Episode 4 of the series „Die sieben Bhumikas“ - A poetic-philosophical series about deception, realisation and the quiet awakening in the noise of our time. The Seven bhumikas are the seven stages of spiritual evolution as described in the Yoga Vasishtha and described in the commentary by Brahmananda to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika be described. Bhumika means steps.
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There is a moment on the inner path that comes not because you seek it, but because you stop reaching. It comes not through more knowledge, not through more effort, not through mental endeavour. It comes when the questions soften, the will becomes tired and the ego becomes still. It is a moment that does not fall like a ray of light in a dark room, but like a glow from within - as if the darkness itself had decided to remember.
Sattvāpatti - the fourth bhumika - is often translated as "purity of mind", but in reality it is less about purity as a state and more about perception becoming transparent. The mind does not become perfect. It becomes permeable. That which has clouded it up to now - attachment, judgement, control, identification - begins to fall, not by force, but like leaves that fall from the branches in autumn without anyone pulling.
This is where true clarity begins. Not the kind that is based on facts, mental constructs or acquired knowledge. But a clarity that is born out of letting go. Not because you know enough - but because you stop holding on to knowledge. The deception that has accompanied you on your path to this point is not fought, not exposed, not analysed. It is seen - for what it is. And in this pure vision it loses its power.
Clarity is not loud. It does not flaunt itself. It needs no proof. It is like the sky after a long rain: empty and wide and deep. And precisely because there is nothing between the perceiver and the perceived, realisation happens - not as a thought, but as a presence. It is not "I recognise", but "recognition happens". Quietly. Quite genuinely.
Here man realises that deception was never the problem. It was a veil - yes. But one that he wove himself, out of habit, out of fear, out of a quest for control. In Sattvāpatti, this necessity falls away. Man sees how often he has chosen the untruthful, not out of malice, but out of a deep need for security. And now - as he no longer holds on to himself - truth begins not to appear, but to be.
This clarity has no claim. It does not make people superior, special or "further". It makes them emptier - but full of presence. He begins to act without clinging. To speak without proving. To see without possessing. And this is precisely where purity lies: not in the absence of faults, but in the absence of attachment.
Sattvāpatti is like a silent awakening in the space between. No summit, no enlightenment, no goal - but a state in which a person stops struggling with themselves. He recognises not only what he sees - but how he sees. And that he himself was the veil he wanted to pierce.
Clarity does not come through struggle. It happens through silence. It is not a light that defeats the darkness - but the darkness that stops hiding.
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Introductory text for episode 4 - The light of clarity (Sattvāpatti)
There is a point on the inner path where we no longer search, but see. No more knowledge that needs to be filled - but a space that is empty enough to receive reality.
Sattvāpatti - the fourth bhumika - is not a goal, but a transformation: the transition from mental effort to inner permeability. Here, realisation does not begin as an act of cognition, but as a silent process. The world does not change - but the view with which it is seen becomes clear.
Purity in this context does not mean flawlessness. It means the absence of attachment. The thoughts are still there - but they no longer cling. The ego is still there - but it no longer grasps. What remains is looking without wanting. A lingering without clinging.
This episode invites us to look at the nature of clarity in a new way - not as an intellectual understanding, but as a form of inner emptiness. It does not ask what we can know. But rather what can happen when knowledge no longer disturbs.
What if clarity cannot be made - but happens as soon as there is nothing in between? And what if recognising does not happen by adding - but by quietly ceasing to pretend?
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„Die sieben Bhumikas“
A series about deception, realisation and the quiet awakening in the noise of our time
The series consists of thematic impulses inspired by Patanjali, the seven Bhumikas, the Bhagavad Gita and being deeply human in a world full of masks, distraction and longing. Each contribution is a silent gateway - a mirror, a question, a reminder.
Avidya, in the context of yoga and Buddhism, means ignorance or lack of knowledge, but not in the sense of a lack of knowledge, but rather as a delusion or wrong view of reality. It is the basis for suffering and is regarded as the "mother" of all other kleshas (affects or hindrances).
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Note on the series: This series of articles is part of the forthcoming book
"THE SILENCE BEHIND THOUGHTS - Patañjali's Yogasūtra - four stages of inner concentration"
written by Kati Voß | Volume I of the series WEISHEITSWISSEN / Category: Spiritual Philosophy & Wisdom Literature for the Inner Path
This book takes you into the depths of Yogasūtra - not as a technique, but as an inner path. In four sections, a silent understanding of collection, clarity and self-direction unfolds. The millennia-old scripture can be read anew here: poetically, experientially, quietly. Patañjali's path to inner concentration becomes an invitation to counter the noise of thinking with another force - the silence behind it.
Erscheinung: November 2025 – Die Texte der Reihe „Die sieben Bhumikas" sind begleitende Impulse dieses Werks.
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