Jnana Vahini - Post 9

Swami has mentioned 4 stages in the previous post as 4^th, 5^th, 6^th and the 7^th Stage. These are the stages out of the 7 stages in the path of Jnana, as described below.

1^st STAGE - SUBECCHA

A deep study of Atma Jnana Sastras and association with the wise and the performance of virtuous actions without any expectation of fruits. This Subeccha or good desire forms the first Bhumika or stage of Jnana. 

2^nd STAGE - VICHARANA

Vicharana - Constant Atma Vichara (Atmic enquiry) forms the second stage. 

3^rd STAGE - TANUMANASI

The third stage is Tanumanasi. This is attained through the cultivation of special indifference to objects. The mind becomes thin like a thread. Hence the name Tanumanasi. Tanu means thread-like state of mind.

The above three stages can be included under the Jagrat state. 

4^th STAGE – SATTVAPATTI - BRAHMAVID

As per Swami, the fourth stage is Sattvapatti. This stage will destroy all Vasanas to the root. This can be included under the Svapna state. The world appears like a dream. Those who have reached the fourth stage will look upon all things of the universe with an equal eye. 

5^th STAGE – ASAMASAKTI - Brahmavidvara

The fifth stage is Asamsakti. There is perfect non-attachment to the objects of the world. There is no Upadhi or waking or sleeping in this stage. This is the Jivanmukhti stage in which there is the experience of Ananda Svarupa (the Eternal Bliss of Brahman) replete with spotless Jnana. This will come under Sushupti. 

6^th STAGE - PADARTHA BHAVANA - Brahmavid-Vareeyaan

The sixth stage is knowledge of Truth. 

7^th STAGE – TURIYA - Brahmavid-varishta

The seventh stage is Turiya or the state of superconsciousness. This is Moksha. There are no Sankalpas. All the Gunas disappear. This is above the reach of mind and speech.

"Those three (4^th TO 6^th) have to acquire the destruction of the Manas, the Mind. This itself is of two grades: Swarupanaasa, the destruction of the agitations, and even their shapes and forms; and Arupanaasa, the destruction of the agitations only.

Readers might be troubled by a doubt while on this point. They might ask, who are these who have conquered and wiped out the Mind? Those who have neither attachment nor hatred nor pride nor jealousy nor greed. 

Those who are free from bondage of the senses, those really are the heroes who have won the battle against the mind. That is the test. Such heroic persons will be free from all agitations.

Swami continues, 

“He who has achieved Swarupanaasa would have eliminated the two Gunas, Thamas and Rajas, and he will shine with the splendour of pure Sathwa. Through the influence of the pure Guna, he will radiate Love and Beneficence and Mercy wherever he moves. (In the Brahmavid-varishta, the already 'liberated' individual, even this Sathwaguna will be absent). 

The Sathwa guna will have as its unmistakable concomitants: splendour, wisdom, bliss, peace, brotherliness, sense of sameness, self-confidence, holiness, purity and similar qualities. Only he who is saturated in Sathwa guna can witness the image of the Atma within. 

It is when the Sathwa is mixed with the Thamasic and Rajasic, that it is rendered impure and becomes the cause of Ignorance and Illusion. This is the reason for the bondage of man. The Rajasic quality produces the illusion of something non-existent being existent! It broadens and deepens the contact of the senses with the external world. 

It creates affection and attachment and so, by means of the dual pulls of happiness and sorrow (the one to gain and the other, avoid) to it plunges man deeper and deeper into activity. These activities breed the evils of passion, fury, greed, conceit, hatred, pride, meanness and trickery. 

And the Thamasic quality? Well, it blinds the vision, and lowers the intellect, multiplying sloth, sleep and dullness, leading man along the wrong path, away from the goal. It will make even the seen, the 'unseen'! One will fail to benefit even from one's actual experience, if one is immersed in Thamas. It will mislead even big scholars, for scholarship does not necessarily confer moral stamina. Caught in these tentacles of Thamas, the pundits cannot arrive at correct conclusions.

Even the wise, if they are bound down by Thamas, will be affected by many doubts and misgivings and be drawn towards sensory pleasures, to the detriment of the wisdom they have gained. They will begin to identify themselves with their property, their wives and children, and such other worldly temporals. They will even confuse untruth with truth and truth with untruth! Note how great a trickster this Thamas is!”

(Author's note - More on the 3 Gunas shall be taken up in tomorrow's post)

Love.