TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
6. Or, you may purchase a Floyd Henderson Shopify Gift Card here for someone and offer recommendations for the books in Floyd's store which might be of assistance to them.
QUOTATIONS AND POINTERS dealing with NON-DUALITY, ADVAITA, NISARGA YOGA and more
[To continue with offering for your consideration non-duality-based pointers dealing with a variety of topics.]
Quotations and Pointers by Category and Subject Matter
from
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Quotations and Pointers by Category and Subject Matter from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
REGARDING "THE TWO TYPES OF WITNESSING"
Maharaj: "There are two witnessing stages."
(The pointer was offered earlier when discussing the two types of witnessing which
are "subject-object witnessing" and "Pure Witnessing."
Many times, Maharaj simply used the term "witness" to refer to "Pure Witnessing"; at other times, he used "witness" to refer to the subject-object witness.
Once a seeker can differentiate "the witness" from "Pure Witnessing," then it becomes clear in each case which of the two types Maharaj is referencing in any given instance.
In a few of the
quotations below, for the sake of clarification until seekers understand his
actual reference, inserts [ ] will be used to illustrate the difference.)
"For [s-o] witnessing, there must be something else to witness. We are
still in duality!"
"Nobody can say: ‘I am the witness'. The ‘I am' is always witnessed. The
state of detached awareness is the witness-consciousness . . . . "
"The 'I am' looks at things, the witness sees through them. It sees them
as they are -- unreal and transient. To say 'not me, not mine' is the task of
the witness."
"In other words, the difference between the person and the [Pure]
Witness[ing] is as between not knowing [oneself] and knowing oneself."
[Eventually, Maharaj would shift from suggesting that a seven-step path be followed to recommending that a four-step path be used. Why? Because the 3rd step always encouraged the abandonment of all identifications - including phenomenal identities and so-called "Noumenal-Identities" - and then shifting into and abiding in the 4th step "Child No-Knowing State" or "The Child Ignorance State" wherein no identities or Identities were believed in. After that, Maharaj recommended that natural abidance happen for the remainder of the manifestation, declaring: "You do not need to seek to find who you are; you need but find all that you are not." Then you're done.]
"There is no effort in witnessing. You understand that you are the witness
only and the understanding acts. You need nothing more, just remember that you
are the witness only."
[Pure] "Witnessing is primarily awareness of consciousness and its
movements."
"It is you that need my body to talk to you. I am not my body, nor do I
need it. I am the Witness[ing] only. I have no shape of my own. You are so
accustomed to think of yourselves as bodies having consciousness that you just
cannot imagine consciousness as having bodies. Once you realise that bodily
existence is but a state of mind, a movement in consciousness, that the ocean
of consciousness is infinite and eternal, and that, when in touch with consciousness,
You are the [Pure] Witness[ing] only, you will be able to withdraw beyond
consciousness altogether."
"The Guru is basically without desire. He sees what happens, but feels no
urge to interfere. He makes no choices, takes no decisions. As Pure Witness[ing],
'he' watches what is going on and remains unaffected."
"Man becomes what he believes himself to be. Abandon all ideas about
yourself and you will find yourself to be the pure witness, beyond all that can
happen to the body or the mind."
"You live, you feel, you think. By giving attention to your living,
feeling and thinking, you free yourself from them and go beyond them. Your
personality dissolves and only the witness remains."
"The witness" [that is, "Pure Witnessing," which is as close as one can get to understanding the term "The True
Self"] "is not a person. The person comes into being when there is a
basis for it, an organism, a body. In it the absolute is reflected as
awareness" [if realization happens].
Q: "What about the witness? Is it real or unreal?"
M: "It is both. The last remnant of illusion, the first touch of the real.
To say: I am only the witness is both false and true: false because of the 'I
am', true because of the witness. It is better to say: 'there is witnessing'.
The moment you say: 'I am', the entire universe comes into being along with its
'creator'."
Q: "Has the witness name and form, or is it beyond these?"
M: "The witness is merely a point in awareness. It has no name and
form." [That pointer allows for a key understanding that is missed by most
seekers and by those who only think that they are realized: The pointer
"The witness is merely a point in awareness" means that "the
Pure Witnessing" is merely a point in awareness. And the salient fact
which that pointer makes clear is that the "Pure Witnessing" is all
that the "True Self" or the "Real Self" is, which is in itself matter / energy; therefore,
because there is no aware-of-ness in the post-manifestation state of awareness,
then there can be no post-manifestation self-ness, no Self-ness, no Self, no
True Self, no Real Self, no being, no Being, no non-being, and no non-Being,
and no identity or "Identity" of any kind, either.]
"The personality gives place to the witness; then, the witness goes and
pure awareness remains."
"The nature of the self (that is, eternal energy which can manifest temporarily) is pure awareness, pure witnessing, unaffected by
the presence or absence of knowledge or liking."
"One must also know that a rope exists and looks like a snake. Similarly,
one must know that the real exists and is of the nature of
witness-consciousness. Of course it is beyond the witness, but to enter it one
must first realise the state of pure witnessing. The awareness of conditions
brings one to the unconditioned."
"As long as we imagine ourselves to be separate personalities, one quite
apart from another, we cannot grasp reality which is essentially impersonal.
First we must know ourselves as witnesses only, dimensionless and timeless
centres of observation, and then realise that immense ocean of pure awareness,
which is both mind and matter and beyond both."
Questioner: "Is the witness-consciousness permanent or not?"
Maharaj: "It is not permanent. The knower rises and sets with the known.
That in which both the knower and the known arise and set is beyond time. The
words 'permanent' or 'eternal' do not apply" [to anything temporarily manifested].
"The witness only registers events. In the abeyance of the mind even the
sense 'I am' dissolves. There is no 'I am' without the mind."
"When the mind is quiet, we come to know ourselves as the pure witness. We
withdraw from the experience and its experiencer and stand apart in pure
awareness, which is between and beyond the two. The personality, based on
self-identification, on imagining oneself to be something: 'I am this, I am
that', continues, but only as a part of the objective world. Its identification
with the witness snaps."
"In witnessing, in awareness, self-consciousness, the sense of being this
or that, is not. Unidentified being remains."
"All has its being in me, in the ‘I am’, that shines in every living
being. Even not-being is unthinkable without me. Whatever happens, I must be
there to witness it."
"You must watch yourself continuously - particularly your mind - moment by
moment, missing nothing. This witnessing is essential for the separation of the self [eternal energy / matter] from the not-self."
"Watching . . . thoughts and concepts, I came to the conclusion that
whatever is happening is in the consciousness. All kinds of things were
happening - thoughts and experiences - and they were credited to my account;
but once I have seen what it is, all those account books have been burned and I
no longer have any account. How amusing it is to see someone who thinks of
himself as an individual, who thinks of himself as a doer or achiever."
After "having stabilized in the consciousness, the next step is to be in a
position to observe the consciousness, and all the play that is happening in
the consciousness, just to understand. Attachment to the body and to the
consciousness is very strong; to get rid of it is very difficult."
" . . . That consciousness principle is there at that center. As you merge
into the world, the movement increases. Watch that center point, watch that
movement of consciousness. That central, stationary point of the wheel watches
the movement of consciousness. The one that observes the movement is almost
stationary. To bring about the actions of the world — the movement —
consciousness must descend. If there is no consciousness, there is no worldly
movement. Similarly, you must become stabilized in a more stationary position,
near the center. When you leave that center point, the movement takes over."
"Consciousness is there in the child as it is in the parents; it is always
the same consciousness whether in the child or the adult. There is only one
consciousness." [The reference is to the pure, universal consciousness as it exists prior to humans being programmed, conditioned, domesticated,
acculturated, brainwashed, and indoctrinated. The problem
is that the Pure Witnessing, the pure consciousness, becomes blocked - some
even say, "corrupted" - by programming, conditioning, etc. along with the subsequent assignment and assumption of identities.]
"Just as a sleeping man forgets all and wakes up for another day, or he
dies and emerges into another life, so do the worlds of desire and fear
dissolve and disappear."
"At the root of all creation lies desire. Desire and imagination foster
and reinforce each other. The fourth state (turiya) is a state of pure
witnessing, detached awareness, passionless and wordless. It is like space,
unaffected by whatever it contains. Bodily and mental troubles do not reach it
-- they are outside, 'there', while the witness is always 'here'."
"Reflected awareness, the sense ‘I am aware’ is the witness, while Pure
Awareness is the essence of Reality."
"What you are describing is not awareness at all, but only thinking about
the experience. True awareness (samvid) is a state of pure witnessing, without
the least attempt to do anything about the event witnessed. Your thoughts and
feelings, words and actions may also be a part of the event; You watch all
unconcerned in the full light of clarity and understanding. You understand
precisely what is going on because it does not affect you. It may seem to be
an attitude of cold aloofness, but it is not really so."
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
THE NEWEST OFFER:
If interested, click the button below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will then receive an email which includes the link for you to view the private, unlisted video via an arrangement we have made with YouTube, Inc. You do not have to have a YouTube account to watch this privately streamed video.
(If you do not receive the link promptly, your computer or email provider may have high filter settings. Check your spam and trash folders because some providers automatically transfer emails containing links to those folders.)
To access the seven-hour streaming video of a retreat and begin watching right away, click this "Buy Now" button:
In addition to the five non-duality books made available without charge by Andy Gugar, Jr. (see “FREEBIES” above), you can now access nearly 3,300 posts for any topics of interest to you.
If you prefer PAPERBACK copies
(collected in two anthologies).
Links for ordering are below with
BARNES and NOBLE presently providing better service
than AMAZON
when it come to fulfilling orders for
paperback and hardcover books
as opposed to delivering digital books.
[NOTE: Wherever you live, you can search for the books below by title with booksellers in your country. With 40,000+ retailers distributing my paperback books, you may order from U.S. stores or you may find someone nearer to you.]
For NON-DUALITY AUDIENCES
The Advanced Seekers' Series (344 pages) is an anthology of four books that share Advaita-based, non-duality pointers that can guide seekers to abide as their original nature. Included in the anthology are
"From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality");
"Consciousness / Awareness: The Nature of Reality Beyond SELF-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding As the Absolute)";
"From the Absolute to the Nothingness";
and
"The Final Understanding."
from BARNES AND NOBLE by clicking here
or (sometimes less efficiently nowadays in terms of paperback delivery)
This anthology (438 pages) 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:
“What BLISS is and what BLISS is not”
“There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind (There’s Only Peace If You’re ‘Out of Your Mind’)”
“Liberation (Attaining Freedom from Personality via Realization)”
“Freedom from Shifting Between States of Happiness and Unhappiness”
“Why You Must Be Empty If You Would Be Full”
and
“When REALITY Is Overlaid on the RELATIVE.”
Order a PAPERBACK copy of The Blissful Abidance Series
from Amazon by clicking here.
SEND A GIFT BOOK TO SOMEONE
(1) You may purchase
a Floyd Henderson Shopify Gift Card here
for someone and offer recommendations for the books in Floyd's store which might be of assistance to them.
Or,
(2) To make an arrangement for us to send in your name as a gift from you any of our books to someone you choose:
(a) Visit www.floydhenderson.com.
(b) Purchase the ebook you’d like to send.
(c) Contact us using the email below, tell us which ebook you just purchased, and provide the name and email address of the person you want to send the ebook to. (They will never be contacted again or solicited for any reason.)
Send your information to:
THE EXPLANATION
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"
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places
"There is no hell."
teachings which become a part of the Papal Magisterium.
