Dharma after Self Realization
What is life like after realization? One difference is the relationship to possessions. Everything is yours, even if you don’t own it. This is because you are secure in the Self as the only reality, the only permanence, and the security that depends on having possessions is gone. After Self Realization, we no longer have to go into ourself. Rather, we go out of ourself to see the world. We are always coming out rather than trying to go in. There is always a center, and we are the center, no matter where we are. No matter where we are, no matter how crude or rotten, the vibrations around us will not affect us. Curiosity is the final thing to leave the mind, which it does after Self Realization. The curiosity of things goes away—of siddhis, for example. We no longer want power, because we are power, nonpower, unusable. And we don’t have the yearning for Paraśiva anymore; we don’t have the yearning for the Self. And Satchidānanda is now to us similar to what the intellect used to be. If we want to go to a far-off place, we go into Satchidānanda and see it. It is that easy. Samyama, contemplation, is effortless to you now, like the intellect used to be; whereas before, samyama was a very big job which took a lot of energy and concentration. Therefore, before Paraśiva we should not seek the siddhis. After Paraśiva, through samyama, we keep the siddhis we need for our work.
But Paraśiva has to be experienced time after time for it to impregnate all parts of the body—our big toe has to experience it—because we are still human. From a rotten state of consciousness, feeling totally neglected, that nobody loves us, we have to realize Paraśiva. When ill and feeling we may die, we have to realize Paraśiva. When concentrating on our knees, we have to bring Paraśiva into them. The knees are the center of pride, and this helps in attaining ultimate humility. So it is with every part of our body, not only the pituitary center, the physical corollary of the door of Brahman—that is the first place—but with every part of the body. The pituitary gland has to be stimulated sufficiently to open the door of Brahman. But only the strictest sannyāsin disciplines would induce this result. Ears, eyes, nose, throat, all parts of the body have to realize Paraśiva, and the siddha has to do this consciously. The calves have to realize Paraśiva. All the parts of the lower body have to realize Paraśiva, because all of those tala chakras have to come into that realization.
Then, finally, we are standing on the mūlādhāra chakra rather than on the talatala chakra. Then, finally, our feet are standing on the svādhishṭhana chakra, and so on. And this is the true meaning of the holy feet. Finally, we are standing in the lotus of the maṇipūra chakra. And doubly finally, the kuṇḍalinī coils up in the head and lives there rather than at the bottom of the spine.
For ultimate freedom, everything has to go away, all human things, possessions, love, hate, family, friends, the desire for attention and community acceptance. The sannyāsin renounces the world, and then, if his giving up is uncompromisingly complete, the world renounces the sannyāsin. This means the world itself won’t accept him as it once did as a participant in its mundane transactions of a job, social life, home and family. Earlier friends and associates sense his different view of their existence and now feel uncomfortable with him. Slowly he joins the band of hundreds of thousands of sannyāsins throughout the world, where he is joyously accepted. All must go, the past and the future, and will naturally depart as the great realization deepens, as it penetrates through all parts of the body and all states of the mind. This alone is one good reason that family people and noncommitted singles are never encouraged to strive for realizations higher than Satchidānanda, and then only for brief periods now and again at auspicious times. For family people, gṛihasthas, to go further into themselves would be to earn the bad karmas, kukarmas, of subsequent neglect of family dharma, and to lose everything that the world values.
When the renunciate finally attains Paraśiva, everything else will fall away. It all has to fall away to attain Paraśiva. But it doesn’t totally fall away when he attains Paraśiva, because he arrives into Paraśiva only with a tremendous amount of built-up effort. All the Gods have given permission. Lord Śiva has given permission, and He now says, “Enter Me.” That is grace, His grace.