“You asked about the seven planes,” Baba stated to Malcolm Schloss. “Planes mean what?”
Malcolm answered, “States of consciousness.”
Baba explained at length:
This present of yours is gross consciousness; the gross senses are used, and you have the gross experiences of eating, drinking and moving about. This is the gross world; it is not the gross plane. Although the consciousness is gross, it is not the gross plane. Manzil means destination or goal. Muqam means place of stay or state. You must differentiate. You are in the gross manzil and there are innumerable muqam states. Meherabad is a muqam where you experience with gross senses. When you are in America, France or England, the manzil is the same – gross – but the muqam is different, and you have different experiences of the gross world in each place. If a man in Arangaon, who seldom even visits Ahmednagar, were blindfolded, put in an airplane and set down on Broadway in the night, his experiences would be fantastic to him because of the different muqam, but it would be the same manzil. Now even in the gross manzil, glimpses of the subtle plane are possible. There are three manzils in the subtle plane. Now what happens? The human being with gross senses experiences the first manzil of the subtle plane in a hazy way, because of the gross senses; because experience of the subtle plane cannot be fully gained except through the subtle senses. The gross experiences are hazy: one sees colors, and they disappear; circles of different kinds, wonderful perfumes never smelled before; one hears celestial music; one is inspired; but it all disappears. You must understand that all manzils, all muqams and all these experiences are illusions. Only God is real. That is the fundamental fact.
–Lord Meher (First Ed), p4467