being made. There are seven specific steps that happen when awareness-energy is "pulled" into a cycle of manifestation. When that energy manifests as conscious-energy, that formerly pure and unadulterated energy becomes "corrupted" (or "blocked" from seeing clearly) via programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, and brainwashing. Soon, there is a belief in the not-Real as a result of seven degrees of separation from an understanding of the Real. Using the method that was also employed by his contemporaries - a method which focused on offering non-duality pointers via satsang - Maharaj addressed questions in the order in which they were received. He might receive a question from a seeker at the third step and his reply would include what amounted to an invitation to move to the fourth step. The next question might come from a seeker at the first step, and the reply would include an invitation to move to the second step. The information offered to the second seeker would seemingly contradict what was offered to the first seeker, so visitors who have come here for decades have asked questions which showed how confused they were by the fact that Maharaj's statements to each visitor in his loft were "level-appropriate" yet were provided in no precise order, resulting in what seemed to be an inconsistent message. So the process overall was confusing in that seekers were told to follow the "path back" in the same way that they "came in," except in reverse order, but pointers were not given in a specific, step-wise order at all. Maharaj did recognize the seven steps that are taught here, but by offering the teachings in an order that was dictated by the order in which questions were received from seekers who were at different steps on the "path," the result was this: a pointer about moving beyond the fourth step might be followed by a pointer about moving beyond the first step, and that pointer might be followed by a pointer about how to move beyond the sixth step. The same was done on this site for seven years. The result is a collection of 1,800 or so essays discussing almost every non-duality topic that can be discussed, and the search button on the top right side of this page will now allow seekers with a question about a specific topic to find an explanation. That method, however, will never provide the manner in which the seven steps on the "path" must be transmitted and received in order to Realize Fully. An objective study of the history here of more than twenty years of offering non-duality pointers reveals this: seekers that were given pointers in the exact order in which they needed to receive them were the ones that Realized.

They read the books, then they completed the online course and / or completed seven Skype or telephone sessions or came here for a retreat (or watched the downloadable DVD version of an actual retreat, available below).

Some found that which they were seeking by reading the author's book that deal with non-duality subject matter. Via all of those venues, the steps are taught in their proper order. The essays available on this site will remain for those interested in searching for a discussion of a particular non-duality topic without charge, but the focus here until mahasamadhi is taken is going to be on offering the teachings in the step-wise fashion that has been seen to work.

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WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:

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FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE: A Seven-Step Journey to the Absolute