[Bábá called one dádá to sit and do meditation. Bábá touched him on the back of the neck, and then told him to hold the shawl of another dádá near him. Bábá said:] Touch it, see it, smell it – saturate your indriyas⁽¹⁾ with it. [The dádá did as Bábá told him.] Now close your eyes, and withdraw your mind from the shawl, from the external world. What do you see?

[Dádá: “Darkness.”]

Go deeper, still deeper. Cast away the darkness. Can you do it?

[Dádá: “No, Bábá.”]

Try to find a path through the darkness. Is it becoming less dark now?

[Dádá: “Yes, Bábá.”]

Now think of that shawl again, go deeper into it – what is it? What do you see?

[Dádá: “It is dust, Bábá.”⁽²⁾ ]

Yes… his mind has moved slightly upward now. [The dádá’s face changed. It was obvious that he was experiencing great bliss.] If he remains much longer in this state he will experience abhidhyána samádhi. [Giving him a pen] How is this?

[Dádá: “Ohhh… so sweet, Bábá, so beautiful!”]

[Giving him the shawl again] And this?

[The dádá’s face glowed with delight: “Oh, it smells like delicious perfume!”]

[Bábá said to everyone:] Shall I give you that state?

[Everyone (eagerly): “Yes, yes, Bábá!”]

[Bábá said laughingly:] But then you will do no work!

Footnotes

(1) Organs, in this case sensory organs. –Eds.

(2) Abhidhyána samádhi is attained through a meditation process wherein physical objects come to be perceived in increasingly subtle ways. Thus a sádhaka might perceive only the normal solid integrity of a shawl when his or her mind is in a normal state; but when his or her mind becomes a bit elevated, might perceive the shawl as having been “powdered down”, or pulverized, into dust. Later on it will appear still further powdered down into its component subatomic particles (“ions” in philosophical language). And finally when the mind becomes maximally elevated, the sádhaka will perceive a solid object as the consciousness that it intrinsically is. At that stage the touch of a solid object will be like the touch of Supreme Consciousness, carrying with it the bliss of Supreme Consciousness. –Eds.