ANNOUNCEMENTS
[Walter Driscoll asked to interview me in order to preserve on video some of the latest modifications and evolutions in the versions of the message offered here since 1989. He would label the discussion, "Unlearning with Floyd Henderson."
Please note: For those who have a problem hearing what is being shared, the video offers a fairly accurate set of closed captions which some listeners might want to activate.
The interview is available for viewing by clicking on video "NUMBER THIRTEEN" in the column to the right.]
1. [See the offer in gold text 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 green text after today's 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." (See the details in the blue text after this post.)
4. Some prefer paperback books even if they have to wait a day or so to receive it and have to pay more for a printed book and its shipment. Now, 10 paperback books by Henderson are in print and available in two anthologies through Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and over 40,000+ booksellers around the globe including in the Americas, Germany, India, Italy, Poland, Russia, China, Spain, Brazil and South Korea. See the end of this post in red text for details.
5. Would you like to have us send to someone as a gift from you a copy of any ebook in our inventory? See the offer in purple text at the end of this post.
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.
7. You may click here to visit Floyd's bookstore which offers both digital books and paperback books which deal with non-duality, non-duality-based fictional adventures, recovery, financial sanity, financial planning, and more.
NEEDLESS WORK, COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE ACCEPTANCE and THE CURSE OF HABITS
“There are three means of abidance - natural, unnatural, or supernatural - and only one of those allows for the abidance to happen in a sane, logical, realized, awakened, and no-false-beliefs manner.”
--Floyd Henderson
Maharaj's Nisarga Message
For those of you who have read the book “Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and His Evolution,” you know that he practiced many different yogas from the beginning of his teaching career to the end.
It was only near the end of his years of teaching that he became totally dedicated to his namesake, the Nisarga Yoga, which he taught alongside the Direct Path Method. Why?
He saw all along that persons were too often fixating at the religious or spiritual step (the third step), attaching to their “new and improved personas,” mistaking “the dawn for the noonday sun,” and never realized fully.
He saw others feeling superior, claiming that they had reached THAT state and were abiding there alone. He saw that the summative statement I AM THAT; I AM” was often misunderstood, that it was not offering a ranking, and that the statement was not giving THAT a superior role and discounting the AM-ness completely.
He saw that persons could abide naturally, supernaturally or unnaturally, but that only natural abidance was sane. He saw that nisarga living was “the [natural] law of the land” around the globe, except among humans.
He understood that during the manifestation there is Reality (“THAT”) and reality (“the AM-ness”) and that the sane are in touch with both; therefore, the Nisarga Yoga is offered by the author here in conjunction with The Direct Path Method of teaching Advaita / Non-Duality.
This is what came to be understood in terms of what the post-”journey,” post-realization existence is concerned:
You will then enjoy the remainder of the relative existence as a result of all that You came to understand on the “journey,” but now, the “journey” to THAT is over and it is time to relish the freedom that allows for the enjoyment of the remainder of the manifestation.
It must be asked, “What good is it, if you are hungry, to go to the grocery store and buy food but then stay in the store forever, never returning home, never undertaking the relative existence task of preparing the food, and never enjoying the relative tasting of the relative meal?”
The one who stays in the store can claim, “I have arrived,” but that one will be totally insane to stay in the store and not enjoy what the relative existence can offer.”
For those that want to enjoy the remainder of the manifestation, then both the “I AM THAT” and the “I AM” are to be understood. If the Reality of I AM THAT is overlaid on the reality of I AM - of the manifested consciousness and the remainder of the relative existence - then the “journey” will make sense.
If that does not happen, then what “justification” can be offered for following the entire “path” and completing the entire “journey?”
It is the Nisarga Yoga which allows for both Reality and reality to be understood, and it is the understanding of the Nisarga Yoga that
a. brings to an end unnatural living; and
b. brings to an end all efforts to live supernaturally; and
c. brings to an end all efforts to try to live magically, mythically, superstitiously; and
d. brings to an end living “paranormally” rather than normally; and
e. brings to an end living in a fairy-tale-like fashion; and
f. brings to an end all efforts - period - because natural, spontaneous, no-drama, no-histrionic, no-concept, no-duality, no-identity abidance becomes the only mode of abidance.
USING a “METHOD” (a “PATH“ or “STEPS”) and THE NISARGA YOGA
Pre-”Journey” Considerations, Part One
Alexander Pope observation has
been noted: “A little learning is a dangerous thing.”
Here, the pointer is, “A little un-learning can be a far-more-dangerous thing.”
Often when the work with a seeker begins, an intuitive sense here makes it
apparent that - before the direct path, Nisarga teachings / un-teachings are
offered - a need for the laying of a foundation is indicated.
In such cases, some
prior-to-beginning-the-”journey”-insights must be grasped if the seeker is to
have any chance at all of being led to the end of the “path” where freedom and
happiness and stability and a complete restoration of sanity await.
If the Ultimate Sickness is consider “monstrous,” then the monster must be
wiped out; the last thing that should happen is that a new or different kind of
monster is created - which is exactly what happens with most persons who become
fascinated with (or engrossed in, or captivated by) any of the hundreds and
thousands of philosophies, ideologies, religions, and spiritual movements that
have come and gone or that have come and stayed over the centuries.
With the Direct Path Teaching Method used here - in conjunction with the
Nisarga Yoga - the first understanding required is that anything considered a “teaching”
or a “concept” is actually a thorn being used to remove thorns . . . to be
tossed when the understanding is firm.
Some, however, cling to the thorns and
use them to prick themselves or others, so this explanation is intended to
prevent that from happening.
Of all of the pre-”Journey” understandings that are necessary, next is the
summative statement of the Advaita teachings, specifically, “I AM THAT; I AM.”
Direct Path Realization and the Nisarga Yoga are not “about” being THAT alone,
detaching from the AM-ness, or asserting that “nothing in the relative is real.”
Everything in the reality that
is energy or matter is real; the case is that nothing is as non-realized
persons perceive it to be. It is the perceptions / misperceptions that are not
real, that are not based in fact.
Next, why realize if what is realized is not “applied” in the relative (even in
the absence of any “applier”) so that freedom and peace and happiness can
manifest and be enjoyed at the only time those can be enjoyed, specifically,
NOW (for there is no “after-NOW”). Nisarga living IS “about” living naturally
now, freely now, sanely now, and happily and blissfully now.
So the seeker beginning the “journey” should understand that while the word “advaita”
means “not two” (that is, “non-duality”) the summative statement seems to some
novices to suggest two-ness. That is not the case.
Just as frosting can be placed
atop a cake but the end product is still a cake - just one single treat - so it
is when THAT (Reality) is overlaid on the AM-ness: a far sweeter but singular
treat is the result.
Note, therefore, that only the Oneness is being pointed to with the summative
statement, even though some might conclude that there are two aspects to the
One. (Simply because a human body might have a torso and two arms and two legs
does not mean that a person has multiple bodies.
There is only one body in
spite of what appears to be some sort of multiplicity at work.)
Other additional points to be understood include the following:
1. The intent is not to generate a new, false identity of “The Philosopher”
(which would soon be ungraded by the ego-defense mechanism of egotism to “The
Super Philosopher”). There are more than enough (or even far too many)
philosophers running about;
and most so designated are unemployed, a college degree in philosophy presently
heading the list of the most useless degrees of all. Transforming the non-realized
masses from sleepwalkers and sleep-talkers into deep thinking and pensive and
overly-serious and instructive (and really boring) philosopher-types is not
what these teachings are “about.”
The intent, as far as the realized Nisargan is concerned, is not to inspire
seekers to eat, drink and sleep these teachings after full realization happens.
These points were offered in the book “Dancing
Lightly”:
“The 'end game' with non-duality is not to be able to eat, drink, breathe,
talk, dissect, and analyze non-duality; nor is the 'end game' to spend all of
one's waking hours pontificating about Advaita. The 'end game' is to reach an
understanding that results in a love of silence and solitude;
that allows Reality to be overlaid upon the relative so that a Nisarga (natural) manner of abidance happens; that allows all to happen spontaneously while, ironically, also happening deliberately; and that allows whatever happens - or whatever does not happen - to be enjoyed fully.
With the sense of limitlessness
that manifests post-realization, then all can be relished: namely, the working required
to assure independence, the walking, the eating, the looking at what nature has
to offer, the sitting, the sharing, and, yes, the dancing”
and
“Moving through the relative existence post-realization is like moving smoothly
across a dance floor (not in some helter-skelter fashion and not in some roller
coaster fashion with excessive up's and down's but in a slow, deliberate, even,
level, steady, flexible, and effortless manner)”
2. The intent is not to generate a new, false identity of “The All-Knowing One”
(which would soon be ungraded to “The Super Sage”). That is not what “Direct
Path realization” and nisarga living are “about,” either.
3. The intent is not to generate new, false identities that fall at various
points along any spectrum, including such dualistic extremes as:
a. totally stoic at one extreme to totally uncaring at the other extreme;
b. totally nihilistic at one extreme to excessively concerned at the other
extreme;
c. totally in touch with THAT but not at all in touch with “this,” or
preoccupied with the THAT-ness while ignoring or devaluing the AM-ness;
d. forfeiting the ability to feel while seeking freedom from excessive emoting;
e. not caring at all to caring about everything;
f. reducing all things relative at one extreme to exaggerating all things
relative at the other extreme;
g. giving great value to the fact that one has his / her head in the clouds and
giving no value to having one's feet planted firmly on the ground;
h. debating and arguing for the sake of debating and arguing rather than
enjoying the freedom of witnessing and the accompanying position of neutrality;
and
abusing the right of freedom of speech while ignoring the pleasure of freedom
from speech.
None of that is what realization and Nisarga / natural living are “about.”
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.
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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.
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.
