How to be established in real seclusion. (Shiva Sutras 3.34)

In this excerpt from the third awakening of the Shiva Sutras: The Supreme Awakening Swami Lakshmanjoo explains how to be established in real seclusion. “The yogi who has crossed the individual state of I-consciousness is never touched by pleasure and pain. So, . . .”

34. tadvimuktastu kevalī //

Separated from pleasure and pain, he is established in real seclusion.

The yogi who has crossed the individual state of I-consciousness is never touched by pleasure and pain. So,

34. tadvimuktastu kevalī //
Separated from pleasure and pain, he is established in real seclusion.

What is real seclusion? Real seclusion is actually the state of I-consciousness where this-consciousness (as the opposite of I-consciousness) does not arise. When you are established in I-consciousness, this-consciousness is absent. As long as I-consciousness prevails, this-consciousness is excluded. Where this-consciousness is not excluded, then this-consciousness is also absorbed in I-consciousness. That is the state of seclusion (kevalī bhāva) where there is nothing.

It is rightly said in Upaniṣads:

In the beginning, there was only one Lord, and because he was only one, there being no other, he became afraid.

The Upaniṣads is telling us that this is the reason why those who are alone become afraid. They become frightened because in that state of being alone, this-ness is excluded. This is the state of divtīya brahma. When this-ness is not excluded, then you are only one and there is nothing to fear. That is what is delineated by the word “seclusion” (kevalī). This is the state of seclusion (kevalī bhāva).

The one who is absolutely freed from pleasure and pain is solely established (kevalī) in the formation of God consciousness. In Kālikākrama, it is said:

All those states, like the perception of pleasure and pain and the thoughts associated with them, have arisen by imagination. That differentiation is actually the great illusion of duality. Herein one distinguishes between two opposites, such as the differentiation between pleasure and pain, thinking pleasure is welcome and pain is to be avoided. The yogī who has destroyed this kind of illusion actually attains the real fruit of yoga. (Kālikākrama Stotra)

In the present sūtra the word tu is not meant to indicate separation, but to indicate supremacy, to indicate that he is above the state of individuality.

And now, contrarily, the author will, in the next sūtra, explain the state of individuality that is absolutely the opposite of this state.