The Senses and the Planes

I asked NotebookLM the following:

What did Meher Baba say about the process by which the senses were lost as one progressed up the planes of consciousness until only the sense of sight remained on the sixth plane?

Here was its response:

Source: Gemini

According to Meher Baba, as a soul evolves and progresses through the inner planes of consciousness, it gradually sheds its reliance on the varied senses of the physical body until only a singular, spiritual sense of "seeing" remains.

Baba described this process by categorizing the soul's experiences within the three spheres of existence—gross, subtle, and mental:

• The Gross Sphere: Souls with gross impressions experience the gross world through the physical body. In this state, consciousness is tied to a wide and diverse range of physical experiences, including seeing, hearing, smelling, eating, sleeping, and clearing the bowels.
  
  
• The Subtle Sphere (Planes 1–3): As the soul's consciousness turns inward and enters the subtle sphere, it becomes disentangled from the gross body and begins to use the subtle body. In the first three planes of the subtle sphere, the soul's sensory experiences are reduced to only three subtle faculties: seeing, smelling, and hearing.
  
  
• The Mental Sphere (Planes 5–6): When the soul transcends the fourth plane (which acts as a threshold) and enters the mental sphere, it becomes completely unconscious of both the gross and subtle bodies. Identifying strictly with the mental body (the mind), the soul in the mental world has now only one sense remaining: the mental sense of "seeing".

The Sixth Plane and the Third Eye By the time the pilgrim reaches the sixth plane of consciousness, the mind itself becomes the "Inner Eye". The soul has no thoughts, but functions entirely through feeling. On this plane, the soul uses its singular mental sense of sight to actually "see" God face-to-face continuously in everything and everywhere. Because the soul still identifies itself as the mind, it experiences the duality of the "seer" and the "seen" and suffers an intense longing to finally merge with the God it is continuously seeing.

The Metaphor of the Seven Doors Meher Baba also used a physical metaphor to describe this progressive withdrawal of the senses. He likened the spiritual journey to passing through the "Sevenfold Veil," comparing the stages of involution to the seven physical openings in the human face:

• 1st Plane: Entering the first plane involves passing through the first door, represented by the mouth.
  
  
• 2nd and 3rd Planes: Further progress through the subtle sphere involves passing through the second and third doors, represented by the right and left nostrils.
  
  
• 4th Plane: Arriving at the highest plane of the subtle sphere involves crossing the fourth and fifth doors, represented by the right and left ears.
  
  
• 5th Plane: Entering the mental sphere involves crossing the sixth and seventh doors, represented by the right and left eyes.
  
  
• 6th Plane: Once all these physical doors are passed, the pilgrim arrives at the "entrance to divinity" represented by the center of the forehead. Here, the inner "third eye" is fully opened, and the pilgrim achieves "conviction by sight," seeing God everywhere.

The One True Death

Meher Baba once said: “None dies, and none knows to die. The rare one who knows to die is never born again!” By this Baba means that whether we are incarnate or discarnate, we remain in illusion. We die physically only to be reborn again in the flesh. 8,500,000 cycles of life and death are necessary before we achieve true death, the death of the ego, after which no further physical incarnations are necessary. We have discovered the answer to that age-old question of "Who Am I?".

It is only when in a physical body that we can achieve freedom from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. This got me thinking about the inhabitants of the astral and mental planes. These planes are populated by beings, are part of creation and thus remain in illusion. I can suppose that after a great many incarnations, many reach a point of complete disillusionment with the physical plane. It no longer holds any appeal for them and their karmic liabilities are such that they are not drawn back to the physical plane to settle them. 

Unlike most of us, who in the afterlife enter a period of intense introspection, these individuals become free to interact with other entities who are on a similar wavelength. They can enter communities and enjoy the structures that these communities have built. There they can live and interact with others. They can later choose to act as guides and support those individuals who have died and are temporarily discarnate. Most of these individuals will lapse into deep subjectivity before long but in the meantime those permanently resident on the astral planes can be of assistance.

However, these dwellers on the astral plane will not achieve liberation there. For that, they will need to experience a physical incarnation and perhaps run the risk of getting trapped on the wheel of life and death again. This is not likely to happen however, given that they are not compelled to return because of karmic liabilities. They can take their time and plan an incarnation that will maximise their likelihood of making progress in the sense of entering a higher plane on the astral after death. Eventually, by this strategy, they may even enter the mental planes.

This is purely speculative on my part. Baba does not talk much about the residents of the astral and mental planes and rightly focuses on what we can do here and now on the physical plane. It's easy to get distracted by astral travel, lucid dreaming, chakras, yogic practices and so forth, often reinforcing the ego in the process rather than diminishing it. Still, it's interesting to speculate about what's going on there.

The School of Hard Knocks

Lately I've been watching various accounts of Near Death Experiences of NDEs on YouTube. It's slowly dawning on me that a physical incarnation on Earth is really the only way to make significant progress spiritually. While living on this planet, we are utterly focused temporally and geographically due to our physical bodies. Unless we are conjoined twins, these same bodies divide us absolutely from other bodies. We may try to fuse with another body sexually but such encounters are short-lived and often unfulfilling. 

Our bodies may be sick and frail, damaged or incomplete. We may eat too much or not enough. We may eat foods or take drugs that undermine our physical health. Our life is dependent on taking our next breath and, if that is denied us for any reason, we die. Death is literally one breath away. Our awareness of the world is created and sustained by a wondrous but bizarrely intricate nervous system supported by an assemblage of other interconnected systems.

Psychologically we are slaves to an ego that should act in our best interests but instead wreaks havoc in our lives due to outbursts of anger, jealousy, lust and other excesses. The mind is a butterfly that flits into a remembered past or an anticipated future, never alighting on the moment. The frustrations we experience because of our physical and psychological limitations can drive us to madness or suicide. Material and emotional losses can be equally destructive but both can be transformative in ways that are not possible on the non-physical planes of existence.

On the astral plane, or subtle plane as it's sometimes called, we remain distinct but much less so than when we are in physical bodies. We can feel what others feel and know what others are thinking without the need for words. We are diffuse and bathed in the ashen light. For the majority of suffering humanity, its only experience of the astral occurs for a short time after "crossing over". Soon the astral body sinks into a state of profound subjectivity as the life just lived unfolds and the life review proceeds.

The astral body slowly fades away as it literally digests itself. Even in the astral world, energy cannot be created or destroyed but only changed into other forms. The energy required for the life review draws by necessity on the energy contained within the astral body and is transferred to the mental body that stores the insights and lessons that arise from the review process. 

This review process is far different from what might have been its equivalent in the physical body. Remember in the astral world we can feel what others are feeling and know what others are thinking. During our life review, we get to feel the effects of our actions on others and know directly what they thought and felt. Freed from our bodies, our ego, that was once very much associated with our physical form, undergoes a transformation. There is still the sense of "I am" but it is no longer connected with the body or the thoughts that are generated by our physical brains.

We can therefor observe the life just lived with dispassion and objectivity (within our deep subjectivity). We can see our imperfections clearly, understand how we could have done better and begin to formulate a new plan for a new life that will set matters right. All our insights are progressively stored in our mental bodies as the energy of our astral bodies fade. Eventually the light flickers on and off and then goes out forever. All that we once were in our previous incarnation is gone forever.

As this point there is no awareness of anything. We are simply the potential energy that is stored in our mental body, although "body" is not the best term perhaps. We have no form, no shape but only potential. This point of potential now begins to grow an astral body. This is the beginning of our true gestation. I'm not sure what our state of awareness is as this body grows. I would imagine that we are immersed in the light and love that pervades the astral plane. There would be awareness of that without our necessarily having any thoughts or self identity. There would be a feeling of lightness, diffuseness, joy and vibrancy.

As the time draws near for a new physical incarnation, the descriptions offered by the Tibetan Book of the Dead describe the situation fairly accurately. We begin to feel like we are being squeezed or squashed into small crevices in rocks. It is a painful process to accept the limitation and confinement of a new physical body. For some, just this initial experience of the physical plane, is sufficient. The fetus fails to thrive or is terminated and the embryonic astral body is raised on the astral plane by benevolent astral entities. For most however, physical birth will ensue.

Some people, upon passing over, do not go through the immersion into deep subjectivity and subsequent rebirth because their connection to the physical world was already tenuous. Instead they can begin to live and function on the astral plane. They can remain there as long as they like and make progress through the various subplanes of the astral realm. Nonetheless, for ultimate realisation it will be necessary for them to take physical incarnation again. In some cases, only one lifetime will be necessary but in other cases several. The same is true of the astral bodies who only associate temporarily with a human fetus and spend their childhood on the astral plane.

The physical world is truly the school of hard knocks where consciousness experiences maximum resistance. These knocks however, are necessary to knock some sense into us so that we eventually realise who we really are. These knocks or shocks are not possible on the higher planes that are permeated with the divine radiance. Meher Baba has described the music of the astral planes as being so indescribably sweet that it can be listened to for days on end without boredom. On the higher planes we bask in such divine radiance but we are not one with it.

On the physical plane, this divine radiance is denied us and it can only be regained with great difficulty. The terrible struggle to find it again is sufficient in some cases to draw a person into the circle of a perfect master, someone who is already one with this divine radiance. If we are deserving, the perfect master will bestow realisation on us and in turn we may pass it on to others. This happens rarely but it happens and in the fullness of time it will happen to us all. Jai Baba.

The Materium

"The Materium" is a word that Clif High used in a recent video titled 20230114 - Reality Werkz Perfek and seems to refer simply to the material world. He tends to use his own peculiar words and phrases which is his prerogative I guess. One thing that he said struck a chord in me when he said that "only life fused into matter can produce change". This is something that I'd been thinking about recently and had formed an image that looks something like that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Imagine the pyramid at the bottom as the materium or physical plane. Above are six truncated pyramids corresponding to the four astral planes (first, second, third and fourth), and the two mental planes (fifth and sixth). Only the lowermost pyramid is a full pyramid. Even though it is the smallest shape, it is the only one with a point obviously.

The terms "cutting edge" and "one-pointedness" come to mind. The material plane is where the work gets done, where changes can be made and consciousness can become one-pointed in order to reach its ultimate goal. It is where consciousness meets its maximum resistance. In the astral realm, consciousness can imagine a statue and it will appear. In the physical realm, it must be carved out of marble using the cutting edge of a chisel.

Meher Baba is also clear about God-consciousness being only attainable while in possession of a physical body. Once the body is dropped, a new apex for consciousness needs to be regrown. In other words, a new body must be formed. Even a consciousness that has attained the sixth plane  must return to a physical body once the current body has been dropped. 

Only through the assistance of a Perfect Master can a sixth plane consciousness attain liberation by entering the seventh plane. Once this plane has been attained there is no more rebirth. The seemingly endless cycle of illusory births and deaths is over. 

The Numbers of Creation

There are numerous references in Lord Meher to the fact that there are 56 God-realised souls on Earth at any one time.

Lord Meher Online Edition Page 683:

While Baba was discoursing on the 29th, someone asked, "Why are there 56 Realized souls in the world in every age?"

The number 56 denotes perfection. This number appears to be perfect to those who manage these spiritual workings, as one Supreme Being alone cannot manage the whole affair single-handedly. He requires assistance, and the number of assistants is fixed at 56.

For instance, a toddyshop-keeper needs several helpers — one to prepare the toddy, another to serve it, another to collect payment, et cetera. But if there is no shop, what is the use of helpers? In the same way, when there is no universe — as is the case for the majzoobs, who are realized but have no consciousness of the world and its affairs — for them, there is no work.

To return to the question: The universe must be maintained, and to carry out the affairs of the universe in an orderly manner 56 God-realized persons are required. The number is fixed at 56 because a number less than that cannot do all the work and the different duties. Suppose a man has lost one of his eyes. Although he can still see with the other eye, he sees with difficulty. Therefore, two eyes are given to each human being to enable him to see perfectly.

In just the same way, two ears, one nose, two hands, and two feet are provided. In short, everything in nature goes on according to rules and regulations and principles laid down by the "Experienced" or Realized Sages, and nothing is haphazard.

All these explanations are beyond comprehension by your intellect. Such understanding is virtually useless, unless one has the real Experience of Realization. However much you may exert your brains, in the end it is all like the caterwauling and barking of cats and dogs, until such time as you experience the wind of Reality.

The Knowledge and Experience of a Sadguru cannot be grasped through the intellect because it is altogether beyond the intellect. As Hafiz says:

This Knowledge is never grasped by the intellect's noose; Untie the noose and you will obtain it.

Lord Meher Online Edition Page 2350

Figure 1 shows a chart with explanation following.

Figure 1 

Now, after the human form reincarnates 84 lakhs of times, how does the soul enter the subtle world?

From the gross to God state, there are seven stages of winding and seven stages of unwinding. Up to the stone form, there is no winding nor twist. Neither are there species up to the stone form. Thereafter, 14 lakhs of species in each of the six forms up to human evolution, equals 84 lakhs of species. These seven twists, where each form changes to another higher one, are for making the seven main species thicker and thicker.

There are always and eternally 84 lakhs of souls who experience subtle experiences. Among them, there are seven who are the chiefs and can experience the mental world in the same subtle body. These seven have duty. The 84 lakhs of subtle experiencers are existing even today. The figure is always constant. There are an equal number who experience the mental world. But in each new unwinding, one of the seven chiefs with duty becomes less, meaning he gets no normal consciousness nor duty. How many out of the seven chiefs get duty in the subtle? Seven. In the mental, six have duty; in the God-state, five.

On the gross plane: 84 lakhs of reincarnations, although there are millions of human beings in the world.

On the subtle plane: 84 lakhs of souls who experience the subtle world.

Out of these 84 lakhs of those experiencing the subtle world there are seven chiefs who have duty. When these seven cross over to the mental plane, only six have duty and one remains dormant. When these seven cross over from the mental to the God-state, five have duty and two remain dormant. In the God-realized state, out of 56 there are five heads and two majzoobs. The majzoob state is attained on the seventh plane.

The first human form that one gets after the last animal form of monkey is not a complete human form. It has no differentiation in sex. The first human form is that of a bahirupi [neuter]. That is to say, the first human form is neither male nor female. Then what happens? The same form develops a different form with a male sex organ. If you reverse this organ, it is transformed into a female sex organ. This is mere phenomena, but it is all the exchanging of sanskaras.

How does this happen? It is just like a slight flicker, a flash or spark of light. When a railroad engine changes tracks, its light flickers. It is the same here. The first human form has both the male and female sexes latent in it. Therefore, the first human form is that of a bahirupi. Only when the bahirupi takes another form, either male or female, are the organs visible. This causes the process of reincarnation to begin.

That is also why among the five Perfect Masters there are four males and one female.

This is most interesting because Baba explains that there are continuously 8.4 millions souls experiencing the subtle plane and the same number experiencing the mental plane. Meanwhile, there are billions of humans on Earth and other planets experiencing the physical plane. I've long entertained the notion that each soul can be conceived of as a prime number, unique and indivisible, with the Avatar as 1 and the Godhead as 0. The next God-realised person, made so by the Avatar, would be 2 and so on. This is just my imagining and has nothing to do with Baba.

Getting back to Baba, here is what he had to say about the number 7:

There are seven worlds [planets in evolution], seven skies, seven suns, seven moons, seven planes and seven heavens [in involution]. Why this figure seven? And sanskaras too are of seven colors. Why? Because in the very beginning, when Energy (Pran) clashed with Matter (Akash), it created seven divisions.

Each individual human being is a universe unto himself. In the head there are seven openings: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and one mouth. In the body there are seven parts: two arms, two legs, two openings (front and back), and one trunk.

But all this explaining of the universe and creation relates to the hair and has nothing to do with the head. So first try to get hold of the head, because out of it comes everything.

Baba drew a figure of a man's head with hair and added:

The barber's work is to shave the head. And who is the barber in this case? Mahapralaya! For when it occurs, all the hairs (universes) on God's head are shaved off.

It is said that the universes pour out of the Godhead; they are like God's hair. Your head may symbolize God and your hair the universes.