A Note on Liberation and Responsibility
An important clarification: liberation does not absolve responsibility.
In fact, clarity increases responsibility.
When identification no longer obscures perception, actions arise more directly from discernment rather than compulsion, habit, or self-protection. This is why the earlier disciplines (particularly non-harming and restraint) are essential.
Without them, claims of liberation become dangerous.
True freedom does not inflate the sense of self. It dissolves the need to defend it.
Kaivalya as Integration
Kaivalya Pāda does not conclude with instruction. It concludes with resolution.
Awareness rests in its own nature.
The mind returns to its appropriate function.
Experience unfolds without distortion.
This is not an ending in time. It is the end of confusion about what one is. Life continues to be lived… fully, clearly, and without fixation.
A Note to the Reader
Kaivalya is not something to strive toward or imagine.
It cannot be claimed, rehearsed, or performed. It is revealed gradually as misidentification loosens through practice, discernment, and the steady willingness to see clearly.
If this chapter feels distant or abstract, that is not a failure of understanding. It simply means the earlier work is still alive and doing what it needs to do.
The path does not rush.
And liberation is not in a hurry.
