REFLECTIONS on ADVAITA: PART 4– GUEST WRITER: LOUISE STERLING

Dissolving the Cloud Cover of the Seven Degrees of Separation From Reality

“As self-identification with the body-mind is the poison that brings bondage, seek liberation by seeing that oneself is not any thing personal or perceivable.” – Nisargadatta Maharaj

Walking this planet, the majority of people are misidentified with the first three layers of cloud cover – the body, mind and personality. They are unaware of their already existing Real Nature, hypnotized by the web of beliefs, ideas or concepts that keep them functioning as separate individuals in a world of duality. Not only are most people hypnotized by this false understanding, they will argue vehemently that they are happy and fulfilled. It is this level of denial that prompts so few to search for a way out. It is like a shoal of fish caught inside a net – many of the fish will simply continue to swim inside the confines of the net, unaware that they are trapped and separated from the ocean.

When identified as a separate individual in the world, bound by mind, body, personality and the network of lies that keep this imaginary structure intact, even if the Advaitan teachings are discovered, they may seem inexplicable. The mind may be unable to grasp any intellectual meaning or understanding. Yet, there is likely to be an instant recognition of Truth. Here, there was more than an instant recognition, but a deep sense of relief and relaxation, often accompanied by spontaneous tears. This was the relief of recognizing the warm, calm, safe water of True understanding – after years of enculturated nonsense.

So, how to be free of these dense layers of conditioned beliefs and concepts? The Advaitan teachings invite You to de-accumulate and unlearn – in other words to see the beliefs and concepts as false and allow them to dissolve. Can You see that the object is to DISSOLVE the layers of cloud cover and replace them with NOTHING – no new clouds, no new ideas, no new concepts? Can you see that acquiring any new ideas will simply be creating another layer of cloud cover, replacing one set of concepts with another set of concepts?

(Note: this is a typical “blind spot” for the seeker at the third step, as concepts about materialism or childhood / tribal religious beliefs are replaced with concepts about oneness, spirituality or enlightenment. Later, even the teaching concepts of Advaita offered here must be relinquished – they are teaching devices; thorns used to remove thorns; pointers to Truth that are no longer needed when the no-concept Reality is directly known. )

When the miasma of body/mind/personality identification has dissolved, the seeker’s vision begins to clear. Still there are layers of cloud, but the cloud is less dense. The knowledge of Self-understanding begins to shine unobstructed. From this vantage point, the seeker is able to see what is being pointed to by the teacher, even if this is not yet known directly. The seeker intuitively knows “he” or “she” is not the separate individual – and identifies with the stability and permanence of the sky rather than the fleeting, temporary and shifting clouds. The seeker turns away from the false and identification with the relative world, and turns towards the Real -- through contemplation in silence and stillness. The teacher and the Inner Guru assist the seeker to clear the view by dissolving the remaining layers of separation, until the final dissolution.

Or, as Maharaj says: “It is like washing printed cloth. First the design fades, then the background, and in the end the cloth is plain white. The personality gives place to the witness, then the witness goes and pure awareness remains. The cloth was white in the beginning and is white in the end; the patterns and colors just happened - for a time.”

Remember then these pointers: You are nothing personal. You are nothing perceivable. You are not the concepts and beliefs. You are not the personal narratives and the spiritual experiences. You are not the colours or the patterns. De-accumulate. Go beyond. Find Yourself in what is not personal and not perceivable. Invite the dissolution that returns You to Your Original State.

(For further teaching on the seven degrees of separation, see the ebook available on this site entitled: From the I to the Absolute).

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com – a temporary email address available for the duration of these guest postings.

REFLECTIONS on ADVAITA: PART 3 – GUEST WRITER: LOUISE STERLING

Dissolving the Cloud Cover of the Body/Mind/Personality Construct

So, if the clear blue sky can be a pointer to Your Real Nature, why is this not immediately obvious, and what are the clouds that obscure this view? On this site, the teaching pointers offered describe seven degrees of separation from Reality. Imagine that these seven degrees of separation are layers of cloud cover temporarily obscuring the sky and hiding it from view.

The teachings here explain that these layers of cloud must be dissolved in a particular sequence for the sky to be clear and unobstructed. It is hopeless to dissolve the final layers, when those nearest have not been removed. The first three layers of cloud cover are the densest – and for most persons walking this planet, these layers are so impenetrable, that there is no impetus to attempt to dissolve them. These three layers are identification with the body, mind and personality.

Many seekers in the spiritual market place are searching with this body/mind/personality construct firmly in place – believing they are a separate person who can be healed, inspired, have spiritual growth and … for the bonanza prize … achieve enlightenment. Can you see how these seekers have not even yet begun to dissolve the first three layers of cloud cover that separate them from knowing the Final Reality?

This is the way it was for “louise”. Endless years of on-and-off seeking – beginning at age 13 with the books on Zen in the local Durban public library. In fact, there were many years of accumulation: spiritual books, mystical experiences, meditation techniques, etc. By the time “louise” pitched up on this site, she felt she had a pretty good handle on all this “stuff”, was quite far along the path. An initial query to “floyd”, and she was located on around the third step, with likely vestiges of body and mind identification still in place. A beginner. Quelle horreur!

Bizarrely, despite the rigorous research, as seeker “I” had never encountered the direct teachings about the myth of the body/mind/construct. “I” was a separate individual looking for freedom for “herself”. Reading the early writing of Maharaj – I Am That – quotes like these were shocking and liberating. They offered a glimpse of the freedom of the Sky.

“Somebody, anybody, will tell you that you are pure consciousness, not a body-mind. Accept it as a possibility and investigate earnestly. You may discover that it is not so, that you are not a person bound in space and time. Think of the difference it would make!” –Maharaj

“I am not my body, nor do I need it. I am the witness only. I have no shape of my own. You are so accustomed to think of yourself as bodies having consciousness that you just cannot imagine consciousness as having bodies. Once you realize that bodily existence is but a state of mind, a movement in consciousness, that the ocean of consciousness is infinite and eternal, and that, when in touch with consciousness, you are the witness only, you will be able to withdraw beyond consciousness altogether.” –Maharaj

These Advaitan teachings were inexplicable to the conditioned mind, yet recognized instantly by the Inner Guru. The wild, joyful, uncompromising discovery of pointers to Truth after years of conditioned nonsense – including that offered up in the spiritual marketplace! Perhaps it has been this way for You too?

There are many sayings about Advaita. It is said that finding the Advaitan teachings is like putting your head into the jaws of a tiger – there is no escape; this knowledge will have its effect …”you” will be consumed and nothing will remain. This is an accurate description.

Can You see how “louise” could seek, meditate, discuss spiritual texts, ask intelligent questions, and have a “self-image” of an accomplished practitioner, while all the time deluded by a fog of cloud cover unseen and unidentified trapping her in the first three degrees of separation from Reality? Can You see how the sophistication of the mind and intellect when applied to spiritual concepts can mask or mimic understanding? Can You see the level of self-denial that a society that reveres the separate individual engenders?

In those early teachings, Maharaj emphasizes the value of earnestness in the seeker. This too is accurate. The seeker may be misidentified, but an earnest longing to identify the false and see what is True means that when the cloud layers of body/mind/personality identification are seen, they are recognized as false, and hence can be easily dissolved. Remember, what is untrue dissolves away … until NOTHING remains.

(For further teaching on the seven degrees of separation, see the ebook available on this site entitled: From the I to the Absolute).

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com – a temporary email address available for the duration of these guest postings.

REFLECTIONS on ADVAITA: PART 2– GUEST WRITER: LOUISE STERLING

The Metaphor of the Clear Blue Sky Pointing to Your Real Nature

Yesterday’s blog offered this pointer:

If the sky is entirely covered over with clouds, how would You know the sky exists? With Advaita, the teacher shows You the sky, and painstakingly explains how You are not the clouds, how this is a false picture, how You are already the sky. As a seeker, the only possibility is to trust the teacher – to reflect on the pointers that dissolve the clouds of confusion, until Who You Are is known directly.

The impulse is to extend this metaphor to provide another view of the Advaitan understanding.

Today the sky over Cape Town, South Africa is covered with a thick bank of grey cloud. The dark, impenetrable cloud cover dulls the everyday surroundings with an overcast hue. On a summer day, the sky may be covered over by fluffy white clouds that allow light to penetrate, gently illuminating and brightening the natural surroundings. On another day, the cloud cover may be absent altogether, allowing the clear blue sky to be seen without obscuration.

The clear sky is a useful metaphor for the unchanging, limitless natural state. The clouds – both grey and stormy or white and fluffy – appear in this always stable sky-like nature. Prior to Realization, it is typical for seekers to identify with the clouds rather than the sky. Within the duality of the relative, the grey storm clouds can be a metaphor for what is incorrectly perceived as “bad” or “without clarity” – when identified with the grey stormy cloud atmosphere the seeker may experience anger, frustration, stuckness – everything deemed by our society to be negative, dark or “not good”. The fluffy white clouds can be a metaphor for what is seen to be “good” – happiness, bliss, calmness, clarity, compassion, kindness – everything deemed by our society to be positive, light, spiritual and “not bad”.

So – the typical misidentification on the spiritual “path” is to equate the bliss states or the fluffy white clouds with the unadulterated natural state and, consequently to equate the stormy grey clouds with “losing” the natural state or “getting it wrong”. This was a major cul-de-sac for “louise” as seeker, and is one reason why an authentic teacher is needed. On reflection, “louise” probably spent years attempting to find stability in the fluffy white clouds – a hopeless and thankless exercise. This erroneous view was systematically pointed out by “floyd” via a blog series (If interested, this series is entitled Shifting between the States of Happiness and Unhappiness: November 22 2007 and can be accessed via the buttons on the right hand side of this site.) As a seeker identified with the “positive spiritual experiences” within duality, the sky was not yet visible.

Can You see how an authentic teacher, fully stabilized in the natural state, can see the entire vista, the clear blue sky and the clouds – both white and grey – and can pinpoint precisely where You are located and where You are misidentified? Is it possible to make this discovery without a teacher? Of course, this has been the case for some. However, is it easier to simply and impersonally accept the location pinpointed by the Realized teacher, follow the pointers offered to enable a shift, and save years of unnecessary fluctuating and instability? Undoubtedly.

It must be pointed out that the “medicine” offered by “floyd” in the series was hard to take. The spiritual ego identified with the bliss states does not like to be told that this is a temporary and fluctuating condition – no different than feeling good on a holiday and feeling bad on a working day. This is why trust in the teacher’s authenticity and ability to guide You home is vital. Remember – the teacher does not want you to get lost. “He” or “she” will not leave you in a cul-de-sac just because it temporarily “feels good”. He /she will guide you to the Final Understanding – where You will take up permanent residence in the natural state – regardless of the fluctuations of days and weather. (Of course, when the teacher is finished, there will be no you and no teacher – these are fictional labels used until no longer required.)

Of course, as the consciousness is purified via the Advaitan teachings, the seeker – who is already the Nameless Reality – has ever-widening glimpses of this natural state, but until all conditioning and confusion is removed via true understanding, these glimpses will not be permanent. Imagine the stability of constant abidance in Your own nature – unaffected by the clouds that pass by – and totally free from the instability and fluctuations that characterize everyday life for the Non-Realized. This is what the Direct Path teachings of Nisarga Yoga offer.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com – a temporary email address available for the duration of these guest postings.

REFLECTIONS on ADVAITA: PART 1 – GUEST WRITER: LOUISE STERLING

Thanks Floyd – and site visitors – for this opportunity to share reflections on the Advaitan understanding.

Eliminating Identification with the Separate Individual

NOTHING. What does it mean to be nothing? The freedom. The ease. The relaxation. Stripped bare of any idea, any notion, any concept of what is or how things should be. Free from the expectations of a crowd of personas juggling to have their needs met. Free from the endless chain of competing thoughts and demands. Here, in the absence of anything – there is nothing to fear, nothing to desire.

For so many years, “I” searched for stability in the relative world, as a separate individual with needs, wants, desires. “I” had a fixed idea of how life should be, what relationships should look like, what enlightenment meant. “I” learned and practiced techniques for calming the mind, stopping the thoughts, being positive, creating abundance. “I” meditated. “I” worked hard at being compassionate, peaceful and kind. At some level, from very early on, there was the understanding that there was something wrong with the suffering individual. The false idea engendered by a confused society is that the individual needs to become better, calmer, heal the wounds, blah blah and the suffering will end. This is a hopeless paper chase, of course. The mind simply invents new blemishes, blurs, discrepancies, edges, opportunities for growth – and the self-help / spiritual movement matches these with therapies, visualisations, meditations, retreats … A never-ending story.

When this blog was discovered over two years ago, the words “Advaita” and “Nisargadatta Maharaj” were heard for the first time. The whisperings of Truth (like the one below) were recognized, but were so radical they were often read over and over with no intellectual understanding.

“The world disturbs you because you think yourself big enough to be affected by the world. It is not so. You are so small that nothing can pin you down. It is your mind that gets caught, not you. Know yourself as you are - a mere point in consciousness, dimensionless, and timeless. You are like the point of a pencil - by mere contact with you the mind draws its picture of the world. You are single and simple - the picture is complex and extensive. Don't be misled by the picture - remain aware of the tiny point - which is everywhere in the picture.” – Nisargadatta Maharaj

However, in every quote by Maharaj or blog entry by Floyd Henderson, the message was and is clear. Freedom from suffering is only possible when identification with the separate individual is eliminated; replaced with the clear and direct understanding that You are the formless, limitless Reality.

It is no surprise that the clouds of misunderstanding and misidentification do not dissolve in an instant. From the first moment of manifestation of consciousness in a body, there is the persistent brainwashing and conditioning that builds this picture of the self as a separate individual – special, chosen and different. Society’s message is that the self should be good, strong, peaceful, happy, stable –and if it is not, the self is fundamentally flawed and must be “healed” or “improved”. Why should this be disbelieved? The message is persistently and regularly entrenched by parents, teachers, the media, bosses, colleagues, friends, spiritual teachers. If the sky is entirely covered over with clouds, how would You know the sky exists? With Advaita, the teacher shows You the sky, and painstakingly explains how You are not the clouds, how this is a false picture, how You are already the sky. As a seeker, the only possibility is to trust the teacher – to reflect on the pointers that dissolve the clouds of confusion, until Who You Are is known directly.

Here, Advaita was the end of this exhausting search. There is no other teaching that so systematically explodes the myth of the suffering individual. With the radical discovery that there is no separate individual at all – that this is just a false understanding, a cloud of confusion, a mirage in the desert – the suffering can end at last, as NOTHING remains.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com – a temporary email address available for the duration of these guest postings.