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MOKSHA.
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way towards making one self-conscious, but it is no less true that the full acceptance of the impress of the form of paramātman by the soul-substance, which is necessary to prevent its fickleness and unsteadiness, cannot be secured till the yogi knows what that impress is like and the method of transferring it from his mind to the
liquid' essence of his soul. The knowledge of the form of the paramâtman being, thus, a pre-requisite of moksha, true bhakti cannot be said to begin unless the mind of the devotee is first filled with the divine image. There can be no such thing as falling in love with a being or thing whose very form one has no idea of.
In this connection we may also explain the significance of the word nirdkåra when used in reference to paramâtman. Obviously everything that exists must have some kind of form, so that the word niräkåra, if taken in its literal sense, i.e., as devoid of form (nir= without, and âkâra=form), cannot possibly apply to any existent thing. It is, however, applicable to soul or spirit, firstly, because it has no visible form wbich may be perceived with the eye, and, secondly, because the jiva involved in the cycle of births and deaths has no permanent form of his own. The paramåtman, however, differs from the ordinary unemancipated jiva in so far as the destruction of all kinds of karmas places Him for ever beyond the cycle of re-births, fixing His form also, incidentally, once for all and for ever in the manner described in the tenth chapter of The Key of Knowledge. This form is the noblest form of all, being that of perfect Manhood, and the stature of the soul-substance, which on the attainment of complete liberation is freed from
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