The Five Stages on the Path of Wisdom

Excerpted from page 218 of “The Aquarian Teacher” by Yogi Bhajan Phd.  Master of Kundalini Yoga.

Saram Pad

The “honeymoon period” when we consciously enter a relationship with our spirit and our spiritual path. We are happy. We have left the pain of the past and feel the freshness of a new life on the spiritual path. We have found a spiritual teacher and a path, and we feel the blessings of these gifts.

Karam Pad

In this stage, we begin the personal work on ourselves. We have become aware of the work, issues, and growth needed to maintain a deeper relationship with our spirituality.

Shakti Pad

This is the most crucial, transitional, and challenging of all the stages. The choices made here, and the transformation that occurs determine whether the practitioner will progress towards mastery, stay at apprentice levels, or quit the study altogether. It is easy to forget ourselves at this stage and become hypnotized by the satisfaction and power of the skills we have gained. If we surrender to the path and goal, we began our study to fulfill, we will emerge with strength, empowered with an unshakeable direction.

Sahej Pad

A stage of ease, balance, and grace when everything fits together. We make decision, and it manifests. The creative force spontaneously serves our needs as we are aligned with our destiny. We sense what serves the moment, then hold the space, allow the tools and prosperity to awaken as each moment manifests, and enjoy the play of life as the Guru works to move the consciousness.

Sat Pad

We are in harmony with the universe, living in great peace, grace, and happiness as a servant of the Divine Will. There is no separation between the duty of the world and the choice of our own will. There is a sense of equality and transcendence.

The job of the spiritual teacher is to give challenges and tests to enable a student to progress from one stage of wisdom to another.  It is possible to slip back from a higher stage to another until the higher one is solid in its new perspective.