The three stages referred to above and the disciplines they involve will destroy all desires and cravings and illumine knowledge of the Reality. The Mind is rendered fully holy and saturated withTruth. This is called A-samasakthi, or the stage of No-attachment or No-contact. That is to say, all contact with the exterior World or even with one's own past is wiped out. No attention is paid to the internal and the external; the Sadhaka reaches Abhaavapratheethi, as it is called. He has no Padaarthabhaavana of his own; that is to say, no object can create any sensation in his consciousness. He, the perfect Jnani, will be ever immersed in the Bliss of the Atma. He has no awareness of the seer, the seen and the sight, the triple thread. This is the Thuriya, the Fourth, the Beyond Stage.

Some are Wakeful-dreamy, or Jaagratha-swapna: they build castles in the air, planning with the known and the unknown, the seen and the unseen. Others are extra-wakeful, Mahaajaagrath; their 'I' and 'Mine' have become too deep-rooted through many births. These are all but agitations of the Consciousness, Vrittis. Wisdom can dawn only when these are destroyed. Until then, however much one may know of names and forms, one cannot grasp the Reality. The ceasing of all Vrittis or agitations is the sign of the person who really knows the Reality.

Look at the clouds that wander across the sky; note that they have no intimate lasting relationship with the sky which they hide but for a few minutes.

Such is the relationship between your body and You, that is to say, You who are of the nature of Paramatma. The body is but a temporary passing phase, hiding and clouding the truth.

How can the body's behaviour - wakefulness, dream and sleep - affect in any way the Eternal Consciousness, the Paramatma?

What of your shadow? Is it not something separate from you? Does its length or clarity or career affect you in any way? Understand that the same is the relationship between the body and Yourself. If you take this bundle of flesh and bone as yourself, consider what happens to it, and how long you can call it 'mine'. Pondering over this problem is the beginning of Jnana.