Videh
Videh Mukti is gained while alive in the body, but Meher Baba points out that videh mukti applies where the liberated individual does not regain awareness of the world. In most of the cases of veheh mukti, the soul remains associated with the body for 3 to 4 days and then dissociates. Thus, the difference between Meher Baba's view and the traditional Hindu view is that, in videh mukti, the soul attains Liberation 3 to 4 days before death, although this would not be apparent to the outside observer. The importance of this distinction is that such a soul literally experiences an eternal "I am God" state rather than being introduced to an afterlife of "I am infinite bliss." That is, the soul who achieves videh mukti certainly experiences eternal infinite power, knowledge, and bliss, rather than perhaps qualifying as an exception to reincarnating, and instead given the experience of eternal Infinite Bliss.
The distinction that determines whether a soul has attained Ordinary (videha) mukti or videh mukti is very fine. According to Meher Baba, an incarnate soul attains God realization in two steps. First the soul attains nirvana, the state of infinite vacuum—emptiness. In the second step, the reality of godhood rushes in to the emptiness of the nirvana state, and the divine state of nirvikalpa is attained. This state is called Fana-Fillah by the Sufis. This is the state of "I am God" in which the soul retains no consciousness of anything other than the "I am God" experience. To attain this state of God realization (nirvikalpa samadhi or fana-fillah) the soul must first reach nirvana and experience that state of nothingness.
Souls who drop their bodies while in the state of Nirvana attain Ordinary Mukti (Videha Mukti). But souls who drop their bodies after attaining Nirvikalpa experience God Realization. This is Videh Mukti. After they dissociate from their bodies, they eternally experience "I am God" -- the eternal experience of infinite power, knowledge, and bliss.
An observer passing by who has ordinary human consciousness would be hard pressed to determine whether the soul who occupies the body had achieved nirvikalpa samadhi before dissociating from the body, unless this might be determined by the grace, light, love and bliss that emanates from the body of the God realized soul in videh mukti. The distinction between videh (in the body) mukti and videha (without the body) mukti is of spiritual importance because the bodies and personalities of souls who have achieved liberation while in the body (and therefore, who have achieved God realization) are sources of enormous spiritual benefit to those who come in contact with them. Those who serve them receive even greater spiritual benefit.
In some cases, the soul who gains videh mukti dissociates with the body much later than 3 or 4 days, depending on the karmic momentum of the soul. The soul may retain association with the body for years, still without regaining any consciousness of the world whatsoever. In such cases, the living being in videh mukti is termed Majoob-e-Kamil (Sufi) or Brahmi-Bhoot (Vedanta).
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