On March 6th, while explaining about after death and experiencing gross impressions in the subtle state, Baba disclosed:
Suppose a person dies and his greater number of good sanskaras take him to the subtle state – to heaven*. There he experiences without a physical body the result of his good sanskaras of his past life. Similarly, if he has a greater number of bad sanskaras, they take him to hell and he experiences those sanskaras without a body.
In both cases the grossness of either good or bad sanskaras is wiped out either in heaven or in hell, and still the faint stain of these sanskaras remains in the mind. These are subtle impressions.
Suppose a dish of food overturns in your lap and your clothes become soiled with spots. You immediately remove or throw away the food – the gross impressions – but the stains remain. These stains are like subtle impressions.
Sanskaras remain connected with the environment where a person dies for two or three days after death. Although they are disconnected from the environment after two or three days, they are not spent either in hell or heaven for ten to twelve days after death. They remain unspent during this period.
-www.lordmeher.org, p1016
March, 1929; Meherabad
*”Hell and heaven are states of mind; they should not be looked upon as being places…” – (Discourses by Meher Baba)