What is the reference to Sublime and Perfect Master in Freemasonry to Hindu traditions & literature?

Albert Pike draws extensively upon Hindu literature—including the Vedas, the Aitareya Aranyaka, and the Vedanta and Nyaya philosophical traditions—to present what he considers fundamental primitive truths regarding the Supreme Being, creation, and the divine nature of the soul 1.

Within these ancient Indian texts, God is described as an infinite, eternal, and all-pervading Soul or Spirit who existed before all else and brought the material universe into being through a single creative thought 1. The physical world and humanity were created in stages, culminating in a spark or portion of the divine essence penetrating human bodily form to become an immortal living spirit within man 1.

Pike characterizes the core spirit of the Vedas as a "pantheistic monotheism," wherein a single Supreme Spirit (Brahm or Mahaatma) is both the efficient cause and material substance of all existence 1. Under this reading, the apparent multiplicity of the physical world forms an outward manifestation or texture of the divine mind, bridging the realm of spirit and matter 1. The ultimate goal of human reason and contemplation, as reflected in these Hindu traditions, is for the soul to disengage from sensory perceptions, recognize its divine spark, and reunite through meditation with the Supreme Spirit 1.