REMOVING FALSE CONCEPTS – HOW POINTERS PURIFY THE MIND AND CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR YOUR TRUE NATURE TO EMERGE. PART 7– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.

(Please note: The Annual Fall Book Sale is now under way. Most Non-Duality eBooks at floydhenderson.com are on sale at 30-50% off regular price.)

It is useless to search for the truth, when the mind is blind to the false. It must be purged of the false completely before truth can dawn on it. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

The cult of modern society has one function – to programme its members so that the false consensual reality is reinforced. Every person who is non-realized can be described as a cult member. Why? Each non-realized person has been subjected to systematic programming and conditioning from an early age, resulting in a fiction-filled mind that blocks understanding of the true nature of reality.

The main programming machines of the society are: the family, culture, religion, education, politics, and the media. These programming machines function together to produce persons who think, believe and act in particular, ego-based and conditioned ways. Since the cult is so huge and since virtually all persons are members, the cult is not perceived as a cult – but rather as natural and normal.

The Advaitin Teachings provide a message – there is a way to break free of this programming and conditioning, and for Reality to shine unobstructed by the layers of false understanding. This is called Realization, or the Realization of one’s true nature.

Pointers to the Ultimate Reality are basically deprogramming devices. They function to dissolve false programming and to provide a View of what is True and what is Real. They offer a way to leave “cult-thinking” and see with unconditioned sight.

However, as in any cult, the majority of members are resistant to any challenge to their faulty conceptual base, and will reject any deprogramming on offer. Described as being in the wet charcoal stage, this mass of persons will not be open to hearing the Advaitin message. They are committed to remaining part of the cult.

A small number of cult members may be willing to question, or may have the sense that the cult propaganda is flawed. Described as being in the dry charcoal stage, these persons may be open to listening to the Advaitin message, in this way preparing the mind for deprogramming.

A handful of cult members are actively trying to leave the cult. They have questioned and rejected much of the false programming. They have probably had glimpses of the True Nature of Reality. Described as being at the gunpowder stage, these persons are ready to have their final false concepts blasted from the fictional mind and be free at last.

How does the Advaitin deprogramming system work?

1. The mind must be ready – stable and calm.
   
   
2. There must be the powerful desire to break free from the prison of false understanding.
   
   
3. The seeker must back away from the false.
   
   
4. The seeker, resting in that empty state without concepts and labels, without contraction, is prepared for “Reality to rush in” and the final annihilation.

Ask yourself:

• Do you understand how society has programmed and conditioned you?
  
  
• Do you understand that the “mind” is filled with false concepts and beliefs?
  
  
• Are you ready to abandon the cult of society?
  
  
• Are you ready to be deprogrammed of all that is false?
  
  
• Do you understand how the Advaitin pointers are deprogramming devices that will dissolve all false concepts?
  
  
• Are you truly ready to be free?

If you answer “yes” to these questions, consider the pointer offered below. Can you see that it offers direct instructions? Take this pointer into silent reflection, and allow the false to dissolve in the light of true understanding:

Discover all you are not. Body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, time, space, being and not being, this or that - nothing concrete or abstract you can point out to is you. You must watch yourself continuously - particularly your mind - moment by moment, missing nothing. This witnessing is essential for the separation of the self from the not-self ........be aware of that state which is only, simply being, without being this or that or the other. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – and removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

REMOVING FALSE CONCEPTS – HOW POINTERS PURIFY THE MIND AND CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR YOUR TRUE NATURE TO EMERGE. PART 6– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.

(Please note: The Annual Fall Book Sale is now under way. Most Non-Duality eBooks at floydhenderson.com are on sale at 30-50% off regular price.)

Pointers to the Ultimate Reality, Your Own True Nature, are freely available, but their secrets or spark-like illuminations are only grasped when the mind of the seeker is ripe for the understanding. For this reason, pointers could be written in sky-high letters on billboards or screen printed on the sides of taxis and buses in every city and town, but the masses will simply not notice, care or understand. Those who are attached to false concepts and identifications will simply not have the clear sight to see. So it is.

In the same way, pointers must be level appropriate to have an effect. The seeker can only grasp a pointer that dismantles the level of false identification at which the seeker is fixated. Again, let’s examine an example:

After listening to my wildly virulent talks you may not come again tomorrow, it doesn’t matter. I tell you again and again, you might run around and around the world, but nobody is going to give you the knowledge. Recede into your own Self. Surrender to your own beingness and that alone will give you all the knowledge necessary for you – no one else will. You don’t inquire into this, you blindly follow the rituals of spirituality. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

For the seeker bound at the level of body-mind-personality identification, this pointer, despite its explicit instructions, will be ignored. Far more likely, the seeker will read the pointer, and do the exact opposite of what is advised – look externally for more teachers, teachings and methods, and engage in rituals and practices with renewed vigor. Why? At this stage, the mind of the seeker is not sufficiently stabilized to withdraw from the external. The belief in the false concept of subject-object duality is still too strong. The conviction in the accuracy of the Teachings is not yet unshakeable.

However, for the seeker who has dismantled much of the false identification with the mind/body/personality construct, and who has some stability in the sense “I am” without attributes, this pointer may be crystal clear and provide a direct guideline.

It is the nature of egotism to seek to acquire and accumulate, to skip steps, to fast track, and to perceive the self as special, advanced and chosen. So, the egotism of seekers often causes them to mis-diagnose their level of spiritual achievement. For this reason, seekers will choose the advanced pointers before the elementary pointers.

This is like wearing several layers of clothing and trying to remove your underwear before removing your jacket. It is not possible. However, eventually, the dedicated seeker will give up these grand notions, and will simply begin with the elementary pointers.

As “floyd” explains: The “journey” begins with a recognition of the falsity of the “I,” not with abidance as the Absolute.

As described by Maharaj earlier, the truth of Your Own Nature is contained within, just as the acorn contains the blueprint of the oak tree. This is hard for the mind to grasp, as it is in direct contrast to the way in which knowledge is acquired in relative life – through reading, learning, doing and accumulating. Usually, the seeker only relaxes into this understanding, when there is direct proof of how this knowledge unfolds itself naturally.

Does this mean a Teacher is superfluous? The removal of the false layers of understanding that camouflage You Own Nature must be completed in a systematic, step-by-step order. This is an “inner journey” until all notions of inner and outer dissolve in the non-dual state. While each seeker must make this “journey within” on their own by taking pointers into silent consideration, there is no question that a Teacher is invaluable.

Often the terrain will feel unfamiliar; however the Teacher has travelled this pathway and can provide clear directions, offer level-appropriate pointers that are “just right”, and point out any misidentifications or false assumptions. The Teacher can also simply provide the model of possibility – of an apparent separate individual who has realised the Self and is stabilized in Reality.

Maharaj’s words below describe the unshakeable trust in the fully realized Teacher and the accuracy of the pointers when followed with conviction:

I simply followed (my teacher's) instruction which was to focus the mind on pure being 'I am', and stay in it. I used to sit for hours together, with nothing but the 'I am' in my mind and soon peace and joy and a deep all-embracing love became my normal state. In it all disappeared -- myself, my Guru, the life I lived, the world around me. Only peace remained and unfathomable silence. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

The nature of the Teacher and the Teachings is love. When the layers of conditioned confusion dissolve, You will find Yourself limitless, unbound, unconditioned – outside of the rollercoaster of the ups and downs that characterize the relative life, outside of the suffering of birth and death. The Teacher wishes only this for You – to be this Deathless State and for your suffering to cease.

A Note on Capitalization: Advaitin writings often use the grammatical convention of capitalization to distinguish between relative and ego-bound concepts and concepts that point to the True Self. This device is simply to assist the seeker who may easily confuse the ego-self with the Real Self when reading these teachings.

A Note on Inverted Commas: In a similar way, inverted commas are often used to indicate a temporary concept used for teaching purposes (a thorn used to remove a thorn). So words like “seeker” or “inner journey” may be encapsulated in inverted commas as the terms are neither true nor accurate, but are conceptual labels needed for explanation at a particular level of understanding.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

(For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – and removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.)

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

REMOVING FALSE CONCEPTS – HOW POINTERS PURIFY THE MIND AND CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR YOUR TRUE NATURE TO EMERGE. PART 5– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.

(Please note: The Annual Fall Book Sale is now under way. Most Non-Duality eBooks at floydhenderson.com are on sale at 30-50% off regular price.)

Any words expressed by the pure consciousness as it speaks can be described as a pointer to Reality. The transcriptions of the dialogues with Maharaj are collections of pointers. Essentially the pointer points away from the false and directs towards what is true. See for example, the pointer below:

Reincarnation implies a reincarnating self. There is no such thing. The bundle of memories and hopes, called the "I", imagines itself existing everlastingly and creates time to accommodate its false eternity. To be, I need no past or future. All experience is born of imagination; I do not imagine, so no birth or death happens to me. Only those who think themselves born can think themselves re-born. All exists in awareness, and awareness neither dies nor is re-born. It is the changeless reality itself.

For the seeker who has let go of identification with the body and body continuity, this is an example of a pointer that may eradicate some remaining religious or spiritual concepts associated with body identification but hidden from view. However, for a seeker still bound by body identification, this pointer will likely not be understood, or will be rejected in favor of clinging instead to cherished concepts.

This example lends itself to an explanation of the readiness of the seeker. All pointers are like blazing sparks or torches. Like fire, they simultaneously illuminate and destroy. They destroy all that is false and unreal, and they illuminate the Real. That is their function.

The readiness of the seeker is often described using three metaphors:

Wet charcoal stage: The seeker is so lost in attachment to the false and the fiction-filled mind, that no spark can “ignite” the seeker’s recognition of his true nature.

Dry charcoal stage: The seeker may have obscuring clouds of confusion, but there is some potential for a spark to “ignite”, so that some false understandings can be destroyed and the Real illuminated.

Gunpowder stage: The mind of the seeker is ripe for understanding – a spark will instantly burst into flame allowing eradication of any false ideas and Reality to shine unobstructed.

Now – examine the pointer by Maharaj offered above. Can you see what would be the effect of this pointer on the mind of the seeker in each of these stages of readiness?

The seeker at the wet charcoal stage would not be able to metabolize the pointer, would place his own concepts or learned ignorance up against it, and quite possibly in reaction (if a spiritual ego persona is triggered) may reject the Teachings.

The seeker at the dry charcoal stage may take the pointer into silent consideration, and after long reflection in silence, if sufficient of the surrounding identifications have been removed, the pointer may have the effect of eradicating false concepts around reincarnation and illuminate the flavor of one’s true nature.

The seeker at the gunpowder stage may simply read the pointer and the truth will instantly explode into awareness, burning up any false concepts in an instant.

In essence then, the pointer itself is simply the expression of truth – the pure consciousness speaking. However, the effect on the mind of the seeker is entirely dependent on the readiness of the seeker.

Part of this readiness is coming to a resolute understanding that the Advaitin Teachings point to the Final Reality. For a seeker at the wet charcoal stage, there is unlikely to be this firm, unshakeable view. Instead, the pointers of teachings will be “evaluated” by the fiction-filled mind and weighed up against erroneous concepts and beliefs, and methods and practices from other spiritual paths. In other words, like in a messy room, the clutter of the false will be so overwhelming, that a pointer will simply be lost in the mess and the dust.

In this blog, “Floyd” has described the function of the “inner guru” in developing this unshakeable, resolute sense of the accuracy of the Teachings. (See: The Inner Guru and Awareness: Part 1 and Part Two)

The inner guru is that inner resource, that spark of innate intuitive understanding that resonates with the pointers as they are heard or taken into silent consideration. With sufficient elimination of the false through backing away from untruth and residing simply in the sense of self without attributes, the room of the mind is usually sufficiently de-cluttered for this innate knowing to be discerned and understood. Without any effort, the pointers to truth are simply recognized and metabolized, like two magnets with an irrepressible attraction.

For “louise” this inner recognition expressed physically with a type of inner spiraling when the words of truth were heard, and once recognized, this provided the unshakeable trust in the Advaitin Teachings (and in this case the pointers offered by “maharaj” and “floyd” since it was in the presence of the Teachings offered by these teachers that the inner recognition was most insistent and powerful.)

When the preparation of the soil of the mind is complete, and the inner guru is activated, there is really nothing to be done except to take the pointers into silent contemplation to have their effect.

Let’s end with some questions and a final pointer by Maharaj:

Has the unshakeable certainty in the Advaitin Teachings arisen or are you pushed and pulled by other concepts, paths and teachers? Remember – this unshakeable resolute conviction is necessary for the pointers to have their effect?

Have you decluttered the room of the mind? Remember, the pointers of staying with the sense “I Am”, and the backing away from the false “Neti Neti” is how the false is eradicated.

Are you in touch with the inner guru? Are there the signs of recognition when in the presence of Truth?

These questions point to the stabilization of the mind, a pre-requisite for the Advaitin pointers to be understood.

All change affects the mind only. To be what you are, you must go beyond the mind, into your own being. It is immaterial what is the mind that you leave behind, provided you leave it behind for good. This again is not possible without self-realization. Self-realization definitely comes first. The mind cannot go beyond itself by itself. It must explode. The explosive power comes from the real. But you are well advised to have your mind ready for it. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – and the removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com

REMOVING FALSE CONCEPTS – HOW POINTERS PURIFY THE MIND AND CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR YOUR TRUE NATURE TO EMERGE. PART 4– SITE CO-HOST: LOUISE STERLING

An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.

(Please note: The Annual Fall Book Sale is now under way. Most Non-Duality eBooks at floydhenderson.com are on sale at 30-50% off regular price.)

Realization is not something external that has been lost and must be found, or a state that must be discovered or attained. This state is your own nature, but it is hidden from your view with layer after layer of false understanding. There is nothing to acquire, but everything to lose. You do not seek because you wish to gain; you seek because you must get rid of the weighty baggage you have accumulated.

How is this baggage eliminated? The Advaitin approach is radically different to any method or practice or teaching you may encounter in the relative world.

The tendency in the personal development, psychotherapeutic and religious/spiritual circles is to engage with the false. Usually attempts are made to take a false element and transform it into something better, kinder, more spiritual, or more evolved.

In Advaita Vedanta, the understanding is that the false is constantly being generated by the mind. For this reason, to engage with the false in any way is futile. It is like trying to remove yourself from sinking sand by digging yourself deeper into the mud. Instead, the stance is to be still and silent, and to withdraw attention from the false. One pointer for withdrawing attention from the false is to stay with the sense “I Am” (as discussed in yesterday’s post.) Another pointer is using the negative statement: Neti, Neti – Neither this nor that am I.

Anything that can be perceived or experienced is not Who You Are. This is plain logic. You cannot perceive yourself. You cannot experience yourself. If you could, you would be the object and not the subject. The eye cannot see itself.

How then can your own nature shine unobstructed without the obscuring clouds?

By negating all that is perceived and experienced as the “not you”, you back away from the false. Neti, Neti. There is nothing in this relative world to which this negative statement cannot apply, no object or thought or concept or belief or desire or fear or experience which cannot be discerned as the “not you” using the criteria established.

What is the effect? Perhaps the analogy is that it is like walking up a mountain backwards. In the beginning, there is a vast storehouse of phenomena that must be named and backed away from. This tree, this house, this body, this brilliant idea, this desire for eternity, this extraordinary meditation experience…

Eventually the stance becomes automatic. With any perception or experience, the recognition that this is not who you are comes simultaneously. Before you were interwoven with everything that is manifest; now you have a sense of yourself that is outside of the realm of phenomena.

When you begin backing away from the false in this way, you will likely focus on what is physical and tangible. When the understanding that all that is physical is “not you”, you will notice a more subtle range of perception and experience in thought and feeling. These mental and emotional clouds are also simply noticed and named – Not this. As the field clears, you may notice a pattern to the thoughts and feelings which are often an expression of a desire or fear.

Through observation, you may notice that when a particular life role is played, a related set of desires and fears; and a web of related thoughts and feelings emerge. For example, the Neglected Spouse may generate a desire for attention and understanding and a fear of not being seen or valued or worthwhile. These desires and fears may in turn generate a mess of neurotic thought and feeling: why is he not home, he does not care about me, I am unhappy …etc, etc.

As the view clears, instead of simply being driven reactively by these fears and desires – the entire ego-complex is perceived, and rejected. This is not who I am. Neti Neti.

Like developing the “eye” for spotting a rare insect in the forest, once one ego construct is perceived, it is a relatively easy task to spot the others.

At this stage, with the heady freedom of being free at last from the slings and arrows of body, mind and personality identification, it is common for the seeker to believe he has “arrived”. This sense of vast limitlessness, the freedom from reactive programming, the sense of being beyond mere physical individuality may give rise to a spiritual persona.

That spiritual persona identifies at the level of the body – but identifies as having a cosmic or spiritual body rather than a physical body.

The spiritual persona identifies at the level of the mind – but the ideas and concepts and beliefs are spiritual. For example, I have incarnated to bring the world out of darkness.

The spiritual personal identifies at the level of the personality, but the net of desires and fears are still present. Labels are still present; labels like: I am omnipotent; I am God.

Can you see how for a time the seeker may employ the pointer Neti Neti systematically and accurately, but then become trapped on a false summit. The new spiritual persona feels so vast and powerful and helpful to humanity – that it is not seen as a new persona with yet another net of identifications.

The Advaitin Teachings do not discriminate. The identification with a physical body and the identification with a cosmic body are both still identifications. The thought “I am Joe Soap” and the thought “I am God” are both still thoughts. The persona of the Obedient Worker and the Spiritual Transformer are both still personas.

Many seekers become trapped at this stage. Many will settle comfortably into this false summit and write the books, give the lectures and create the organisations – all promising transformation and the experience of realization. The stage is characterized by accumulation and retention of false ideas, not total elimination.

However, if it is pointed out by a teacher or teaching as yet another false role, the earnest seeker may have sufficient detachment to see this with clear sight and toss it as well. Neti Neti. Neither this nor that am I.

To recap, your true nature is covered over with layers of false conditioning. You cannot remove these layers by delving amongst the false. The only possibility is to retreat from what is untrue through systematically rejecting all that is perceived and experienced.

To be continued.

Please enter the silence of contemplation.

For extending teaching on the Advaitan Understanding – and the removal of the false that obscures Your Real Nature, see the links on the right hand side of this blog.

Comments / clarifications may be sent to louise.advaita@gmail.com