Living in Freedom
Living in the liberated state is called jivan mukti, or freedom while alive. This highest Consciousness is available even while we have a body, relationships, and responsibilities. In fact, freedom is directly experiencing that everything in our life is an integral part of the manifestation of our own consciousness, which is not separate from Divine Consciousness.
Because we do experience separation, we must rise above the limited consciousness that normally dominates our awareness, and the opportunity to change our state is possible in every moment. We can abide in the peace and unconditional joy that is not affected by the day-to-day dynamics of life, simply enjoying the Oneness of life in its perfection.
This unwavering experience of Oneness is a state that emerges as an expression of the bliss of Consciousness. When we can suspend our attachments long enough to tune in to the ever-present joy in us, that immersion completely dissolves everything that makes us suffer. The good news is that we don’t get to choose what we are freed from—because we all know what happens when we willfully decide what we want and don’t want to have in our lives.
Accepting the Reality of Life
If we do not offer ourselves unconditionally into the fire of Consciousness, if we don’t want joy more than anything else, we won’t have it. If we allow anything to rob us of freedom, that is our choice. Attaining liberation while alive is a conscious process, requiring that we escape from being ensnared by the ego, which sustains itself through our mind and emotions.
Our work is to consume the dualistic energies of our ego in order to transcend them. When we are moving through the day and our energy starts heading out toward Pluto, we reel it back. We take a breath, internalize the energy, and integrate it into the flow in our central channel. This is how we build strength in our psychic muscle system and effect a permanent change in our awareness.
What we must not do is reject our lives. It’s only the limited part of us that gets attached to thinking, “This should not be happening to me, or, my ideal life should look like (fill in the blank!).” Such feelings are a sign that our resistance to change is surfacing, and if we sustain and believe these thoughts, they create our reality.
When we push away what is actually happening to us, we avoid taking responsibility for the condition of our own experience. So, we must keep penetrating past our misunderstanding. When we get quiet enough, we can find the joy in any difficulty, and we see how much freedom is available in letting go of everything we cling to.
Focus on Revelation
The beautiful thing is that as we pierce through every level of consciousness, we discover that we are no longer a prisoner of our own density. When we consciously detach from our mind and emotions, we recognize them as a powerful covering, yet merely a covering.
As we penetrate through the surface form long enough to experience that whatever arises is just energy, its grip on us suddenly dissolves. We no longer give our emotions validity, and we no longer give them the strength to consume our awareness. This is how, over time, we use our higher will to free ourselves from limited consciousness.
When we have the understanding and awareness that the purpose of our life is the revealing of the highest Consciousness, then our experience is very different. All the other things we attach to (or even mistake as life’s purpose) are just obscurations of that highest revelation. We may not understand this from our limited perspective, but that’s the very point of spiritual practice—to uncover the place within us that does understand.
Any powerful experience of limitation is a vehicle for us to free ourselves from an invisible binding. As these mental and emotional limitations surface and become visible, we actually see the dross that is covering our lives. If we get caught in the struggle, drama, and pain of what arises, we reinforce that covering. But if we understand that the purpose of the experience is freedom, we can avoid getting trapped in the dynamic. We simply see it as an energy that, when buried, has kept us separate from the unwavering experience of Oneness.
The Dissolution of Self-Absorption
Unconditional joy is the result of freeing ourselves from the most entrenched veils of duality. If liberation is what we seek, how could it be anything less than joyful to remove another layer of non-liberation? But our work of loosening the grip of the ego requires the complete dissolution of all self-absorption, because experiencing individuality in that manner is the opposite of revealing the highest.
The veils of misunderstanding cover our highest nature. They are the energies that sustain our experience of separation, difference, and the sense of individual doer-ship. Even a person who is deeply established within himself, will, at some point, become beguiled by one or all of those veils if they don’t surrender day by day and moment by moment. Integrity requires profound surrender: a deep acceptance of whatever life is presenting to us.
Understand that the conditions that are the ebb and flow of life just aren’t that relevant. We attach so much importance to everything that goes on in our mind and emotions. Liberation has to do with freeing ourselves from the misunderstanding inherent in functioning only from that level.
This can be a joyful transformation if we focus on what is coming rather than what is leaving. It is only painful if we do not allow a new level of awareness to be revealed to us— when we hold on to the inner obstacles that are exposed within us. These are the very limitations from which we need to be freed. Unfortunately, we have the most powerful database within our mind that categorizes what we will and what we won’t surrender. There is a reason and a justification for every form of holding on.
Why not try something different? Take all your experiences in life up to this point and trade up. Really ask, “This, or joy?” One option is distinctly different from the other. Remember that the very purpose of your life is to enjoy freedom. And, as Nityananda said: Surrender everything that keeps you from Śiva.