Important Insight - Well Kept Secret - How a Jeevan Mukta operates ? - June 2nd 2022

Matter is nothing but consciousness which appears as unAtman - i.e. Non-Self. 

Even to a discriminating Vedanta-brahmajigyAsu [1] - matter - whether its external nature (rocks, minerals, mountains, sky, fire etc) or one's own body, mind, thoughts etc are nothing more than "an appearance" in one's awareness. 

The key here is to acknowledge that "awareness of objects" is enabled by matter evolving to the point of great refinement ~ namely buddhi (or mind or antahkaranam), which manifests consciousness - as "awareness of".

To the ignorant, this double-secret that : - 

(a) everything that is seen (i.e. drishyam) is matter appearing in one's awareness + 

(b) awareness is the infinite consciousness manifested through mind

..........is withheld or remains an unrecognized truth. 

Consequently they suffer, by identifying themselves with that which is illumined by awareness, rather than accepting thier Self as infinite consciousness - existence. 

To the JeevanMukta - the aforesaid double-secret is plain obvious. 

Thus despite knowing the ground of thier being is the "Being" itself,  in other words Self itself as  infinite existence-consciousness - they also know that "ego" (or an idea of individuality) is a natural epiphenomenon [2] of matter expressing (or rather manifesting) the Self. 

So the "ego" is not the problem - its just a tool for self-expression, while transacting with the world. The problem is not knowing oneself as the nondual Self of the nature of pure consciousness, whose dazzling power magically throws up the appearance of non-Self - including the ego

Hence despite knowing the ontological [3] truth of thier infinite nature, they can without contradiction (to thier realization), operate in the world of duality - in accordance with Dharma (which accepts the transactional reality of individual and the larger world around the individual). 

If while teaching the double-secret - the greater emphasis is placed on how Jeevan Mukta operates in the duality, with apparent "ego" - a great danger may (potentially) befall the student of "double-secret" - why ? 

The student who is conditioned to identifying oneself with the Matter (i.e. body, mind, ego etc), may try to accommodate his little ego along with the larger truth that "I am infinite Being" and act in the world. This undiscriminating co-joining of "ego" and the "egoless" Self, is nothing more than a dangerous upgrade of one's ignorance. In other words, despite knowing from Guru/Sruti that Self is infinite - the student of Vedanta - may choose to not let go of his belief, in the unreality of the "ego", while still claiming to profess a belief in his infinite nature. If this syncretism [4], starts influencing one's choices in life - this is more dangerous than living a simple life, with "ego" and no knowledge of Vedanta. Atleast in that case, other options like Karma Yoga or Bhakti or even Raja Yoga are open to the person. 

So its no wonder that when Vedanta is taught, greater emphasis is placed on the unreality of anything apart from Self - so as to wean us away from non-Self and help us recognize the infinite Self (with vedānta yukti/prakriyas, mahAvAkyas, svarupa lakshanas etc), as "I am that". And lesser emphasis is placed explaining technically on how a Jeevan Mukta operates in this world, for this involves de-problematizing the "ego", which if done any earlier than realizing Brahman, may lead to downfall of the sAdhaka. 

In other words, unless this chit-jada-granthi [5] is severed by the sword of viveka, vairagya, etc.... born out of Vedanta Sravanam, mananam etc, it's dangerous to place didactic [6] emphasis on how a Jeevan Mukta operates in the world?!

However, to satisfy the curiosity of sincere seekers - some hints are dropped in literature (e.g. vivekachudAmani etc). But these descriptions are high-level behavioral and rarely technical. It is out of the great universal compassion that Acharya(s) like Sri Sankara and others, do not explain at length the technicality behind how a Jeevan mukta operates. 

Epilogue

It is often seen and heard that studying scriptures like ashtavakra gita and yoga vasishta, without a Guru in Advaita tradition &/or  studying them prior to Gita, VivekachudAmani etc & /or being a upAsaka/karma yogi for years, is not encouraged. This is because any of the free flowing descriptions of the realized soul's expressions, can cause the immature student of those scriptures, to practice a life style of mixing "ego" with the "egoless" Self knowledge ~ which will harm their upAsana and karma & lead them astray. 

*Footnotes*

[1] Vedanta-brahmajigyAsu ~ One who has been initiated into what Vedanta's purpose, content, relation to student and utility is & is eager to know Brahman, the goal of Vedanta. 

[2] epiphenomenon ~ a byproduct which naturally emerges, when prakriti/matter has reached a certain level of refinement or evolution. Ego is not a bad word, its a dominant thought of identity and individuality, which shall arise when prakriti is refined enough to manifest consciousness. 

[3] ontological ~ fundamental nature of Being

[4] syncretism ~ Fusion of differing systems of belief. In the context of this discussion - belief (1) - in the individuality, localization of awareness; belief (2) - in the knowledge granted by Sruti that Self in non-localized infinite non dual consciousness. Now the immature student of Vedanta may ignorantly combine both the beliefs, by which he or she may justify his or her actions - a dangerous recipe which will lead to adharmic behavior. 

[5]chit-jada-granthi ~ This is a technical term, which implies the inexplicable connection between consciousness and matter - which at the outset are inherently dissimilar - like light and darkness. 

[6] didactic ~ intended to teach