[Advaita-l] sadhana

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

Hare Krishna. I am starting this as a separate thread on sadhana. In
gaudiya vaishnavism, Rupa Gosvami outlines 8 stages (with sub stages)

adau sraddha (*preliminary* *faith*) tatau sadhu-sango (*association of
bhaktas*) 'tha bhajana-kriya (*performance of nine processes of devotion
under the guidance of a guru*) tato 'nartha-nivrttih (*freedom from lust,
anger, envy, pride, conceit and greed*) syat tato nistha (*mind fixed on
krishna*) rucis (*continous experience of taste in devotion to krishna*)
tatah athasaktis (*firm attachment to krishna*) the tato bhavas (*experience
of relationship with krishna as a servant, friend, parent or lover of two
types - unsteady and steady*) tatah prema(*experience the ever increasing
bliss of unconditional love to krishna) *bhyudancati adhakanam ayam premnah
pradurbhave bhavet kramah.  Until one reaches, steady bhava (sthayi bhava),
one runs the risk of falling down in to the grips of anartha (envy, pride
etc.)

Madhusudana talks about 11 stages of devotion, 7 stages of jnana and 5
stages of yoga. According to him tattva jnana or even jivan mukti does not
guarantee freedom of the mind from anarthas. One has to go through
vasanakshaya and manonasa through yogic processes of total control
(samyama). Otherwise, the bliss of brahman will be inhibited by the
agitations of the mind. He also has a similar scheme for jnana and bhakti
yogis who aspire for advaita siddhi. I would like to know what is the
standard advaita process for citta suddhi as per Sankara and other early
advaitins. Does it have defined stages?