When the saint becomes free from the ties and impediments of the world, and from the chains of its accidents, then he enters into the region of freedom, which they call _mukt_.[139] This mukt, according to them, is divided into five parts: the first is, when the sanctified man, having attained the dignity of freedom, in the city of the subordinate divinities (angels), becomes one of them; as in this city are the residences of the deities, such as the city of Brahma, of Vishnu, of Mahadéva, and this part is called “the mukt of the pious.” The second part is, when the devotee, a neighbour and companion of the gods, is surrounded by an abundance of favor, and the society of the celestial beings; and this division of the mukt they call _Svámi prémá_.[140] The third part is, when the pious assumes the form of the inferior divinities without union with their persons, that is, whichever of the gods he chooses, it is his shape which he appropriates to himself, and this part they name _Sára préma_.[141] The fourth part of the mukt is, when the pious becomes united with one of the gods, like water with water, that is, when he coalesces with whichever of the gods he chooses, and this is entitled _svayukti_.[142] The fifth part is, when the soul of the pious, called _jívátma_, becomes one with the great spirit whom they call _paramátmá_,[143] and recognise as the only real being, in such a manner that there remains no room for a second to rise between, and this they distinguish by the name of _Jnánam uttamam_.[144]
This is the substance of the creed of the Védantian: whoever possesses this science is called _Inání_ by the Hindus, and all the principal men among them are conversant with the doctrine of this sect. The sublime discourses and wise histories delivered by Vasishta for the instruction of Rama chandra, are entitled _Vasíshta yog_; and the speeches which fell from the tongue of Krishna, when he was bestowing advice upon Arjuna, who was one of the Pandus, go under the name of _kathá_. Sankara Acharya, who ranks highest among the later learned men of India, has written much about this doctrine. The dogmas of this class are as follow: the world and its inhabitants are appearances without reality, and God is but one necessary and self-existing being, whom they call _Parama atma_; they say, this appearance and diversity of form, this order and aspect of heavens, are like the vapor resembling the sea upon the surface of sandy plains, and like the vision of a dream; good and bad, pleasure and pain, adoration and worship of God, are but objects of imagination, and these various images are illusions;――the deepest pits of hell, the vaults of heaven, the return to earth after death, transmigration, and the retribution of actions, all that is but imagination, and variety of imagination.