TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. [See the offer following this post for details on how you can watch a retreat on video which includes a detailed discussion of all seven of the steps on the path as used by Maharaj]
2. Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that.
3. A new video ("Number Ten: Awakening Together Satsang, March 2018") has now been added in the far right column of this page, offering the opportunity to view a recent 2018 satsang session with Floyd being interviewed by Regina and Jacqueline of "The Awakening Together Group."
Maharaj spoke of “the Direct Path,” but that term is not to be confused with the number of steps on the “path” which he invited seekers to use to reach the understanding that he offered.
“Direct Path” in the name given to one of the four main methods of teaching non-duality. To review those:
TEACHING METHOD: Direct Path
Paraphrasing Dennis Waite: This method is illustrated in the chart above and was used for decades by Maharaj and was exclusively used here for a period as well.
It involves taking specific steps along the path which are actually the same steps by which the consciousness manifested and by which it became so blocked that it has resulted in the masses identifying with their elemental plant food body only.
It does not try to “give” seekers anything since Direct Path teachers know that, ultimately, there is no seeker and that there is no “one” to “gain” and that there is nothing to be gained; conversely, the Direct Path teachers know that too much has been given to seekers already (namely, all of the false dogma and concepts and ideas and notions and perceptions and misperceptions – a.k.a., “beliefs” - which now block seekers from seeing either reality or “Reality”).
It can involve the teaching and learning of “spiritual principles” and can involve Self-Inquiry. It would eventually be abandoned by Maharaj and abandoned here as well as the Nisarga Yoga became the ultimate focus, encouraging seekers to take the steps required to be restored to sanity and then to abide naturally for the remainder of the manifestation.
TEACHING METHOD: Traditional Advaita
Paraphrasing Dennis Waite: This is the method regarded as the one defined by Shankara in his discussion of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Suttras around the 8th century AD. This approach is defined by those scriptures which some claim are the source of truth.
TEACHING METHOD: Neo-Vedanta
Again paraphrasing Dennis Waite: The term Neo-Vedanta refers primarily to the method used by Vivekananda and his followers. Some critics consider this method a “watered down” version of Traditional Advaita, a result of the fact that Vivekananda and his followers have tried to make the teachings more suitable to Western tastes where concepts and ego-states have dominated persons for millennia.
[NOTE: Neo-Vedanta teachers typically employ seemingly sublime or exalted or emotion-inspiring statements that encourage followers to adopt more concepts and identities instead of encouraging seekers to forfeit all concepts and identities. Some examples include such advise as: dream on an idea and be full of it and you’ll succeed; believe in yourself; make yourself strong;
find god and gain power; use thoughts to create a new reality; engage in the noble goal of seeking knowledge; you are responsible for what you are; acquire power; and seek love. Such concepts are in direct opposition to the teachings presented via the Direct Path, Nisarga Yoga approach. f.h.]
TEACHING METHOD: Neo-Advaita
The teachers who use this method see no need for study, questioning or inquiring into anything. Recognizing only the reality, and knowing that there is no seeker, they conclude that there is nothing to seek and nothing to teach. Often, the result is that even the most diligent seekers who try to attain the understanding with Neo-Advaita teachers can become very confused. Neo-Advaitins suggest that no path is required since there is no “one” to follow the “path.”
[NOTE: That same understanding, which is attained by some who follow the “Direct Path Method” to its end, is assumed by Neo-Advaita teachers to be a given from the very beginning. f.h.] Some who adhere to this method reject the name “Neo-Advaita” outright.
TEACHING METHOD: Pseudo-Advaita
This category includes the hundreds or thousands of other warped or perverted methods used by those whom Maharaj termed “Big Name Teachers” who claim to be offering non-dual pointers when they are not.
Maharaj advised seekers to stay away from any of the hugely “popular” and famous teachers who seek out public venues and thousands or millions of followers.
(And what a key term “followers” is. Anyone following a teacher or guru or famous author or famous speakers cannot follow what should be heeded ultimately, namely, that which is revealed via the inner resource or the inner guru. Here, the finger of unblocked consciousness points toward the light without any claim that "I Am the Light.")
While Maharaj never mentioned the number of steps on the path which he initially recommended, a savvy reader of his early talks can see that initially his focus was to guide seekers along a path which had seven steps.
Later, he would report that the completion of only the first four steps "would be enough."
[Here, early posts endorsed the seven-step approach; postings now focus on the four-step approach; for those interested in understanding or completing all seven steps, the retreat video can fulfill that option.]
Finally, let it be emphasized that the list above includes the four basic methods of teachings, but understand that there are Big Name Teachers who are now offering thousands of permutations (and mutations) of the four standard types at the beginning of the list above.
Next, consider the path as illustrated in this chart, starting at the bottom with the condition which explains how most persons on the planet abide, namely, “lost in the dream.”
Note that the first step involves moving beyond body identification; the next involves moving beyond mind identification. The third step involves moving beyond personal / personality identifications, the two most influential among the masses being “the religious role” (which billions at any given moment have been assigned or have assumed) and / or “the spiritual role” (which many millions at any given moment have assumed and are playing.)
Note also that the religious and spiritual roles are including and must be played for a time. It will be shown why that step cannot be skipped but – as illustrated on the chart – it is ultimately to be seen playing those roles is a diversion along the way and that at some point the seeker is to see that (1) those are roles which are as false as any other roles which humans play and that (2) seekers playing those roles will need to abandon them and "get back on track" and move along the path if they are ever to realize.
[Notice too that “realization,” as eventually defined by Maharaj, is merely the process by which seekers are freed from belief in all of the learned ignorance which they were taught by use of programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing and indoctrination.
To emphasize: Maharaj finally saw that nothing religious can lead to “realization” because "realization" at its simplest level simply involves (a) the development of an ability to see that a lie is a lie; and (b) the ability to be able to differentiate between what is true and what is false, and, therefore, (c) involves being restored to sanity.
"Full realization" really points to the condition which is reached when all learned ignorance has been discarded along with all which has been accumulated ans stored in the mind part of the brain via programming, conditioning, domestication, acculturation, brainwashing and indoctrination.
Thus, Maharaj was not "anti-religion." Same here. He merely saw that being an expert of dogma was not eliminating the symptoms of the Ultimate Sickness.
When he made the recommendation to abandon religion, it was a recommendation being offered to those who are trapped in identification with the religious roles that they are playing along with a recommendation that they wake up and see their entrapment for what it is and move back to the “real path” and then move on to a state of being fully realized, that is, fully free of all beliefs (meaning, all concepts, ideas, notions, perceptions, views, impressions, etc.) Same here.
Later, when he suggested that spirituality should also be abandoned, it was not because he was “anti-spirituality.” Same here. And when, after years of encouraging seekers to engage in Self-Inquiry, he said, “You do not have to find the answer to ‘Who Am I?’ It is enough to know who you are not.” Even then he was not “Anti-Self-Inquiry” but understood that "self-inquiry" could lead seekers to all that need be understood. Same here.
To be continued.
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Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns.
THE EXPLANATION
If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence.
Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to."
The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly").
Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part.
"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you."
Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on:
"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
--Yeshu'a (Jesus)
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places
but are states of mind, nothing more than
concepts dreamed up by men."
--Pope John Paul II
"There is no hell."
--Pope Francis, the current pope
in an interview with journalist Eugenio Scalfari,
a writer used by the Pope to issue off the record
teachings which become a part of the Papal Magisterium.
[That said, would that the popes who have shown the courage to reject a core concept of their dogma - namely, "hell" - would find the additional courage required to question the very existence of their institution in light of the centuries-long cover-up of their history of raping children and in light of the mental and emotional and psychological scarring of billions of their members past and present.
And that need for courage also applies as questions need to be asked about why so many other sky cults are still being supported and allowed to continue to exist as well. When certain types of programming and conditioning have been shown to blind the masses, they should end. Will they? Not likely. Why?
Because what the masses think and say and do is most influenced by the international crime families which hold sway over the masses as criminals conduct their planet-wide operations. What are the major international crime families and which are the most influential and have the largest memberships?
The Mafia / La Cosa Nostra; the Catholic Church (with it 1.2 billion followers); Protestant and Evangelical Churches (with over 1.2 billion followers) like the one I was raised in where the youth director molested and sexually assaulted young girls; big business which has long created environments in which people have been abused; powerful political bodies like the U.S. Congress, etc., etc., etc.)
With all of those crime families, neither the followers nor the leadership ever voluntarily step down or shut down their criminal activities. Be they gangs, organized crime families, religions, big business, politicians, etc., they all want control and they all want power and they all want money, and nothing internal will interfere with the driving forces at play.
The masses must demand that all those in charge must step down and their groups and institutions must shut down, and there's the real problem because the continuation of their crimes are enabled not as much by the people running such crime organizations as they are enabled by the masses of people who - wanting some perceived "payoff" - remain involved with them and give them money and support them and aid and abet the continued existence of those criminal enterprises and thus facilitate the ability of church criminals and political criminals and other types of criminals to continue to commit their crimes.]
Here's
the direct link to the VIDEO VERSION
of the "Awakening Together" satsang session with Regina and Jacqueline referenced earlier, 18 MARCH 2018
If preferred, here's
the direct link to the AUDIO VERSION
of that session.
