HOW IT CAN APPEAR TO SOME THAT THE REALIZED ARE NOT REALIZED AT ALL, Part Twelve

An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.

Announcing the closing of the Non-Duality Bookstore as the focus in the future will be on providing books electronically. See at the end of this post an offer to receive at lower-than-eBook prices the last of the paper books remaining in stock at 50% off with free shipping in the U.S. and half-price shipping internationally.

Also, see details below for starting your own “Advaita Study Home Group”

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Floyd please listen to this tape of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (followed by a link to a site that includes a tape with all of the noise of Ketwadi Street. I pass.) I think where he lived in Bombay may be one of the noisiest chaotic sounding places there is.

I feel its different for each self-realized person, If you know there is no separate self to be in the presence of noise and chaos and there is a natural allowing what is, to be as it is, than to be in the city or in a cave would seem to be according to a persons preferences.

I used to listen to flute music and sitar because I thought it was spiritual, now I listen to heavy metal and there is far more clarity than when I was doing what I thought was proper for a spiritual person to do.

My question, is there really any common traits of the realized?? Or are these traits only applied to a persona? You are realized and like peace and quite, But other realized people I know enjoy a very different atmosphere, they prefer skyscrapers to trees. Regards, W.D.

F.: To witness the functioning of one speck of unblocked consciousness is to witness all specks of unblocked consciousness. To witness one ego in action is to witness all egos in action. It is the ego and its accompanying egotism that asked, “is [sic] there really any common traits of the realized?? Or are these traits only applied to a persona?”

So, yes there are "traits" that all egos and ego-states share in common and there are common "traits" that mark the Realized. Would one ask, “Do water and snow and ice and sleet really have anything in common, or is any statement about those having something in common really just a falsehood?”

When a Realized teacher hears only a few words, it is immediately clear if Realization has happened or not. Or it is immediately clear exactly where on the seven-step “path” that seeker is. It is also understood immediately which pointers can be offered to allow for the movement to the next step to happen. It is perfectly obvious if "traits" of non-Realization or of Realization or being heard.

When Realization has happened, and it has with many over the years that satsang and retreats have been offered, then the seekers have heard, “You need seek no more. Now, go.” If there is ever a question about whether the teachings should be offered or not, the response is always, “Whatever happens will happen, and it will happen spontaneously.”

While the Realized overlay Reality upon the Is-ness, the non-Realized overlay nonsense upon the Am-ness. That is the driving force of all ego-states and their accompanying egotism: to guard and cherish the most irrational thoughts that will then lead to the expression of illogical words which will subsequently result in illogical, irrational, self-destructive behaviors.

All ego-states and their accompanying egotism will always want others to believe whatever those false identities / ego-states believe. The notion is, “You will truly be better off if you believe what I believe.” The Realized understand that is hogwash since there is no “better off” or “worse of” if abiding as the original state.

It is the Realized Advaitin teacher alone that offers the invitation to believe not what the teacher believes but instead to cast aside all beliefs and ideas and concepts. Never would a Realized teacher suggest “You will truly be better off if you believe what I believe.” That is the stuff of the non-Realized only.

Here’s the way Maharaj explained the process: “…What I am offering you is the operational approach, so current in Western science. When a scientist describes an experiment and its results, usually you accept his statements on trust and repeat his experiment as he describes it. Once you get the same or similar results, you need not trust him any more; you trust your own.”

See the parallel here: the invitation to “please enter the silence of contemplation” has been extended at the end of all 1,272 posts since 1 June 2005. Those have been 1,272 invitations, not 1,272 orders. In nearly four years of postings, not one person has written to say, “How dare you try to tell me what to do, ordering me into the silence to contemplate."

No one misunderstood and wrote about that invitation, but some do have the attitude, "How dare you and Waite tell me what to listen to or not." That is total misunderstanding. The ego cannot take an order, and Advaitin teachers do not give orders. Only the ego finds it acceptable to give orders, but because of its hypersensitivity and distortion, the ego can misconstrue an invitation as an order.

So understand that neither Dennis Waite nor I have ever told anyone what they should read, listen to, do, or not do. What does happen with any Realized teacher is a noting of any illogical or irrational beliefs that are expressed.

Again, neither speck cares a whit about what anyone listens to, but if the appreciation of the silence and the peace that marks Realization is to manifest, then the teacher will not ignore nonsensical remarks about high-decibel sounds inducing clarity.

In light of Maharaj declaring that science will one day support all of these teachings, what is happening is a sharing in this case of scientifically-proven data that can be used to uncover erroneous beliefs. Also, what is being shared is a reporting of what has been observed in a combined 40-45 years of witnessing what happens post-Realization with the seekers that have come and gone.

No one has ever been told, “OK, you have Realized, so go forth and do nothing unnatural or supernatural. Be very quiet, talk less, stop pontificating, stop trying to impress people in order to make them love you, and always remember what Real Love is. Do not disturb the peace—‘yours’ or ‘theirs’.” To the contrary, none of that has been said, but all of that has been witnessed as it has consistently happened.

The non-Realized are welcomed to challenge that, debate that, or reject that, but to challenge, debate and reject that is just one more example of the propensity among the non-Realized to form an opinion about experiences they have never had. What has been witnessed is this:

post-Realization, unnatural and supernatural thinking and talking and behaving simply end, spontaneously and automatically. Post-Realization, noise-making and chaos simply end, spontaneously and automatically. Post-Realization, excessive, needless talking simply ends, spontaneously and automatically.

The writer above realized that a particular type of music cannot make a person spiritual. What he has not realized is that loud and chaotic music—or any similar type of ambient noise—cannot give one “clarity.” (Noise-induced hypersensitivity is not clarity.) Again, it has been witnessed that the Realized—as with all naturally-functioning living things—will gravitate to the peace and quiet…not to the chaotic and loud.

Thus, the motive of seekers can be investigated and will reveal that the earnest seeker is the one that is searching for peace and quiet; for freedom from chaos and disharmony; for freedom from insanity or from the misery generated by personality disorders; and from the suffering that results when persons are being driven by imaginary fears and perceived desires.

The teaching is not "the Realized develop a tolerance for snakes"; nor is the teaching that "if you were truly Realized, you'd be comfortable with snakes"; nor is the teaching that "some of the Realized are comfortable with snakes and some are not, either way." The teaching is, "Abandon all distortions and delusional thinking. See the rope clearly and know that all of your beliefs about the snake in the rope are distortions."

These teaching are about being fully in touch with Reality, not about using delusions or distortions or noise to try to escape the machinations of the “mind.” And distortion is at the heart of any rejection of the teachings that would bring about peace and quiet and is at the heart of any claim (contrary to all scientific evidence) that clarity results at the highest decibel levels.

While the non-Realized will distort "shared facts" into nothing more than "personal opinions," you are invited to understand that it matters not if a distortion is stated about the nothingness, the beginninglessness, the functioning of the totality, the Absolute, the manifestation of consciousness, awareness or any other topic. If there's a distortion that one does not want challenged, then he best share it with those who are also among the non-Realized. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

The “path” from identification with the false “I” to abidance as the Absolute has seven steps that must be taken in the exact, reverse order from the way the “coming in” happened. One book can serve as a step-by-step guide to Realization.
Get the Book or eBook

THE FOLLOWING NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE IN THE STORE IN LIMITED SUPPLY AND WILL BE OFFERED AT 50% OFF WHEN BOUGHT AS A PACKAGE:

While quantities last, the following package deal is being offered: Receive all nine (9) of the paperback books listed below for $88 total with free shipping in the U.S. and ½ price shipping internationally.

NOTE: Only one full set remaining. The offer will become an eight-book set after the next order.

NON-DUALITY BOOK SET:
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide I
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide II
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings

To order, click
Non-Duality Book Set
then add the package to the shopping cart and follow the checkout procedure to the secure pay site. You may pay with any of these major credit cards or with Paypal.

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4 copies-From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
4 copies-Consciousness / Awareness
4 copies-From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Take turns reading passages and then discussing the pointers.
All 12 books for $120.00 (equal to $30 each) + free S&H in the U.S.
To order this set, you must use
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HOW IT CAN APPEAR TO SOME THAT THE REALIZED ARE NOT REALIZED AT ALL, Part Eleven

An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.

Announcing the closing of the Non-Duality Bookstore as the focus in the future will be on providing books electronically. See at the end of this post an offer to receive at lower-than-eBook prices the last of the paper books remaining in stock at 50% off with free shipping in the U.S. and half-price shipping internationally.

Also, see details below for starting your own “Advaita Study Home Group”

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Floyd please listen to this tape of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (followed by a link to a site that includes a tape with all of the noise of Ketwadi Street. I pass.) I think where he lived in Bombay may be one of the noisiest chaotic sounding places there is.

I feel its different for each self-realized person, If you know there is no separate self to be in the presence of noise and chaos and there is a natural allowing what is, to be as it is, than to be in the city or in a cave would seem to be according to a persons preferences.

I used to listen to flute music and sitar because I thought it was spiritual, now I listen to heavy metal and there is far more clarity than when I was doing what I thought was proper for a spiritual person to do.

My question, is there really any common traits of the realized?? Or are these traits only applied to a persona? You are realized and like peace and quite, But other realized people I know enjoy a very different atmosphere, they prefer skyscrapers to trees. Regards, W.D.

FROM ANOTHER SITE VISITOR: Recently someone touched on the subject of why some are thrown out of satsang sessions (or in this case tossed off the site). I wonder that more are not.

F.: The format that is used when offering the Advaita understanding is to accept questions, expose faulty thinking, and then offer pointers that re-direct an earnest seeker to the next step on the “path.” As noted yesterday, sometimes the seeker accepts the pointers and move farther along the “path,” and sometimes not; sometimes that seeker might not be moved along but others are...via the response.

It is rather interesting that of all the teachings to be challenged, it is the worth (and naturalness) of “peace” and “quiet” that has been rejected. That alone should show the writer who thinks he is well along the “path”—or who possibly thinks he has completed the “journey” in toto—that he has actually not even begun.

[To continue now from yesterday] Next, to see the way that high-level sounds and racket and clamor are used by the non-Realized to try to drown out the ever-present noise of their rattling “minds,” consider:

a woman said that when she arises each morning at 8 A.M., she goes into the living room and she turns on the television even though she does not watch it until the noon news telecast. Why? She explained, “I always like to have some background noise going on.” Indeed, the non-Realized think they must have background noise going on. The ego hates the silence.

The ego loves freedom of speech and noise-making, and it hates the freedom of silence. Ego and its accompanying egotism will load up a trunk with speakers and drive about with music blaring while exposing all within the vicinity to the deafening noise;

the ego and its accompanying egotism will seek out meetings where it can verbalize what it takes to be its weighty pronouncements, driven to be heard and to impress (even though such meetings are a complete bastardization of the original program of which he claims to be a member);

the ego and its accompanying egotism will prefer a Sunday passed inside a noisy building with singing and shouting and speaking and listening to loud music over a peaceful walk through a quiet wood; and the ego and its accompanying egotism will prefer to give a speech rather than to listen to a speech.

It is the ego and its accompanying egotism that spreads the “Blah-Blah-Blah Germs” that infect all within the environs with the “Interruption of Serenity Sickness” and is then damn proud of having passed on its dis-ease to everyone around it.

In nature, noise is anathema to all living things, humans now being the only exception. To ask this speck that is writing a series on “maintaining the peace and quiet” to click on a link and listen to some noise in Bombay/Mumbai is, well, abnormal…unnatural.

Further, any seeker with even the slightest information about Maharaj is well aware of the noise level on Ketwadi Street. To suggest, however, that such noise was Maharaj’s preference—or that noise was just fine with Maharaj or even “OK”—is as baseless a conclusion as the statement that the street is one of "the noisiest chaotic sounding places there is."

I have heard the sounds of Ketwadi Street and I have worked in a steel fabrication shop. There is no comparison, but the only purpose for noting that is to expose the ego’s habit of making exaggerated claims with no scientific or factual basis.

That is the stuff of a non-Realized person who really want persons to believe what he believes…to “convince someone to “change his mind.” Was the expectation to hear, “You know, I see now that you’re right. From now on, I’ll never again allow the peace and quiet to happen. It’s either heavy metal music or pot banging for me also for the rest of the manifestation.”

Or was the real motive to assert, “I listen to chaotic music, and I’m Fully Realized, so what you’re saying about the Realized enjoying the peace and quiet must be wrong”? What a wasted exercise to try to influence the Realized to believe a different belief and “change his mind.” Why? The Realized have no beliefs at all, so they are not about to adopt beliefs held by the non-Realized;

and as far as the Realized changing their mind, that is also impossible since the Realized have no mind to change. Such is the way it is when abiding as the original, no-concept, non-dual, no-mind state and overlaying that on the Am-ness.

Again, what a superfluous exercise by the ego and its accompanying egotism. Now, it should be seen what an exercise of ego and egotism really looks like. Now it should be seen why the non-Realized will be irrational and illogical as long as they continue to be driven by the fiction-filled “mind.”

In the 27 April 2009 post, this was offered: Often, after morning sessions, he [Maharaj] enjoyed a ride thorough the countryside with friends. Why would that pointer be ignored a few days later when presenting a counter-argument that Maharaj was fine with high noise levels?

Because it contradicted a belief held dear by an ego-state which was sensing the message, “I hate the peace and quiet and he’s saying the Realized enjoy both, and that implies that I’m not Realized, so I have to challenge that and the way I’ll argue the point is to show how he’s even contradicting his own teacher who believed that noise was just fine.”

The belief was, “I’m Realized” though all the evidence is to the contrary in terms of logic and in terms of rejecting natural living. But see the way the non-Realized love their beliefs and hate any opposing beliefs.

They filter out any and all evidence which shows their beliefs to be false. Imagine how, with such attachment to their beliefs and such delight in sharing their beliefs, that they must react when it is reported that I have no beliefs and when I invite them to discard all of theirs.

The fact is, Maharaj spent time in the quiet and peaceful forest during the early part of his “journey.” As noted, he asked a friend who owned a car to take him to the peaceful countryside on a near-daily basis as a break from the noise of Ketwadi Street.

So much for the conclusion that the presence of excessive street noise outside M.’s loft proves that the Realized do not favor the peace and quiet in the same way that all non-human, naturally-abiding creatures prefer the peace and quiet.

The noisy street just happened to be where Maharaj lived, and the location was not selected for its high noise level the way the writer above is selecting high noise levels with his music preference. M.’s options were either (A) to stay there, live off the proceeds of one beedi shop, off the food items brought daily by seekers, and then offer the teachings; or

(B) to return to operating a dozen beedi shops as he had in the past in order to afford another place to live that might be in a quieter location. He chose to de-accumulate, to live off the proceeds of one shop, to stay in his flat with its loft, to eat on occasion whatever was offered by visitors, and to offer the teachings.

But there is nothing about those circumstances that testifies to his finding the Ketwadi Street noise level acceptable or preferable; instead, the evidence suggests otherwise since it was his daily retreats into the quiet countryside and away from the noise that he enjoyed.

If a person is seeking something to drown out the "mind" rather than to be rid of the "mind," then these teachings will not be for her/him, and and if a person does not understand that nothing is more peaceful and quiet than the original state—and that these teachings are about abiding as THAT—then these teaching are not for that person. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

The “path” from identification with the false “I”
to
abidance as the Absolute
has seven steps that must be taken in an exact, reverse order from the way the “coming in” happened. One book is the guide to the step-by-step "journey" to Realization.
Get the Book or eBook

THE FOLLOWING NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE IN THE STORE IN LIMITED SUPPLY AND WILL BE OFFERED AT 50% OFF WHEN BOUGHT AS A PACKAGE:

While quantities last, the following package deal is being offered: Receive all nine (9) of the paperback books listed below for $88 total with free shipping in the U.S. and ½ price shipping internationally.

NOTE: Only one full set remaining. The offer will become an eight-book set after the next order.

NON-DUALITY BOOK SET:
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide I
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide II
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings

To order, click
Non-Duality Book Set
then add the package to the shopping cart and follow the checkout procedure to the secure pay site.

You may pay with any major credit card or with Paypal.

Or, OPTION TWO:

THE “ADVAITA STUDY GROUP” PACKAGE
Host an Advaita Study Group in your home.
Enough paperback copies remain in stock to provide the following for you and three other seekers:
4 copies-From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
4 copies-Consciousness / Awareness
4 copies-From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Take turns reading passages and then discussing the pointers.
All 12 books for $120.00 (equal to $30 each) + free S&H in the U.S.
To order this set, you must use
the Contact link to make arrangements for payment—VISA or MC only—and to provide the address for free U.S. shipping.
ONLY ONE SET OF THESE TWELVE BOOKS IS LEFT IN THE STORE

Finally,
most titles are also available as eBooks

Visit
The Official Website of Floyd Henderson

HOW IT CAN APPEAR TO SOME THAT THE REALIZED ARE NOT REALIZED AT ALL, Part Ten

An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.

Announcing the closing of the Non-Duality Bookstore as the focus in the future will be on providing books electronically. See at the end of this post an offer to receive at lower-than-eBook prices the last of the paper books remaining in stock at 50% off with free shipping in the U.S. and half-price shipping internationally.

Also, see details below for starting your own “Advaita Study Home Group”

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Floyd please listen to this tape of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (followed by a link to a site that includes a tape with all of the noise of Ketwadi Street. I pass.) I think where he lived in Bombay may be one of the noisiest chaotic sounding places there is.

I feel its different for each self-realized person, If you know there is no separate self to be in the presence of noise and chaos and there is a natural allowing what is, to be as it is, than to be in the city or in a cave would seem to be according to a persons preferences.

I used to listen to flute music and sitar because I thought it was spiritual, now I listen to heavy metal and there is far more clarity than when I was doing what I thought was proper for a spiritual person to do.

My question, is there really any common traits of the realized?? Or are these traits only applied to a persona? You are realized and like peace and quite, But other realized people I know enjoy a very different atmosphere, they prefer skyscrapers to trees. Regards, W.D.

F.: Why is being in the presence of a Realized teacher—or reading the writings of a Realized teacher or the transcripts of satsang with a Realized teacher—almost always required if Full Realization is to happen? Consider:

How can one understand what one cannot understand because of having been programmed to function unnaturally/abnormally and to think supernaturally/magically? One cannot. How can a twisted “mind” untwist itself? It cannot.

Why sit in satsang with a group of seekers when illogical and irrational comments can be made by some who tout beliefs that are illogical and irrational? Because the teacher can use such illogical and irrational comments to reveal the machinations of the warped “mind” and its twisted thinking and then offer a counter view along with the invitation to be free of the "mind" and its machinations.

Such revelations might not be understood by the illogical, irrational speaker (or writer) but other seekers might well receive certain clarifications that move them to the next step along the “path” to the no-mind, no-concept, non-dual Reality. And that is the opportunity being offered today.

[NOTE: The following questions have been raised over the years: Why not use religious guides? (1) Because they are myth tellers whose teachings have been handed down from the ignorant persons who dreamed them up thousands of years ago. They can only add to the conglomeration of totally fictitious beliefs that are still being presented as unquestionable, universal truths.

(2) Because, instead of guiding You to that which You already know but have been blocked from seeing, they claim that they are stating the truth when the truth cannot be stated.

Why not a spiritual guide chosen from among the millions who are playing that role in their self-help groups? (3) Because they admit that they were insane but claim that they asked a god to restore them to sanity and “He” did it. Since there is no “He,” there has been no restoration. Thus, the prevalent "past insanity" is still the "present insanity" which remains the dominant driving force among the membership.

(4) Further, when you have members of a group who have assumed the role of “the spiritual ones,” anything that is stated thereafter is the talk of their false ego-states which will, by default, have to be false.

(5) In addition, when the members of a group are assuming the roles of psychologist, psychiatrist, physician, lawyer, re-programmer, and a host of other roles for which they have not the least bit of training, then only nonsensical advice will be offered.

To heap nonsense on top of nonsense is not a treatment for nonsense. To depend on a “mind” to purge itself of “mind”-junk is impossible. The garbage in your home cannot—and will not—take itself out, ever.

There is no guide, other than an Advaitin guide, that will offer the pointer that you need to learn nothing more but that you have much to unlearn. The Advaitin guide will not ask you to become a member of a group and will not assign you an entirely new set of false roles to assume and play.]

So, to continue with the response to one who has questioned the teaching that the Realized naturally and automatically and spontaneously move toward the peace and quiet, consider again the words of Maharaj: if “complete inner peace and quiet” do not manifest then “you will have missed the entire thing.” Among the non-Realized, the inner is dominated by the outer, including ambient sounds.

Is there any indication that the writer of the e-mail above is speaking via the pure consciousness that always exhibits logic and reason? Not when he can assert that there is no separate self to be in the presence of noise and chaos while claiming in the very next sentence that there is some WHO that has “more clarity” as a result of being in the presence of loud, chaotic noise.

So the noise is not heard but it is heard. The noise has no effect but it has an effect. Anything else that follows such illogical statements will be given no credibility by the pure or re-purified consciousness.

Now the invitation is for the writer to see the flaws in logic, but if not, there remains the possibility that other site visitors can witness the way in which the conditioned and programmed and warped “mind” functions and can see that they must be rid of it once and for all. Consider this pointer that has been offered in the past:

Consciousness is rooted in the Absolute. The brain is rooted in the elements. The “mind” is rooted in wrong programming and faulty conditioning and lies and concepts and ideas and superstitions and falsehoods.

For millions of years, before the size of the human brain evolved from its long-standing one-cup size to its current three-and-a-half-cups size and before it developed sections for storing and retrieving information, there was no mind. Even without a mind, humankind survived for millions of years, just as still happens with all living things except humans.

The pure consciousness and naturally-operating brain are the "assets" required for natural functioning during the manifestation. The "mind" is an unnecessary "liability," the proof being (a) millions of years of pre-"mind" success at surviving among humans and (b) the present tendency of the mind to generate self-destructive behaviors rather than self-constructive behaviors as was originally intended by nature.

Admittedly, for a time, the mind contributed to the continuation of the species. Now, it is the driving force behind all self-destructive tendencies. This is an invitation to realize that, now, the “mind” is always warped, that the “mind” is always twisted, and that the “mind” is nothing more than a storehouse of lies and nonsense that generate illogical and irrational statements and behaviors when persons (that is, the non-Realized) speak or write or act on their thoughts.

Next, the last thing anyone visiting this site will read are recommendations about what kind of music to listen to or not. What one can read are immediate challenges to any illogical or irrational statements as well as pointers along the “path” to Realization which can lead to freedom and peace.

Listening to sounds that are outside the alpha, theta or delta cycles will guarantee that the brain will not cycle at any of those three rates but will cycle at the rate of the ambient noises being introduced (and which result in a most unnatural environment). In an unnatural environment, clarity does not result. It is prevented.

To the contrary of focusing on either “calm” or “chaotic” music, the pointer is that the Realized automatically become quieter in every regard. At work, there is less non-essential talk; there are fewer opinions interjected into conversations in a lunch area; there is less a tendency to go to meetings where one has a captive audience that must listen to meaningless pontifications that amount to nothing more than efforts to self-aggrandize.

The key pointer about the spontaneous shift to the peace and quiet has nothing to do with music preferences and has everything to do with (1) being free of false identities that motivate persons to talk and talk and talk in an effort to convince self and others that their phony ego-states are real; and with (2) being free of their chattering “minds” than motivate persons to seek out higher and higher levels of ambient noise to drown out the ever-increasing noise level of their “minds.”

As noted, the source of noise being used to drown out the nonsensical chatter of a "mind" can be a stereo sound system or a pot being hammered over the head, but the effect is the same:

the opportunity for clarity to come under those circumstances is impossible, and the belief that chaotic sounds have produced clarity indicates a complete and total absence of clarity. One who holds that belief to be true is invited to see that all of his/her other beliefs should immediately be called into question as well. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

THE FOLLOWING NON-DUALITY BOOKS ARE IN THE STORE IN LIMITED SUPPLY AND WILL BE OFFERED AT 50% OFF WHEN BOUGHT AS A PACKAGE:

While quantities last, the following package deal is being offered: Receive all nine (9) of the paperback books listed below for $88 total with free shipping in the U.S. and ½ price shipping internationally.

NOTE: Only one full set remaining. The offer will become an eight-book set after the next order.

NON-DUALITY BOOK SET:
From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide I
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide II
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings

To order, click
Non-Duality Book Set
then add the package to the shopping cart and follow the checkout procedure to the secure pay site.

You may pay with any of these major credit cards or with Paypal.

Or, OPTION TWO:

THE “ADVAITA STUDY GROUP” PACKAGE
Host an Advaita Study Group in your home.
Enough paperback copies remain in stock to provide the following for you and three other seekers:
4 copies-From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
4 copies-Consciousness / Awareness
4 copies-From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Take turns reading passages and then discussing the pointers.
All 12 books for $120.00 (equal to $30 each) + free S&H in the U.S.
To order this set, you must use
the Contact link to make arrangements for payment—VISA or MC only—and to provide the address for free U.S. shipping.
ONLY ONE SET OF THESE TWELVE BOOKS IS LEFT IN THE STORE

Finally,
most titles are also available as eBooks

Visit
The Official Website of Floyd Henderson

HOW IT CAN APPEAR TO SOME THAT THE REALIZED ARE NOT REALIZED AT ALL, Part Nine

An Advaita Vedanta philosophy site, focusing on Realization, enlightenment, nisarga yoga, non-duality (nonduality), your original nature, dwelling as your natural state, and the teachings of Maharaj.

Announcing the closing of the Non-Duality Bookstore as the focus in the future will be on providing books electronically. See at the end of this post an offer to receive at lower-than-eBook prices the last of the paper books remaining in stock at 50% off with free shipping in the U.S. and half-price shipping internationally.

Also, see details below for starting your own “Advaita Study Home Group”

FROM A SITE VISITOR: How can you claim that maharaj was realized and at peace when he got mad and ran people out of his house?

FROM ANOTHER SITE VISITOR: How much time do you spend with people? I mean do you blend into society are do you retreat…isolate…whatever?

FROM ANOTHER SITE VISITOR: do you ever feel resentful about people who write you and ask stupid questions or argue with you about their religion or their beliefs? seems like denial if you claim no.

FROM ANOTHER SITE VISITOR: Do you think there were some people that maharaj hated even though he said he lived with wisdom and love? For instant, how could you not hate hitler? do you ever get sick of people who aren’t realized.Is there anything you hate?

F.: In the 30 April 2009 post, the pointer was offered that…

…a "pro-noise" e-mail was received as a counter-argument to the considerations offered recently about the natural tendency to move toward the peace and quiet. Of course, those living unnaturally or supernaturally will be drawn to noise. Furthermore, understand that nothing which is natural and sane and sound can be assumed to be understood by those marching to the beat—to the very loud beat—of the drum that sounds out the cadence to which the non-Realized masses move about during the relative existence.

Moreover, before that discussion continues, never assume that you have heard the most extreme example of self-deception. As long as the Am-ness continues, the chance for more extreme examples is always a possibility. Now, here’s that e-mail:

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Floyd please listen to this tape of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (followed by a link to a site that includes a tape with the noise of Ketwadi Street. I'll pass.) I think where he lived in Bombay may be one of the noisiest chaotic sounding places there is.

I feel its different for each self-realized person, If you know there is no separate self to be in the presence of noise and chaos and there is a natural allowing what is, to be as it is, than to be in the city or in a cave would seem to be according to a persons preferences.

I used to listen to flute music and sitar because I thought it was spiritual, now I listen to heavy metal and there is far more clarity than when I was doing what I thought was proper for a spiritual person to do.

My question, is there really any common traits of the realized?? Or are these traits only applied to a persona? You are realized and like peace and quite, But other realized people I know enjoy a very different atmosphere, they prefer skyscrapers to trees. Regards, W.D.

OK, W.D. It’s time for a major reality check. Over the years, you have revealed the ways in which you have vacillated between the sometimes-kind Helper and the sometimes-mean Controller. You have vacillated between studying these teachings that deal with the no-concept Reality and then played around in your “spiritual group” and shared loads of concepts.

Worse though (relatively speaking) is what your “mind” has come up with over the last several years that has resulted in tolerance of abuse at times, being abusive at times, and consistently making the most disastrous financial decisions imaginable. As one Advaitin noted 2000 years ago, "A dual-minded man is unstable in all ways."

And now you have put on display once more the distorted thinking that has driven all of that. An honest look at the content of your e-mail might provide one more opportunity for you to realize the way that your beliefs and your thought-life and your self-defeating “mind” are all still generating ideas that are 180-degrees opposite of truth.

As the discussion of the natural movement toward the quiet among the Realized continues, consider: all types of noise, music or otherwise, are used by the non-Realized for one of two purposes, and often both: (1) To try to drown out the noisy “mind” or (2) to try to support ego-states…false identities. In regards to the first, some observations by another Realized Advaitin teacher will be shared.

The way that Dennis Waite addresses this issue differs from the way I will address it tomorrow, but an excerpt from his writings in The Book of One is apropos here. Dennis shared with his readers, in strictly Advaitin terms, some demonstrable shifts that begin to mark the relative existence, post-Realization:

We need to keep good company. There is a special term for this – satsanga (satsa~Nga), meaning association with the good. This relates not only to spiritual rather than animalistic people but fine literature rather than popular fiction, classical rather than rock music, art rather than graffiti etc.; influences to improve and refine the mind rather than stultify and coarsen.

There is a danger of viewing such sentiments as being judgmental; that in stating that classical music is ‘better’ than pop music, we are merely expressing an opinion. This is not so. What is being said is not that classical music is intrinsically good, while pop is somehow ‘bad’ but that much (not all) of the former brings about a predominance of sattva in the attentive mind while most of the latter generates rajas or tamas.

Similarly, ‘good’ literature directs the mind to serious and/or spiritual considerations while most popular fiction merely causes time to pass in a way which, whilst it may stimulate manas, does little to enhance the functioning of buddhi. These things can be seen to happen in practice by anyone open to these ideas; they are not simply matters of opinion.

Until the other aspects of the ‘fourfold qualities’ have been achieved, it is very difficult to remain fixed on the objective. Shankara, in the Bhaja Govindum (V. 9) said: “Through the company of the good, there arises non-attachment; through non-attachment there arises freedom from delusion; when there is freedom from delusion, there is the Immutable Reality; on experiencing the Immutable Reality, there comes the state of ‘liberated-in-life’.” Later (V. 13), he says: “In the three worlds, it is the association with good people alone that can serve as a boat to cross the sea of change (birth and death)” (Ref. 16)

Osho claims that we usually seek out people who are less accomplished than ourselves. We will not marry someone who is more intelligent, for example and we don’t like our friends to be more knowledgeable; the idea being that the ego needs to feel superior. But all of this work is trying to take us in the opposite direction, reducing the dominion of the ego and establishing us in the light of the Self. Thus it is that we should be seeking the company of those wiser than ourselves, whose light is brighter. This reference is from his book ‘The Mustard Seed’ (Ref. 44) and he likens the impulse that we have towards the truth as being the mustard seed that now requires the right soil in which to grow and mature. Satsang is that soil.

Sri Poonja said: “Wicked habits and society will come back to you. They are very strong and so you must be. You are going upstream to the source, they are flowing downstream and will drag you along.”

Maharaj said that science would one day support the Advaita teachings, one of which is to follow the steps that will lead to the silence, to the quiet, to the peace. (He endorsed "…complete inner peace and quiet…," adding, “If you miss it, you miss the entire thing.”)

Tomorrow, I will share the understanding that has come since “floyd” disappeared and since abidance as “THAT, overlaid on the Am-ness,” began. When that happens, there is a spontaneous, automatic, agenda-less, persona-less, mind-less movement toward that which is peaceful and that which is quiet.

There also comes an end to such delusion-based self-deceptions as “I have more clarity when I smoke pot”; “I have more clarity when I drop acid”; “I have more clarity when I listen to heavy metal music”; "I have more clarity when I am drunk"; or “I have more clarity when I put a pot over my head and bang it with a hammer.”

Contrary to the nonsensical conclusions that the "mind" will lead persons to draw, the scientific evidence (which Maharaj spoke of) provides concrete facts that refute each of the claims above. Smoke it, drop it, listen to it, drink it, or bang it, knowing that none of that makes any difference whatsoever to Me. But be not deceived about the actual results of such smoking, dropping, listening, drinking, or banging. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

The “path” from

identification with the false “I”
to
abidance as the Absolute
has seven steps that must be taken in an exact, reverse order from the way the “coming in” happened. The book above is a step-by-step guide to Realization.
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From the Absolute to the Nothingness
Consciousness/Awareness
From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
It's All Bullshit (and Why Knowing it Sets You Free)
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide I
Self-Transformation Meditation Guide II
There's No Such Thing as ''Peace of Mind''
Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost)
The Essence of the Teachings

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