Liberation-freedom from the material concept of life; being situated in one's constitutional position as an eternal servant of God; In Sanskrit, moksa or mukti. Vedic culture guides mankind through four stages of value development: dharma (religiosity), artha (economic development), kama (sense gratification) and moksa (liberation of the soul from birth and death). Beyond even moksa, taught Caitanya Mahaprabhu, is the fifth and unsurpassed stage, love of God (prema). See Ecstasy, Life after death, Karma, Nirvana, Prema. Life after death-All the great religions of mankind teach that this present life is meant to cultivate a life in the hereafter. Among the various sects of Judaeo-Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, two paths of cultivation can be discerned: 1) the path of elevation, and 2) the path of salvation. The elevationists aim for an elevated state of material happiness in the afterlife. Their hope is to join their family and friends in the celestial realm known as heaven in the Bible and svarga in the Vedas. The Bhagavad-gita warns that although life in heaven is much longer than on earth, it is not eternal: When they have thus enjoyed vast heavenly sense pleasure and the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus those who seek sense enjoyment by adhering to the principles of elevation achieve only repeated birth and death. (Bg. 9.21) Salvationists, on the other hand, aim to be saved from their mortality. They often speak of salvation as the surrender of the mortal self to the eternal light that is Nirvana, Brahman or God. Some speak of salvation as a state of unbroken prayerful contemplation upon a personal deity. These are descriptions of impersonal Brahman and Paramatma realization. Impersonal Brahman, as explained in the brahma-jyoti entry, is the formless effulgence of Krsna's personal form. Mystics and yogis who are able to negate their minds' attachments to the world of material form may lose themselves within this formless light. Paramatma is Krsna's form as the Supersoul, who dwells within the hearts of all living beings as the overseer and permitter (see Bg. 13.23). Paramatma realization is semi-personal, because the salvationist's relationship to the Supersoul in the heart remains passive. More than wanting to serve God, the salvationist wants to be saved from death and rebirth. Thus impersonal Brahman and semi-personal Paramatma realization are incomplete. The complete realization is the realization of the Personality of Godhead through bhakti-yoga. The most fortunate salvationists can attain only the santa-rasa (passive relationship in awe and reverence). The four higher rasas are reserved for Krsna's pure devotees. By flooding the senses with eternal nectar from the original, pure source of pleasure God Himself love of Krsna completely liberates the devotee from attraction to temporary material sense pleasures. Thus the consciousness of the soul completely takes shelter of its original position as an eternal associate of the Lord in the spiritual world. As long as he or she still possesses a physical body, the fully Krsna conscious devotee is called jivan-mukta, liberated while still within the material world. When he or she gives up the physical body, the fully Krsna conscious devotee remains forever with Krsna in the spiritual world. This is videha-mukti, liberation that transcends the material world altogether. See Bhakti-yoga, Brahmajyoti, Brahman, Karma, Liberation, Nirvana, Prema, Rasa, Reincarnation, Samsara, Supersoul.