A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
NOTE: This is a non-duality forum focusing on Realization, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your Original Nature, abiding naturally rather than unnaturally or supernaturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and the wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is most certainly 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 of learned ignorance, can thereafter be restored to sanity, and can then be free, period.
F.: [Continued from the last post] In addition to the reasons that people attain certain understandings but report that they have "regressed," or complain that Realization is too far beyond their reach, is because of lingering, distorted beliefs.
For Full Realization to come, all beliefs must go, and that includes concepts / beliefs about:
1. what happiness is and what unhappiness is
2. what joy is and what sorrow is
3. what the difference is between body pleasure and body ecstasy vs. no-mind gladness and mind-free cheerfulness
4. what joy can come via abiding naturally vs. trying to live supernaturally / spiritually / piously and in what is deemed (and dreamed) to be an "all-pure" condition
and, most significantly,
5. what bliss is and what bliss is not.
For additional clarity on the topic, some excerpts from the eBook entitled "WHAT BLISS IS AND WHAT BLISS IS NOT" shall be shared:
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is most certainly 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 of learned ignorance, can thereafter be restored to sanity, and can then be free, period.
F.: [Continued from the last post] In addition to the reasons that people attain certain understandings but report that they have "regressed," or complain that Realization is too far beyond their reach, is because of lingering, distorted beliefs.
For Full Realization to come, all beliefs must go, and that includes concepts / beliefs about:
1. what happiness is and what unhappiness is
2. what joy is and what sorrow is
3. what the difference is between body pleasure and body ecstasy vs. no-mind gladness and mind-free cheerfulness
4. what joy can come via abiding naturally vs. trying to live supernaturally / spiritually / piously and in what is deemed (and dreamed) to be an "all-pure" condition
and, most significantly,
5. what bliss is and what bliss is not.
For additional clarity on the topic, some excerpts from the eBook entitled "WHAT BLISS IS AND WHAT BLISS IS NOT" shall be shared:
WHAT BLISS IS AND WHAT BLISS IS NOT
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
What Bliss Is and What Bliss Is Not
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
20 November 2013
• [To continue with the excerpts] F.: Over the years, so many have come to complain about the fact that—after all of their seeking—"permanent bliss still has not come."
• Those who have been asked to define specifically the "bliss" that they seek either parrot some words they have heard but have not understood or parrot the words that were used by "holy men" or "holy books" in order to program them.
• One of the invitations offered earlier was to "list all of the ways you would define bliss." When that exercise is conducted during Advaita retreats here, it is rare that even one of the responses comes close to identifying bliss as it can happen during the relative existence
• Most efforts to define what "bliss" is revealed no evidence at all of what the respondents know - what they have come to realize by having tapped into the inner guru - but were a regurgitation of concepts they have collected from such sources as Hinduism or Buddhism:
• "Bliss is what comes at the end of the cycles of reincarnation when desire and suffering both end."
• "Bliss is liberation from the effects of karmic rebalancing."
• "Bliss is finally being free from rebirths."
• "Bliss is freedom from pain and suffering."
• So it can be seen that even among those reading Advaitin pointers, many seek not the purest messages that Advaita can offer but are seeking a blend of Advaita and other concepts to which they are yet attached.
• The responses to those statements will be invitations to reach a different understanding … an understanding rooted in logic and reason rather than in concept-filled texts. First, to the statement that "bliss is freedom from pain and suffering."
• Freedom from that misperception requires an understanding of the difference in "pain" on the one hand and "suffering" on the other.
• Pain is of the body, suffering is of the "mind." Pain is felt because of nerve and brain activity, a process that is usually considered to be an asset to the degree that it can reveal physical problems that might otherwise go undetected or to the degree that it can bring an end to activities that are damaging to the body.
• For one person to pick up a hot pan without experiencing pain is to assure that far greater damage will come to that person than to one who can feel pain and would immediately drop a hot pan before any further physical damage occurs. To explain in more detail:
• For the body to no longer feel pain, you would have to undergo some degree of paralysis, nerve damage, or brain damage. You would be deprived of one tool that is intended to protect the body for the time that the elements remain together.
• For example, if you touch any extremely hot object, pain sends a message to the brain that one should stop touching that object immediately. Without pain, you could continue to grasp the object and would undergo severe physical damage to an appendage.
• Do you really desire that your body forfeit all ability to experience pain if the consequences would include damaging the body regularly and severely as a result of having no means for sending signals to the brain to stop behaviors that are damaging the body?
• If you must undergo severe nerve damage? If the body must be paralyzed in order to fulfill your desire to feel no pain? If you would have to undergo brain damage in order to fulfill your desire to experience a pain-free relative existence?
• One old adage is, "Be careful what you wish for—you might get it." The Advaitin pointer is, "Stop wishing, period, especially if you have no actual clue at all about that for which you are wishing."
• As for suffering, that is of the "mind" wherein beliefs in false personas are stored; thus, elimination of suffering requires neither rebirths nor additional lives. It involves elimination of the "mind" that stores the lies that generate suffering, and that elimination can happen now.
• The fact is that it could not possibly happen "later" because any "subsequent lives" would be guaranteed to involve more programming and more "mind"-formation and more persona-adoptions because that pattern—now the pattern being adhered to by all on the planet with the exception of the smallest fraction of a fraction of the population—is the way it is and the way it shall remain
• Undergoing multiple relative lives would assure that a never-ending loop of suffering would result. No, the Ultimate Medicine that can bring about an end to suffering requires no additional manifestations. The understanding that the "mind" is an illusion (as is all of its content) can only happen now; thus, the sickness that causes suffering can only end during this manifestation by use of the Ultimate Medicine, now
• There is no need to wait. There is no need to believe that the end of suffering must involve "future" opportunities. The only opportunity is here and now. If You Realize, then suffering will end at the only time when it can: presently.
• If You can understand that a fire that never occurred cannot possibly re-occur, then You can understand that one that was never born cannot possibly be "re-born." If you do not understand that, then the end of your suffering will be put "on hold" and will never happen.
• As for pain, there will be no escaping that during the relative existence unless nerve or brain or spinal cord injuries should occur; however, pain can be managed when the consciousness witnesses the pain but knows that it is happening not to ItSelf but is happening to a finite body which the consciousness is not.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
20 November 2013
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
NOTE: This is a non-duality forum focusing on Realization, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your Original Nature, abiding naturally rather than unnaturally or supernaturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and the wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is most certainly 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 of learned ignorance, can thereafter be restored to sanity, and can then be free, period.
F.: [Continued from the last post] In addition to the reasons that people attain certain understandings but report that they have "regressed," or complain that Realization is too far beyond their reach, is because of lingering, distorted beliefs.
For Full Realization to come, all beliefs must go, and that includes concepts / beliefs about:
1. what happiness is and what unhappiness is
2. what joy is and what sorrow is
3. what the difference is between body pleasure and body ecstasy vs. no-mind gladness and mind-free cheerfulness
4. what joy can come via abiding naturally vs. trying to live supernaturally / spiritually / piously and in what is deemed (and dreamed) to be an "all-pure" condition
and, most significantly,
5. what bliss is and what bliss is not.
For additional clarity on the topic, some excerpts from the eBook entitled "WHAT BLISS IS AND WHAT BLISS IS NOT" shall be shared:
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is most certainly 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 of learned ignorance, can thereafter be restored to sanity, and can then be free, period.
F.: [Continued from the last post] In addition to the reasons that people attain certain understandings but report that they have "regressed," or complain that Realization is too far beyond their reach, is because of lingering, distorted beliefs.
For Full Realization to come, all beliefs must go, and that includes concepts / beliefs about:
1. what happiness is and what unhappiness is
2. what joy is and what sorrow is
3. what the difference is between body pleasure and body ecstasy vs. no-mind gladness and mind-free cheerfulness
4. what joy can come via abiding naturally vs. trying to live supernaturally / spiritually / piously and in what is deemed (and dreamed) to be an "all-pure" condition
and, most significantly,
5. what bliss is and what bliss is not.
For additional clarity on the topic, some excerpts from the eBook entitled "WHAT BLISS IS AND WHAT BLISS IS NOT" shall be shared:
WHAT BLISS IS AND WHAT BLISS IS NOT
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
What Bliss Is and What Bliss Is Not
from
CHAPTER ONE
from
CHAPTER ONE
How many seekers are frustrated by not having attained bliss? How many seekers think that they have failed or that their teacher has failed when what they believe to be bliss does not manifest or when they think that bliss comes on occasion but does not remain?
Those are the thoughts and beliefs of seekers who are at what Maharaj called “the kindergarten level of spirituality.” How many feel that their goal to become “perfectly spiritual, and thereby perfectly blissful” is being thwarted at every turn.
Maharaj said, “No ambition is spiritual. All ambitions are for the sake of the 'I am'. The ambitions of the so-called Yogis are preposterous. A man's desire for a woman is innocence itself compared to the lusting for an everlasting personal bliss. The mind is a cheat. The more pious it seems, the worse the betrayal.”
Regularly, seekers who speak of “the darkness” and of higher levels of consciousness are told that there is no darkness and that there are no levels of consciousness.
The so-called "darkness" in which the non-Realized live is not really darkness but is merely an absence of light caused by the blockages that have accumulated, and the consciousness is merely consciousness that is either (a) blocked from seeing accurately and from seeing truth or (b) is not.
When so many blockages accumulate, then the light cannot penetrate and all seems dark, but that absence of witnessing the light does not mean that the light is not there. It is simply not observable because of a separation from the source of the light - either because the light has been blocked or because there is nothing available to reflect the light.
The higher level of understanding in regards to this topic is that (1) not only is “no ambition spiritual,” nothing is spiritual; and (2) not only is “the mind a cheat” but the "mind" is actually as much an illusion as the darkness.
If the seeker would “find bliss,” then the seeker must know what bliss is and what it is not. If one that is in kindergarten is sent to the store to buy the materials needed to build a “what-cha-ma-call-it,” the kindergarten-age-child will not have the slightest clue about what he is seeking and neither will anyone else that he asks to help with finding everything required to build a “what-cha-ma-call-it.”
The reason most never “find bliss” is that they are as mistaken about what bliss is and what bliss is not as persons are mistaken about what “the world” is and what it is not.
In order to appreciate the pointers in this book—and in order to end the challenges involved with “occasionally experiencing bliss but not being able to hold on to it” or with “not finding the bliss that others claim they have found” or with “dealing with the frustrations of wanting bliss but not having found it”—the reader is invited to take a few moments to complete the following preparatory exercise:
(A) List all of the ways you would define bliss.
(B) List all of the ways that bliss could be evidenced during the manifestation.
(C) Write a description of what you think the relative existence would look like for you if you were to “attain bliss” once and for all.
Your writings might be used to reveal the prevalent beliefs that exist in regards to bliss and to distinguish between myth and fact as the discussion continues.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
19 November 2013
Those are the thoughts and beliefs of seekers who are at what Maharaj called “the kindergarten level of spirituality.” How many feel that their goal to become “perfectly spiritual, and thereby perfectly blissful” is being thwarted at every turn.
Maharaj said, “No ambition is spiritual. All ambitions are for the sake of the 'I am'. The ambitions of the so-called Yogis are preposterous. A man's desire for a woman is innocence itself compared to the lusting for an everlasting personal bliss. The mind is a cheat. The more pious it seems, the worse the betrayal.”
Regularly, seekers who speak of “the darkness” and of higher levels of consciousness are told that there is no darkness and that there are no levels of consciousness.
The so-called "darkness" in which the non-Realized live is not really darkness but is merely an absence of light caused by the blockages that have accumulated, and the consciousness is merely consciousness that is either (a) blocked from seeing accurately and from seeing truth or (b) is not.
When so many blockages accumulate, then the light cannot penetrate and all seems dark, but that absence of witnessing the light does not mean that the light is not there. It is simply not observable because of a separation from the source of the light - either because the light has been blocked or because there is nothing available to reflect the light.
The higher level of understanding in regards to this topic is that (1) not only is “no ambition spiritual,” nothing is spiritual; and (2) not only is “the mind a cheat” but the "mind" is actually as much an illusion as the darkness.
If the seeker would “find bliss,” then the seeker must know what bliss is and what it is not. If one that is in kindergarten is sent to the store to buy the materials needed to build a “what-cha-ma-call-it,” the kindergarten-age-child will not have the slightest clue about what he is seeking and neither will anyone else that he asks to help with finding everything required to build a “what-cha-ma-call-it.”
The reason most never “find bliss” is that they are as mistaken about what bliss is and what bliss is not as persons are mistaken about what “the world” is and what it is not.
In order to appreciate the pointers in this book—and in order to end the challenges involved with “occasionally experiencing bliss but not being able to hold on to it” or with “not finding the bliss that others claim they have found” or with “dealing with the frustrations of wanting bliss but not having found it”—the reader is invited to take a few moments to complete the following preparatory exercise:
(A) List all of the ways you would define bliss.
(B) List all of the ways that bliss could be evidenced during the manifestation.
(C) Write a description of what you think the relative existence would look like for you if you were to “attain bliss” once and for all.
Your writings might be used to reveal the prevalent beliefs that exist in regards to bliss and to distinguish between myth and fact as the discussion continues.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
19 November 2013
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
NOTE: This is a non-duality forum focusing on Realization, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your Original Nature, abiding naturally rather than unnaturally or supernaturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and the wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is most certainly 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 of learned ignorance, can thereafter be restored to sanity, and can then be free, period.
F.: To review, regarding these delusional desires: "I just want to be happy" and "I just want my child to be happy."
Happiness is one part of the duality of happiness and unhappiness. Neither can stand alone. Both must have the opposite to be distinguishable. The condition of having been restored to sanity, on the other hand, will stand alone. Sane is sane, and the Realized are sane. There can be no sanity-insanity continuum any more than there can be a pregnant-not-pregnant-by-degree continuum. With pregnancy and with sanity, there can be no degrees. Those conditions either are ... or are not.
Nisargan Louise Sterling in Cape Town, S.A. recently on this site explained it this way:
L.: "The major illusion is the futile attempt to stabilize on the side of what you believe is 'happy' and 'good'. Realize once and for all that the differentiation of 'happy' and 'good' are only possible because there is 'unhappy' and 'bad'. See clearly what you are asking for – you do not want non-duality; you want duality but only one half of it. Give it up. What is good and happy for you may cause misery and difficulty for another. Who will win this hopeless game?
"Freedom comes with the final acceptance that non-duality encompasses everything – the rain and the sunshine; the thoughts of 'getting it' and the thoughts of 'not getting it', the dark and the light – there is no separation. You are not an object or individual in this manifest kaleidoscopic play; nor are you the kaleidoscopic play. From the ultimate subjectivity, the play of light and form can be witnessed. You are beyond what is physical; You are beyond what is non-physical. You are beyond all duality.
"Do You think this intuitive knowledge is the preserve of the learned and the great? Maharaj was a simple beedie-seller with no formal education, yet with the realization of true identity, the intuitive wisdom sprouted and was expressed. This innate wisdom and knowledge is already contained within You – ready to sprout."
F.: "Abidance as a person—as one living under the auspices of personality and allowing false personas to drive thoughts and words and deeds—will guarantee fluctuation and instability, will assure times of seeming happiness interspersed throughout times of misery, and will often eventually result in extended periods of total chaos."
The Realized are free ... that is, free of belief in the former, pre-Realization content of the mind. To believe insane things is to be insane. To be free of the insane things that one was taught to believe is sanity. And one significant form of insanity is believing that you have completed a journey that is actually not halfway done.
Few seek. Of those who do seek, few make it beyond the 3rd of 7 steps, the step where religious or spiritual roles are assumed and played.
Author Elizabeth George says of one such religious and spiritual giant who is taking retribution on those he deems not to be religious enough or spiritual enough:
"He wanted to strike his mind where the voices were."
Precisely. It is in the mind where the problem lies. (When the mind generates enough misery, some people shoot themselves in the head, not in the foot. They are taking aim at the problem area.)
The main problem really does center in the mind, and the problem - the Ultimate Sickness - is a mental sickness. Only if free of the mind can one be happy, blissful, and content without anything required to be happy, blissful, and content.
For comparison, consider the child that has no concepts, no language, no beliefs. If fed, dry, and in a room with a comfortable ambient temperature, the child is happy, blissful, content without anything more required to be happy.
Regarding the condition of Elizabeth George's "super-spiritual" character, the description continues: "They [the voices] were louder today than they had ever been, louder than shouting, louder than music'."
If you want to lie down and rest, can you do that with people talking loudly in the same room? Of course not, yet that is the condition in which most people pass their entire relative existence after programming, conditioning, etc.
They would like to rest, to be at peace, yet they are hearing loud talk. And the talk is not coming from without but is coming from within.
George: "He could see the voices as well as hear them, and they filled his visions .... "
See, when the voices within [within the mind] are so loud, they also - ironically - obstruct the vision. The consciousness is so blocked that one cannot see clearly, cannot see truth, and cannot see reality, much less Reality.
In the chaos of hearing the voices from within his warped, fiction-filled mind, and in the debilitated state of not being able to see anything clearly, George said of her character ...
"He was stumbling, climbing, making his ways to the churchyard and then to the quiet that was not quiet at all for there was no quiet, not for him."
" ... To the quiet that was not quiet at all, for there was no quiet, not for him" (and not for anyone not Fully Realized).
And that is what the relative existence is like for most among the masses because most of them find the quiet anathema, quietness (insanely) being more intolerable than the continuous noise inside their heads that is not unlike the endless chatter of a thousand monkeys.
There is a solution available for most, yet most will never find it.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
18 November 2013
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is most certainly 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 of learned ignorance, can thereafter be restored to sanity, and can then be free, period.
F.: To review, regarding these delusional desires: "I just want to be happy" and "I just want my child to be happy."
Happiness is one part of the duality of happiness and unhappiness. Neither can stand alone. Both must have the opposite to be distinguishable. The condition of having been restored to sanity, on the other hand, will stand alone. Sane is sane, and the Realized are sane. There can be no sanity-insanity continuum any more than there can be a pregnant-not-pregnant-by-degree continuum. With pregnancy and with sanity, there can be no degrees. Those conditions either are ... or are not.
Nisargan Louise Sterling in Cape Town, S.A. recently on this site explained it this way:
L.: "The major illusion is the futile attempt to stabilize on the side of what you believe is 'happy' and 'good'. Realize once and for all that the differentiation of 'happy' and 'good' are only possible because there is 'unhappy' and 'bad'. See clearly what you are asking for – you do not want non-duality; you want duality but only one half of it. Give it up. What is good and happy for you may cause misery and difficulty for another. Who will win this hopeless game?
"Freedom comes with the final acceptance that non-duality encompasses everything – the rain and the sunshine; the thoughts of 'getting it' and the thoughts of 'not getting it', the dark and the light – there is no separation. You are not an object or individual in this manifest kaleidoscopic play; nor are you the kaleidoscopic play. From the ultimate subjectivity, the play of light and form can be witnessed. You are beyond what is physical; You are beyond what is non-physical. You are beyond all duality.
"Do You think this intuitive knowledge is the preserve of the learned and the great? Maharaj was a simple beedie-seller with no formal education, yet with the realization of true identity, the intuitive wisdom sprouted and was expressed. This innate wisdom and knowledge is already contained within You – ready to sprout."
F.: "Abidance as a person—as one living under the auspices of personality and allowing false personas to drive thoughts and words and deeds—will guarantee fluctuation and instability, will assure times of seeming happiness interspersed throughout times of misery, and will often eventually result in extended periods of total chaos."
The Realized are free ... that is, free of belief in the former, pre-Realization content of the mind. To believe insane things is to be insane. To be free of the insane things that one was taught to believe is sanity. And one significant form of insanity is believing that you have completed a journey that is actually not halfway done.
Few seek. Of those who do seek, few make it beyond the 3rd of 7 steps, the step where religious or spiritual roles are assumed and played.
Author Elizabeth George says of one such religious and spiritual giant who is taking retribution on those he deems not to be religious enough or spiritual enough:
"He wanted to strike his mind where the voices were."
Precisely. It is in the mind where the problem lies. (When the mind generates enough misery, some people shoot themselves in the head, not in the foot. They are taking aim at the problem area.)
The main problem really does center in the mind, and the problem - the Ultimate Sickness - is a mental sickness. Only if free of the mind can one be happy, blissful, and content without anything required to be happy, blissful, and content.
For comparison, consider the child that has no concepts, no language, no beliefs. If fed, dry, and in a room with a comfortable ambient temperature, the child is happy, blissful, content without anything more required to be happy.
Regarding the condition of Elizabeth George's "super-spiritual" character, the description continues: "They [the voices] were louder today than they had ever been, louder than shouting, louder than music'."
If you want to lie down and rest, can you do that with people talking loudly in the same room? Of course not, yet that is the condition in which most people pass their entire relative existence after programming, conditioning, etc.
They would like to rest, to be at peace, yet they are hearing loud talk. And the talk is not coming from without but is coming from within.
George: "He could see the voices as well as hear them, and they filled his visions .... "
See, when the voices within [within the mind] are so loud, they also - ironically - obstruct the vision. The consciousness is so blocked that one cannot see clearly, cannot see truth, and cannot see reality, much less Reality.
In the chaos of hearing the voices from within his warped, fiction-filled mind, and in the debilitated state of not being able to see anything clearly, George said of her character ...
"He was stumbling, climbing, making his ways to the churchyard and then to the quiet that was not quiet at all for there was no quiet, not for him."
" ... To the quiet that was not quiet at all, for there was no quiet, not for him" (and not for anyone not Fully Realized).
And that is what the relative existence is like for most among the masses because most of them find the quiet anathema, quietness (insanely) being more intolerable than the continuous noise inside their heads that is not unlike the endless chatter of a thousand monkeys.
There is a solution available for most, yet most will never find it.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
18 November 2013
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
NOTE: This is a non-duality forum focusing on Realization, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your Original Nature, abiding naturally rather than unnaturally or supernaturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and the wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is most certainly 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 of learned ignorance, can thereafter be restored to sanity, and can then be free, period.
F.: Expectations among seekers lead to mistaking emotional intoxication and emotion-driven instability for Realization.
Wisdom and sanity lead to these conclusions:
"I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to be in the moment"
"I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to enjoy stability"
"Relatedly, I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to break my attachment to - or even my addiction to - chaos (which has been my preferred treatment for boredom)."
"I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to enjoy being free of the insanity of dating the same kind of people over and over but insanely expecting the next one to behave differently from all of the earlier versions of the same type."
"I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to be freed from all of the common misconceptions about what bliss is actually like and to grasp, once and for, that it is nothing like what the masses - including most seekers - think it like."
"I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to understand fully exactly what bliss is ... and what it is not."
The fact: for all of that to happen, one must be free of continuing expectations, of lingering misperceptions, and of desires.
DESIRES
Just as an excess of white blood cells indicates the presence of an internal infection at play or the presence of an internal disease, desires indicate the presence of an internal ego-state / personality at play or the presence of in internal sense of dis-ease.
The presence of personality will block Realization, leaving a seeker fixated at the third of seven steps on the "path" that allows one to shift from identification with the false self / the false selves / the false "I" to abidance as the Absolute. And even if one has reached an understanding of the Absolute, there can be a regression to any of the previous steps on the "path."
Explaining why persons seem to grasp the understanding and then seemingly “lose” it, Maharaj said: “You are so used to the support of concepts that when your concepts leave you, although it is your true state, you get frightened and try to cling to them again.”
And what is the seat of that fear? Personality. All personalities have a primary desire and a primary fear. For either fear or desire to manifest, personality must first be in place, and because personality is based in illusion, so too are desires and fears.
Consider one of the most commonplace delusions and self-deceptions among the non-Realized masses on the planet, a delusion that involves the duality of "happy" vs. "unhappy":
Sometimes, seekers who come this way are asked: "All things material aside, what - more than anything else - do you want for your child."
Almost without exception, the answer is, "More than anything else, all things material set aside, what I want is for him / her to just be happy."
And then when it is asked, "And what do you want for yourself, more than anything material, more than anything else?" the answer given is almost always, "To just be happy."
How noble-sounding, yes? And how childish and selfish and insane, yes?
No? Then consider:
Are those answers about anything other than "me" and "mine"? Does anyone who desires that they and their children can be happy all of the time ever wish the same for all humanity at the same time that they are focused on "themselves" and "theirs"?
Oh sure, "Personality Type One Reformers" might lay claim to such an agenda, theoretically. And "Personality Type Two Rescuers and Saviors" might lay claim to such an agenda. But that's still about their illusions because their agendas are based in illusory personas.
First, "happiness" cannot exist and be measured in a vacuum. There must be the counterpart of "unhappiness" in order for "happiness" to be identified and to be quantified.
Next, one person's happiness is almost always another person's misery:
"I'm happy. I got the man of my dreams to marry me."
"I'm happy. I got his wife to leave him and marry me."
"I'm happy. We won the war by killing more of theirs than they killed of ours."
"I'm happy. My company has been so successful that we have driven all of the competition out of business."
"I'm happy. I won the sales contest in the company this year and was the one to get the annual bonus."
Louise put it this way: "What is good and happy for you may cause misery and difficulty for another. Who will win this hopeless game?"
Maharaj would have provided a different perspective for those in the examples above who claim they finally have the happiness they desire:
"You have some experiences and you try to benefit from them, but remember that whatever is going to be of use to you ultimately is going to harm you. Wherever there is use, there is also dis-use in this world of duality. Whatever you like is going to create harm for you. Whatever you like most is, in the end, going to be most harmful for you."
The insane are never truly happy, yet one who is insane can also be unhappy while believing that he or she is happy; insane, one who thinks she or he is happy may not be at all. Either way, insanity is a form of instability, and if unstable, then happiness can only be short-lived; its presence will not be stable ... steady ... continuous ... or lasting.
Sometimes, when even somewhat-awake seekers come this way and are asked, "More than anything else, all things material aside, what do you want for your children and yourself?" they can answer wisely and say, "Stability. Freedom from the chaos and insanity that typifies the existence of most on this planet."
"Not 'happiness'?"
"Ha. Why would I say 'happiness' when that is merely one-half of the dualistic pair of 'happiness vs. unhappiness'?"
Bingo.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
16 November 2013
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is most certainly 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 of learned ignorance, can thereafter be restored to sanity, and can then be free, period.
F.: Expectations among seekers lead to mistaking emotional intoxication and emotion-driven instability for Realization.
Wisdom and sanity lead to these conclusions:
"I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to be in the moment"
"I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to enjoy stability"
"Relatedly, I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to break my attachment to - or even my addiction to - chaos (which has been my preferred treatment for boredom)."
"I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to enjoy being free of the insanity of dating the same kind of people over and over but insanely expecting the next one to behave differently from all of the earlier versions of the same type."
"I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to be freed from all of the common misconceptions about what bliss is actually like and to grasp, once and for, that it is nothing like what the masses - including most seekers - think it like."
"I understand that the missing outcome of my incomplete 'journey' is that the Real Me would actually prefer to understand fully exactly what bliss is ... and what it is not."
The fact: for all of that to happen, one must be free of continuing expectations, of lingering misperceptions, and of desires.
DESIRES
Just as an excess of white blood cells indicates the presence of an internal infection at play or the presence of an internal disease, desires indicate the presence of an internal ego-state / personality at play or the presence of in internal sense of dis-ease.
The presence of personality will block Realization, leaving a seeker fixated at the third of seven steps on the "path" that allows one to shift from identification with the false self / the false selves / the false "I" to abidance as the Absolute. And even if one has reached an understanding of the Absolute, there can be a regression to any of the previous steps on the "path."
Explaining why persons seem to grasp the understanding and then seemingly “lose” it, Maharaj said: “You are so used to the support of concepts that when your concepts leave you, although it is your true state, you get frightened and try to cling to them again.”
And what is the seat of that fear? Personality. All personalities have a primary desire and a primary fear. For either fear or desire to manifest, personality must first be in place, and because personality is based in illusion, so too are desires and fears.
Consider one of the most commonplace delusions and self-deceptions among the non-Realized masses on the planet, a delusion that involves the duality of "happy" vs. "unhappy":
Sometimes, seekers who come this way are asked: "All things material aside, what - more than anything else - do you want for your child."
Almost without exception, the answer is, "More than anything else, all things material set aside, what I want is for him / her to just be happy."
And then when it is asked, "And what do you want for yourself, more than anything material, more than anything else?" the answer given is almost always, "To just be happy."
How noble-sounding, yes? And how childish and selfish and insane, yes?
No? Then consider:
Are those answers about anything other than "me" and "mine"? Does anyone who desires that they and their children can be happy all of the time ever wish the same for all humanity at the same time that they are focused on "themselves" and "theirs"?
Oh sure, "Personality Type One Reformers" might lay claim to such an agenda, theoretically. And "Personality Type Two Rescuers and Saviors" might lay claim to such an agenda. But that's still about their illusions because their agendas are based in illusory personas.
First, "happiness" cannot exist and be measured in a vacuum. There must be the counterpart of "unhappiness" in order for "happiness" to be identified and to be quantified.
Next, one person's happiness is almost always another person's misery:
"I'm happy. I got the man of my dreams to marry me."
"I'm happy. I got his wife to leave him and marry me."
"I'm happy. We won the war by killing more of theirs than they killed of ours."
"I'm happy. My company has been so successful that we have driven all of the competition out of business."
"I'm happy. I won the sales contest in the company this year and was the one to get the annual bonus."
Louise put it this way: "What is good and happy for you may cause misery and difficulty for another. Who will win this hopeless game?"
Maharaj would have provided a different perspective for those in the examples above who claim they finally have the happiness they desire:
"You have some experiences and you try to benefit from them, but remember that whatever is going to be of use to you ultimately is going to harm you. Wherever there is use, there is also dis-use in this world of duality. Whatever you like is going to create harm for you. Whatever you like most is, in the end, going to be most harmful for you."
The insane are never truly happy, yet one who is insane can also be unhappy while believing that he or she is happy; insane, one who thinks she or he is happy may not be at all. Either way, insanity is a form of instability, and if unstable, then happiness can only be short-lived; its presence will not be stable ... steady ... continuous ... or lasting.
Sometimes, when even somewhat-awake seekers come this way and are asked, "More than anything else, all things material aside, what do you want for your children and yourself?" they can answer wisely and say, "Stability. Freedom from the chaos and insanity that typifies the existence of most on this planet."
"Not 'happiness'?"
"Ha. Why would I say 'happiness' when that is merely one-half of the dualistic pair of 'happiness vs. unhappiness'?"
Bingo.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
16 November 2013
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
13 November 2013
NOTE: This is a non-duality forum focusing on Realization, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your Original Nature, abiding naturally rather than unnaturally or supernaturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and the wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is most certainly 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 of learned ignorance, can thereafter be restored to sanity, and can then be free, period.
Received Recently from a Site Visitor Who Believes She "HAD IT" But Has "LOST IT": "I can recognize the clarity I once had. What seems absent is the FEELING of Realization: there was a natural outpouring / response of LOVE – sometimes just seeing a flower, reading a quotation, or just being resulted in that movement of LOVE and RECOGNITION – that often resulted in tears of awe / bliss. The sense is that this was the result of steeping the “self” in true awareness – in silent meditation for hours each day – and it is this silent presence with ALL THAT IS that is missing with the relative busyness right now."
A few key clarifications first: There was never anyone who had anything, and there is no one who will ever have anything, much less lose anything.
Instead, contact has been lost with the pure consciousness as a result of programming, conditioning, acculturation, domestication, brainwashing, and indoctrination, and with the pure consciousness having been blocked, there is no way to make contact with the inner resource - the inner guru - that can reveal once again the Original Nature (of Awareness) that can facilitate being Aware of Awareness while the consciousness is manifested and unblocked.
Next, continuing expectations about what Realization is "supposed to look like," muddied by lingering misperceptions about how the Realized are supposed to talk and behave, will set the stage for confusing (a) feeling with (b) what is actually emoting.
The Realized can and most assuredly do feel, but they watch feelings rise and fall without becoming emotionally intoxicated; the Realized no longer have any capacity for emoting (i.e., for becoming and remaining emotionally intoxicated). Only ego-states can emote.
Next, "awe and bliss" are not typically expressed through "tears," though the Realized might cry on occasion, or not. Such emoting is not, however, the frequent - much less the everyday or permanent - condition among the Realized.
Finally, few have the luxury of relaxing in "silent meditation for hours a day," and that is a process that is not needed at all. (Does a deer have to meditate daily in order to relax and be at peace? That would be a totally unnatural process.) Meditation is a tool to be used only to take a Realized teacher's pointers into fully-awake, fully-conscious contemplation, to use the tool to Realize, and then to abandon afterwards because natural abidance will begin happening spontaneously.
So many over the last 24+ years whose paths have crossed the one here have claimed to have "lost something they once had." The reason they are mistaken is because they never really had what they thought they had at all. And that applies to the erroneous belief of those who think they "had" Realization as much as it applies to those who are now miserable ...
because they were in awe of a partner and were in a high state of emotional bliss but think they lost that; or
because they think they "had a spouse or lover" but lost that;
or because they think they "had a wonderful family and ideal parents" but lost that.
There is no difference in any of those distortions, whether discussing "things relative" or "things beyond the relative."
One setup for failing to see clearly the way that things really are in one's relative existence involves expectations.
EXPECTATIONS:
I expect to have an ideal family someday, which is one like my family of origin. (Had two siblings? Then the plan must be to have three children in one's future family. Went to mass as a family at a Catholic Church every Sunday? Then one's own future family must most assuredly attend mass together every Sunday).
Some other reasons persons think they are unhappy because their expectations were not met include the following:
I expected my husband to be faithful forever.
I expected my wife to maintain her figure.
I expected my husband to maintain his work habits, but he's "found peace" now and says he can work less and we can get by on less.
I expected my husband to get rid of many of his bad habits once we married.
I expected that once I married my lover, I could change him.
I expected that after I married my lover, she would never change.
I expect my child to always behave the right way.
I am "A Values Voter" so I expect my politicians to support the same moral and religious values I hold dear.
I expect people in my country to follow the same Christian / Muslim / Jewish / Hindu dogma and values that THE MAJORITY of the people here follow.
I expect my spouse to always be as hot and sexy as was the case when we were dating.
I expect my spouse to accept the religion that I have been a member of for my entire life.
My spouse is a member of the same religion that I am a member of, and I expect him / her to never change their beliefs about our dogma.
I expect my guru to be free of the use of tobacco, so Maharaj could not have been Realized.
I expect my guru to behave in the exact way that I think the Realized will behave.
I expect to be treated with respect.
I expect to be walked on like a doormat.
To expand on one of Louise's metaphors from the "Whisperings" series that just ran on this site, consider "the mountain" and "the pebble." There are those who go through the relative existence feeling as if they are a mountain when they are really more like a pebble; there are others who go through the relative existence feeling as if they are a pebble when they are really more like a mountain.
The former will become egomaniacs; the latter will develop inferiority complexes. Moreover, some buy into one of those self-concepts at one moment and the opposite at another moment, so they behave as egomaniacs with inferiority complexes. Talk about duality, experiencing quite the relative challenge (and being quite the relative challenge for those dealing with them).
The non-dual understanding makes clear that I am nothing but am also everything: a sense of nothingness results from having rejected all personal identification; a sense of everything-ness comes with an understanding of the Unicity.
If one were to believe that any of the expectations that were catalogued above could come true and remain true, one might as well also believe this:
"If you come to one of the retreats which are conducted here on Lake Conroe, you can expect to see this sunset every night while you are here. You will be able to view the exact same clouds, and exact same tints of blue and orange, guaranteed. Expect it."
Wisdom and sanity provide the ability to distinguish between emotions and feelings and the ability to no longer be fooled by "self" or "others." Ego-states will always generate emotional intoxication whereas the Pure Witnessing allows for witnessing feelings as they rise and fall without setting into motion a series of events that generate emotional intoxication and discontentment and chaos.
Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is most certainly 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 of learned ignorance, can thereafter be restored to sanity, and can then be free, period.
Received Recently from a Site Visitor Who Believes She "HAD IT" But Has "LOST IT": "I can recognize the clarity I once had. What seems absent is the FEELING of Realization: there was a natural outpouring / response of LOVE – sometimes just seeing a flower, reading a quotation, or just being resulted in that movement of LOVE and RECOGNITION – that often resulted in tears of awe / bliss. The sense is that this was the result of steeping the “self” in true awareness – in silent meditation for hours each day – and it is this silent presence with ALL THAT IS that is missing with the relative busyness right now."
A few key clarifications first: There was never anyone who had anything, and there is no one who will ever have anything, much less lose anything.
Instead, contact has been lost with the pure consciousness as a result of programming, conditioning, acculturation, domestication, brainwashing, and indoctrination, and with the pure consciousness having been blocked, there is no way to make contact with the inner resource - the inner guru - that can reveal once again the Original Nature (of Awareness) that can facilitate being Aware of Awareness while the consciousness is manifested and unblocked.
Next, continuing expectations about what Realization is "supposed to look like," muddied by lingering misperceptions about how the Realized are supposed to talk and behave, will set the stage for confusing (a) feeling with (b) what is actually emoting.
The Realized can and most assuredly do feel, but they watch feelings rise and fall without becoming emotionally intoxicated; the Realized no longer have any capacity for emoting (i.e., for becoming and remaining emotionally intoxicated). Only ego-states can emote.
Next, "awe and bliss" are not typically expressed through "tears," though the Realized might cry on occasion, or not. Such emoting is not, however, the frequent - much less the everyday or permanent - condition among the Realized.
Finally, few have the luxury of relaxing in "silent meditation for hours a day," and that is a process that is not needed at all. (Does a deer have to meditate daily in order to relax and be at peace? That would be a totally unnatural process.) Meditation is a tool to be used only to take a Realized teacher's pointers into fully-awake, fully-conscious contemplation, to use the tool to Realize, and then to abandon afterwards because natural abidance will begin happening spontaneously.
So many over the last 24+ years whose paths have crossed the one here have claimed to have "lost something they once had." The reason they are mistaken is because they never really had what they thought they had at all. And that applies to the erroneous belief of those who think they "had" Realization as much as it applies to those who are now miserable ...
because they were in awe of a partner and were in a high state of emotional bliss but think they lost that; or
because they think they "had a spouse or lover" but lost that;
or because they think they "had a wonderful family and ideal parents" but lost that.
There is no difference in any of those distortions, whether discussing "things relative" or "things beyond the relative."
One setup for failing to see clearly the way that things really are in one's relative existence involves expectations.
EXPECTATIONS:
I expect to have an ideal family someday, which is one like my family of origin. (Had two siblings? Then the plan must be to have three children in one's future family. Went to mass as a family at a Catholic Church every Sunday? Then one's own future family must most assuredly attend mass together every Sunday).
Some other reasons persons think they are unhappy because their expectations were not met include the following:
I expected my husband to be faithful forever.
I expected my wife to maintain her figure.
I expected my husband to maintain his work habits, but he's "found peace" now and says he can work less and we can get by on less.
I expected my husband to get rid of many of his bad habits once we married.
I expected that once I married my lover, I could change him.
I expected that after I married my lover, she would never change.
I expect my child to always behave the right way.
I am "A Values Voter" so I expect my politicians to support the same moral and religious values I hold dear.
I expect people in my country to follow the same Christian / Muslim / Jewish / Hindu dogma and values that THE MAJORITY of the people here follow.
I expect my spouse to always be as hot and sexy as was the case when we were dating.
I expect my spouse to accept the religion that I have been a member of for my entire life.
My spouse is a member of the same religion that I am a member of, and I expect him / her to never change their beliefs about our dogma.
I expect my guru to be free of the use of tobacco, so Maharaj could not have been Realized.
I expect my guru to behave in the exact way that I think the Realized will behave.
I expect to be treated with respect.
I expect to be walked on like a doormat.
To expand on one of Louise's metaphors from the "Whisperings" series that just ran on this site, consider "the mountain" and "the pebble." There are those who go through the relative existence feeling as if they are a mountain when they are really more like a pebble; there are others who go through the relative existence feeling as if they are a pebble when they are really more like a mountain.
The former will become egomaniacs; the latter will develop inferiority complexes. Moreover, some buy into one of those self-concepts at one moment and the opposite at another moment, so they behave as egomaniacs with inferiority complexes. Talk about duality, experiencing quite the relative challenge (and being quite the relative challenge for those dealing with them).
The non-dual understanding makes clear that I am nothing but am also everything: a sense of nothingness results from having rejected all personal identification; a sense of everything-ness comes with an understanding of the Unicity.
If one were to believe that any of the expectations that were catalogued above could come true and remain true, one might as well also believe this:
"If you come to one of the retreats which are conducted here on Lake Conroe, you can expect to see this sunset every night while you are here. You will be able to view the exact same clouds, and exact same tints of blue and orange, guaranteed. Expect it."
Wisdom and sanity provide the ability to distinguish between emotions and feelings and the ability to no longer be fooled by "self" or "others." Ego-states will always generate emotional intoxication whereas the Pure Witnessing allows for witnessing feelings as they rise and fall without setting into motion a series of events that generate emotional intoxication and discontentment and chaos.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
13 November 2013
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
[NOTICES:
1. Upcoming Post: The next series will be entitled: "EXPECTATIONS and DESIRES: The Impediments That Block Any Chance for Sanity, Wisdom, and Full Realization to Manifest." [In preparation, you're invited to find the answer you would give to these two questions: "Material things aside, what is the one thing above all else that you would wish for your child?" and "To that end, material things aside, what is the single thing above all else that you would want for yourself?"]
2. I will be leaving town to visit Andy Gugar, Jr., the editor of two anthologies of non-dual, Nisargan books: the four-volume "Advanced Seekers' Series" and the six-volume "Blissful Abidance Series." The new series of postings referenced above will begin in a few days
3. To continue: it was noted recently that the series which inspired the highest level of response on this site in its longer-than-nine-year history was offered by Louise Sterling, former co-host of the blog. Louise is a professional writer operating out of Cape Town, South Africa, and the pointers which she offers are delivered via the Direct Path Teaching Method in combination with the Nisarga Yoga (as has always been the case here as well). Because so many new visitors have come to this site since she first shared over three-and-a-half-years ago the pointers in her series entitled "Love Whisperings of Advaita," it is being offered again. Note: All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced, displayed, modified or distributed without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder. © 2010 Louise Sterling.
4. Louise shared this pointer from Maharaj "Just as you do not need to worry about growing hair, so I need not worry about words"; thus, we extend thanks to Louise for not needing to worry about words and for allowing the unblocked consciousness to speak through her non-dual LOVE WHISPERINGS which conclude today.]
Louise: [Note: This posting is aimed at those who have removed most of the conceptual identifications and are ready to shift from the final persona identification as seeker. It is not aimed at beginners.]
You are already the changeless, permanent Reality. You are the ocean – the sandstone rock appears in You. You are the mountain – the pebble appears in You. Temporarily, here in this relative world, and you feel like you are lost. You feel a sense of Who You Are, but you cannot quite get to it. You have an idea of Realization that eludes you. Friend, how can you lose what you already are?
From My view, You are a mountain crying out “Look I am a pebble.” You are the ocean calling “See I am the sandstone rock.” You take Your already existing natural state – formless, limitless, beyond description – and bind it with a network of ideas that create form, limits and attributes. Then you complain that You are lost. See – all that is required is to trace backwards – to remove what has been added. If You remove the sense of form – formlessness remains.
If you remove the sense of limit, limitlessness remains. If you remove the thousands of attributes, what is without shape, color and identity remains. How can you see what cannot be differentiated? How can you know what is unknowable? You cannot. This “journey” into the source of Yourself is like a falling back into nothing, the void space in which all limited forms are created.
You want this sense of void and nothing, but you want to experience it at the level of individuality. You want the direct knowledge, without giving up your limited sense of self. It cannot happen. Perhaps in the desperate seeking moments you believe you are ready to relinquish your self-identity, but you do not know how. It is because you are still searching from the point of view as an individual.
See, once and for all, that you are not a limited individual. Intuit the sense of the ground in which this seeking individual appears. It is like an invisible cloth, without attributes, without differentiation. Everything is included. How can You intuit this non-dual reality? Give up your notions of dualism. How can you know One if you think you are two: seeker and realization? Your mind splinters and shatters the Unicity and keeps You as a suffering individual – only because you hold so tightly to this view.
Do not be disheartened. The fiction-filled concepts that create the ties that bind were force-fed to you from early childhood until you learned to regurgitate them yourself. Like any poison, the effects are harmful, but now you can detoxify and restore natural, healthy functioning.
At a certain stage, it is easy to see the obvious lies put forward by your parents and your society – that you are good or bad … and the millions of variations on that basic dualistic equation. First they indoctrinate you into this line of thinking, and when the indoctrination is successful, you internalize it, and you become your own controller – evaluating each word and action as good or bad.
Probably, this is clear to you. What may not be as obvious is how you apply the same evaluative technique to your progress as seeker. The “good” seeker “gets it”, is stabilized in reality, knows directly. The “bad” seeker is lost, confused, “loses it”. How is this different from the “good” child who helps tidy the kitchen and the “bad” child who makes a mess? Eventually, you reach this final duality – how differentiating yourself as seeker with attributes (good or bad) divides the unified field. Please understand, this already present Reality - your true nature - is already pristine.
Anything that is added creates the abyss of separation. What about the additions you make of “lost” and “hopeless” and “confused”? What about the additions you make of “at one with”, “sacred” and “holy”? Just because you like these notions and believe they are “accurate” or “pure” does not mean they are not additions. What happens when you drop these final concepts; these final ideas you are clinging to; these final attributes that create the abyss of separation?
The seven-step “journey” offered via this site pinpoints the veils of misidentification that must be removed for what is true to be known. If you have been at this quest for a long time, return to the beginning. Have you fully removed all that needs to be removed at each stage of the journey? Are there concepts and beliefs that you are still holding as precious?
If all has been removed at the level of body, mind and personality yet still a trace of individuality remains, see if you can discern the final spiritual persona. What concepts are you attached to that define you as Advaitin seeker? What beliefs about Realization are you clinging to? Can You discern the motion of this final dualistic dance?
As Maharaj explains:
"Personal entity and enlightenment cannot go together; indeed there is neither entity nor enlightenment ... understanding this deeply is itself enlightenment. Freedom is the unshakeable knowledge of your real nature; it is the total negation of entity-ness.
I am That which represents the absence of what is seen. In spite of listening to all I have said, most of you will continue to identify yourself as a body, and you will look on me as an individual, but I am not that. My real presence is the absence of the phenomena that you see. The question of what one is comes only in manifestation, when one compares with other phenomena. In my state there is no phenomenon; my existence is prior to any manifestation. There can be no question of what I am."
The posts on this blog, the words of “floyd” and “maharaj” are the LOVE whisperings of Advaita – the teachings that erode and dissolve all that is false and conceptual, and point to the reality of Your true nature. Allow these Teachings to wash away the suffering caused by this limited sense of self. Rest in the silence; in the dark blue shade; co-operate with this disentangling that reveals the truth of Who You Are.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
[Again, thanks and gratitude to Louise.]
12 November 2013
1. Upcoming Post: The next series will be entitled: "EXPECTATIONS and DESIRES: The Impediments That Block Any Chance for Sanity, Wisdom, and Full Realization to Manifest." [In preparation, you're invited to find the answer you would give to these two questions: "Material things aside, what is the one thing above all else that you would wish for your child?" and "To that end, material things aside, what is the single thing above all else that you would want for yourself?"]
2. I will be leaving town to visit Andy Gugar, Jr., the editor of two anthologies of non-dual, Nisargan books: the four-volume "Advanced Seekers' Series" and the six-volume "Blissful Abidance Series." The new series of postings referenced above will begin in a few days
3. To continue: it was noted recently that the series which inspired the highest level of response on this site in its longer-than-nine-year history was offered by Louise Sterling, former co-host of the blog. Louise is a professional writer operating out of Cape Town, South Africa, and the pointers which she offers are delivered via the Direct Path Teaching Method in combination with the Nisarga Yoga (as has always been the case here as well). Because so many new visitors have come to this site since she first shared over three-and-a-half-years ago the pointers in her series entitled "Love Whisperings of Advaita," it is being offered again. Note: All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced, displayed, modified or distributed without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder. © 2010 Louise Sterling.
4. Louise shared this pointer from Maharaj "Just as you do not need to worry about growing hair, so I need not worry about words"; thus, we extend thanks to Louise for not needing to worry about words and for allowing the unblocked consciousness to speak through her non-dual LOVE WHISPERINGS which conclude today.]
Louise: [Note: This posting is aimed at those who have removed most of the conceptual identifications and are ready to shift from the final persona identification as seeker. It is not aimed at beginners.]
You are already the changeless, permanent Reality. You are the ocean – the sandstone rock appears in You. You are the mountain – the pebble appears in You. Temporarily, here in this relative world, and you feel like you are lost. You feel a sense of Who You Are, but you cannot quite get to it. You have an idea of Realization that eludes you. Friend, how can you lose what you already are?
From My view, You are a mountain crying out “Look I am a pebble.” You are the ocean calling “See I am the sandstone rock.” You take Your already existing natural state – formless, limitless, beyond description – and bind it with a network of ideas that create form, limits and attributes. Then you complain that You are lost. See – all that is required is to trace backwards – to remove what has been added. If You remove the sense of form – formlessness remains.
If you remove the sense of limit, limitlessness remains. If you remove the thousands of attributes, what is without shape, color and identity remains. How can you see what cannot be differentiated? How can you know what is unknowable? You cannot. This “journey” into the source of Yourself is like a falling back into nothing, the void space in which all limited forms are created.
You want this sense of void and nothing, but you want to experience it at the level of individuality. You want the direct knowledge, without giving up your limited sense of self. It cannot happen. Perhaps in the desperate seeking moments you believe you are ready to relinquish your self-identity, but you do not know how. It is because you are still searching from the point of view as an individual.
See, once and for all, that you are not a limited individual. Intuit the sense of the ground in which this seeking individual appears. It is like an invisible cloth, without attributes, without differentiation. Everything is included. How can You intuit this non-dual reality? Give up your notions of dualism. How can you know One if you think you are two: seeker and realization? Your mind splinters and shatters the Unicity and keeps You as a suffering individual – only because you hold so tightly to this view.
Do not be disheartened. The fiction-filled concepts that create the ties that bind were force-fed to you from early childhood until you learned to regurgitate them yourself. Like any poison, the effects are harmful, but now you can detoxify and restore natural, healthy functioning.
At a certain stage, it is easy to see the obvious lies put forward by your parents and your society – that you are good or bad … and the millions of variations on that basic dualistic equation. First they indoctrinate you into this line of thinking, and when the indoctrination is successful, you internalize it, and you become your own controller – evaluating each word and action as good or bad.
Probably, this is clear to you. What may not be as obvious is how you apply the same evaluative technique to your progress as seeker. The “good” seeker “gets it”, is stabilized in reality, knows directly. The “bad” seeker is lost, confused, “loses it”. How is this different from the “good” child who helps tidy the kitchen and the “bad” child who makes a mess? Eventually, you reach this final duality – how differentiating yourself as seeker with attributes (good or bad) divides the unified field. Please understand, this already present Reality - your true nature - is already pristine.
Anything that is added creates the abyss of separation. What about the additions you make of “lost” and “hopeless” and “confused”? What about the additions you make of “at one with”, “sacred” and “holy”? Just because you like these notions and believe they are “accurate” or “pure” does not mean they are not additions. What happens when you drop these final concepts; these final ideas you are clinging to; these final attributes that create the abyss of separation?
The seven-step “journey” offered via this site pinpoints the veils of misidentification that must be removed for what is true to be known. If you have been at this quest for a long time, return to the beginning. Have you fully removed all that needs to be removed at each stage of the journey? Are there concepts and beliefs that you are still holding as precious?
If all has been removed at the level of body, mind and personality yet still a trace of individuality remains, see if you can discern the final spiritual persona. What concepts are you attached to that define you as Advaitin seeker? What beliefs about Realization are you clinging to? Can You discern the motion of this final dualistic dance?
As Maharaj explains:
"Personal entity and enlightenment cannot go together; indeed there is neither entity nor enlightenment ... understanding this deeply is itself enlightenment. Freedom is the unshakeable knowledge of your real nature; it is the total negation of entity-ness.
I am That which represents the absence of what is seen. In spite of listening to all I have said, most of you will continue to identify yourself as a body, and you will look on me as an individual, but I am not that. My real presence is the absence of the phenomena that you see. The question of what one is comes only in manifestation, when one compares with other phenomena. In my state there is no phenomenon; my existence is prior to any manifestation. There can be no question of what I am."
The posts on this blog, the words of “floyd” and “maharaj” are the LOVE whisperings of Advaita – the teachings that erode and dissolve all that is false and conceptual, and point to the reality of Your true nature. Allow these Teachings to wash away the suffering caused by this limited sense of self. Rest in the silence; in the dark blue shade; co-operate with this disentangling that reveals the truth of Who You Are.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
[Again, thanks and gratitude to Louise.]
12 November 2013
A DAILY CONSIDERATION FOR YOU
[F.: Notices: This is 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.
UPCOMING POST: After the completion of the 11-part series presently being offered, the next series will be entitled: "EXPECTATIONS and DESIRES: The Impediments That Block Any Chance for Sanity, Wisdom, and Full Realization to Manifest."
To continue: it was noted recently that the series which inspired the highest level of response on this site in its longer-than-nine-year history was offered by Louise Sterling, former co-host of the blog. Louise is a professional writer operating out of Cape Town, South Africa, and the pointers which she offers are delivered via the Direct Path Teaching Method in combination with the Nisarga Yoga (as has always been the case here as well). Because so many new visitors have come to this site since she first shared over three-and-a-half-years ago the pointers in her series entitled "Love Whisperings of Advaita," it is being offered again. Note: All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced, displayed, modified or distributed without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder. © 2010 Louise Sterling.]
Louise: The Advaitin Teachings invite You to de-accumulate, eliminate, remove, discard, simplify, de-clutter. The natural state is already present; but it is cluttered over with layers and layers of false conditioning. You do not need to search for and find what is true. What is true is permanent, unchanging. All that is needed is to stop holding onto these false ideas you have about yourself and the world.
Here, the beautiful scene of the garden, the pear tree, the swimming pool is already present; it can be viewed through the study window. If the window is dirty, caked with layers of dust and dirt, the garden will not be visible. It may even be possible not to know the garden is there. Will praying to the garden to reveal itself help? Will visualizing the garden in all its beauty have an effect? No, all that is required is for the filth covering the window to be systematically removed, layer by layer, and the garden will appear. The garden was always present; just the perceiving mechanism was clouded. The “journey” to Realization is like this.
Every day, every week, every month, every year since 2005, “floyd” has offered the Advaitan Teachings via daily postings. Systematically day after day, post after post, pointers are offered to remove the false, to clear the intuitive eyes of perception. If You visit here in this electronic loft, if You take these pointers into the silence, perhaps You are beginning to notice that some of Your false concepts and beliefs are dropping away.
Perhaps You are noticing that the perceiving mechanism is becoming clearer. The invitation is always to shift from the Pre-Realization state, described by "floyd" below:
"Abidance as a person—as one living under the auspices of personality and allowing false personas to drive thoughts and words and deeds—will guarantee fluctuation and instability, will assure times of seeming happiness interspersed throughout times of misery, and will often eventually result in extended periods of total chaos."
As to the Post-Realization state:
To those that were ready for the Ultimate Medicine containing the message of ultimate clarity, [Maharaj] said, “From my angle, you are nothing. You have no identity.”
Now, for the seeker bound up with false identifications, the message (the LOVE whispering) that You are nothing and that You have no identity is not a popular notion. This society enjoys to revere the special and unique "gifts" and talents of the individual. In spiritual personal development circles, extraordinary efforts are made to enhance and develop these talents, "gifts" and abilities.
Why then this radical teaching that points to total annihilation of the individual? What is the freedom you are asking for? Understand that if You want the View of eternity, something must be given up – otherwise that view would be accessible to you right now. You are a pebble on a massive mountain. You want to see with the perspective of the mountain, but do not want to give up your “pebbleness”. Please see the contradiction here.
For all of your life, society has told you that what defines you are your attributes: your gender, your personality traits, your family, your nationality, your race, your culture, your religion, your degree certificate, your partner, your business, your choice of library books, your choice of dog … ad nauseum. The sense of self-identity derived from these attributes keeps you bound.
• Freedom is impersonal – how can you expect to find it when you are so attached to your personhood?
• Freedom is formless – how can you expect to find it when you are committed to your form?
• Freedom is limitless – how can you expect to find it if you are defined by what is particular and limited?
• Freedom is without attributes – how can you expect to find it when you define yourself according to your characteristics?
Identified as a limited individual, You ask again and again: “Why do I not get it?” or “Why is the garden hidden from my view?” Please see, again you identify yourself as the limited subject (the seeker) with a desired object (Realization). Hear these words, if you never hear another whisper on this blog: You are not the limited subject. Just because You believe it presently does not make it true. It is a belief. Once you believed you would love the girl or guy next door forever.
Perhaps you believed in the teachings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses or were an impassioned communist. Perhaps you thought you would wear bell-bottomed jeans for the rest of your life. Where are those beliefs now? What keeps you bound is this false idea you have about yourself – your limited individual form? Understand: You are the ultimate subjectivity – beyond conscious awareness; beyond the senses; beyond duality. This sense of who you are can be intuited. How can you grasp what is beyond grasping? How can you conceive what is beyond conception? How can you name what is beyond name and form?
Perhaps you read these daily postings and wonder why there are so many series on mind intoxication and the effects of personality. Most seekers are not ready to abandon the concept of self-identity instantly. Usually, the Advaitin Teacher must point to false layer after false layer of identification. Initially, the labels, the concepts, the beliefs are removed one by one. With each cleansing rub at the window, with each removal of another falsehood, the suffering eases, the relative life becomes more manageable.
This in itself is a significant improvement. By allowing the Teacher to pinpoint more layers of what is false, and dissolving these in the light of truth, for some, the moment of final dissolution can come. However, to know the mountain, You must give up being a pebble. To know what You truly are, You must give up EVERY notion You have about Yourself. Like the garden outside the window, with the removal of the muck of Your ideas and concepts, what is Real and has always been present will become apparent.
To be concluded tomorrow.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
UPCOMING POST: After the completion of the 11-part series presently being offered, the next series will be entitled: "EXPECTATIONS and DESIRES: The Impediments That Block Any Chance for Sanity, Wisdom, and Full Realization to Manifest."
To continue: it was noted recently that the series which inspired the highest level of response on this site in its longer-than-nine-year history was offered by Louise Sterling, former co-host of the blog. Louise is a professional writer operating out of Cape Town, South Africa, and the pointers which she offers are delivered via the Direct Path Teaching Method in combination with the Nisarga Yoga (as has always been the case here as well). Because so many new visitors have come to this site since she first shared over three-and-a-half-years ago the pointers in her series entitled "Love Whisperings of Advaita," it is being offered again. Note: All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced, displayed, modified or distributed without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder. © 2010 Louise Sterling.]
Louise: The Advaitin Teachings invite You to de-accumulate, eliminate, remove, discard, simplify, de-clutter. The natural state is already present; but it is cluttered over with layers and layers of false conditioning. You do not need to search for and find what is true. What is true is permanent, unchanging. All that is needed is to stop holding onto these false ideas you have about yourself and the world.
Here, the beautiful scene of the garden, the pear tree, the swimming pool is already present; it can be viewed through the study window. If the window is dirty, caked with layers of dust and dirt, the garden will not be visible. It may even be possible not to know the garden is there. Will praying to the garden to reveal itself help? Will visualizing the garden in all its beauty have an effect? No, all that is required is for the filth covering the window to be systematically removed, layer by layer, and the garden will appear. The garden was always present; just the perceiving mechanism was clouded. The “journey” to Realization is like this.
Every day, every week, every month, every year since 2005, “floyd” has offered the Advaitan Teachings via daily postings. Systematically day after day, post after post, pointers are offered to remove the false, to clear the intuitive eyes of perception. If You visit here in this electronic loft, if You take these pointers into the silence, perhaps You are beginning to notice that some of Your false concepts and beliefs are dropping away.
Perhaps You are noticing that the perceiving mechanism is becoming clearer. The invitation is always to shift from the Pre-Realization state, described by "floyd" below:
"Abidance as a person—as one living under the auspices of personality and allowing false personas to drive thoughts and words and deeds—will guarantee fluctuation and instability, will assure times of seeming happiness interspersed throughout times of misery, and will often eventually result in extended periods of total chaos."
As to the Post-Realization state:
To those that were ready for the Ultimate Medicine containing the message of ultimate clarity, [Maharaj] said, “From my angle, you are nothing. You have no identity.”
Now, for the seeker bound up with false identifications, the message (the LOVE whispering) that You are nothing and that You have no identity is not a popular notion. This society enjoys to revere the special and unique "gifts" and talents of the individual. In spiritual personal development circles, extraordinary efforts are made to enhance and develop these talents, "gifts" and abilities.
Why then this radical teaching that points to total annihilation of the individual? What is the freedom you are asking for? Understand that if You want the View of eternity, something must be given up – otherwise that view would be accessible to you right now. You are a pebble on a massive mountain. You want to see with the perspective of the mountain, but do not want to give up your “pebbleness”. Please see the contradiction here.
For all of your life, society has told you that what defines you are your attributes: your gender, your personality traits, your family, your nationality, your race, your culture, your religion, your degree certificate, your partner, your business, your choice of library books, your choice of dog … ad nauseum. The sense of self-identity derived from these attributes keeps you bound.
• Freedom is impersonal – how can you expect to find it when you are so attached to your personhood?
• Freedom is formless – how can you expect to find it when you are committed to your form?
• Freedom is limitless – how can you expect to find it if you are defined by what is particular and limited?
• Freedom is without attributes – how can you expect to find it when you define yourself according to your characteristics?
Identified as a limited individual, You ask again and again: “Why do I not get it?” or “Why is the garden hidden from my view?” Please see, again you identify yourself as the limited subject (the seeker) with a desired object (Realization). Hear these words, if you never hear another whisper on this blog: You are not the limited subject. Just because You believe it presently does not make it true. It is a belief. Once you believed you would love the girl or guy next door forever.
Perhaps you believed in the teachings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses or were an impassioned communist. Perhaps you thought you would wear bell-bottomed jeans for the rest of your life. Where are those beliefs now? What keeps you bound is this false idea you have about yourself – your limited individual form? Understand: You are the ultimate subjectivity – beyond conscious awareness; beyond the senses; beyond duality. This sense of who you are can be intuited. How can you grasp what is beyond grasping? How can you conceive what is beyond conception? How can you name what is beyond name and form?
Perhaps you read these daily postings and wonder why there are so many series on mind intoxication and the effects of personality. Most seekers are not ready to abandon the concept of self-identity instantly. Usually, the Advaitin Teacher must point to false layer after false layer of identification. Initially, the labels, the concepts, the beliefs are removed one by one. With each cleansing rub at the window, with each removal of another falsehood, the suffering eases, the relative life becomes more manageable.
This in itself is a significant improvement. By allowing the Teacher to pinpoint more layers of what is false, and dissolving these in the light of truth, for some, the moment of final dissolution can come. However, to know the mountain, You must give up being a pebble. To know what You truly are, You must give up EVERY notion You have about Yourself. Like the garden outside the window, with the removal of the muck of Your ideas and concepts, what is Real and has always been present will become apparent.
To be concluded tomorrow.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
You can also scroll down through the book section below if interested in receiving a free copy of the eBook
entitled
"GOOD vs. EVIL?" or "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and INSANITY?"
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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.
* * * * * * *
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entitled
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Just hang on to those please.
Just hang on to those please.
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";
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.
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
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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Within minutes of purchase you can be reading any of the eBooks below on your mobile devices, including an iPhone, iPad, Android tablet, Android phone, laptop, home computer or on a Kindle reader.
For Apple and Android, either download the eBook directly onto your device or email the eBook file to your mobile device and open the file from your email. For Kindles or other similar devices, use your USB cable to transfer the eBook to your reader.
FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION OF THE NON-DUALITY UNDERSTANDING, AS NOTED ABOVE, SOME SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED BY USING THE METHODS BELOW, OR A COMBINATION OF THE METHODS:
FOR THOSE SEEKING FURTHER EXPLANATION OF THE NON-DUALITY UNDERSTANDING, AS NOTED ABOVE, SOME SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED BY USING THE METHODS BELOW, OR A COMBINATION OF THE METHODS:
WAYS THAT SEEKERS HAVE REALIZED:
I. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk, Seven-Hour Video (DVD) Set of an advaita retreat, or the downloadable file version. To find out more or to purchase the DVD or downloadable computer file version of the retreat, DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
I. BY WATCHING the 4-Disk, Seven-Hour Video (DVD) Set of an advaita retreat, or the downloadable file version. To find out more or to purchase the DVD or downloadable computer file version of the retreat, DVD or Downloadable computer file versions of the Four-Day Advaita Retreat
International buyers: note the separate option for those outside the continental U.S.
II. BY READING the explanations offered in the collection of non-duality books that are available on this site and at www.floydhenderson.com.
III. 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
IV. BY ATTENDING an Advaitin retreat with floyd and being guided through all seven steps. For details of the retreats offered, please visit the retreat information site.
V. BY ARRANGING a one-hour session via Skype or telephone with Floyd. (Skype is a free service.)
Click the button to pay and you will be contacted to arrange a date and time for the call.
VI. ALL OF THE FOLLOWING BOOKS are available at
Floyd Henderson's Website
and
ALL CAN BE SENT TO FRIENDS OR FAMILY MEMBERS AS GIFTS
[details at floydhenderson.com. Once on that site, click on the picture of the book you would like to send as a gift for details]
This anthology of four books by Floyd Henderson contains the volumes that make up what has been called "The Advanced Seekers' Series" for those seeking Realization via the Advaita teachings
This anthology contains the six books that make up what has been called "The Blissful Abidance Series" for those seeking to live blissfully and happily for the remainder of the manifestation, including these books
This book can be read as a "Stand-Alone eBook" or as a "Companion Piece" or "Follow-Up" to be read after "When Only Three Hours of Manifestation Remain."
After having guided over 8,000 people through the Twelve Steps, the focus eventually turned toward working with the few who have been seeking recovery for some time but sense that "there must be something more" or who have said, "I am still not where I want to be." A few - even with double-digit "sobriety" - have said, "I don't want to drink ... I want to die."
NOW ACCEPTING REQUESTS FOR FREE COPIES OF THE FOLLOWING EBOOK:
A free copy of the 278-page eBook entitled
"GOOD vs. EVIL?" or "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and INSANITY?"
is available to be sent to you and anyone else you choose.
The book will be emailed to you as a PFD attachment upon request
Gift copies can also be sent to your friends and relatives. The eBook
can be read on any computer (using Adobe, for example) or can be
transferred to any electronic reader or tablet or phone for reading.
Open the attachment via the email on your iPad or Android tablet or
phone and begin reading.
[Please note: When the Direct Path Teaching Method is offered in conjunction with the Nisarga Yoga, something unique results when compared to what happens via the approach used by religions, spiritual movements, philosophies, ideologies, etc.:
rather than inviting seekers to learn more, the invitation here is to unlearn all; rather than offerings teachings, what is offered are unteachings; rather than offering to provide seekers more of anything, seekers will find that the process will take away everything. And via that process, the bliss of Your Original Nature will manifest and remain until mahasamadhi is taken.
To that end, the content of this book will seem radical to the seekers of more, but for those truly ready to be totally free and totally independent - and for those who are truly ready to abandon efforts to accumulate and to de-accumulate instead - the pointers in this book might be relevant.]
To receive your free copy, or to have us send a free copy to your friends or relatives, send your email address (or their addresses) to the following:
(Sorry, but for security reasons, we no longer have a clickable link. You will have to type in our gmail address above. By the way, your email addresses will never be used to contact you or your friends or relatives and email addresses will never be shared with anyone else.)
Simply state in your email that you want the book sent as a gift to you (or as a gift from you to as many people as you like. Copies are now ready to be sent.)
FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE: A Seven-Step Journey to the Absolute
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CONSCIOUSNESS / AWARENESS
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FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
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THE FINAL UNDERSTANDING
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THE ADVANCED SEEKERS' SERIES
This anthology of four books by Floyd Henderson contains the volumes that make up what has been called "The Advanced Seekers' Series" for those seeking Realization via the Advaita teachings
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
THE BLISSFUL ABIDANCE SERIES
This anthology contains the six books that make up what has been called "The Blissful Abidance Series" for those seeking to live blissfully and happily for the remainder of the manifestation, including these books
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ AND HIS EVOLUTION
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THE FINAL FIFTEEN TOPICS DISCUSSED BY SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ
This book can be read as a "Stand-Alone eBook" or as a "Companion Piece" or "Follow-Up" to be read after "When Only Three Hours of Manifestation Remain."
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
A TWELVE-STEP JOURNEY TO SELF-TRANSFORMATION
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A GUIDE FOR WORKING THE STEPS (IN THE MANNER USED BY THE FOUNDERS)
The author of this book is also the co-author of a book with Mark Houston entitled "A Twelve-Step Journey to SELF-Transformation" 
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
THE TWELVE STEPS AND ADVAITA / NON-DUALITY: A 21-DAY PLAN FOR A PSYCHIC CHANGE
After having guided over 8,000 people through the Twelve Steps, the focus eventually turned toward working with the few who have been seeking recovery for some time but sense that "there must be something more" or who have said, "I am still not where I want to be." A few - even with double-digit "sobriety" - have said, "I don't want to drink ... I want to die."
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
SELF-TRANSFORMATION MEDITATION GUIDE (VOLUME ONE)
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SELF-TRANSFORMATION MEDITATION GUIDE (VOLUME TWO)
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WHY NISARGA YOGA IN ADDITION TO THE ADVAITA TEACHINGS?
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A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE via the Non-Duality Teachings and the Nisarga Yoga
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YOUR ORIGINAL NATURE
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GOING CRAZY / GOING SANE
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INSTABILITY / INSANITY: WHAT THE ADVAITA TEACHINGS CAN (AND CANNOT) ADDRESS
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THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (THERE IS ONLY PEACE IF YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR MIND)
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FREEDOM FROM SHIFTING BETWEEN STATES OF HAPPINESS AND UNHAPPINESS
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THE ULTIMATE SICKNESS / THE ULTIMATE MEDICINE
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PROGRAMMING, CONDITIONING, DOMESTICATION, AND ACCULTURATION (THE SOURCES OF THE ULTIMATE SICKNESS & THE NON-DUALITY TREATMENT)
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"WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?"
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THE MYTH OF "DEATH"
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THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS: THE SIMPLICITY OF REALIZATION
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FINDING REAL LOVE IN AN UNREAL WORLD
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CASTING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIONSHIPS
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OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF BEING TOTALLY INDEPENDENT
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THE NON-DUALITY POINTERS OFFERED BY YESHU'A ("JESUS THE CHRIST")
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
NOW ACCEPTING REQUESTS FOR FREE COPIES OF THE FOLLOWING EBOOK:
A free copy of the 278-page eBook entitled
"GOOD vs. EVIL?" or "IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and INSANITY?"
is available to be sent to you and anyone else you choose.
The book will be emailed to you as a PFD attachment upon request
[Please note: When the Direct Path Teaching Method is offered in conjunction with the Nisarga Yoga, something unique results when compared to what happens via the approach used by religions, spiritual movements, philosophies, ideologies, etc.:
rather than inviting seekers to learn more, the invitation here is to unlearn all; rather than offerings teachings, what is offered are unteachings; rather than offering to provide seekers more of anything, seekers will find that the process will take away everything. And via that process, the bliss of Your Original Nature will manifest and remain until mahasamadhi is taken.
To that end, the content of this book will seem radical to the seekers of more, but for those truly ready to be totally free and totally independent - and for those who are truly ready to abandon efforts to accumulate and to de-accumulate instead - the pointers in this book might be relevant.]
To receive your free copy, or to have us send a free copy to your friends or relatives, send your email address (or their addresses) to the following:
(Sorry, but for security reasons, we no longer have a clickable link. You will have to type in our gmail address above. By the way, your email addresses will never be used to contact you or your friends or relatives and email addresses will never be shared with anyone else.)
Simply state in your email that you want the book sent as a gift to you (or as a gift from you to as many people as you like. Copies are now ready to be sent.)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE ADVAITIN
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
WHEN ONLY THREE HOURS OF MANIFESTATION REMAIN (THE "FINAL" TALKS OF FLOYD HENDERSON)
For more information on this book, or to purchase a copy now, click:
I AM THAT (vs. "This Is Who I Think I Am")
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QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS DEALING WITH NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA, AND MORE
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DANCING LIGHTLY
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THE PATH TO FREEDOM VS. THE PATH TO MISERY
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THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS PERSONAL (INCLUDING YOU AND INCLUDING GOD)
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LIBERATION (ATTAINING FREEDOM FROM PERSONALITY VIA REALIZATION)
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WHY YOU MUST BE EMPTY IF YOU WOULD BE FULL
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FREEDOM FROM BELIEFS (Believers, Non-Believers, and "No-Belief-ers")
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WHEN REALITY IS OVERLAID ON THE RELATIVE
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THE RELATIVE RESULTS OF RETURNING TO "THE CHILD IGNORANCE STAGE" OR "THE CHILD NO-KNOWING STATE"
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WHAT BLISS IS AND WHAT BLISS IS NOT
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THE TWICE-STOLEN NECKLACE MURDERS
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THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS
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LESSONS IN NON-DUALITY FROM TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA
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A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE FIRST STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
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A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE SECOND STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
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A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE THIRD STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
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A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE FOURTH STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
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A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE FIFTH STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
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A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE SIXTH STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
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A SERIES OF ESSAYS DISCUSSING THE SEVENTH STEP ON THE SEVEN-STEP PATH TO REALIZATION
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SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (RECOVERING WHAT RELIGIONS LOST)
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IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (AND WHY KNOWING IT SETS YOU FREE)
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RELATED TOPICS: alcoholism treatment, enneagram, addiction, Mark Houston, non-duality, non-duality ebooks, liberation, enlightenment, liberation, realization, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, unity, oneness.
