We'll explore how it might be possible for a person to be instantly free here and now, as suddenly and as effortlessly and easily as one "falls from a tree after losing one's footing".
Naturally, this will take us into a discussion on anupaya, the notorious "no path path" of instant liberation and jīvanmukti, the somewhat paradoxical doctrine of being free of the world/body while remaining in it!
Some schools of spirituality, dualistic theistic traditions foremost amongst them, wholeheartedly reject this idea, preferring instead a post mortem salvation, and a "there" and "then" God as a opposed to a "here" and "now" one while other schools, like Advaita Vedanta and Kaula Trika (Non-Dual Shaivism) see jīvanmukti not only as a theoretical necessity given their reasoning, but as a practical guarantee!
In so many words: at the end of today's lecture you could very well, by śiva's grace, leave enlightened, completely and irrevocably because as you will see from the citations below, bondage and liberation are nothing but the Lord's play - i.e your play! We will explore, Mā willing, exactly the mechanism by which this kind of instant liberation comes about to induce it (or at the very least prepare for the possibility of it) in our own immediae experience.
Citations (from Paramārthasāra of Abinava Gupta):
paramaṃ yat svātantryaṃ durghaṭasaṃpādanaṃ
maheśasya devī māyāśaktiḥ svātmāvaraṇaṃ śivasyaitat ( 15 )
The supreme Lord's great freedom, which is capable of accomplishing the most difficult task, is called the Goddess Maya-sakti. It serves Paramasiva as a veil to hide Himself.
svajñānavibhavabhāsana - yogenodveṣṭayennijātmānam |
iti bandhamokṣacitrāṃ krīḍāṃ pratanoti paramaśivaḥ (33)
Lord Paramaśiva liberates himself from bondage by loosening its grip through the glory of knowledge of the Self. Thus bondage and liberation are his divine play.
tadvat kañcukapaṭalī -
pṛthakkṛtā saṃvidatra saṃskārāt |
tiṣṭhantyapi muktātmā
tatsparśavivarjitā bhavati (86)
In the same way, Consciousness once its been separated from its complex of sheaths (kañcukas) is forever alien to their touch, even though as a liberated self, it remains there due to impressions (samskāras).
tīrthe śvapacagṛhe vā
naṣṭasmṛtirapi parityajandeham |
jñānasamakālamuktaḥ
kaivalyaṃ yāti hataśokaḥ (83)
Whether he departs from his physical body in a holy place or in an outcaste's hovel, and even if he loses his memory, he obtains liberation immediately upon receiving knowledge thus overcoming sorrow.**
ādarśe malarahite yadvad vadanaṃ vibhāti tadvad ayam |
śiva - śaktipātavimale dhītattve bhāti bhārūpaḥ ( 9 )
As a face shines forth in a spotlessly clean mirror, in the same way the supreme Lord who is of the nature of illumination shines forth in the buddhi (intellect) tattva that has been purified following the descent of divine grace by the Lord.
We'll also continue to explore our list below with an emphasis on grades one and two which guarantee instant, spontaneous, and permanently abiding realization.
note also iśopanishad 6 & 7:
yas tu sarvāni bhūtani atmany'eva'nupasyati
sarva bhūteshu catmanam tato na vijugupsate
He who sees everything in himself and his Self in everything, never hates anything
yasmin sarvāni bhutāni atma'iva bhūdvijānatah:
tatra ko'moha kah shoka ekatvam anupaśyatah:
When a person knows that he Himself has become everything and he knows the Oneness of things, how can he hate or love anything