Fourth life, cast:
X : The Chinese merchant's wife is now a reigning prince in India; Y : The Chinese merchant is now the prince's wife; Z : The rakish son is the prince's spiritually-minded slave.
X , a reigning prince in India, has Y as his wife. Z is X 's slave who is spiritually minded and who daily goes to sit at the feet of a great yogi, who spends all day seated under a tree in Benares. The prince and princess love each other dearly.
One day the slave loses his wife to death, but remains calm. The prince wonders why and asks him, "How can you be serene when your wife has died?"
Z replies, "My Master has made me understand the secret of life and death." When he hears this, X longs to see the Master and the slave takes him. On seeing the Master, the prince is deeply impressed and says, "O Master, I surrender myself to you and will obey you implicitly."
The Master replies, "Leave all and come to me." Prince X renounces his kingdom and everything in it, dons the yellow robe and goes with his wife, Y , to the Master's retreat to await his order. The Master orders X to beg from his own subjects, and the prince obeys. The Master then orders X to wander through the jungle for one year.
X and Y go together; they live on fruits and nuts and continually meditate on the Master. One day in the jungle, a tiger approaches them, but X merely looks at him and utters the Master's name. Immediately the tiger is transformed into the Master who blesses them and disappears. After the blessing, the prince enters a trance and passes through the first five cosmic planes.
The prince in the first plane finds his gross body disconnected and set apart, and through his subtle body (which is like the gross body in every shape and detail, except that it is smoke like, vapory and transparent) attains the subtle experience. Into his subtle ears are poured forth streams of sweet, melodious, enchanting, thrilling and exquisite sound rhythms and beautiful tunes, the likes of which he never dreamt of. His subtle nose smells such a sweet, refreshing scent that he feels rejuvenated completely. His subtle eyes see different luminous ultra-colors and innumerable small circles of steady light with his Master's figure looming large in the circles. He now finds his gross body attached back to him and so returns to gross consciousness. But the tremendous impressions of the subtle experiences had such an effect on him as to leave him in a dazed condition.