Part "I": ADDITIONAL UNDERSTANDINGS VIA THE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT

Today's Considerations

8. Richard finally came to realize, to understand, that this "advaitin / non-duality deal" is not about meditating or about being purified or about replacing old, "bad" identities with "new and improved" identities (the kind exposed in such "specialness"-based proclamations as "I am the Supreme Self" or "I am THAT only," etc.)

Richard said at the end of his account, "Floyd, your pointers, particularly those that talk about Maharaj's teachings about the mind, resonated. They reminded me very much of Maharaj's intensity and uncompromising teachings."

That clarity did finally come to Richard is affirmed by his also focusing in the end on "the mind," understanding that Maharaj's Ultimate attention in the end was on the mental roots of the Ultimate Sickness and on how to treat the mental illnesses which plague the relative existence of the masses.

Maharaj focused all along on the body-identification and mind-identification and personality-identification aspects of the Sickness. The variable over the years was in regards to the treatment plan he recommended as his focus shifted from trying to use a religious / non-dual compound version of the Ultimate Medicine to trying to use a spiritual / non-dual compound version of the Ultimate Medicine to finally focusing on the mental issues alone.

Those who came to his later talks expecting to be inspired by profoundly-lofty spiritual pointers left disappointed. Their assumed ego-states were not affirmed. Even as he invited seekers to function in the manner of their Original Nature, he emphasized above all that they should abide naturally and stop trying to abide "supernaturally" (that is, "spiritually" or driven by magical thinking).

It is shared in the eBook "Your Original Nature" that Maharaj said to those seeking some higher level or plane: "There is no question of elevating to a higher level. Here it is only a question of understanding." As a result of not understanding, many seek - or claim to have found - some "lofty" or "superior" or "noble" identity, but Maharaj affirmed that no state with lofty attributes exists.

To point toward that / THAT, he used (in addition to "Your Original Nature" or "Your Original State") such terms as "Your Natural State," "The Original State," "The True State," "The Natural Condition," "The Normal State," "The Formless State," "The Ultimate State," and other similar terms.

In the end, Maharaj's mind-focused talks endorsed all that is "normal" and "natural" rather than what some take to be "lofty" or "special" or "superior," and if the true nature of one's Original Nature is understood, then "the search" will take a totally different (and far more modest and far less pretentious and far more simple and normal and natural) direction.

Maharaj's invitation was to "merge into the Original State," saying, "Our True Nature is perpetually free, peaceful awareness." He explained that, "Once it is known what is temporary and what One's Original State is, no further knowledge is needed."

He taught this as well: "That 'I AM' is a concept to be understood while the concept is there. Once it merges into the Original State, who is there who wants to know? The illusory entity has disappeared." He said, "The Original State is beyond concepts" and "In the Original State there is no sense of consciousness, no awareness of being, but as soon as the I-AMness comes, the entire manifestation is seen at once. This is the expression of the consciousness."

Richard came to understand that the consciousness cannot be impure and therefore does not need to be "purified." He came to understand that the only thing being called for is the removal of the blockages which were set in place via faulty programming, conditioning, etc. and that prevent the consciousness from witnessing clearly and accurately.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

Part "H": ADDITIONAL UNDERSTANDINGS VIA THE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT

Today's Considerations

7. For a second time, three years after his first visit to the loft, "richard" found his way to India; to the city of Bombay (Mumbai); then into the Khetwadi section of the city; then to the "Vanamali Mansion" on the 10th lane (actually just a small bye-lane, noted most for "noise, squalor, and stench"); 

then he would have seen, by looking up at the first floor, (the second floor in U.S. nomenclature) the shutters in front of the three narrow windows of the loft pushed open in the hope of allowing at least a slight bit of air to enter and to be circulated somewhat by the use of an electric fan standing in the corner of the small room.

For the second time, richard would have climbed again a short flight of stairs to a small landing near the midpoint of the steps leading to the loft above, would have turned to his right, and would have then ascended the remaining stairs which provided access to the loft. He would have entered a small room and seen Maharaj still seated, still waiting to begin his first session of the day, punctually, at 10 A.M.

It took little time for richard to be singled out by Maharaj who understood, after one question from richard, that in the three-year interval since his first visit richard had still not come to understand anything and was still clinging to the useless meditation practices which richard still believed (in spite of all of the contrary evidence) would somehow, someday, finally kick in and improve his material life.

It was obvious that in the case of "richard," the readiness to understand was simply still not present, blocked as it was by an attachment to a teacher who was misguiding him and by an attachment to a method which he felt he had mastered fairly well and which would one day lead to his receiving everything he desired (if only Maharaj could explain how he needed to fine-tune his practices in order to make them effective).

That mindset was nothing new to Maharaj because he always found the lack of readiness and the subsequent lack of understanding to be the rule rather than the exception: his wife never understood him (that is, never grasped an understanding of his message), and while many seekers traveled thousands of miles to hear his message, his four children had no interest in the words of wisdom which they could have heard by walking up a winding set of stairs.

In his inimitable style, which often including trying to shock his visitors into an awakened state in order for them to be able to break free of the bondage of the nonsense which they were stubbornly clinging to in their sleep, Maharaj confronted richard again, asking, "Do you think I am some wallah (seller) of false knowledge about a false self, sold by those who want money and prestige from the ignorant who would be sold / told how to get that by meditation?"

Then, Richard explains, "i wanted to disappear." 

How ironic, since that is exactly what Maharaj was aiming for!

Richard would eventually come to understand that the false "i" - in fact, the multiple false "i's" - must disappear if "Awakening, Realization, Enlightenment, and Liberation" are to appear . . . are to manifest and thereafter mark the remainder of the relative existence. What had to disappear in his case? The belief in "The Super Teacher of Meditation"; the belief in "The One Who Shall One Day Receive All of the Benefits and Rewards of Having Purified the Consciousness"; the belief in "The Super Seeker"; and the belief in dozens and scores of other false identities.

Maharaj was not concerned at all with trying to guide Richard to know "Who he is." He was far more concerned with facilitating the process whereby richard - and all of the other visitors - would come to understand all that they are not. "That," Maharaj said, "is enough."

The ultimate understanding, which can only come when all false identities are rejected, reveals the Absolute - the awareness - which can manifest as the consciousness (which, in turn, allows all distorting and misperceiving to happen). To discard all of the distortions and misperceptions is to pave the way for understanding THAT, for understanding one's Original Nature.

If one were to understand the exact nature of that Original Condition (explained in detail in the eBook dealing with Your Original Nature below) then one could abide as THAT - and like that - even as the AM-ness continues (and is enjoyed as never before).

In touch with - and mirroring - that no-knowing, no-body, no-mind, no-personal-identity, and prior-to-consciousness condition, the relative existence will then unfold in the same fashion which existed prior to the manifestation of consciousness and prior to all of the nonsense and chaos which the soon-blocked consciousness always generates after being obscured by faulty programming, conditioning, etc.

Abiding as that Original Nature, all is merely witnessed throughout the remainder of the manifestation, and all will be witnessed accurately and sanity and wisely, without any chance of acting and reacting in the former ways which were rooted in inaccurate seeing, in ignorance, and in insanity.

It really is all so simple if one casts aside the complex and complicated concepts and ideas and perceptions and notions and theories (a.k.a., "beliefs") and then abides spontaneously in the all-Nisargan, all-natural, no-beliefs, zero-concepts fashion (which is the way that every living thing on this planet abides except for programmed and conditioned humans).

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

Part "G": ADDITIONAL UNDERSTANDINGS VIA THE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT

Today's Considerations

6. Recall from Michael's account that he said "the gaze [from Maharaj] quieted the mind so much i couldn't really think" and later, "Again, the mind stopped."

Such is the case when the wisdom offered by the unblocked consciousness speaks and offers an invitation to tap into the inner guru or the inner resource (that is, when the unblocked consciousness leads one to bypass the corruptions stored in the mind and to tap into the only source which can actually allow one to connect with the eternal truths which preceded humanity's presenting of lies as truth and fiction as fact).

Here, it became clear by the age of six that I was being taught BS by all of the adults around me - at home, in church, in school. By the mid-60's, it was perfectly and totally clear that the problem with humanity really centers in the mind. After years of detours from the non-dual path, trying during those years to use any and every method and tool available to escape and avoid the effects of constant exposure to the ignorance and insanity of humankind, it became clear again that the problem with humanity is the mind and, being a part of humanity, there was only one mind that needed my attention, namely, my own (which was not really my own but was "theirs" - a storehouse filled not with my concepts and ideas and perceptions - a.k.a., "beliefs" - but with "theirs"). 

In 1989, the detouring was set aside and the focus once more returned to the 1965 awareness that the problems of humanity, as well as all of "my" problems, have forever centered in the mind. Still, the path here was made far too long and far too arduous because of a far-too-strong attachment to the roles assumed at the third of seven steps on the seven-step path taught here (those being the religious and or spiritual roles).

The earlier talks by Maharaj did nothing but reinforce those roles. Then came a vision which laid out the seven steps. Eventually, the later talks of Maharaj were found and reinforced the wisdom of having abandoned the playing of those roles. Between "The Vision" (available in eBook format below without charge) and those later talks, the final mental chains were broken, never to be worn again.

So back to the point raised earlier: for over twenty-six years, the point offered here has been the point that the problem centers in the mind and that the mind must, therefore, end. And for twenty-six years, most seekers who heard that protested that "The mind is required!" and "It is my mind that I use in my search for Realization." No. The mind is not required for Realization. It is the mind which has led to the condition which begs for Realization, and it is the mind which blocks all efforts to Realize.

What is needed is the silence of contemplation (wherein the processing and considering of pointers is undertaken not by the use of the mind but by no-mindedly tapping into the inner (but blocked) wisdom which can only be accessed via the inner resource . . . the inner guru. And that wisdom has nothing in common with anything that has ever been stored in a mind.

If, and only if, that inner resource method is used, then only can there be a redirection away from what is erroneously taken to be "conscious contact" with what is real (and Real) and a redirection away from all of the BS stored in the mind. If that happens, then true conscious contact with Truth will manifest. 

It is ignorance and insanity which renders persons unable to differentiate the true from the false. The ability to differentiate between fact and fiction comes only when conscious contact is established via the inner resource, that is, via the inner-guru-accessed pool of wisdom which has been blocked from awareness by way of bogus and nonsensical programming, conditioning, etc.

As Maharaj finally came to see, the problems of humanity have nothing to do with a shortage of religious beliefs and have nothing to do with a shortage of spiritual beliefs. Both have manifested for thousands of years in excess, not in shortage. Maharaj came to see instead that the problems of humanity are rooted solely in the mind.

And since a sick mind cannot heal a sick mind, then the mind has nothing to do with the processes of "Realization" and "Awakening" and "Enlightenment" and "Liberation" which are all about being freed from the mind, not about "purifying the mind." One may as well try to purify one's garbage that has accumulated in the house and that is stinking up the place completely rather than setting the garbage out for a crew to haul away.

Indeed, the intent of offering wisdom-based pointers is as Michael indicated: "to quiet the mind so much i couldn't really think" and "to stop the mind" completely (rather than for fifteen minutes a day).

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

Part "F": ADDITIONAL UNDERSTANDINGS VIA THE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT

Today's Considerations

5. Michael shared that Maharaj explained to "michael" that he ". . . still wanted to be the one to travel the pathless path, but until I realized the unreality of that one who wanted to travel any path, even a pathless path, all my study was for naught and would be just more ignorance."

Yes, Maharaj over the years discussed each of the steps which make up what is referenced here as "the steps on the seven-step path." Note, however, that Maharaj's pointer above intends, in the end, to de-legitimize "any path" (even including the non-dual "pathless path"). Because he saw that michael was hung up on a purification by meditation path, he encouraged michael once more to forget that path.

If one is lost in a dark forest, would one conclude that "any path is better than no path at all?" Many would, and as a result they wander about blindly without any clear direction at all. But what if one were to offer a map and a compass to the one lost in the darkness? Would it not be better to seek and find the proper path to follow in order to escape the darkness and avoid wasting time and energy by wandering about blindly as if asleep? Yet rare is the instance when any persons are willing to set aside the path they are on and which they are attached to, for whatever reason.

Maharaj had pointed michael in a different direction during his first visit to the loft, but michael's attachment to the path he was on blocked him from even considering the use of a different path. Such is typically the case, so if one first happened to stumble across, say, the Neo-Advaita Method of the non-dual teachings, then that person is unlikely to investigate further and consider whether or not the Direct Path Method might provide a shorter and more efficient route out of the darkness.

The ego which supports ego-states will inspire attachment to one plan before having investigated other possible plans or routes: "To heck with using a compass and a map. Full speed ahead with whatever I came across first - or whatever I was first introduced to. That alone is, for certain, the right method or path."

Yet consider: a child born to French parents and raised in a French-speaking home will grow up to speak French, but if the French parents give that child up to a British couple for adoption, and that couple moves the child to their home in London and raises it there, then that same child will learn to speak English, not French. The same, no-choice scenario also applies to whatever path most humans end up following for life.

Ninety-seven percent of the persons on the planet claim that they are affiliated with one or another of the major organized religions. Did they choose that as the path to follow? Of course not. It was chosen for them and cast upon them. Like the French-born child speaking English for life, if a child is exposed only to the dogma of Islam, that child will likely be a Muslim for life. Same with Jews; same with Christians; same with Hindus. 

Most people never choose a path - "any path" - after careful consideration. They accept the first path they come across, usually. Only a few, comparatively speaking, start playing the role of "The Seeker" at some point, leaving behind the path which was thrust upon them and checking out other options. Yet even those types often select the first alternative path they come across and then stick with it forever.

Maharaj's point was that "any path" - even the non-dual path - should be followed to its end and then abandoned. However, if a person who is lost in the dark forest is never truly intent on finding a path out of the forest but is willing to assume the role of "The Forest Wanderer"; and is willing to be content with endless wandering without ever reaching a final destination; 

and is willing to become so addicted to the role of "The Super Wanderer" or "The Super Seeker" or "The Super Advaitin" (or "The Super Meditation Teacher"); and is willing to be driven by egotism (or by any of the other dozens of ego-defense mechanisms which persons employ to support their false identity / identities / multiple personalities), then that person will never use the path in the intended way which finally leads to a state where no path is any longer required at all.

If truly "Realized," "Enlightened," "Liberated," and "Awakened," then the use of "any path" will end and abidance will happen naturally and spontaneously. All religious work and spiritual work and non-dual work will end, and the remainder of the manifestation will thereafter unfold naturally (as it does for every living thing on the planet - except for humans, as the case is now).

Indeed, the wisdom shared when the consciousness spoke to michael via Maharaj was spot on: 

To travel any path endlessly and for an entire manifestation, even if that happens to be the non-dual pathless path, will be for naught and will only generate more ignorance.

To be satisfied with (or even enamored by) a path which has no end, which never leads one out of the dark forest once and for all, and which never provides an absolute end to all "seeking" and "journeying" is evidence of the fact that the mental problems - which are at the very core of the Ultimate Sickness - are still present and are as influential as ever.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

Part "E": ADDITIONAL UNDERSTANDINGS VIA THE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT

Today's Considerations

1. (continued) So Maharaj's pointer that "the consciousness in the loft is the same as the consciousness on the street" was to make clear to one and all that sitting in a so-called "spiritual environment" and discussing "spiritual" topics and then doing "spiritual" exercises does nothing whatsoever to transform conscious-energy. There is no changing of what is believed to be "impure" consciousness into a "pure" consciousness condition.

That should also make clear that there are no spiritual processes or activities whereby one can attain "pure" consciousness and thereby be rendered "different-from" or "better-than" anyone else, for there is no "one" who can be either. 

In the supposedly "clean, pure" loft or on the filthy street outside the loft, there is no difference because in both places there are but composite unities, each involving an elemental plant food body which is circulating air and which is circulating (replenishing) the supply of conscious-energy within the space of the body by the continual eating of conscious-energy-bearing food.

If the non-dual understanding is grasped, there can be no beliefs about better-than-ment or different-from-ment. Six inches away from the loft - the width of the wall where Maharaj's flat was connected to the flat on the street behind where prostitutes were plying their trade - Maharaj saw no differences at all except for the blockages which had been set in place and which disallowed the consciousness to differentiate between true and false; thus, he said that those who come to the loft and would be capable of hearing truth must be beyond "both sin and virtue."

Extend that point, therefore, to realize the more far-reaching, non-dual truth by understanding that there are no holy places or different places or better places where one can go and be made different from and better than others. How have so many fallen for the lies about such places?

Again, that is the result of dualistic beliefs, including the dualistic belief in reward vs. punishment which has long driven humans. Such beliefs led (a) to the invention of gods and goddesses and - via Abraham - to the invention of a God; (b) to the invention of dogma and pagan religions and eventually to the modern religions which evolved out of paganism; (c) to the invention of spirituality by those who think they are different from and better than religious persons by virtue of those spiritual persons' belief that they are living on "a higher plane"; and (d) to persons being driven by a "payoff mentality" as a result of programming and conditioning.

Maharaj tried to help richard see that there is no "one" to receive a payoff, no "one" to benefit from the meditation practices to which richard was so attached. Similarly, religions dangles carrots, causing persons to develop a payoff mentality; spirituality dangles carrots, causing persons to develop a payoff mentality; capitalism dangles carrots, causing persons to develop a payoff mentality; meditation teachers dangle carrots, causing persons to develop a payoff mentality; big name teachers dangles carrots, causing persons to develop a payoff mentality; and other financial systems and governmental systems and other institutions and organizations and cults and sky cults all dangle carrots, causing persons all around the globe to develop a payoff mentality.

Again, Maharaj made clear that there can be no payoffs because there is no "one" to receive any such benefit or payoff. He would later invite richard to go beyond focusing on all of the "stuff of beingness" and to go even beyond the "stuff of non-beingness." Only after that can abidance happen naturally and spontaneously and lightly. 

So extend Maharaj's point that the loft is not special and cannot make anyone different from or better than anyone else and see the larger truth: people sitting regularly in a church are not different from or better than anyone else; people kneeling on a rug in a mosque throughout the day are not different from or better than anyone else; people sitting in a synagogue are not different from or better than anyone else; 

people sitting around tables in a so-called "spiritual" room or club or group are not different from or better than anyone else; people going to "holy sites" all around the globe are not made different from or better than anyone else; people in authority who are abusing those they believe to be different from and lesser than by virtue of their skin color are actually no different from or better than the ones they are judging and abusing;

and no persons anywhere are made different from or better than what they themselves have always been. The composite unity is what the composite unity is, and it cannot be rendered different from or better than any other composite unity. The only difference is whether the blocked consciousness within has been unblocked . . . or not.

2. Next, consider what was revealed by Richard's self-deprecating style throughout his account. How refreshing and revealing such self-effacement is, for it evidences the fact that self-aggrandizement and self-consciousness and self-deception and self-indulgence have come to an end. The Realized laugh, and they laugh at themselves - at their false selves - and at all of the self-inspired silliness which had driven their personality-based thoughts and words and actions in the past.

By contrast, those who have not realized how bogus their beliefs and false selves and personas are will be quite serious, easily offended, easily enraged, and ready to fight to the end for their bogus beliefs which they have taken, unquestioningly, to be totally true.

3. Moreover, Richard's willingness to expose and poke fun at his earlier bogus beliefs throughout the account provides an opportunity for those involved in the early going along the "path" or "journey" a chance to see the fallacy of their own baseless sense of certainly, the fallacious certainly that they are on the one and only "right" path. That "certainty" is what will block all movement toward realizing Truth and being freed from learned ignorance and then being restored to sanity.

4. Those parts of his account also provide an opportunity to clarify and demystify and de-glorify certain terms which many take - erroneously - to be terms that point to lofty and soaring and towering and elevated states or conditions.

an "awakening": an awakening is nothing more than waking up to the fact that one has been fooled into believing nonsense, into believing that the false is true and that the true is false.

"realizing": is simply becoming able to differentiate the true from the false (that is, being freed of ignorance and insanity).

"liberation": simply refers to having been liberated from the effects of personality identifications, each of which has a basic fear and a basic desire and each of which subconsciously determines the thoughts and words and deeds of all non-Realized persons.

"enlightenment": refers to the shift that comes by having light cast upon the darkness of one's false beliefs, the darkness of one's learned ignorance, and the darkness of insanity. It is the light which allows one to see that the rope was being mistaken for a snake (and to see that, far too often, many snakes were mistakenly seen as harmless ropes). 

By removing the blockages-imposed-darkness, then Pure Witnessing can happen once all is bathed in light.

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

Part "D": ADDITIONAL UNDERSTANDINGS VIA THE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT

Today's Considerations

While Richard's first-hand account of his visits to the loft offers directly some key insights, many other lessons or understandings or awarenesses can also be gleaned from his and Maharaj's words. First (and possibly foremost) is what happened during and after the first visit. The scenario described is so very typical with most seekers:

1. When seekers are being driven by their totally misguided - but highly valued - concepts and beliefs about  "Realization" and "Enlightenment" (and "the rewards of both of those" and "the way to attain bliss"), then finding that which is actually to be sought is not only often delayed but is usually thwarted completely.

It can be seen that "richard's" experience differed not at all from "floyd's" (or, for that matter, from "maharaj's," either): in all three cases, the seeking along the way involved the use of combinations of "ancient pagan and / or more modern dogma" and "Eastern philosophies" and, especially, some very heavy doses of "spiritual principles" as well as the blending of those with non-duality pointers, the latter presented by way of one or more of the four teaching methods of non-duality or by the fifth method which teaches "pseudo non-duality" or by the now-near-innumerable bastardized forms of those four basic methods.

With all three persons, the "paths" being followed passed within sight of the Truth, brushed up against the simplicity of what is to be realized, and offered a chance to question all that was believed at the time and to cast it all aside. Had an awareness of those nearby truths manifested, ignorance could have vanished far sooner; needless work and expense and energy which made a second job out of merely living could have been avoided; and an understanding of what the Ultimate Sickness is really about - and what the Ultimate Medicine is - could have been understood far sooner.

Yet "richard" - attached as he was to his "meditation  practices" and attached as he was to "becoming a teacher of meditation" and attached as he was to the belief that he "could help others by getting them attached to the same activities as well" and attached as he was to "wealthy or big name teachers" - could not hear Maharaj's simple message which richard was offered but ignored. Most seekers really only want their present beliefs affirmed, not challenged and - certainly - not destroyed.

That missed message amounted to the spot on declaration by Maharaj that only ego-states - and the egotism that is use to defend them - can lead one to believe that some few can attain such a thing as "pure consciousness" while the masses will forever be plagued by their "impure consciousness."

Of course the terms "pure consciousness" or "impure consciousness" are used on occasion during certain discussions, but the terms preferred here are "blocked consciousness" vs. "unblocked consciousness."

Maharaj had heard (but ignored or rejected) certain Truisms because they contradicted the words of the guru whom he worshiped for a time. Such was the case as well with "richard" and "floyd" who both failed for years to question anything and everything which they had read and heard and been taught.

What was behind that? Blindness. Ego. Egotism. Stubbornness. And learned ignorance (which was being mistaken for innate wisdom).

There is no "pure" or "impure" consciousness. There is consciousness, period. That is what Maharaj was inviting richard to understand during that first visit when Maharaj asked, "WHO thought he was having the experience of pure consciousness?" If richard had grasped that point, that it is ego and egotism which drive persons to think that they are different-from and better-than because they have a "pure" form of consciousness, then richard would not have been back in the loft later after three years of playing around with "meditation."

Similarly, if Maharaj had grasped early on that the only effective version of the Ultimate Medicine is the one which treats the mental illnesses which follow personality assumption (which leads, in turn, to personality disorders which can lead persons, in turn, into neurotic and psychotic states) then he would not have needed to tell seekers later on to stop reading I AM THAT with all its "spiritual" talks and he would actually have addressed far earlier the ignorance and insanity which mark and mar the relative existence of the non-Realized masses.

The "who's" which Maharaj referred to are ego-states, are totally false identities, and are always rooted in egos (the false "i's") which are supported by egotism. What can happen which impedes the consciousness from seeing clearly and which drives it to buy into distortions and delusions and magical thinking and misperceiving? Is it "impurity"? No. What happens is the implantation of blockages which prevent the consciousness from seeing clearly, from seeing Truth, and from seeing reality as well as Reality. Those blockages are set in place via faulty and perverted and ignorant programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and brainwashing and indoctrination. 

It was the fallacious belief that one can seek and find "pure consciousness" via meditation practices (or any other religious or spiritual or philosophical processes) which Maharaj was trying to help richard see. That is why he told him that - attached to meditation as he was - he was "wasting his time," that he was destined to "travel far and wide," that he would "move from teacher to teacher," and that he "would never understand." Such proved to be the case.

[See, the original purpose of meditation was to take pointers from a teacher into the silence of contemplation, not to try to "still the mind." That is impossible. The answer is to purge the mind of all beliefs and thereby bring it to an end. Maharaj made clear that, with him, there was no more "going into samadhi" and "coming out of samadhi." There was instead the continuous, uninterrupted stillness which comes when a state of "zero concepts" is reached. All around the globe, spiritual and / or religious persons are rising fifteen minutes early to "sit in the quiet and meditate," only to leave the house and behave as raging maniacs later in the day. Maharaj knew that such brief, morning practices were a waste . . . nonsense . . . silliness . . . and insane.]

So what was Maharaj's point that "the consciousness in the loft was the same as the consciousness outside" on the hectic, noisy, chaotic street? Consciousness is consciousness. There is no pure consciousness vs. impure consciousness. There is only blocked or not blocked consciousness. Moreover, WHO wants to think that he or she has "the pure version" while the masses have "the impure version"? And WHO wants to believe that he or she can teach others to become different from and better than those with the impure consciousness by attaining the pure version? And WHO, more to the point, believes that there is a "one" who can attain anything?

The True Self which Maharaj mentioned is nothing more than the Pure Witnessing, not the Pure Consciousness or some lofty Supreme or Infinite or Special Self. That is all the so-called "Self" is. It is a totally impersonal, unblocked form of energy which is capable of witnessing accurately and truthfully. Only ego-states supported by egotism will buy into the notion that their religious or spiritual work had rendered them different from or better than others.

In all spaces on this planet, there has manifested temporarily the consciousness. It is, in fact, conscious-energy, and that energy is energy, period. The conscious-energy manifested in one space differs not at all from the consciousness manifested in any and every other space. And it comes in one variety only. The only difference is whether (a) that speck of conscious-energy has been blocked from seeing accurately via faulty and perverted and ignorant programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation and brainwashing and indoctrination . . . or (b) not.

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

Part "C": A FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF A VISIT TO MAHARAJ'S LOFT

Today's Considerations

[In yesterday's post, Richard was describing the events of his second visit to the loft. To continue:]

"Maharaj talked of the space in the loft being the same as the space in the street outside, which i took to mean the consciousness of the individual was the same consciousness.

"What you have shared about 'Maharaj Mendum Menda,' which caused strong resonance, had me recalling an exchange with Maharaj during that visit." [To find the postings which Richard referenced, dealing with "Maharaj Mendum Menda," you may use the "Search This Blog" feature to the right. Richard continued:] "He was NOT happy with my question of whether abiding in consciousness would make my material life better. VERY not happy! Shouting again.

"i don't remember much of the answer, but he asked something like 'Did i think he was some wallah (seller) of false knowledge about a false self sold by those who wanted money and prestige from the ignorant who would be sold / told how to get that by meditating?'

"i was told that all of this would lead to suffering and misery. (While i sensed he was talking about my teacher at the time, i was so startled by his intensity, i don't remember exactly what was said, but he was NOT pleased by this question. i sensed that he knew i believed - and had a lot invested in - the fact that i had chosen the one and only path to enlightened bliss and material success!)

"Again, I wanted to disappear. He asked me who [what] i was eight days before conception. Again, the mind stopped. What followed were several days of going to see him, listening to the ceremony he performed to his teacher, scribbling notes when i could, trying to soak it all in.

"The last day, Maharaj told me to stay in the Self and i would not need him or any other teacher, that the Self was the only true teacher. While this time i at least had some better idea of what he meant than the first time i heard him, i was still so steeped in the paradigm of my teacher at the time, i could not make sense of much of it.

"Yet, i sensed that there was much power in what he said, even though i had little understanding. Thirty years later, those words still resonate, still bring stillness. At the time, i didn't realize the value of those words, the fact that i was hearing pure, unvarnished, no-punches-pulled Truth with a capital T. 

"Your pointers, particularly those that talk about Maharaj's teachings about the mind, resonated. They reminded me very much of Maharaj's intensity and uncompromising teachings.

"I can only imagine how he would respond to recent, popular, 'now' teachings. Floyd, thanks so much for presenting the pointers and teachings without compromise."

                                                                     ---Richard

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

Part "B": A FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF A VISIT TO MAHARAJ'S LOFT

Today's Considerations

[Continued from yesterday, when Richard was describing his having been confronted by Maharaj during Richard's first visit to the loft. Richard confessed that he actually understood far less than he had imagined regarding what "Realization" and "the journey" are actually about. It was also upon that occasion that he was presented with his first chance to understand how misguided his search had been over the years, an opportunity not fully appreciated at the time because his "spiritual" ego-states were blocking the possibility. That led to many more years of wasted time and effort involved with "teaching meditation" and still seeking rather than with Realizing and then merely abiding naturally. His story continues, flashing forward three years after that first encounter with Maharaj.]

"i finished training as a meditation teacher, determined to save the world. i also finished law school and worked for a big law firm. During the time in training to become a meditation teacher, i heard a talk by my teacher at the time that the whole journey was a 'pathless path'. That really struck me and puzzled me.

"Here we were with a paint-by-the-numbers approach to enlightenment - 'do this and then this and then this state results' - but here was the teacher saying that it was a pathless path. Thought about it for a long time and was reminded of what Nisargadatta Maharaj had talked about.

"So, i practiced law while at the same time teaching at the meditation center. Got into hot water for mentioning the 'pathless path' to other teachers and how we were all . . . on one level . . . already there.

"Asked my teacher about how i was teaching and was told that what i was doing was exactly what he wanted and i should keep doing what i was doing. Asked about the 'pathless path' and he repeated that i should keep doing what i was doing.

"Still wondered if that torrent of words Maharaj had spoken could be relevant. Read I AM THAT. Resonated with some of it, but some of it seemed confusing and contradictory. Talked the firm into a leave of absence to go back to Europe to see my teacher.

"While there, I bumped into the same friend who had gone to see Nisargadatta Maharaj with me. One day he simply asked, 'Wanna go?' We both knew what he meant, and soon we were again climbing the stairs to Maharaj's loft.

"i got to ask Maharaj my burning question: 'My teacher had prescribed a path, yet said it was a pathless path. Maharaj had followed his teacher's instruction to abide in the I AM, yet he said that the I AM - the THAT - was never born, will never die, we are THAT. So what was to be done?'

"The same intense stare came from Maharaj, and after some time he said something like (again, the gaze quieted the mind so much i couldn't really think) that he was speaking from his level of consciousness but that i was trying to use the information as an individual though he was not speaking as an individual.

"He said that i 'still wanted to be the one to travel the pathless path, but until i realized the unreality of that one who wanted to travel any path, even a pathless path, all my study was for naught and would  just be more ignorance.'

"Although the words did not make sense at the time, something was going on in the awareness that was so profoundly still i could barely breathe, much less speak.

"He told me i was seeking the experience of beingness but needed to experience the non-beingness and that which is beyond the non-beingness. i'm sure my facial expression was like that of a dog that had just been shown a card trick."

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

Part "A": A FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF A VISIT TO MAHARAJ'S LOFT

Today's Considerations

 The eBook below dealing with "Maharaj's Evolution" includes some of the considerations offered years before by Maharaj to a visitor to this site named Richard. Richard provided a first-hand account which reveals what "Super Seeking" can look like; which shows why the "journey" often becomes a far-too-long and far-too-arduous task; and illustrates how a few simple but quite direct words from "a Realized teacher" can bring all of that seeking to an end . . . can allow the Understanding to come . . .  and can thereby allow the peace of a far slower pace (or no pace at all) to mark the remainder of the manifestation. Here are some of Michael's words from that book:

"The intensity of seeking caused me to take a leave of absence from law school in 1976, in part to take a training course to become a teacher of meditation. Plans were made, goodbyes were said to family and friends, tickets were bought; yet when i arrived in France, i was told that the rules had changed and i couldn't participate in the teacher's course.

"Phone calls, pleading, praying, meditating, and eating crepes from street vendors, i finally got the word that i could participate, but because of a change of schedule, i would have to wait for over a month.

"Student budget being what it was, i decided to travel on the cheap through Europe. By chance, i met a fellow who told me of Nisargadatta Maharaj and he wanted to go visit him. One week later we arrived in Bombay / Mumbai.

"Having grown up in New York City, i thought i would be prepared for what i heard was the crowded nature of Bombay and the hustle bustle. Wrong. Squalor, people strewn all over the streets, the smell of fires, cooking - and who knows what else - overwhelmed the senses. That week was a blur.

"We found a hotel close by that we could afford (it was less than $5 a night) and planned to go see Maharaj. My friend knew someone who had been visiting Maharaj, and he made sure it was OK. We knew to bring offerings of fruit and flowers.

"When we made our way through this impoverished neighborhood and stood in front of Maharaj's place, then climbed up impossibly small steps to this loft, i knew very clearly that this could not be a teacher of any value. Wrong again.

"He had pictures of Indian sages and teachers all over; i thought i recognized one or two, but i was a babe in these spiritual woods at the time. Ar first, I did know not even know that Maharaj was Maharaj. He looked so, well, ordinary!

"But his eyes gave him away! He stared at us and at one point fixed his eyes on mine. I couldn't breathe! He began (so i thought) shouting. Actually he was asking my friend where we had come from, where we were staying, very mundane questions.

"Then he gave a talk, in his native language; i had no, and i mean NO, idea what he was talking about, even when translated. At one point, he gestured toward us and started talking very animatedly. The translator said Maharaj was saying that he did not want a lot of followers, that those who were attracted by wealthy teachers deserved what they got.

"i thought that was a bit harsh, since my teacher at the time was very big on positive talk! i was impressed by the fact that, though my friend had not offered that we were followers of a 'big' teacher, somehow Maharaj knew anyway.

"He asked us if we had any questions, and i asked what was the quickest way to stabilize the experience of pure consciousness experienced in meditation. 

"The paradigm i was taught was that if you meditated enough, the fleeting experience of pure consciousness would be stabilized and there all the time. Bliss and all good things would ensue as a result.

"He asked me who was having the experience of pure consciousness. i told him, quite innocently, i was (had no idea of Self-inquiry, direct path, any of that).

"He told me that i had wasted my time coming there, and as long as i thought i would get something out of what i was doing, i would continue to travel far and wide from teacher to teacher and never understand. Again, no idea what he was talking about AND he was yelling at me. Freaked out beyond words.

"He asked me why i wanted to waste my time and his. [Gulp.] Told him i wanted to be enlightened. Wish i could remember more of the torrent of words that he responded with. Knew before it was translated that it wasn't good. Something about before consciousness, something about no one who would benefit, something about never even being born.

"Between not 'supposed' to be there in the first place, getting singled out while trying to remain incognito, having my nice little spiritual worldview challenged, seeing a number of nodding heads and smiles as Maharaj was speaking (again, i thought shouting) i wanted to disappear.

"Whiz kid was freaked out and stumped. Although i did not understand the words when Maharaj was speaking, it stopped me cold. Couldn't think; couldn't speak; got intensely quiet, as quiet as any time in my formal meditation practice.

"While i didn't understand what was being said even after translation, the sensing was that something profound had been offered. Just didn't have the remotest clue of what it meant.

"Fast forward three years."

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

Part Fourteen: WHY THE NON-REALIZED CANNOT SLOW DOWN

Today's Considerations

Yesterday, this was offered for consideration:

The debate about what the proper treatment is for what ails humanity continues. The majority of persons around the globe claim that only their particular holy text and only the words of their particular prophet can address humanity's problems (problems which are actually what Maharaj identified as the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness).

Millions more are members of groups which make the claim that only their special, spiritual book and the special, spiritual message shared by their founder / leader can address their membership's problems and suffering, problems which they claim can only be solved one way - their way - and that is by "being spiritual."

Then these two questions were asked:

Which of those two plans provide a proper, effective treatment for the Ultimate Sickness? Or might Maharaj's understanding about the actual roots of the Ultimate Sickness - and his realization that there is a third (and far more effective) treatment option - actually offer a more viable alternative to the other two plans (which have failed miserably, a fact which any objective witness can admit, just as Maharaj finally admitted)?

That is for the visitors to this site to determine. The invitation is (1) to become willing to question everything that has ever been told by the people who suggest that only a special book and the special words of their special leader can solve the problems being faced by humanity; (2) to then enter into an impartial and objective consideration of the words of Maharaj which he offered after he had tried to use the methods set forth by the leaders of both of the above groups and found that their methods have never worked long-term; and 

(3) to then sit in the silence and see if the truth which you have always known - but which has been blocked from consciousness - might be tapped into and thereby allow you to determine if the third method offered by Maharaj for treating the Ultimate Sickness might make more sense, might seem more logical, might seem to be the wisest option.

Having tried the religious approach with the addition of non-dual pointers, and having tried the spiritual approach with the addition of non-dual pointers, he came to realize the following:

"Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective 'world', in the illusion. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud."

There is no question of elevating to a higher level. Here is it only a question of understanding" (and "understanding" is a mental process . . . not a religious or spiritual process).

"There is no progress."

"First of all, you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and . . . you pray to that God for something good to happen to you."

"Whatever you have tried to understand during your spiritual search will prove false."

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

"I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience."

So?

So "forget spirituality," he said.

Follow your "normal inclinations."

"Do your normal duties."

"Just give up spirituality."

[But what about finding "the True Self" and "The Supreme Self"?]

He said that "it is enough to know what you are not"

and

"I got involved in spirituality, in the business of spirituality, [but] finally I lost that love of Self also. I have no more love for the Self."

[So after giving up the love of the false selves which have been assigned or which we have assumed, we can also give up the love of the Self as well? Hummm.]

When a visitor to the loft said, "The scriptures say that we have our karma and our sins and that is why we are here," Maharaj answered:

"That is for the ignorant masses. One who has realized . . . , for him these stories are of no use."

[So all of the so-called special words in so-called special books which contribute to the planet's overload of ignorance can be of "no use" to those who are suffering from ignorance and need to be purged of ignorance? Hummm.]

So if not the holy and spiritual plans which are being set forth by the persons who are leading the masses, then what should be focused upon, according to what Maharaj eventually came to understand as a more appropriate treatment plan? According to Maharaj, the mind. The Ultimate Sickness is a mental sickness, so only by addressing the mental issues can healing come. Thus, he said:

"All illness begins in the mind."

"Your confusion is . . . in your mind."

"Whatever is conceived by the mind must be false, for it is bound to be relative and limited."

"Distrust your mind, and go beyond."

"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which your mind creates."

" . . . The mind obscures and distorts."

"It is the mind that creates illusion."

"There is no such thing as peace of mind. Mind means disturbance; restlessness itself is mind."

"Don't rely on your mind for liberation. It is the mind that brought you into bondage. Go beyond it altogether."

"Beyond the mind there is no suffering."

So if the problem centers in the mind, and since a sick mind - obviously - cannot heal a sick mind, then what is the solution, per Maharaj?

"Stop making use of your mind and see what happens."

"Learn to separate yourself from the image and the mirror. Keep on remembering: I am neither the mind nor its ideas."

"There is no such thing as mind. There are ideas . . . ."

"Abandon the wrong ideas, for they are false and obstruct your vision . . . ."

"The death of the mind is the birth of wisdom."

"To know that you are a prisoner of your mind, that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation, is the dawn of wisdom."

So what was his state in the end, the state which ultimately freed him and led to the birth of his wisdom? It was a no-mind state:

"There is no such thing as a mind."

"I have no mind . . . ."

Want to be free of the mind? Maharaj advised:

"Reach a state of zero-concepts."

"As to my mind, I have no such thing. There is consciousness in which everything happens."

"I am double dead: not only am I dead to my body, but to my mind, too."

"I find I have lost the mind irretrievably."

If the mind goes, then peace comes, and if peace comes, then going and doing and zooming and racing about also go.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

COMING SOON after returning from playing the role of "The Father of the Bride":

(1) A site visitor describes what happened the first time he walked up a narrow set of steps in a flat on Ketwadi Street in Bombay and how what Maharaj shared that day might assist others who are still involved with seeking;

and

(2) The Historical Connection between Duality and Bloodletting

Part Thirteen: WHY THE NON-REALIZED CANNOT SLOW DOWN

Today's Considerations

So the consideration offered here is that the racing body is a result of a racing mind; that a restless body is a result of a restless mind; and that a body which is constantly in motion is a result of a mind which is constantly in motion.

There are many disciplines which try to address humanity's lack of ease and humanity's restlessness and humanity's propensity for chaos and humanity's instability. They include psychotherapy and analysis and self-analysis and psychoanalysis and psychiatric therapy and various philosophies and a host of other disciplines.

None, however, draw as many "followers" as (a) religion (and other such cults and sky cults) and (b) spirituality. Of the seven billion+ humans on the planet, 97% claim an affiliation with one organized religion or another; millions more report proudly that they are "not religious" but are "spiritual instead." 

The 97% affiliated with one religion or another claim that the solution for humanity's dis-ease, restlessness, and propensity for chaos and instability can only be found "in their 'holy' text" and in "the words of their prophet." Let those be referred to as the members of "Group 'A'."

Millions more claim that humanity's dis-ease, restlessness, propensity for chaos and instability are rooted in humanity's "spiritual malady." Let those be referred to as the members of "Group 'B'."

In Maharaj's early days, he catered to those in "Group 'A'," but he also presented some non-dual pointers in his sessions with them. After more and more Westerners began visiting the loft, he catered to those in "Group 'B'," so he presented "combination pointers" which included both spiritual and non-dual considerations in his sessions with the members of the "B" group.

Certainly, 99%+ of all persons today buy into one or the other of those two approaches (both of which Maharaj also used at various times to try to address the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness, including humanity's constant sense of dis-ease, restlessness, a propensity for chaos and instability and what Maharaj called "ignorance" and "insanity").

Yet Maharaj eventually saw that for all of his religious / non-dual talking and for all of his spiritual / non-dual talking and for all of his visitors' listening and questioning and meditating and considering, the results in the end were practically nil.

He saw that persons playing the roles of "The Super Religious One" or "The Spiritual Giant" or "The Super Seeker" were continuing to race about as much as ever and were as discontented and chaotic as ever.

Going and dooming and zooming prevailed, even among those who had found their way to Bombay, to Ketwadi Street, to a narrow set of steps, and into a small, crowded upstairs loft. So what happened to Maharaj's approach? 

With the absence of ego and egotism, he was able to admit that both of his earlier approaches had failed, and failed miserably. Many critics attacked him back then for "changing his message"; many more critics continue to attack him to this day for "changing his message"; and it is only the wise that see why he changed his message and see why they are now truly grateful that he did.

The debate about what the proper treatment is for what ails humanity continues as the majority of persons around the globe (in Group "A") claim that only their particular holy texts and the words of their particular prophet can address humanity's constant sense of dis-ease, humanity's restlessness, humanity's propensity for chaos and instability and humanity's "ignorance" and "insanity" and "inherently evil nature."

Millions more around the globe (in Group "B") claim that only their special book and the words of their special founder / leader can address humanity's constant sense of dis-ease, humanity's restlessness, humanity's propensity for chaos and instability and humanity's "ignorance" and "insanity" and "inherently evil nature."

Those are the two arguments which prevail among the masses. Which of those two is accurate? Or might Maharaj's final understanding about the roots of the Ultimate Sickness actually point more to the truth? Is it possible that the Ultimate Sickness is not a sickness which results from humans having been exposed to too-little dogma or from humans suffering a spiritual malady or soul sickness, arguments which Maharaj also had agreed with at varied times? 

Is it possible that the Ultimate Sickness really is a mental sickness? Is it possible that such a mental sickness could drive persons to go and do and zoom and to race about and to be restless and to live lives that are marked by chaos and insanity and ignorance and insanity? Is it possible that a mental sickness could be causing humanity's chaotic going and doing and zooming and their peace-wrecking consequences? 

Is it possible that a mental sickness could be causing persons to take ill-advised actions and to rush unwisely and hurriedly and recklessly into commitments, relationships, job selections, totally-unnecessary purchases and accumulation as well as their ill-advised actions in traffic, in stores, at the workplace and, ultimately, anywhere . . . everywhere . . . and always?

Maharaj first believed that the causes of the Ultimate Sickness involved one thing, then later concluded that the causes were rooted in a different thing, and then finally concluded that the causes did not involve either of those but were rooted in something totally different.

Next, his own words will be shared to illustrate the evolution of his teachings as his understanding of the root causes of the Ultimate Sickness evolved.

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

Part Twelve: WHY THE NON-REALIZED CANNOT SLOW DOWN

Today's Considerations

Few among the masses are aware of the abundance of non-dual pointers which they are being exposed to on a regular basis. Yet usually the pointers are so foreign to those among the non-Realized masses that they are simply filtered out when their meanings are not instantly grasped. It's not unlike Christians who totally ignore and discount and race past the non-dual statements attributed to Jesus because his so-called "followers" have no clue at all what he was talking about during the final days of his manifestation when he shared such Advaitin pointers as:

"When you speak of Me, speak of Me as I AM" and "Before Abraham was, I AM" and "No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven' for it is within" and "Cleave a piece of wood and I Am there; lift up a stone and you will find Me there" and "If you do not know YourSelves, then you are in poverty and you are poverty" and "If they say to you, 'From where have you originated?' say to them: 'We have come from the light, where the light originated through itself'" and "I AM light" (not "the light") and "A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways."

In the eBook below containing hundreds of non-dual quotes, it can be seen that, regularly, non-dual pointers are included in the content of the popular books of novelists; in speeches by a few politicians ranging from Nelson Mandela to Barack Obama; in poetry; in plays on Broadway; in popular movies; in talks offered by scientists and pop stars like Russell Brand; and in the music of Pink Floyd and John Lennon and Andrew Lloyd Webber and Simon and Garfunkel and Billy Joel.

Consider some of the pointers in the lyrics of Joel's song "Vienna (Waits for You)":

"Slow down you crazy child."

"Why are you still so afraid?"

"Where's the fire? What's the hurry about?

You better cool it off before you burn it out.
 You got so much to do and only
So many hours in a day."

"You're gonna kick off

Before you even get halfway through."

"When will you realize? (or, Realize?)

Vienna waits for you?"

"Slow down, you're doing fine,

You can't be everything you want to be."

"You're so ahead of yourself

That you forget what you need."

"Dream on, but don't imagine

They'll all come true."

"Slow down you crazy child.

Take the phone off the hook

And disappear for a while."

"It's alright. You can afford to lose a day or two.

"When will you realize . . . Vienna waits for you?"

If interested, you can watch a live performance of Joel's "Vienna"
(and listen to and consider its non-dual message):

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.