Ekam evadvityam: Living without a Center

Viveka talks – exercise 20.

Read the 20^th Chapter of the book “Viveka – the Voice of Inner Guru” entitled “Ekam evadvityam: Living without a Center”.

Remember: this article/chapter is tokenized, and you may buy it as a “writer’s NFT!”

Points to consider

The last chapter in the book and the last exercise in this series is about the question of what happens after.

The liberated person, the enlightened one, a sage, whatever we call him, does he perceive differences? If not, how can he, or she, continue to live among us? If he is thirsty, would he not take a glass of water? If yes, how and why? It’s all consciousness; why is there any need to continue with the show of multiple masks slipped on the face of the one?

How does life continue after liberation? Is it any different than before? Do enlightened people see and feel things that others don’t? Do they have any special abilities? Can they fly or visit other planets? Or are they turning into a passive bag of meat, waiting for a body to die out, so their soul can be free from that ultimate burden, too?

There are answers to these questions, and yet, those answers will probably confuse anyone in the usual human condition.

Here is how Vivekachudamani describes how the enlightened live:

“Established in the ethereal space of consciousness, he wanders in the world, sometimes like a madman, sometimes like a child. He may look like a ghost; he might be even drunk, wearing his clothes, or go around naked.

He walks alone, the embodiment of desireless desire, but still enjoys everything, remaining eternally satisfied with the Self that is present in all.

Sometimes, he is a fool. Sometimes, a sage. He might be a king with royal splendor. Sometimes, he wanders around and sometimes is calm and silent, immovable like a python. Sometimes he is respected, sometimes insulted, and sometimes unknown to anyone – such is a life of a liberated one, ever enjoying the supreme bliss.”

Apart from bliss, which is everpresent, anything else is a possibility. There are no rules, and there is no fixed way to live your life after the illusion is gone. It can be literary anything. There is no way to recognize an enlightened one by their words, actions, or behavior. Forget the pictures of sages on the mountain, holy men teaching the scriptures, or ascetics sitting under the tree. Forget any images you have or might have about life after. All are wrong, and all can be right.

Liberation, enlightenment, or moksha means freedom. No more, no less. Unpredictable, unconditional, never-to-know-in-advance freedom. That’s why Vivekachudamany speaks about a madman and a sage, about royalty and a drunkard, a respected one and the one insulted, a celebrity, or a complete unknown.

And to add to that, don’t think you are the one who will choose. The choice will be made, but not by the forgetful ahamakar, you, who believes he is „the other“, something different and separate from wholeness. Ekam evadvityam, remember? The separation is not true, nor will it ever be. So, why does it matter who will choose? The final answer is: consciousness will choose – the one that is.

***

Still, at the end of the book, aware of the curiosity and a need for at least some understanding of what unpredictable freedom means, there are some descriptions and explanations.

• Enlightened hangover: A time (few months up to a few years) immediately following the full understanding of the illusion of the center.
• Identity: gone. A short explanation of how it is possible to function without it.
• Functional reconstruction: Whenever a need for action presents itself, the process of functional reconstruction of the previous personality with all its abilities, memories, likes, and dislikes, will commence.
• Thoughts: Thoughts are present, but there is no more I-ness who would say, „Those thoughts are mine, I am thinking them“.
• Emotions: Present. Stronger. However, there is no particular preference as to which one is welcomed and which is not. Derivate emotions, the ones initiated by interpretation, are gone.
• Global empathy: Since consciousness is one, the suffering caused by illusory separation is felt all around.
• Relationships: The standard obligations of a relationship might be respected, but they can be broken equally often. Freedom in thinking and feeling, non-attachment to emotions, and a capability to feel more, may lead to an entirely new relationship paradigm.
• Physical body: The physical body will have a mind of its own. It will rarely be the subject of common illnesses but can develop some unusual ones.
• Decisions: The liberated one does not make any decisions. If a decision is made, it is made by consciousness, the one and only.
• Plans: Time is a construct of the mind, and consciousness does not operate within it on the level of freedom. But, it does work within the time on the level of actions. Plans are decisions with consequences in time.
• Karma: With the karma factor (I-ness) gone, the consequences of actions can cling to no one.
• Behavior: The free flow of thoughts, and especially non-interference with the process of making decisions, can initiate entirely out-of-ordinary actions (crazy wisdom).

***

Ekam evadvityam – a life without a center. That is the promise of viveka, and fortunately, that is your destiny. I tried to describe it to you, but it is clear: you’ll never know until you live it. Don’t fall for a description. Go for it. Live it yourself, as soon as you can.

Questions for thinking

This is the end of the “Viveka talks” exercises. I hope you had a lot of food for thoughts going through them.

I also hope that I did/will answer all your questions. Nevertheless, here is one more chance to ask them.

It is your turn now. Write your thoughts, comments, or questions.

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