PLANES AND HEAVENS
JAZD

 
When one reaches the train station ahead (next plane) without having moved about in the city (heaven) (without seeing and enjoying its different allurements), one is in the plane, and stationed therein; that experience is the muqam of the plane. However if one moves about in the city and is caught in its allurements, then one is in heaven.

To be in heaven is the experience of haal.

While in the ecstasy of heaven one does not move, one cannot progress, one cannot advance to the next plane because one is in the state of enchantment or hairat. A salik on the planes, a yogi between the planes, a mast lost in the heavens, or one veiled are only a matter of different experiences of the Path and how one journeys it, guided or not.

Ultimately it is insignificant how one journeys; what is important is that the Path is journeyed and that the journey is completed reaching the Seventh Plane.

Unfortunately, if one goes through the heavens progress is slow and there is always danger of enchantments; enchantments are dangerous because they are overpowering, overwhelming. This is jazd.

Jazd means that instead of absorbing the experience of the heaven one becomes absorbed in the experience. One becomes so intoxicated that one does not want to get out of it, one does not want to leave the heaven. So powerful and overwhelming are these enchantments of jazd that they produce the effect of divine coma or stupor seen particularly in masts and yogis.

Advancement on the Spiritual Path means reaching the next plane, not getting stuck in the heaven. If a yogi goes through the planes and avoids the heavens his progress is sure and becomes steady. However, if a yogi is overwhelmed by the subtle powers and becomes entrapped in the heavens, his progress is slow and unsteady because the enchantments are spellbinding and entrancing throughout the entire subtle realm.