Knowledge

1. What is the state of attainment of knowledge?

It is firm and effortless abidance in the Self in which the mind which has become one with the Self does not subsequently emerge again at any time. 

That is, just as everyone usually and naturally has the idea, ‘I am not a goat

nor a cow nor any other animal but a human’, when he thinks of his body, 

so also when he has the idea ‘I am not the principles (tattwas) beginning with the body and ending with sound (nada), but the Self which is existence, consciousness

and bliss, the innate self-consciousness (atma prajna)’, he is said to have attained firm knowledge.

2. To which of the seven stages of knowledge (jnana bhoomikas)

 does the sage (jnani) belong?

He belongs to the fourth stage.

The seven jnana bhoomikas are:

(i). subheccha 

(the desire for enlightenment).

(ii). vicharana (enquiry).

(iii). tanumanasa (tenuous mind).

(iv). satwapatti (self-realization).

(v). asamsakti (non-attachment).

(vi). padarthabhavana 

(non-perception of objects).

(vii). turyaga (transcendence).

Those who have attained the last four bhoomikas are called brahmavid,

brahmavidvara, brahmavidvariya and brahmavidvaristha respectively.

- SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTIONS OF SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI. 

CHAPTER IV. ATTAINMENT. (Arudha)