Seven Stages Overview
7.28 The Jīva passes through seven stages of experience - firstly total ignorance that there is such a thing as Ātman, then the veiling of the consciousness so that it is not seen, distraction causing doubt and error, indirect knowledge as may be received from a guru or scripture, direct knowledge experienced, the ceasing of sorrow and finally complete satisfaction. These are to be passed through in the search for truth.
ignorance (Ajnana), veil (Avarana), distraction (Vikshepa), indirect knowledge (Paroksha-Jnana), direct knowledge (Aparoksha-Jnana), freedom from sorrow (Sokamoksha), and satisfaction (Tripti) ~Krishnananda
7.29 When the reflection of consciousness in the mind is attached to the cycle of worldly existence then he does not know that he is the one self-evident Kūṭastha.
7.30 The Jīva concludes that ‘Kūṭastha is not manifest so it does not exist’ so ‘I am the doer and the enjoyer’. This is the result of superimposition by the projecting power.
7.31 He is told by the teacher that ‘Kūṭastha is’ and he understands from this indirect knowledge but later he understands through discrimination (direct knowledge) that ‘I am Kūṭastha alone’.
7.32 The attitudes of being the doer or enjoyer (of his actions) is now shaken off and his grief is at an end. What needed to be done has been achieved and he experiences complete satisfaction.
~Pancadasi 7:28-32 (tr-Denton)
First Three Causing Bondage
33. These are the seven stages of Jīva: ignorance, obscuration, superimposition, indirect knowledge, direct knowledge, freedom from grief and unrestricted bliss. (see Note 1)
34. The reflected consciousness, Cidābhāsa, is affected by these seven stages. They are the cause of bondage and also of release. The first three of them are described as causing bondage.
35. Ignorance is the stage characterized by ‘I do not know’ and is the cause of the indifference about truth, lasting as long as discrimination does not mature.
36. The result of the obscuring of the spiritual truth caused by ignorance is such thoughts as ‘Kūṭastha does not exist’, ‘Kūṭastha is not known’, which is contrary to truth. This happens when discrimination is not conducted along scriptural lines.
37. The stage in which Cidābhāsa identifies himself with the subtle and gross bodies is called superimposition. In it he is subject to bondage and suffers as a result of the idea of his being the doer and enjoyer.
38. Though ignorance and the obscuring of the Self precede superimposition, and Cidābhāsa himself is the result of this superimposition, still the first two stages belong not to Kūṭastha but to Cidābhāsa. (see Note 2)
Last Four Causing Release
44. By the two kinds of knowledge ignorance is negated, and with it, its effects, and the ideas ‘Brahman does not exist’ and ‘Brahman is not manifest’ also perish.
45. By indirect knowledge the misconception that Kūṭastha does not exist is negated. Direct knowledge destroys the result of the obscuring of reality expressed in the idea that Brahman is not manifest or experienced. (see Note 3)
46. When the obscuring principle is destroyed, both the idea of Jīva, a mere superimposition, and the grief caused by the worldly idea of agentship are destroyed.
47. When the world of duality is destroyed by the experience of one’s being ever released, there arises, with the annihilation of all grief, an unrestricted and everlasting satisfaction.
~Pancadasi 7:33-38; 44-47 (tr-Swahananda)
Note 1
Stage 1: Ignorance (agnanam). At this stage a person thinks he is his thoughts and takes the world to be real. He doesn’t know that he doesn’t know there is a self, much less that he is it.
Stage 2: Denial, veiling, concealment (avaranam) is expressed ignorance. He takes himself to be the reflected self, thinks the self is an object and says that because he can’t experience it, it doesn’t exist.
Stage 3: Projection, erroneous notions, are called vikshepa. He hears that there is a self, but has no idea what it is and develops all sorts of fantasies about it. He thinks he is a doer and struggles to experience it, but gets frustrated and suffers a sense of unworthiness on account of his incompetence at achieving it.
Stage 4: Indirect knowledge (prokshajnanam). The individual hears about Vedanta, becomes curious about it and develops some faith in it. He learns that the self exists, but often believes that it is an inconceivable object only attained by “great masters,” but he persists.
Stage 5: Direct knowledge (aparokshajnanam). He realizes that he cannot experience the self as an object, because he is always experiencing it as the conscious subject.
Stage 6: Freedom from limitation (moksa). The knowledge, “I am the self,” negates the doer/enjoyer, and seeking stops because he understands that the fullness he is obviates the need to worry.
Stage 7: Total fulfillment (tripti). He realizes that he accomplished everything that needs to be accomplished and is completely satisfied.
~James Swartz
Note 2
The seven stages spoken of in śloka 33, being stages, cannot be attributed to Brahman, for stages are changes and Brahman is immutable. Of these seven stages the first two create difficulty, inasmuch as the Jīva being still unborn, on whom are the previous two stages to be foisted? The third stage, viz., the projection as something else (Vikṣepa), creates the Jīva; before this stage there is nothing positive.
The author’s solution that although Vikṣepa, i.e., its result the Cidābhāsa or Jīva itself is unborn, its Saṁskāra or Saṁskṛti is there, or, in other words, the unborn Jīva is existing in a subtle form and the two previous stages are of it, of the unborn Jīva.
~Swahananda
Note 3
There are two kinds or two phases of ignorance: asattavarana and abhanavarana. Due to the avarana of maya, known as asattavarana, one has no consciousness of even the existence of Brahman. Even the remote idea of their being such a thing as Brahman cannot arise in the mind due to this avarana called asattavarana. Avarana, or veil, instils the wrong notion into the mind so that one is made to feel that Brahman does not exist. The indirect knowledge which is obtained through study as well as instruction from a Guru is capable of destroying that secondary ignorance which makes us feel that God does not exist, Brahman does not exist, etc.
The other phase is abhanavarana, the veil that covers the consciousness of there being such a thing at all called Brahman. Direct knowledge, or actual experience of Brahman, dispels the other kind of ignorance which covers the consciousness of Brahman. That is to say, direct knowledge or experience makes one immediately conscious of Brahman as identical with one’s own self.
~Krishnananda
