What are seven planes (chakras) where the mind dwells?

"The Vedas speak of seven planes where the mind dwells. When the mind is immersed in worldliness it dwells in the three lower planes — at the navel, the organ of generation, and the organ of evacuation. In that state the mind loses all its higher visions — it broods only on 'woman and gold'. The fourth plane of the mind is at the heart. When the mind dwells there, one has the first glimpse of spiritual consciousness. One sees light all around. Such a man, perceiving the divine light, becomes speechless with wonder and says: 'Ah! What is this? What is this?' His mind does not go downward to the objects of the world.

"The fifth plane of the mind is at the throat. When the mind reaches this, the aspirant becomes free from all ignorance and illusion. He does not enioy talking or hearing about anything but God. If people talk about worldly things, he leaves the place at once.

"The sixth plane is at the forehead. When the mind reaches it, the aspirant sees the form of God day and night. But even then a little trace of ego remains. At the sight of that incomparable beauty of God's form, one becomes intoxicated and rushes forth to touch and embrace it. But one doesn't succeed. It is like the light inside a lantern. One feels as if one could touch the light, but one cannot on account of the pane of glass.

"In the top of the head is the seventh plane. When the mind rises there, one goes into samadhi. Then the Brahmajnani directly perceives Brahman. But in that state his body does not last many days. He remains unconscious of the outer world. If milk is poured into his mouth, it runs out. Dwelling on this plane of consciousness, he gives up his body in twenty-one days. That is the condition of the Brahmajnani. But yours is the path of devotion. That is a very good and easy path.

Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

What are the means by which one can see God?

Brahmo Devotee: "What are the means by which one can see God?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "Can you weep for Him with intense longing of heart? Men shed a jugful of tears for the sake of their children, for their wives, or for money. But who weeps for God? So long as the child remains engrossed with its toys, the mother looks after her cooking and other household duties. But when the child no longer relishes the toys, it throws them aside and yells for its mother. Then the mother takes the rice-pot down from the hearth, runs in haste, and takes the child in her arms."

Brahmo Devotee: "Sir, why are there so many different opinions about the nature of God? Some say that God has form, while others say that He is formless. Again, those who speak of God with form tell us about His different forms. Why all this controversy?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "A devotee thinks of God as he sees Him. In reality there is no confusion about God. God explains all this to the devotee if the devotee only realizes Him somehow. You haven't set your foot in that direction. How can you expect to know all about God?

"Listen to a story. Once a man entered a wood and saw a small animal on a tree. He came back and told another man that he had seen a creature of a beautiful red colour on a certain tree. The second man replied: 'When I went into the wood, I also saw that animal. But why do you call it red? It is green.' Another man who was present contradicted them both and insisted that it was yellow. Presently others arrived and contended that it was grey, violet, blue, and so forth and so on. At last they started quarrelling among themselves. To settle the dispute they all went to the tree. They saw a man sitting under it. On being asked, he replied: 'Yes, I live under this tree and I know the animal very well. All your descriptions are true. Sometimes it appears red, sometimes yellow, and at other times blue, violet, grey, and so forth. It is a chameleon. And sometimes it has no colour at all. Now it has a colour, and now it has none.'

"In like manner, one who constantly thinks of God can know His real nature; he alone knows that God reveals Himself to seekers in various forms and aspects. God has attributes; then again He has none. Only the man who lives under the tree knows that the chameleon can appear in various colours, and he knows, further, that the animal at times has no colour at all. It is the others who suffer from the agony of futile argument.

"Kabir used to say, The formless Absolute is my Father, and God with form is my Mother.'

"God reveals Himself in the form which His devotee loves most. His love for the devotee knows no bounds. It is written in the Purana that God assumed the form of Rama for His heroic devotee, Hanuman.

"The forms and aspects of God disappear when one discriminates in accordance with the Vedanta philosophy. The ultimate conclusion of such discrimination is that Brahman alone is real and this world of names and forms illusory. It is possible for a man to see the forms of God, or to think of Him as a Person, only so long as he is conscious that he is a devotee. From the standpoint of discrimination this 'ego of a devotee' keeps him a little away from God.

"Do you know why images of Krishna or Kali are three and a half cubits high? Because of distance. Again, on account of distance the sun appears to be small. But if you go near it you will find the sun so big that you won't be able to comprehend it. Why have images of Krishna and Kali a dark-blue colour? That too is on account of distance, like the water of a lake, which appears green, blue, or black from a distance. Go near, take the water in the palm of your hand, and you will find that it has no colour. The sky also appears blue from a distance. Go near and you will see that it has no colour at all.

"Therefore I say that in the light of Vedantic reasoning Brahman has no attributes. The real nature of Brahman cannot be described. But so long as your individuality is real, the world also is real, and equally real are the different forms of God and the feeling that God is a Person.

"Yours is the path of bhakti. That is very good; it is an easy path. Who can fully know the infinite God? and what need is there of knowing the infinite? Having attained this rare human birth, my supreme need is to develop love for the Lotus Feet of God.

"If a jug of water is enough to remove my thirst, why should I measure the quantity of water in a lake? I become drunk on even half a bottle of wine — what is the use of my calculating the quantity of liquor in the tavern? What need is there of knowing the Infinite?

"The various states of mind of the Brahmajnani are described in the Vedas. The path of knowledge is extremely difficult. One cannot obtain jnana if one has the least trace of worldliness and the slightest attachment to 'woman and gold'. This is not the path for the Kaliyuga.

Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Another Classification in padma purANa - a better one

Pranams,

Vaishnava-s claim that not all purANa-s are acceptable and of equal authenticity. They cite a verse from padma purAnA in which it is said that tAmasIka puraNa-s are the ones which leads one to hell.

Lets have a look at these verses.

Controversial verses in padma purANa

There are some verses in Padma Purana, Uttara-khanda, 236.18–21 which categorize each of 18 major purANa-s into sAttvika, rAjasika and tamasika. Lets analyse them.

Satvika Puranas:

वैष्णवं नारदीयं च तथा भागवतं शुभम् ।
गारुडं च तथा पाद्मं वाराहं शुभदर्शने ।
सात्विकानि पुराणानि विज्ञेयानि शुभानि वै ।।

Vishnu Purana, Naradiya Puran, Padma Purana, Garuda Purana, Varaha Purana, Srimad Bhagavata Purana (236.18)

Rajasa Puranas:

ब्रह्माण्डं ब्रह्मवैवर्तं मार्कण्डेयं तथैव च ।
भविष्यं वामनं ब्राह्मं राजसानि निबोधत ।।

Brahmanda Purana, Brahmavaivarta, Markandeya Purana, Bhavishya Purana, Vamana Purana, Brahma Purana (236.19)

Tamasa Puranas :

मात्सयं कौर्मं तथा लैङ्गम् शैवं स्कान्दं तथैव च ।
आग्नेयं च षडेतानि तामसानि निबोधत ।।

Matsya Purana, Kurma Purana, Linga Purana, Shiva Purana, Skanda Purana, Agni Purana (236.20)

सात्विका मोक्षदाः प्रोक्ताः राजसा सर्वदा अशुभाः ।
तथैव तामसा देवि निरयप्राप्तिहेतवः ।।

प.पु. उत्तर 236.21

Among these puranas Satvika Puranas lead one to liberation, Rajasa do not cause good and tamasa puranas lead one to hell. (236.21)

The word devi ( देवि) means goddess pArvatI. Kindly note that the word is not devI (देवी) but devi ( देवि), which has only one meaning, 'goddess'. Here it means devi pArvatI

The word niraya ( निरय) is translated as 'Hell'. While this is one meaning of the word, there are other meanings like profitless, yielding no income, bring or get out.

The word hetu (हेतु) means 'intention'. hetavaH (हेतवः) is the plural form, which can be both subject (pratham vibhakti) or object (dvitiya vibhakti).

So the verse could mean, 

O Devi pArvatI,  by reading tAmasika purANa-s, one will not gain anything.

We will try to give some logical reasoning why we disagree with those verses. There is another classification in matsya purANa.

Matsya Purana 190.13-14 says,

“The glory of Hari is greater in sattvika scripture; the glory of Brahma is greater in rajasika scriptures; and that of Agni and Siva greater in tamasika scriptures. In mixed scriptures the glory of Sarasvati and the pitrs is said to be greater."

[needs to be clarified]

Note, I am not able to find this classification in todays version of matya purana. 

Another Classification in padma purANa - a better one

According to Maharshi Suta, all the Puranas are nothing but the mediums through which Sri Hari manifests himself

एकं पुराण रुप वै तत्र पाद्मं परं महत् । ब्रह्मं मूर्धा हरेरेव ह्रदयं पद्मसंज्ञकम्॥
वैष्णवं दक्षिणो बाहुः शैव वामो महेशितुः । उरु भागवतं प्रोक्तं नाभिः स्यान्नारदीयकम्॥
मार्कण्डेयं च दक्षांग्रिर्वामो ह्याग्रेयमुच्यते । भविष्यं दक्षिणो जानुर्विष्णोरेव महात्मन: ॥
ब्रह्मवैवर्तसंज्ञं तु वामज्जानुस्नदाहृतः । लैऽगैं तु गुल्फकं दर्क्ष वाराहं वामगुल्फकम् ॥
स्कान्दं पुराण लोमानित्वगस्य वामनं स्मृतम् । कौर्म पृष्ठं समाख्यातं मात्स्यं मेदः प्रकी्र्तितम् ॥
मज्जा तु गारुडं प्रोक्तं ब्रह्माण्डमस्थि गीयते । एवमेवाभवद्विष्णुः पुराणाव्यवो हरिः ॥

पद्म पुराण, स्वर्ग खण्ड (६२।२-७)

1. Brahma Purana is said to be the 'forehead' of Sri Hari,
2. Padma Purana is said to be the 'heart' of Sri Hari,
3. Vishnu Purana is said to be the 'right arm' of Sri Hari.
4. Shiva Purana is said to be the 'left arm' of Sri Hari.
5. Srimad Bhagawat is said to be his 'thigh',
6. Narada Purana is said to be his 'navel',
7. Markendeya Purana is said to be his 'right-foot'.
8. Agni Purana is said to be his 'left foot',
9. Bhavishya Purana is said to be his 'right-knee',
10. Brahma Vaivrata Purana is said to be his 'left-knee'.
11. Linga Purana is said to be his 'right ankle',
12. Varaha Purana is said to be his 'left ankle',
13. Skanda Purana is said to be the hair on the body of 'Sri Hari'.
14. Vamana Purana is said to be his 'skin'.
15. Kurma Purana is said to be his 'back'.
16. Matsya Purana is said to be his 'stomach'.
17. Garuda Purana is said to be his 'bone-marrow'.
18. Brahmanda Purana is said to be his 'bone'.

Padma Purana, svarga khaNDa (62.2-7)

Note: These versies are found on both version of padma purana - south Indian with 5 khanda-s and bengali with 7 khanda-s.

We can conclude that, all the Puranas being manifestation of different parts of Sri Hari's body are very sacred and capable of bestowing salvation.  

For a body to function properly, all parts are important.

Source: Padma Puarana, Swarga Khand, International Gita Society / sankshipta Padma Purana

According to Padma Purana, there was just one purana, which was split into 18 by Bhagavan Veda Vyasa.

Points in favour of the claim in simple words are:

1. Verses in padma purANa classification in padma purana are interpolated / fabricated by vested interest group.
2. Another classification exists in padma purANa, svarga khaNDa, wihch says that all the purANa-s being manifestation of different parts of Sri Hari's body are very sacred and capable of bestowing salvation.
3. None of advaita AcArya-s consider any purANa as sAttvika, rAjasik or tAmasik
4. No veda or upanishad or Mahabharata is classified as sAttvika, rAjasik or tAmasik.
5. No purana says that Siva is born. rudra, is an aspect of Siva.

The truth of these claims are left to esteemed readers
Detailed article: https://sites.google.com/site/understandingadvaita/authenticity-of-puranas