One who knows that her or his identity is brahman, consciousness, fullness, the nature of existence itself.

Thus, one who knows the status of his person as a delusion (the magic of māyā) who miraculously appears in his own silence. Jīvan mukta knows that the world appears with all beings in consciousness, and that consciousness pervades all beings. Jīvan mukta sees everything as this consciousness, and is therefore freedom itself.

So a jīvan mukta is someone who is no longer someone. Freedom of the jīva is also freedom for the jiva. Which now has the status of mithyā, not really as three bodies, but really as sat cit ānanda. Such a person goes through life light-footed, because the five shells (kosa’s) are no more than empty shells. In this way, life becomes a joke, and the person cannot help but behave in an amused way.

This freedom is known by śravaṇa (hearing the teaching), clarified by manana (reflection) and confirmed in all aspects of life by nididhyāsana (contemplation).

The knowledge of being free is so clear and unshakable to the jivan mukta that she or he is freedom itself. A contentment and fullness, which is forever, because outside of time and space. Even though things seem to appear, nothing can overshadow him or her anymore.

However, experience of mind, body and world still appears. But it does not cause any disturbance, as it is known as mithyā, dependent and an expression of the self. Knowing that ahaṅkāra (I-feeling) and mamakāra (my-feeling) are also only ātmā, both remain only fictitious and seemingly operate for transactions with the world.

Because the jīvan mukta has no feelings of guilt or regret about the past, nor worries about the future, the present is approached with loving, compassionate indifference, while she or he is by nature completely balanced. There is complete freedom from becoming, and therefore from saṁsāra.

It seems like a lot, but it is only a change of perspective because of correct self-knowledge. In order to achieve this essential shift in perspective, a lot must first apparently be done. The mind must be ready for it. The insight that it has always been so, but that I was ignorant of it, gives an immediate result, hence the term sadya mukti (sadya – now, in the present). So the sadyomukti is a jīvan mukta.

Jīvan mukta is compared to videha mukti. Videha mukti is the idea that there is real freedom only after the death of the body, for the one with the knowledge that he is not the doer of his karma. The idea is that his or her subtle body will not reincarnate any further.

In itself, it is true that the specific flow of karma will stop the story of this individual, because the jīvan mukta who is jīvan mukti (liberated from the person, with his whole life and karma supply) has no karma, because she or he realizes that she or he has never had karma.

The paradox of this is that freedom is thought of in a future. While freedom is of course already immediate, for those who understand it. Videha mukti thus becomes a kind of soteriology, doctrine of salvation. This means that salvation and freedom are near, so in the future, so in time. But freedom is already the case, only we don’t know it because of ignorance. The invitation is to pick up the here and now.

Three requirements or conditions are sometimes mentioned for jīvan mukti. In order for freedom to be complete, the following must apply:

• tattva jñāna – Knowledge of reality (tattva). Main requirement: Knowledge is the only way to see through what our thinking and senses mistakenly tell us. Ignorance is the problem. Only after knowledge can knowledge be released. Ignorance is dissolved by knowledge only in śravaṇa, hearing the truth of the teacher.

• vāsanākṣaya – Sufficient neutralization (falling away, kṣaya, of its binding power) of the deep-seated disposition (saṁskāra consisting of vāsanās) that maintains saṁsāra. If deep conditioning manifests itself too strongly, knowledge cannot last. This is also called viparīta bhāvanā, habit-driven self-deception. Contemplation (nididhyāsana) on the truth for a long time is necessary for this.

• mano nāśa – Elimination of the excessive influence of the mind. A certain amount of balance and peace in the inner instrument (antaḥkaraṇa śuddhi) is necessary to give ignorance no chance. Also, the mind itself must be convinced of the logic of vedānta through reflection (manana). This is because the average person will say, “It is impossible (asambhava) that I am alone, and everything is me. That can’t apply to me”. The main difference between the mind of a svāmī (self-controlled mind) and one who sees himself as small, separate and inferior, is the arrangement of the mind with self-judgments. In order to let go of vedānta and knowledge, I will first have to have a stable understanding of how things stand objectively.