I’m Awake! Now What? — Life After Realization
- Sukhdev Virdee
- Jun 28
- 3 min read
You chased awakening.
You questioned everything.
You lost your identity, your stories, even your guru’s approval.
And then, one day—without warning—the ‘I’ collapsed.
Awakening happened.
Now what?
In I’m Awake! Now What?, the fifth book in the I Am Consciousness series, the spotlight shifts from the pursuit of realization to what most seekers are never prepared for:
life after the lightning strikes.
Because contrary to the myths, the path doesn’t end with awakening.
In many ways, it begins there.
David Has Awakened
After the ego-shattering finale of Book 4 (Kill The Ego), David is no longer the same man who once stood as a New York heart surgeon, nor the same seeker who clung to every word of his guru.
He has fallen into the centerless silence of being.
There is no self left to protect, promote, or prove.
But here lies a new challenge—integration.
Stabilizing the Awakening
David remains at the ashram under Swamiji’s guidance.
But the dynamic has changed.
Swamiji no longer teaches David through structured talks or logic. He now polishes him through presence. There are no more teachings to be learned—only the ripples of awakening to be quietened.
This is where many seekers falter.
They think realization is the end of suffering.
But what they don’t see is that awakening is the end of seeking—not the end of processing.
In this phase, David experiences:
The dissolving of personal will.
The inability to judge right or wrong.
The overwhelming beauty of everything—sometimes too much to bear.
A deep, unshakable peace… woven with the death of all former motivations.
Common Post-Awakening Challenges
This book is perhaps one of the most rare and needed spiritual texts—because it addresses a taboo subject in the nondual world:
What actually happens after awakening?
Some of what David experiences includes:
No longer being able to function from ambition or personal desire.
The fading of all emotional reactivity, yet also an immense sensitivity to everything.
Losing all interest in personal narratives—yet appearing normal to the world.
A profound love for all beings, even those who once harmed him.
He also begins to see the world as a projection on the screen of Consciousness.
Not metaphorically—but literally.
The seer and the seen dissolve into one knowing field.
This is where Advaita Vedanta proves its brilliance—not just in helping you realize the Self, but in guiding you how to live from it.
Swamiji helps David navigate these silent shifts—not through answers, but by mirroring his stillness.
The Promise Fulfilled
David finally begins to understand why Advaita promises:
Freedom from pain and suffering.
Freedom from the cycle of birth and death.
Because suffering depends on a someone who suffers.
And that someone is no longer here.
David feels pain in the body, he experiences worldly interactions…
But he no longer attaches identity to anything that arises.
He watches thoughts like clouds.
He speaks, eats, walks—just as before.
But inside, there’s only presence.
Time has stopped.
Or perhaps, time has collapsed into now.
The Return to the World
Eventually, David feels it is time to leave the ashram.
Not out of restlessness, but because stillness moves him to go.
He returns to America.
Not as the David who left years ago.
Not even as a spiritual teacher.
He returns as no one in particular, content to live quietly.
He buys a farmhouse outside the city.
Surrounded by animals and silence, he begins to write—not as a thinker, but as a voice echoing from the silence within.
These writings become the seeds of the sixth and final book: I Am Consciousness.
Why This Book Is So Unique
Most spiritual books tell you how to wake up.
This one tells you how to be awake.
It reveals:
What lingers after awakening—and how to face it.
How the mind, emotions, and body recalibrate to the absence of ego.
Why silence becomes not just a state, but the natural way of being.
It shows the glory and the simplicity of post-awakening life.
There are no halos.
No spiritual performances.
Just a quiet human being, radiating what can’t be described.
For You, the One on the Threshold
Have you glimpsed the stillness behind the veil?
Have you felt the crumbling of identity, only to panic and rebuild it?
Have you asked, “What now?” after moments of clarity?
This book will hold you.
It won’t dazzle you with poetry.
It will ground you in truth without effort.
And that may be all you need.
Read I'm Awake! Now What? Now
This is the guidebook you didn’t know you’d need—until awakening catches you off guard.
Let it prepare you.
Let it walk with you.
Let it remind you: there is no one left to walk.
Buy Book 5 – I’m Awake! Now What? ➤
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