HINDU BY “BIRTH,” BUT INVESTIGATING ADVAITA, Part Seven

FROM A SITE VISITOR: [Please see the 02 November 2007 post for the e-mail which is being responded to today]

(The exchange continues):

V.: Does that mean, the manifestation was unplanned for? That will explain alot of things in the Universe- about the uncertainty and everything. But that is not in line with the teachings of the Upanishads, right?

F.: As explained yesterday, in the absence of any divinity, there can be no “Divine Plan.” As for “uncertainty,” change is certain, cyclings (more exactly, groupings and un-groupings) are certain, and the continuity of matter and energy are certain. Beyond that, the comment is accurate: few certainties exists, and everything in the relative existence is in a state of constant flux (save abidance as the Absolute).

The question is, though, why should anything or anyone be “in line with” the Upanishads, the Holy Bible, the Koran, the Torah, or any other books deemed “holy”? One meaning of “Upanishad” is “brahma-knowledge by which ignorance is destroyed.” By reading supposedly “holy” books, by focusing on their concepts, and by accumulating more ideas and dogma to believe in, the process of “aligning with” such teachings does not “destroy ignorance” but actually increases the volume of learned ignorance (also known as, religious or spiritual knowledge).

Yet you continue to try to resolve the religious teachings to which you have been exposed with the revelations that are trying to arise from that inner speck of sanity or reason or logic that is within. To be free of the hold of learned ignorance, one must understand the origin of the idea of a creator god:

at one point, all of the earliest pagan religions had “specialty” gods, such as a rain god. That god, so claimed his self-appointed "representative on earth," is made less angry if his rep has intercourse with a virgin, cuts out her beating heart with a sharp rock, eats the body, drinks the blood, and then passes the same through the crowd so all can have “communion” with the angry rain god and entice him to drop some water on wilting crops so that people might have body continuity.

Consider what that one historical fact alone reveals. Consider how sick and demented those early, pagan priests were: they dreamed up a plan whereby they could rape virgins, cut open their chests, kill them by removing their hearts, and eat those hearts while drinking the blood of virgins. And they were able to use their religious and spiritual doctrine to convince the masses not only to accept the act but to participate in it. THAT is the level of insanity in which religions are rooted and THAT is the insanity by which religions function today.

Would any sane person even need to write to this site or even remotely feel a need to investigate religions to try to determine if they are really vehicles of truth and sanity? Isn't the answer obvious? Can any sane person think that one must bleed or kill in order to realize?

Yet billions of Jews killed lambs and smeared blood over doors; trillions of Christians have sung about blood and have claimed they were drinking blood and eating body in their weekly worship services while claiming that vampirism and cannibalism are "inspired by the Devil"; and billions of Muslims have used iron to beat themselves on their heads and backs in order to bleed. Others have believed in gods with multiple arms or in male gods who come to earth and have sex with mortals.

Freedom from belief in all of that nonsense comes when you accept that which can be realized via the logical and reasonable speck of consciousness which has been blocked by an accumulation of programming and conditioning and dogma and beliefs and concepts. If you must investigate, investigate both sides of the topic, objectively:

You are likely aware of the thousands of specialty gods dreamed up by men over the millennia. (Edward Gibbon wrote in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, “The various forms of worship were all considered by the people to be equally true, by the philosopher as equally false, and by the magistrate as equally useful.”

Nothing has changed in the thousands of years since that period in ancient Rome: it is the ignorant (programmed) masses who believe the religious teachings which are dominant in their cultures; it is the philosophers that realize all of the teachings (programming and conditioning) are false; and it is the politicians who use the ignorance of the masses to their own ends. If you Realize Fully, all of your speculations about "plans" and "Divine Planners" and "holy teachings" will stop.

In the Upanishads, and in many of the so-called "holy" books of earlier religions and philosophies as well, the suggestion was that all of the gods can be grouped into three categories: creators, sustainers, and destroyers. When Abraham suggested that there is only one god, then all of the creator, sustainer and destroyer gods were rolled into one, inventing a god with a Multiple Personality Disorder.

Such a god, it is claimed, supposedly created you and supposedly loves you unconditionally; however, he will most certainly destroy you if you (co-dependently) make him angry. What was not known by any of the writers of those “holy” books is the fact that you and all educated people likely know now, namely, that all is matter/energy and that neither matter nor energy can be created or destroyed.

Nothing created? Then no creator and no Creator. Thus, all books discussing a Creator are ultimately nonsense. Is that a radical consideration, or a statement that follows the objective application of reason and logic? Talk of a literal God or literal gods only happens at the kindergarten level of spirituality, and that level must be transcended if the entire "journey" to Realization is to happen.

The Fully Realized know that all concepts are generated as waves of consciousness are in motion. Post-manifestation, pure consciousness is soon rendered impure or warped or blocked off as a result of programming, conditioning, enculturation, and domestication.

Some who have undertaken a "journey" have reported that, in the early stages of their awakening, the impurities began to dissolve and visions of “god” seemed to appear. Some farther along the "path" came to believe that some self or Self was being “transformed”. As more impurities are discarded, both visions of a self and visions of a “god” begin to dissolve as persons see the light/The Light.

The energy-cum-consciousness is understood. As the false self and the True Self are distinguished, one’s back is turned on “the world” as illusions are seen to be just that...illusions. Via the light, the Reality of the Essence is perceived, and belief in the darkness of illusions and (and the belief that mirages are real) can dissolve. One might argue that "I am not a mirage because I Am," but the point is not that You Are not. The point is that you are not what you think you are.

The exhaustive and exhausting search for answers via pagan religions, via traditional religions that are all rooted in pagan religions, or via philosophies that set forth more concepts and ideas can come to an end. Yet that happens only rarely among the programmed.

The prerequisites for being free of all those influences are (a) objective questioning and (b) the subsequent uncovering of evidence that reveals as nonsense all of the contradictions that have been produced by the leaders of those groups over the millennia.

The Advaita Teachings offer an alternative, never suggesting that any beliefs or ideas be accepted as fact but inviting seekers to reach a state of zero concepts instead. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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HINDU BY “BIRTH,” BUT INVESTIGATING ADVAITA, Part Six

FROM A SITE VISITOR: [Please see the 02 November 2007 post for the e-mail which is being responded to today]

F.: (The exchange continues): Again, Vignesh, beginners should visit a Fully Realized teacher or read the words of such a teacher as the consciousness speaks; then, beginners should ask questions and contemplate pointers; next, it should be understood that there are seven degrees of separation from Reality, ranging between body identification to abidance as the Absolute. Only after completing all seven steps, and only after abidance as the Absolute is happening, should statements be offered.

In a later e-mail:

V.: From your message, I understand that, Consciousness does not exist before manifestation. Does that mean, the manifestation was unplanned for?

F.: Of course. While witnessing the life-forms that occupy or visit the terrace between a third-floor balcony and the lake beyond, spontaneous, unplanned acts of friction have been observed for years as they happen automatically among the blue jays, the mockingbirds, the ducks, and other species. No life-form need be “taught” to copulate.

No "planning" sets the process into motion. No plan is required at all in order for acts of friction to trigger the cycling of elements and breath and consciousness. The act is natural and instinctive and spontaneous. It is devoid of the dualistic traits that programmed persons employ to classify the act along a continuum that ranges from “dirty” to “beautiful.” As the acorn can generate a forest without training or planning, so life-forms can populate a planet without training or planning.

Some humans might claim that they “planned” something, but in fact they only scheduled an act of copulation after agreeing on a shared desire regarding pregnancy. To the dismay of "The Proud Parents" ego-states who claim that their child is “a gift from god” (or in many cases throughout history, “the son of god,”) the consequences of fornication are natural only. There is no supernatural element involved at all.

Others claim that they had engaged in some sacred, pre-manifestation contract and that a life was pre-planned. The volume of such nonsense that has been inspired over the ages by those who apply their “holy, supernatural concepts” to this natural process are incalculable.

Likely, though, you are asking about some “cosmic level” plan that involves a “cosmic level planner,” such as a god that takes the time to tract and control the path of the millions of sperm cells that are released planet-wide every second and that eventually result in pregnancies.

That task does not count the time required to control the movements of the billions of cells that are released every second but that do not result in the fertilization of any eggs. It would seem that determining the “winners” and the “losers” in the “Noumenal Race to Phenomenal Eggs” would leave little time for controlling the rest of the planet and the universe.

Yet billions today believe that there is some “Divine Planner” with a “Divine Plan” that takes into consideration every act performed by the 6.6 billion+ humans on the planet; that controls the actions of trillions of other life-forms here; and that also oversees all happenings throughout the entire universe. However, believing in such nonsense is no stretch for those who have been programmed to believe that their physical acts of fornication also involve certain “holy” aspects as well.

If Realization is to happen, all unnatural and supernatural thinking and conduct must end. It is suggested that you contemplate this pointer instead of focusing on what you have been told regarding consciousness and the manifestation process: Just as sweetness exists prior to the manifestation of candy, so awareness exists prior to the manifestation of consciousness. Was the sweetness of the sap that oozes from a sweet gum tree planned, or did it happen naturally? A plan would require the existence of a planner, but no planner exists.

V.: If no Consciousness existed prior to that then, there is of-course, no creator God(or as in Brahman's case no causative God) or atleast that God did not intend for the Universe to exist.

F.: Consciousness is, was, and shall be, but being a form of energy, it was not created; hence, no creator. It can only be aware of itself if manifested. As for causation, there is no single cause, and there is not—and never was—any single “causer.” That said, the origin of consciousness in this universe is clear: as explained earlier, within a vacuum an atom manifested, split, split again and again, and regrouped to form a different type of atom (per the periodic chart). Those two types interacted and…voilà: “this universe.”

As mentioned in the previous posting, at a subatomic level, the particles of the first atom of “this universe” were conscious of each other and affected the movement and activity of each other. The same happened on the atomic level. That was the first case, at least in this universe, of conscious-of-ness.

Subsequent to the manifestation of that most basic form of consciousness, consciousness has since evolved and is far more complex than that earlier conscious-of-ness. It was suggested earlier that you set aside all that you have been taught in order to tap into that which you have always known but which has been forgotten as a result of the obstructions that have been generated by programming, conditioning, enculturation, and domestication.

But as explained in today’s post, much of what must be set aside has “sacred cow status” among programmed persons, so the “journey” to Full Realization is seldom completed. Only by discarding all that blocks the consciousness from seeing clearly can one move along the “path.” Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
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POINTERS ON CONSCIOUSNESS FOR “ADVANCED SEEKERS,” Part Two

Please see the September 12, 2007 posting for the e-mail being responded to in this posting

F.: [Continued from yesterday]

2. Today’s post will focus on…

…the consciousness never comes or goes but only appears to have come

and

…cycles and cycling

Consider: Do parents really "make" babies? Has any baby ever really “come”? Will the baby grow old and die and thereby “go”? Or, did an act of friction result in an exchange of, and co-mingling of, fluids that triggered a grouping of already-existing elements? Will the laws of nature determine that all groupings will un-group at some point? And even when any given grouping is grouped no more, will anything have “ended” or “come” or “gone”?

Elements can group and be called "a bridge." The instant that the elements un-group, they will not be considered a bridge any longer. They will be re-labeled "rubble," and the happenings associated with the un-grouping will often be labeled "a tragedy" by the ignorant masses. But did anything come or go? Won’t the elements, which have been all along, still be? Won’t the air that was there still be there? Won’t the conscious-energy that has always been also continue to be?

Now, apply the same understanding to a "baby being born" or to an "elder dying." What nonsense. In either case, there was nothing more than a temporary grouping and then an un-grouping. No birth. No death. No re-birth. No resurrection. No recycling of a body-mind-personality. Nothing made. Nothing destroyed.

No parent has ever “made” anything. Already-existing “things” (air, elements, energy) merely grouped, naturally and spontaneously. The air already existed prior to any grouping of elements through which that air could circulate as “breath”; the elements already existed before they grouped into a space that appeared to be a form with name; and the consciousness had already existed before the grouping allowed that sense of presence to happen, temporarily.

As for “cycles” and “cycling,” since you have “advanced” far enough along the “path,” you can now be offered certain alternate considerations which probe more deeply than some provided when you were only beginning the “journey.” First, recognize that one of the most basic aspects of “the phenomenal existence” involves periods of sleeping and not sleeping.

While consciousness appears to have “gone” for a time and while a person might appear to be “unconscious,” has consciousness really “gone” anywhere? When one awakes, does that mean that the consciousness has "come back"? That sleeping/not sleeping process can easily fool you into believing that consciousness comes and goes daily. Persons then expand that notion and conclude that consciousness comes "at birth" and goes "at death." But is either belief true?

Consciousness is still present during sleep and guarantees that your lungs and heart still function even though you are not awake and even though you are not causing those organs to function. The consciousness is that which Is, and that is neither coming nor going. It is manifesting or manifested or unmanifesting or not manifested, but it always Is.

On the drive to LA this weekend, many among that vast population of “love bugs” will strike the windshield of the car. Conscious-energy will be released from the space, and the air/breath will be released from the space. The elements, which appear at one instant to be "bugs," will appear at the next instant to be "a mess" which will require vigorous scrubbing for removal.

Similarly, the space called "floyd" will eventually appear to be an urn of ashes, yet the fact is that in the bug-to-mess scenario or in the floyd-to-ash scenario, the air will not “go” anywhere to await “recycling,” and neither will the conscious-energy. It will not have to “go away” to some field of energy because the field is universal.

As a second consideration regarding “cycles,” consider: Does the sun really “rise”? Does the sun really “set”? Do these misperceived happenings that are labeled “sunrises” and “sunsets” really involve a sun that is “coming” and “going”? On a cloudy day, is the weather person speaking truthfully when reporting that "there will no sunshine today"?

To develop an illustration in the book CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS as a third example for your consideration, suppose you own a glue stick. Does “stickiness” come when happenings result in a grouping of elements called “a glue stick,” or was the essence called “stickiness” always present? Does “stickiness” go when the Laws of Thermodynamics assure that a grouping of elements called "a glue stick" eventually un-groups?

The “stickiness” is, and it does not come or go. Now, humans might leave a glue stick in a bowl of water. That exposure to water can pervert the essence of the glue so that the aspect of “stickiness” is warped. But does any part of what is taken to be “a glue stick” come or go, even after the form of the stick is no more? Of course not. All of those parts/elements were already present in order for that glue stick to combine into a temporary form, and all of the parts/elements will remain after that temporary formation is no more.

The same applies to humans, plants, birds…to everything. Everything is really just one thing, each vibrating at different rates. It is only the differing rates of vibration that result in appearances that seem to be different to unaware observers. And it is only the learned ignorance that the masses take to be truth that causes them to believe that a human or a plant or a bird or anything else comes from somewhere or goes somewhere. (So much for a geographic "heaven" or a geographic "hell.")

Similarly, as with a glue stick being exposed to water and becoming "warped," exposure to programming, conditioning, enculturation and domestication can “warp” the manifested consciousness, so to speak. Thus, Maharaj’s pointer is accurate, and just as “stickiness” does not come and go, the “advanced seeker” can realize that the consciousness does not come or go but only appears to do so.

See that, unlike the noumenal (which is beyond objects and appearances and that can be understood via the pure consciousness when manifested), the sense of presence is phenomenal (and therefore involves objects and appearances and erroneous perceiving.)

Awareness is unaware of awareness unless Consciousness manifests and becomes aware of Self and aware of the Absolute (which is beyond beingness and non-beingness, beyond self-ness and even Self-ness). But that which Is, Is. The Real does not come or go. It always Was, always Is, and always shall Be.

Now, you may also consider these additional pointers:

1. Nothing is actually as perceived by observers.

2. Nothing comes or goes.

3. Rather than "cycling," a more accurate description might be that:

a. Groupings and un-groupings are happening (or not) and

b. Energy is merely in motion.
4. All which is supposedly "seen" is only a momentary appearance involving something being mistaken for what it is not (such as "You" being mistaken for "you.")
5. Continuity of anything with name and form is a mental, fictional construct only.

In the context of all of the above, you’re now invited to reconsider the pointers that you found confusing. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
READINGS RELATED TO TODAY’S TOPIC:

Click THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS

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Click FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)

and

Click CONSCIOUNSESS/AWARENESS (The Nature of Reality Beyond SELF-Realization)

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YOUR PARENTS…YOUR GOD(S)

[For the international visitors to this site, reference is made to a bridge that collapsed in the U.S. this week and the subsequent thoughts, words, and deeds that have followed.]

Regarding one character in a Michael Connelly novel: "He was long past believing in God—the horrors he had seen documented had little by little sapped his stores of faith.... And in those seemingly final days, as his own heart withered and tapped out its final cadences, he did not grasp desperately for his lost faith as a shield or a means of easing the fear of the unknown. Instead, he was accepting of the end, of his own nothingness. He was ready. It was easy to do."

F.: Some of the e-mail which arrived this week compared those rushing to God for comfort around a fallen bridge with other persons who, in the post-9/11 days, filled religious building for a few weeks and then emptied out just as quickly—all to demonstrate to their god their “faith as a shield or a means of easing their fear.”

Other e-mail came from some religious persons who have visited the site in the past to try to spread their particular religious beliefs. Their e-mails generally had a tone of, “See what we tried to tell you non-believers. Maybe now you’ll understand that our God will not be mocked.” (According to them, any investigation by engineers trying to determine "cause" would be useless. Their god caused the bridge to fall as part of a "divine plan.")

Other e-mail, along with a stream of comments from U.S. citizens who have been afforded an opportunity to express their faith to a national audience, have revealed their programming and conditioning with comments such as:

“He works in mysterious ways.”

“It’s all according to His Overall Plan.”

“We must turn to Him during these times" (meaning to the very one who, according to some believers, is the same one who orchestrated the event).

“There are things we can’t always immediately understand about the way that God governs, but the meaning behind this will be revealed.”

“You cannot escape the effects of bad karma” (a claim which reinforces the dualistic beliefs in “reward vs. punishment” and “singular and direct cause and effect”).

In reference to a relative missing for 24 hours: “We have been praying all night and all day, and I know God is going to bring her back. She’ll be coming home.”

Others were less devout:

“Where is God now?”

“God’s ways might seem to be very harsh and cruel at times.”

“I’m very angry with God right now.”

What could account for such diversity in persons’ concepts regarding their God?

While experiences as adults can continue to condition persons, the beliefs that shape their concepts about god are rooted in childhood. The diversity in all of the nonsensical beliefs about god is understandable if you realize that the believers' concepts regarding “A Universal Authority Figure” are usually based in the personality traits of their "Earliest Authority Figure." Usually, that would be parent(s) or guardian(s).

Was your earliest authority figure cruel and cold and hard and perfectionistic and rigid and punitive? Was that authority a strict disciplinarian that punished you for even the slightest of mistakes? Guess what kind of god you will conceive?

Was your earliest authority figure co-dependent with you, blaming you if he/she was sad or unhappy? Guess what kind of god you will conceive?

Was your earliest authority figure unpredictable and unstable? Guess what kind of god you will conceive?

Was your earliest authority figure capable of doing really insane and destructive and harmful things at times, things that made no sense at all? Guess what kind of god you will conceive?

Was your earliest authority figure weak and a pushover who gave you anything you wanted if you asked or begged? Guess what kind of god you will conceive? Does a “Celestial Santa”-type concept sound familiar?

Was your earliest authority figure there for you at times but unavailable for you at other times? Guess what kind of god you will conceive?

Were both parents completely absent, either physically or otherwise? Guess what kind of concept of god you will conceive?

What mental and emotional chaos is generated by the childhood nonsense that is carried into adulthood and held to be sacred truths and absolute facts. It is that nonsense that prevents persons from “being accepting of the end,” from “being comfortable with their own nothingness” and the nothingness of those they see as “others”; from “being ready” for whatever happens, from “accepting everything as easy." (Tomorrow, the discussion will continue with the topic: “A UNIVERSE OF ACCIDENTS OR A UNIVERSE OPERATING ACCORDING TO PLAN?”) Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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