[Four classes of individual souls.] There are four classes of Jivas, or individual souls: First, Baddha, the bound; second, Mumukshu, the seeker after freedom; third, Mukta, the emancipated; and fourth, Nitya-mukta, the eternally free. This world is like a net, the soul is the fish, and the Lord of the phenomenal world is the fisherman. When a fisherman draws in his net, some of the fish try to escape by rending the net, that is, they struggle for freedom. So are the souls of the second class, the Mumukshus, the seekers after freedom. But among the fish that struggle, only a few escape. Similarly, a few souls only attain to freedom and they belong to the third class, the Muktas. There are some fish, however, that are naturally cautious and never fall into the net. Such are the souls of the fourth class, the Nitya-muktas, who are never caught in the net of the phenomenal world, but who remain eternally free, like Narada [**] and others like him. Most of the fish,

however, fall into the net and have not the sense to know that they are going to die there. When caught, they try to run away and hide in the mud at the bottom by swimming with the net. They make no effort to get out of the net, but go deeper and deeper into the mud. These may be compared to the souls who are bound fast in the world. They are caught in the net, but they delude themselves by thinking that they are happy. They remain attached to worldliness. They plunge into the mire of worldly evils and are content, while those who are seeking after freedom or who are emancipated do not like worldliness and do not care for sense-pleasures.

[Bound souls. ] Those who are thus caught in the net of the world are the Baddha, or bound souls. No one can awaken them. They do not come to their senses even after receiving blow upon blow of misery, sorrow and indescribable suffering. The camel loves thorny bushes, and although his mouth bleeds when he eats them, still he does not cease to love them dearly and no one can keep him away from them. The bound souls may meet with great grief and misfortune, but after a few days they are just as they were before. The wife