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

[Please note: Departing today for a vacation trip to the Hill Country. If my companion can pick up a WiFi signal on her notebook, postings will continue; otherwise, this series will continue Friday morning.]

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):

V.: I understand that this would be the case even if i believed God to be a Spirit. I mean, there is not much difference. the Void should know nothing exists.

F.: First, there is no difference at all in “God” and “Spirit.” Both are illusory concepts. Secondly, a Void can know nothing. Are you seeing why more questions and reading are required before any additional effort is made to verbalize your understanding? Putting your thoughts into words at this point can only reinforce your misconceptions and, if shared with other beginners, can only add to their confusion.

Further, it is not only a Void that knows nothing post-manifestation. That "state" is beyond beingness and non-beingness, so there is no “one” to know anything: no self, no Self, no Infinite Self-ness, no Ultimate Self-ness. As reported, awareness in that state is not even aware of awareness, is not even aware of “itself,” so to speak. The phenomena of self-awareness and Self-Awareness are limited to the manifestation.

Here’s some background that might facilitate the understanding of consciousness. In the original case of consciousness manifesting in the void that would become what is called “this universe,” a subatomic particle of the very first atom was “conscious of” the movement of another subatomic particle.

(The proton and the electron particles “stayed together” because the electrical charge of each “attracted” the other in this original instance of the simplest form of conscious-of-ness, “a” being conscious of “b” and vice versa.) The movement of one affected the movement of the other, but neither particle was conscious of “itself.”

V.: The spirit should know nothing else exists. But how does this knowledge comes in the first place?

F.: The knowledge (of self) comes spontaneously, a now common happening that first began after all of the elements evolved over billions of years in such a manner that the consciousness was able to manifest spontaneously. (Consider the bird or the deer that moves deeper into the forest to avoid a human walking through the woods: both have knowledge of self, both are aware of the beingness, and both move away from the perceived threat of the unknown in order to sustain continuity.)

Among humans, the knowledge of beingness also manifests spontaneously; additionally, the knowledge of Self manifests spontaneously, but the supposed knowledge of (false) self or selves follows programming. That the knowledge of Self is known intuitively is shown by the one who answers “Yes” to the question, “Would You still be You even if your body lost its arms and legs?” Awareness of the fact that Self is beyond self is intuitive and spontaneous, but the awareness is lost via the corrupting of the consciousness. All other so-called "knowledge" comes via programming and conditioning and enculturation and domestication, and—when religious and spiritual concepts are introduced—the ideas accepted as “truth” do not constitute knowledge but form a collection of “learned ignorance.”

In a followup e-mail:

V.: Does the concept of Brahman start with manifestation only?

F.: Indeed, all concepts start post-manifestation only. God did not create men. Men created God (or multiple gods) via the consciousness that is warped as a result of fears and desires. Men have created all concepts. In regards to that subject, Maharaj shared the following to show how belief in duality precedes belief in god(s):

“First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and ... you pray to that God for something good to happen to you.”

V.: I think I am beginning to understand. I'd like to ponder more over what you said before i can ask anything further.

F.: As a Realized Cherokee grandmother advised, “Take at least three moons to dwell on any consideration prior to response,” so your inclination to consider and ponder is well-founded. In fact, seventy-two hours might be an overly-optimistic timeframe. Some persons require years of consideration of pointers before all lies are seen to be lies, allowing an understanding of Truth to finally explode into awareness via the re-purified consciousness. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued]
RELATED TO TODAY’S TOPIC:

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

NEW ADVAITA PACKAGES AVAILABLE AT REDUCED RATES:

The Entire Advaita Collection (all twelve items in all three of the packages below): $187.00 + S&H

“The Advaitin Beginner’s Package”: The Meditation CD, two Meditation Guides, Bullshit, and Spiritual Sobriety $62.00 + S&H

“The Mid-Level Seeker’s Package”: Peace of Mind, Liberation, What Happens When I Die? and The Essence of the Teachings $54.00 + S&H

“The Advanced Advaitin Seeker’s Package”: From the I to the Absolute, Consciousness/Awareness, and From the Absolute to the Nothingness $45.00 + S&H

To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm .

YES, WE SHIP INTERNATIONALLY. New rates by the USPS went into effect in May 2007. You may visit http://ircalc.usps.gov/ to calculate rates and view options. (Select your country, then in the “weight” box, estimate 1 pound per each book ordered.) Add $5 to cover package preparation, the assistant's trip to and from the PO, and the time for completion of international shipping forms.

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

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):

V.: Now, in every religion there is no parallel existence to God. God does not change also. Even if there is Consciousness, how could God become aware of It's existence, unless there is some percievable change within it? Hypothetically, if i became deaf,blind,numb to touch, insensitive to smell all at the same time and there is no bodily feeling inside me, and my memories got erased too that wud mean i'm in a coma right?

F.: The suggestion for you at this point, Vignesh, is to keep it simple. A piece of advice received during the early stages of the “journey” will now be passed along to you: “It is obvious, at this juncture, that you should ask more questions, make fewer statements, and meditate upon the pointers offered.” To that end, pointers for meditation will be offered.

As for the comments above, when the “you” that you think you are is sleeping, the consciousness knows that the elemental plant-food-body is sleeping. That said, focus more on the fact that you are using the "mind" to over-analyze, but the “mind” will prove to be useless in this process. In actuality, it is part of “the problem,” but if the process is completed, the “mind” (a repository of all ideas, concepts, lies, distortions and erroneous beliefs) will be eliminated.

[A pointer for further consideration in quiet meditation: Also eliminated along with the “mind” will be your programming to desire more. You mention religion. Understand that religion is about more: more “life,” more “advancement,” more “rewards,” more “blessings,” more "security," more "power," etc. Understand that Advaita, in its purest form, is a philosophy that is about less.]

Next, to the concept of “God” you mention:

Regarding this “God” of which you speak, would that be (A) a “creator God,” (B) a “sustainer God,” (C) a "God of destruction" or (D) all of the paganistic, multiple gods of lore, sometimes all rolled into one (as is the case of “Abraham’s One God”)?

If “A,” understand that neither matter nor energy can be created; thus, wherefore a “creator”? Infinite is infinite, whether speaking of it at the end of an imaginary timeline as the religious often do or whether reconsidering it in “the other direction”—not “after” but “before” and “always.” Energy and matter have existed infinitely and will exist infinitely.

[A pointer for further consideration in quiet meditation: What IS has always been and was not, therefore, "created." The religious can seem to grasp the notion of “infinity” after death but refuse to accept that infinite is as valid "to the left" on their conceptual timeline as it is "to the right" on their "birth-life-death-judgment-reward or punishment" conceptualized timeline.]

If your "God" reference is to “B”—a sustainer God—understand that energy/matter is continuous…without support, without a sustainer, without any contribution from anything. Thus, energy/matter is not “sustained” but simply is…forever independent of any creator…forever independent of any sustainer…beyond creation and beyond destruction.

[Consideration for meditation: The same applies to That Which You Are and to That Which I Am: I have been continuous and shall be forever, present before all time and present at the initiation of all universes. And that is the factual reality though no “former” plant food body existed. Further, it is also a factual reality though this present plant-food-body is not Me and though no “mind” or “personality” ever existed or currently exists.]

Why has there been no sustaining of matter or energy? Elements cycles into temporary forms and out of temporary form-ness and then return to the universal pool of elements; the breath cycles into and out of spaces/forms, and then eventually returns to the universal pool of air; the conscious-energy manifests and unmanifests, thus returning to the universal pool of energy. Neither creation nor sustenance is involved in that which cycles (or "circles," as opposed to that which religion would measure with a straight line, namely, their fictional beginning-end-eternity continuum).

[A consideration for meditation: Understand that timelines are fiction, understand what actually cycles, understand what does not cycle, and then You'll know why You were not born, why You cannot die, and why You, therefore, cannot be re-born either.]

If, however, the God you are speaking of is (C) a God of Destruction, then understand again that neither matter nor energy can be destroyed. Thus, no creation, no sustaining, and no destruction.

V.: How could i be aware of my own existence, without even knowing any external or internal changes happening?

F.: That Which I Truly Am and Which You Truly Are has never changed at all. I Am the constant. You Are the constant. Anything that is “changing” is illusion.

The challenge you face, Vignesh, is to set aside all that you think you know about Advaita and Hinduism and life and death and Brahman and God and the functioning of the totality and the Void and to take the primary steps required to build the foundation that is required for the full understanding to happen.

Go back to the starting point (the body identification) and be free of that first. Then, the “mind” that is being overly-utilized can be cast aside, as can identification with all personas (including any religious and/or spiritual personas that are lingering).

Only then can you move through the steps to Realization in the logical order required. Regards. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
RELATED TO TODAY’S TOPIC:

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

NEW ADVAITA PACKAGES AVAILABLE AT REDUCED RATES:

The Entire Advaita Collection (all twelve items in all three of the packages below): $187.00 + S&H

“The Advaitin Beginner’s Package”: The Meditation CD, two Meditation Guides, Bullshit, and Spiritual Sobriety $62.00 + S&H

“The Mid-Level Seeker’s Package”: Peace of Mind, Liberation, What Happens When I Die? and The Essence of the Teachings $54.00 + S&H

“The Advanced Advaitin Seeker’s Package”: From the I to the Absolute, Consciousness/Awareness, and From the Absolute to the Nothingness $45.00 + S&H

To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm .

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

FROM A SITE VISITOR: [Please see yesterday’s post for the e-mail which is being responded to today]

F.: Today, Vignesh, responses will continue to various portions of your e-mail:

V.: My concept of Brahman(God) has so far been like, It is the Ultimate spaceless-timeless Void which has Consciousness.

F.: Of course a concept of Brahman (God) is just an idea. All concepts are tools that can be employed along the "journey," but when Realization happens, no concepts exist. Thorns are used to remove thorns (concepts) and then tossed.

However, a caution is offered: recall from yesterday the direction offered by Maharaj. In order to complete the “journey” and thereby understand all which happened prior to consciousness, you must “follow the same path by which you came” (except in reverse order, of course).

The erroneous conclusions drawn around “Brahman (God)” and around the “spaceless-timeless Void” result from your effort to address an understanding which can only arrive at the "end" of the “journey” and never at the "beginning."

The “journey” requires that you start by focusing on the body-mind-personality construct with which you continue to identify, as revealed via your use of the words “my concept.” By the end of the “journey,” it can be understood that concepts are illusory and that no “my” (or “me”) exists.

In fact, none of the Teachings can be understood from the perspective of a body or a "mind." Before pursuing an understanding of timelessness and Brahman and the Void, you must answer the most basic questions: “Where were you in the days prior to conception?” and “If you were to lose both arms, both legs, and then undergo an organ transplant, would You not still be You? If so, then who is that You answering the question?”

Furthermore, a body-mind identification might claim that it “has” something, but there is no person (persona) that can “have” anything, including consciousness. The consciousness can seem to assume varied “forms” as it manifests via certain spaces, but nothing “has” consciousness. Similarly, a Void cannot “have” anything, even consciousness.

V.: The Void itself being aware nothing exists.

F.: A void cannot be aware of anything. It is void. However, this talk of the Void should cease for the present. Only the advanced seeker can understand that behind the consciousness is awareness and that beyond the awareness is that Void. For you to grasp now is this: Advaita teaches that beyond the manifestation, there is nothing that is aware of anything. There is no "Self" that knows itSelf. The Void preceded awareness but is not aware. Awareness is not even aware of awareness. Only when manifested can the consciousness be aware that it is.

V.: Now, Consciousness is what provides for the experience. Not the experience itself.

F.: Ultimately, there is no experiencer so there is no experience.

V.: SO Consciousness should make you aware that you exist. Same goes for Brhaman. COnsciousness makes It aware it exists.

F.: Again, your statement reveals that you are fixated in body-mind-personality identification, revealing your belief in subject-object duality. Advaita is about “not two,” about the unicity. The subject “Consciousness” does not make the object “you” aware of anything. There is no “you” to be aware. There is the consciousness, period, and—if re-purified—that consciousness will not make "you" aware that "you" exist but will make clear instead that "you" do not exist.

[Note: Regarding "no you": The use of the "I Am" mantra is a tool for those starting the "journey," an invitation to end the habit of following I am with any words, including "I am a man/woman," "I am spiritual," "I am a husband/wife," etc. Eventually, even the use of that tool will cease.]

Too, for the consciousness (subject) to be aware that Brahman (object) exists would also be duality. Is it not of interest—not to mention of seemingly limitless confusion—that Sankaracharya would speak of three characteristics of the Absolute and of five different phases of Brahman when the fact is that the Absolute is about Oneness, beyond both beingness and non-beingness?

[Is that too radical a consideration? The Teachings should simplify all, not complicate all. The Original Understanding was understood in the absence of holy men and holy books and discussions of multiplicities, especially when it is the unity beyond the seeming multiplicities that is to be realized.

Use this pointer from Maharaj to gain clarity around your spiritual beliefs: "Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion. All this is happening in the objective world. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud." If your spiritual beliefs remain, then your "journey" along the seven-step "path" will never even reach the fourth level.]

For now, focus only on this: You are neither the body nor the “mind.” That “You” which exists and that can be aware of existence is not “made aware of via consciousness” but is the Consciousness itself. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
RELATED TO TODAY’S TOPIC:

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

NEW ADVAITA PACKAGES AVAILABLE AT REDUCED RATES:

The Entire Advaita Collection (all twelve items in all three of the packages below): $187.00 + S&H

“The Advaitin Beginner’s Package”: The Meditation CD, two Meditation Guides, Bullshit, and Spiritual Sobriety $62.00 + S&H

“The Mid-Level Seeker’s Package”: Peace of Mind, Liberation, What Happens When I Die? and The Essence of the Teachings $54.00 + S&H

“The Advanced Advaitin Seeker’s Package”: From the I to the Absolute, Consciousness/Awareness, and From the Absolute to the Nothingness $45.00 + S&H

To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm .

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

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Hi Floyd, Firstly i must thank you for this wonderful blog on Advaita and also your thoughfulness to provide a platform for asking questions. Although I am a Hindu by birth, only recently i was introduced to Advaita(about 6 months ago).

My concept of Brahman(God) has so far been like, It is the Ultimate spaceless-timeless Void which has Consciousness. The Void itself being aware nothing exists. There is no spirit, but only Consciousness without any substratum. Now, Consciousness is what provides for the experience. Not the experience itself. SO Consciousness should make you aware that you exist. Same goes for Brhaman. COnsciousness makes It aware it exists.

Now, in every religion there is no parallel existence to God. God does not change also. Even if there is Consciousness, how could God become aware of It's existence, unless there is some percievable change within it? Hypothetically, if i became deaf,blind,numb to touch, insensitive to smell all at the same time and there is no bodily feeling inside me, and my memories got erased too that wud mean i'm in a coma right?

How could i be aware of my own existence, without even knowing any external or internal changes happening? I understand that this would be the case even if i believed God to be a Spirit. I mean, there is not much difference. the Void should know nothing exists. the spirit should know nothing else exists. But how does this knowledge comes in the first place? Hope this doesn't sound like a babble. P.S: English is no my mother-tongue. so excuse me for my grammatical errors. Vignesh

F.: Hello Vignesh, Thank you for your e-mail. Since you have only been introduced to Advaita for a 6-month period, may I offer some considerations?

First, you are invited to consider a brief overview of “the problem” in order to understand how the Advaita Teachings can provide “the solution.” (Take “the problem” to be that the consciousness becomes corrupted or obscured as adults teach nonsense to children. That nonsense is the same nonsense that had been taught to the previous generation of children and includes ideas, concepts, dogma, beliefs and myths presented as if they were fact. Take “the solution” to be the process which removes all belief in all nonsense, that leads to an ability to differentiate truth from false—which some call “sanity” or “being in touch with reality”—and a realization of the truth which cannot be spoken but which can be understood during the pure, or re-purified, manifest consciousness.)

By the time a person has been thoroughly programmed and conditioned and domesticated and enculturated, seven degrees of separation from Reality will have been firmly entrenched. The closest that most on the planet will ever come to a realization of that fact is if they say in frustration some day, “I don’t even know who I am.” And so it is.

The effect of that programming and conditioning is this: for millions of years, the predecessors of “modern” humans lived a natural existence. When language developed along with the brain--allowing it to store and retrieve data--concepts and dogma soon followed. Magical, supernatural thinking was also introduced and persons soon lost touch with living naturally and began to live “unnaturally” and “supernaturally.”

The seven steps that bastardize the consciousness always happen in the exact same order. The sequence which corrupts or obscures the consciousness as it moves into manifestation and results in body identification has happened millions and billions and trillions of times all across the globe for several thousands of years.

(Consider: there is no body that “has” consciousness. Consciousness manifests, and that manifestation might appear to take any number of forms, but it is merely consciousness, period. As mentioned in a recent post, just because you travel from one country to another in a plane does not mean you are the plane. The plane is merely the vehicles in which you are being transported…in which you are moving about.)

The Teachings are nothing more than a set of pointers which can move “seekers” along a “path” which is the exact reverse of the seven steps that resulted in the obfuscation. For Realization to happen—for freedom from belief in nonsense to manifest—the steps that lead to the obscuring of the consciousness must be taken in the exact, reverse order.

Thus, that speck of consciousness called “Maharaj” said, “Follow the same path by which you came.”

NOTE: “Path” and “journey” are placed in quote marks in these postings because there is really no path and because there is no “journey” to take since there is nowhere to “go.” Rather, You Are THAT Which You seek. You need go nowhere but are invited to see that You Are already “there,” so to speak.

There is nothing to find and nowhere to go to seek it. The Truth is within and can be accessed via the inner guru, though some time with a teacher—or some time spent in the reading and contemplation of the teacher’s words which are merely the consciousness speaking—can often initiate the awakening process that can lead to the Realization of THAT Which You Are.

From the manifestation of consciousness to the acceptance of the belief that one is the body is a seven-step process whereby the consciousness has been corrupted or obscured. In order to “un-do” the effects of faulty programming, seven steps must be taken in a specific order (the explanation of which is too lengthy for this forum. See FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE).

[NOTE: There are other approaches available should the approach on this site not “work” for “you.” You can search this site to find the four most common methods for teaching the Advaita principles…or five counting pseudo-Advaita. Here, the Direct Path Method is employed. The system of yoga is the Nisarga (or natural) Yoga, inviting persons to Realize and then live out the remainder of the manifestation in a natural fashion rather than in an unnatural or supernatural fashion.]

That overview having been provided, certain considerations will be offered in regards to your comments and questions. The first is this: if you complete all seven steps of the “journey,” You will realize that you are not “Hindu by birth”; You will realize that you are more accurately Hindu by no choice, as is the case with the 6 billion+ on the planet who claim some religious affiliation but who have merely accepted blindly and unquestioningly the religious dogma of their parents or their cultures.

You will also realize why it is said that “you are not Hindu by birth,” the reason being that you were not “born” (and therefore cannot be "re-born"). Further, You will realize what it means when an Advaitin says that You cannot die. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
RELATED TO TODAY’S TOPIC:

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

The Entire Advaita Collection (all twelve items in all three of the packages below): $187.00 + S&H

“The Advaitin Beginner’s Package”: The Meditation CD, two Meditation Guides, Bullshit, and Spiritual Sobriety $62.00 + S&H

“The Mid-Level Seeker’s Package”: Peace of Mind, Liberation, What Happens When I Die? and The Essence of the Teachings $54.00 + S&H

“The Advanced Advaitin Seeker’s Package”: From the I to the Absolute, Consciousness/Awareness, and From the Absolute to the Nothingness $45.00 + S&H

To order, visit http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm .