TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS
If one is familiar with the talks of Maharaj and if one is discerning enough, then one can see clearly that each pointer or consideration he offered fell into one of only seven categories or groupings. Eventually, it came to be seen here that the pointers and the considerations he offered aligned with one or the other of the seven steps which were on the “path” which he endorsed.
That seven-step “path” was designed to allow seekers to follow his two key instructions offered to those that would shift from (a) identification with the body to (b) abiding as their original nature was when in the field of Absolute-energy and prior to the manifestation of the conscious-energy:
“…You should go back, reverse, to the source”
and
“Follow the same path by which you came.”
Since he never enumerated those steps as “steps 1 through 7,” most can read Maharaj’s talks for a lifetime and still never see exactly the proper sequence he offered, but his steps can be observed once Maharaj’s teaching method is understood.
He allowed visitors to speak in order for them to reveal (without knowing they were revealing) exactly where on the “path” they were at that moment. Then his response was intended to move the visitor to the next step on the "path."
[When seekers come here for a retreat, they are taken to dinner the first night specifically for that purpose: to allow them a chance to reveal as much as possible about their overall “journey” so far in order to find “where they are” and to identify exactly “where they need to go next.”]
For example, if a seeker spoke to Maharaj from the viewpoint of the false identity of “The Spiritual Giant,” then Maharaj understood this: that seeker was fixated at the third of seven steps. After that, Maharaj would offer pointers and considerations which were intended to shift the seeker to the fourth step where there are no assumed or assigned personal identifications (and also no Personal Identifications, which most don’t understand really are nevertheless “Personal”). If a seeker’s words revealed the seeker happened to be at the second step, then Maharaj would offer pointers which were intended to shift the seeker to the third step.
Here, the seven steps on the “path” have been taught ever since that “Eureka” moment happened, that is, the moment when it became clear exactly what Maharaj was doing, or attempting to do, for each seeker.
Each piece of advice was targeted for a specific seeker at a specific point, and that is why his pointers have been so confusing to so many. It can seem that he contradicted himself from one talk to the next, but if it is understood that one talk was calculated to be relevant to a seeker at the beginning of the “path” while his next talk was designed for a visitor who was nearing the end of the “path,” then it can also be understood why one particular message might seem to be in conflict with another . . . but was not.
All of the pointers he offered were custom-designed and custom-fit for the particular seeker sitting before him; thus, all of his pointers were level-appropriate for one seeker at a time.
Those who come here for a retreat are offered all seven steps on the “path,” even if someone is already at, say, the third step. The two previous steps will be reviewed because they are part of the “path” Maharaj recommended.
With nearly 700 visitors coming to this site on the same day last week, imagine the variety of experiences and backgrounds which they brought with them. Imagine how diverse they were in terms of "where" each was on the "path."
Here, typically, various topics are discussed, but there is no way that even a majority of the visitors on any given day could be at the same place on the “path” at the specific moment they come to the site and read about any given topic. Here, therefore, the various non-dual topics discussed provide opportunities for an “Aha! moment" for those at the place on the “path” being discussed in order to allow a shift to the next step.
To that end, on the site, a variety of topics are discussed in order to provide an opportunity to offer a variety of pointers and considerations intended to provide awarenesses which - in their entirety – can eventually assist anyone to move to the next step on the “path.”
That said, occasionally pointers are gathered and offered in a single “cataloguing” of key considerations which might assist each among the varied groups which show up here on any given day. And that was the impetus for the content gathered into one volume in the book WHEN ONLY THREE HOURS OF MANIFESTATION REMAIN (The "Final" Talks Of Floyd Henderson).
There is a "back story" behind the book. In "CHAPTER SIX," the events that inspired these writings are discussed in some detail, so briefly for now, the way that that book came into being will be shared:
In October of 2011, there was a problem with this elemental plant food body, a problem which involved a combination of (1) a 95%+ blockage in the left anterior descending artery and (2) internal hemorrhaging which had lowered the hemoglobin rate from its preferred range of 12-16 for a male to a rate near 7.0. [The cause: a doctor-recommended aspirin regimen with no cautionary advice regarding the fact that aspirin and other blood thinners often cause internal bleeding in a large percentage of humans.]
After having been sent home following a week in the hospital when doctors completed two exploratory surgeries, the transfusion of many units of plasma, angioplasty, and the placement of a stent in the LAD, it only took four days' use of the blood thinners they prescribed for them to trigger more internal hemorrhaging and to send this elemental plant food body staggering back into the office of the cardiologist.
A speedy processing of a blood sample revealed that the red blood cell rate had dropped below the preferred 12-16 range, below the earlier 7.0 range, and had fallen to 4.7. (Two nurses explained that it was impossible that I had walked into their office with a 4.7 red blood cell rate, especially after having surgeries and after the placement of a stent that could include complications triggered by the need to stop the use of blood thinners. The reply: "Don't know what to tell you, ladies, except that my best recollection is that I did walk in here on my own.")
The doctor called for a wheelchair and gave the nurses instructions to bypass the admissions office of the adjacent hospital and to take me directly to ICU and to have a nurse begin an IV and administer what would become a total of seven more units of blood.
In a discussion with my daughter and friends who had come to check on the body's condition, the doctor's prognosis that night was not positive. It was learned later that the doctor was seemingly very concerned and was also mystified when he was told that he could relax in the fact that "if floyd makes it, that will be okay with him, and if he does not make it, that will be okay with him as well."
Yes, the doctor was taken aback, but he asserted that his intentions did not parallel that sentiment. The next two days were said by those tending to this plant food body to be "touch-and-go," especially after the doctors diagnosed an additional complication as a result of anemia, namely, damage to the left ventricular valve that has already been generating a heart murmur since the age of fifteen.
At the time of this writing, some five weeks after completion of the procedures on the heart, the state of the stent - and whether blood clots will form or not in the absence of blood thinners which presently cannot be used - must unfold in whatever way it unfolds. But what do those hospitalizations have to do with this book being written?
During that stay, a call came from a man who engaged is certain pleasantries and some inquiries about the condition of the body and the prognosis for what he termed "survival . . . I mean, well-being"; however, it soon became clear that there was more that he wanted to discuss (though he was being sheepish about revealing the actual motive behind his call).
Recognizing that there was some embarrassment or awkwardness around what he wanted, it was suggested that he say what he wanted to say. He continued to hesitate as he tried to find a way to ask delicately and tactfully what he felt was going to be clumsy at best and possibly insensitive or unfeeling or rude at the worst.
Finally, with additional encouragement, he said it: "I was wondering if there might be something that you would be willing to say to those who have been following your blog or reading your books or coming to you for satsang or retreats over the years. I don't want you to think I want to profit from the sale of a video or tape recording or book of transcripts of what you might be willing to share, but it seems that maybe there might be some . . . ."
As his pause seemed as if it might not end, he was asked: "You mean, maybe there might be some 'last words' or some remaining elements of the teachings that have not yet been shared?" That question was followed by boisterous laughter (with which he did not join). Then, “You prompted a recollection of an old cartoon image of vultures circling above a fellow who was crawling across a desert with only minutes to live.”
His reply was something to this effect: "It's just that - considering all of the talks and writings that have provided so many in-depth explanations and discussions - maybe there might be a call to give 'the short version' . . . a 'one-two punch' to all relative falsehoods, and a succinct pointing to the Real.
“In other words,” he continued, “what would you say if you knew for a fact that only three hours of the manifestation remained? I mean, what would you say if you knew you were offering your final talks? For those of us that you've invited to continue sharing the non-duality message but who cannot possibly offer the detailed explanations you do, what can we say that will get to the heart of things in a way that we can provide after you're gone?”
The reply: "So after all of the conversations we're shared about non-duality, the best you can come up with right now is the notion that it has been 'I' - rather than the consciousness - that has been speaking or writing or sharing? And you think that you need to be able to tell any seekers who might come to you something that 'I' said that they need to hear, rather than you sharing your own 'experience' and understanding? The fact is, if only three hours of the manifestation remained, the case here would be the same as the case was with Maharaj at the end of the manifestation of that speck: he entered into the silence, not into more talking."
He: "What I'm asking for is some sort of condensation. You tell 'this' to a seeker at one point on the 'path,' but you tell 'that' to a different seeker at a different point on the 'path.' All I'm asking for is what you would tell those who have taken all seven steps on the 'path' but who still need to hear something more in order to get the total message.
The reply: "Maharaj shared at the end many pointers that differed from what he had told seekers all along the way as he shifted from emphasizing one yoga after another." Silence. Then . . .
"Arrangements have been made with a company in Houston to cremate this body after the manifestation ends. If I walk out of this hospital instead of being transported by an employee of that company, then I'll take your request under advisement."
The result of that exchange is this book.
The word "final" is in quote marks because the discussions herein might not be the actual final talks at all; however, if it were determined that any such final talks should happen, the content of this book would be the subject matter of those talks.
Some of that content will be shared in coming posts.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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