A liberated one knows that there is nothing to fear. Knowing the mind to be distinctly different from himself, he tries to calm it from unnecessary stress about things that are not real and may never happen. Liberation eliminates fear from life completely.
Does the liberated one have desires? Who has desires? The ego, the mind, and the sense perceptions of the body seek and desire. Every time a desire is unfulfilled, we become miserable. The liberated one realizes that we are not the body and the mind. Therefore, there are no more desires, except the desire for Liberation. A liberated person doesn't seek happiness because Liberation is the essence of joy, bliss, and peace. To understand it both ways, the liberated one is happiness itself and doesn't seek happiness. One doesn't seek happiness because one is liberated and doesn't need to desire to become happy.
Before Liberation, one was controlled by desire. To be happy, one had thought that one must first desire happiness and then fulfil the desire. Now one IS happiness; and one doesn't need to seek it. Every desire led either to happiness or disappointment and misery. One was imprisoned! Liberation eliminates desire as one doesn't need something to be happy. Since there is no desire, one is in a state of eternal bliss and happiness.
Does the liberated person have problems? Who has problems? Individuals who are driven by the ego, mind, and body face problems in life. On Liberation, one views everything as a four-dimensional dream knowing that one is energy and everything is transitory. Problems are nothing but imaginary circumstances that appear just as a dream. They come and go. Therefore, Liberation leads to a life that is not affected by problems. A liberated soul is free from the problem prison.
The liberated one understands that life is an illusion. Ultimately, when the drama of life is over, nothing matters. But as long as one is alive, one has to play one’s part. It doesn't mean that the liberated one doesn't act. Liberation leads to freedom in action, not freedom from action. Though the liberated one is part of the life drama, he very well knows it is a drama and not real. Problems that earlier attacked him like lethal bullets do not affect a liberated soul. They seem to pass through a liberated one as if he is invisible. Thus, problems have no effect on a liberated person.
Does the liberated one have lust? Lust is a strong, intense craving generally for sexual gratification; sometimes, it is also an obsession for power or an obsession for other sinful cravings. A body and mind led by an obsessive ego develops lust, which is sure to arrive at destination misery. Liberation frees us from lust because of the realization that we have a body and mind, but we are not the body and mind. A liberated one transcends lust and doesn't suppress it. Lust, in the past, raged like a fire that pushed one to an obsessive action, ultimately leading to misery. But now the liberated energy is in command of the body and mind and lives in peace and joy, transcending lust.
Letting the body and mind go astray after lust comes to a stop on Liberation. Why should we permit lust to obsessively crave when we are not the body and mind? We are already blissful. We do not need lust to be fulfilled to be happy. This interesting question may give some perspective to understand lust and to overcome it. Would you crave for delicious food displayed in a show window when you very well know that it is made of plastic and is only for the purpose of display? Just as we would overcome the craving for fake food, a liberated one doesn't crave for anything as he knows that everything is fake and transitory. Thus, Liberation eliminates lust.
Does the liberated one worry? Who worries? As individuals who think, desire, and expect, we get imprisoned with worry. We worry about yesterday, and we worry about tomorrow. A liberated soul knows only the present moment. Yesterday is just a memory, and tomorrow doesn't exist. A liberated soul doesn't shuttle between the past and the future. A liberated soul lives in the bliss of the present moment after realization of the truth. There was no yesterday. It is just a memory in the mind. There will be no tomorrow. When it arrives, it will be a beautiful today. A liberated one knows to cross the bridge when he comes to it. Whatever is over can't be changed. So why think about the past in regret? Whatever is going to happen will happen, and when it happens, everything will be fine. The liberated one further realizes that everything is happening in the mind. If you close your mind, your eyes, and your ears, why do you find peace and bliss? Because the agitated mind that was producing worry stops doing so and is made tranquil when the mind and sense perceptions are switched off. We too know it, but because we do not realize the truth, we are not liberated and we continue to worry.
Therefore, Liberation frees one from worry. Even if something were to happen, it doesn't matter. Nothing matters. The mind manipulates us to believe that everything matters, but when we are not the mind, we are liberated. Neither the past nor the future creates worry to the liberated one. He lives in the bliss and joy of the present moment, knowing that nothing is good or bad. Everything is perfect!
Is the liberated one affected by dreams and nightmares? Some people are foolish to permit dreams and nightmares to cause misery although they know it was just a dream. They still believe that it might have some impact on the reality of their life. They replay the dream again and again causing misery. A liberated soul is free from such sorrow. The liberated one not only knows a dream to be a dream, but also considers even life to be another four-dimensional dream. Just like a dream doesn't matter, even life doesn't cause any kind of misery and sorrow to a liberated soul.
First of all, a liberated one dreams less and has fewer nightmares. This is because the liberated one understands the difference between being awake and dreaming. Being awake, he knows that both the mind and body are agile and alert; so he lives. While dreaming, he realizes that the body is asleep, but the mind is awake. Being distinctively different from the mind, he makes the mind also go to sleep through different methods like meditation or recitation. This leads to more deep sleep episodes of bliss and absolute peace rather than dreams and nightmares. On those days when he wakes up after a nightmare, he just pauses to laugh over the illusion created by the mind, deletes it from his current thoughts and memory like one would wipe off the writing on a board, and continues to live peacefully.
Is the liberated one imprisoned by ignorance? The liberated one doesn't live in the darkness of ignorance. His entire life was like a dark room. Realization is like switching on the light. In a moment, darkness is swept away and so is ignorance eliminated. Liberation conquers ignorance just like light conquers darkness. Liberation sweeps away ignorance and with it, the pain and sorrow created by it also vanish. Everything that was believed by one in the past and whatever one was habituated to drop like how over-ripe fruits drop off from a tree. The beliefs wither away, and with it, all that caused misery and sorrow also vanish. Suddenly, one experiences freedom, bliss, and joy! With ignorance swept away by Liberation, one is freed from this prison.
Does the liberated one accumulate Karmas? What is Karma? It the law of cause and effect: “As we sow so shall we reap”. The body and mind constantly think and act. These actions, good or bad, produce corresponding good or bad karmas. Our positive thoughts and actions reap positive consequences just as our negative thoughts and actions reap negative consequences. We shuttle between being happy and unhappy.
A liberated soul realizes that we are not the body and the mind. The moment we realize we are not the body or the mind, we realize that all thoughts and actions were unreal just like projections in a movie. Since there are no thoughts and actions for the liberated person, there are no karmas created, and consequently one doesn't have to face good or bad consequences. We are pure energy that gives power to the body and mind. We therefore do not produce any karma as we are not the body and mind and are liberated from the negative influences of karma. Liberation thus frees one from the prison of karma, which otherwise creates so much misery and sorrow.
Not only are we liberated from the misery that may come from bad karmas, a liberated soul who realizes that we are the pure energy, not the mind and body that we seem to be, escapes not just from karma but also from possible rebirth and the cycle of death and future births. The liberated one knows this body is a manifestation. We appear as the body although we are energy cells scientifically discovered. We inhabit the body, but we are not the body just like we may drive the car, but we are not the car. Knowing that we are energy and not the outer casing of the body that we normally believe to be, we appear and disappear like a wave in an ocean. There is no birth. There is no death. The liberated one is immortal. It gives life to the body for as long as the body lives on Earth. Thereafter, the energy is liberated from the body, and the body drops back into where it came from like the wave descends into the ocean.
The five constituents of the body – water, air, fire, space, and earth – that manifest from the Earth merge back with the Nature after death. Of course, the body may seem to age, decay, and die, but the liberated person who is pure energy neither ages, decays, nor dies. He is liberated from the misery and the pain that comes from being caged in a body–mind complex. The liberated one knows that the producer/director of life will free him from the body-mind complex at the appropriate time. Until such time, the liberated one just enjoys the show called life. He doesn't consider whatever is happening to be truly happening but rather a life drama that he is experiencing as an actor. Liberation frees him from all the pain and sorrow from the life drama, but lets him enjoy the drama as an exciting production till such time that he is freed from the body–mind complex. Thus, Liberation leads to freedom from all sorrow, misery, and pain that come from as our false belief that we are the body–mind complex.
A liberated soul has a body that will go through its cycle of growth, disease, decay, and death. While the body may suffer, the liberated soul doesn't experience pain and suffering. Yes, the body seems to experience pain and suffering; just like an actor seems to be bleeding in a movie, it all seems very real, but it is just a movie. The liberated soul is blessed to realize this even while the soul is still in the body–mind complex. But we mortals may only realize this truth after we are liberated from the body. Till we are in the body, we seem to believe that we are the body and so we feel the pain that the body and mind feel because of the ignorance that imprisons us.
We human beings become miserable thinking of death, disease, and decay as we age. Why? This is because we consider ourselves to be the body–mind–ego complex. As long as we do, we have to experience the pain that the body complex experiences. But if we analyse and realize that the body emerges from the energy and the body merges into the energy, we can be liberated.
Therefore, Liberation frees one from all the prisons of misery, pain, and suffering by completely eliminating the joy stealers that are born from the ignorance that we arrive with on Earth. As long as we live with ignorance, we may experience pleasure that comes from Achievement and we will experience peace that comes from Fulfillment. But we will continue to experience pain and suffering because of all the prisons that we create because of our own mind and ignorance. Liberation is the only method for one to be freed from all the prisons of misery and sorrow as it dispels the darkness of ignorance by the light of realization. The prisons of anger, worry, fear, disease, death, or karma that otherwise seem so real, causing so much pain and suffering and stealing our joy and peace, suddenly seem to disappear into thin air and so does all the pain and misery!
Just Knowing about Realization does not lead to Liberation!
The reader may be confused. All along, he felt that once he knows about realization, one can be liberated, but now he reads that just knowledge on realization is not Liberation. What is the mystery of this statement?
Just knowing about realization does not lead to
Liberation. There are thousands who are like bookworms and can repeat the whole book on realization, but they are not liberated from misery and pain. This is because knowledge of realization is not Liberation. We may know the truth, but unless we see it with our “real eyes”, we cannot REALIZE it. Why? Since realization that leads to Liberation would cause the end of the ego, the body, and the mind, the three musketeers continue to play a tug of war post realization and do not permit realization to lead us to Liberation. If realization wins, Liberation is achieved, but if the ego that leads the body and the mind wins, the realized soul can sink back into thoughts and desires and be imprisoned again by joy stealers even though realization has taken place. It is just like a prisoner sentenced for a crime is released from a jail and he is convicted no sooner he commits the same crime, thus finding himself behind the bars again. We too can be re-imprisoned if we commit the crime of letting the ego, mind, and body dominate our intellect.
The tug of war between happiness and unhappiness is the fight between who we truly are – the energy and whom we are not – the ego, mind, and body. Both pull in opposite directions. If ignorance wins, we continue to be imprisoned with misery and sorrow. But if realization wins, we are freed from the prison and we experience joy.
The fulcrum of the fight is the intellect – our power of discrimination. If the intellect is controlled by the body– mind, we are pulled downwards into the prisons of misery and sorrow with the thoughts and beliefs created by the mind. If we control the intellect and disconnect it from the mind, realization happens and we are pushed upwards and out of ignorance to Liberation, bliss, and joy.