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APPENDIX I Note on bhūmikās mentioned in the commentary to śloka 2 and śloka 454 and on the distinctions of Brahmavits mentioned in the commentary to śloka 454.
(Source: Jivanmuktiviveka of Śrī Vidyāraṇya Svāmin) A. The seven stages of yoga (Yogabhūmayaḥ):
1. Subhecchā, 2. Vicāranā, 3. Tanumānasā, 4. Sattvāpatti, 5. Asansakti, 6. Padārthābhāvini, 7. Turyagā.
1. śubheccha: When a man involved in the world about him begins to reflect and tells himself: “What a fool am I to be thus involved! Should I not study the śāstras and be dowered with the saving glance of good persons who have the experience of the Truth?” Such a desire preceded by a sense of detachment (vairāgya) is called śubhecchā.
2. Vicāranā is active inquiry into the nature of Reality preceded by study of the śāstras, association with the good and wise, vairāgya and meditation.
3. Tanumānasā arises when the attachment to sense-objects gets tenuous as a result of subhecchā and vicāranā.
4. Sattvāpatti is the stage of the establishment of the mind in the ātman characterised by pure sattva-guņa by virtue of the previous three stages and by non-attachment to sense-objects.
5. Asamsakti is the stage in which the effect of attachment to the world is negated by the practice of the previous four stages and which is characterised by being rooted in the Real.
6. Padārthābhāvinā: When by the practice of the aforesaid five stages, a person delights in his ātman as nothing else - internal or external appears to him, and he is awakened only by long effort of others — that is the stage of padārthābhāvini.
7. Turyaga: By long practice of these six stages, when the sense of difference vanishes and one is completely absorbed in one's self, that is the goal of turyagā.
B. The distinction of Brahmavit, Brahmavidvara, Brahma vidvariyān and Brahmavidvariștha:
The first three bhūmikās are only means (sādhanas) to Brahmavidyā and are part of the effort to acquire vidyā. For, in these three the sense of difference among things is not annulled. Hence, it is called the waking state (jāgaraņa).
Then the intellectual realisation from the Vedānta text of the oneness of Brahman and the jīvātman freed of upādhis is the fourth stage and is the result of the previous three. It is called Sattvā
