Functioning on the Higher Planes

I asked the following question of Gemini using the sources in my Meher Baba Notebook:

I find it hard to understand how people on the higher planes of consciousness can be oblivious of the physical world and yet continue to function in it with a physical body. What do the sources have to say about this?

Here was the response:

To understand how an individual on the higher planes of consciousness can be completely oblivious of the physical world yet continue to eat, walk, and function within it, Meher Baba compares their state to that of a somnambulist or sleepwalker . While this appears contradictory to ordinary human understanding, Meher Baba explains the mechanics of this phenomenon through several core principles:

The Analogy of Sleepwalking and Reflex Actions

• When a person walks or talks in their sleep, those around them can hear and observe these physical actions, yet the sleeping individual is completely unaware of performing them.
  
  
• Similarly, individuals on the subtle or mental planes are totally unconscious of gross physical actions, even though they appear to ordinary observers to speak, eat, drink, or move around.
  
  
• In the case of a Majzoob - a God-merged soul on the seventh plane who is conscious only of the "I am God" state and utterly oblivious to the three worlds - any apparent physical preference, emotional reaction, or bodily movement is an automatic reflex action of which they are entirely unconscious, much like the sound of snoring is to a fast-asleep man .
  
  
• When a Majzoob walks, he is functioning as a "divine sleep walker," and if he speaks, he is talking in his divine sleep .

Subconscious Energy and Divine Sustenance

• Once an advanced pilgrim directs their conscious energy entirely toward the inner spiritual life beyond the domain of the intellect and physical senses, they become unconcerned with bodily requirements.
  
  
• All conscious energy is absorbed in the inner planes, leaving the physical body and its ongoing sustenance to its own subconscious energy and to direct support from God.
  
  
• Meher Baba noted that when the mind stops paying attention to the physical body, the body automatically survives and looks after itself.
  
  
• For those in states of deep divine intoxication (*masts*), the divine power of *Vidnyan* (superconscious knowledge) that vibrates the universe directly sustains and cares for their physical frames.

Indirect Utilization of the Body

• Although an aspirant on the subtle or mental planes is unconscious of the gross body, they still work through that body indirectly from their respective spiritual station.
  
  
• An individual with subtle consciousness functions consciously in the realm of energy, while one with mental consciousness functions in the realm of mind.
  
  
• Because their subtle and mental bodies are fully developed, they can unconsciously utilize the gross body for basic functional aspects such as eating, drinking, seeing, and sleeping, while their actual awareness remains exclusively anchored in the inner spiritual worlds.

The Reflection of Consciousness

• Meher Baba clarifies that what ordinary gross-conscious people observe as physical actions performed by someone on the mental plane is merely the gross interpretation of the reflection of their mental activity.
  
  
• He illustrates this using the reflection of the moon in a lake: as long as your gaze is directed at the water, the moon appears to be in the lake, but it is actually only a reflection.
  
  
• In the exact same way, the true consciousness of an advanced soul is not present in the physical world; only the reflection of their consciousness is here, making it appear to observers as though they are conscious of the gross plane.

Ultimately, while the physical shell continues to operate through natural laws, automatic bodily reflexes, and divine support, the individual's true awareness is entirely detached from matter . Their physical form remains visible and active to ordinary observers, but their consciousness is fully absorbed in the profound grandeur, power, and beatific vision of the inner spiritual realities .