THE WORLD OF TIME

 
Only after experiencing the first and second sections of the first heaven does the pilgrim enter into the actual subtle world and attain subtle consciousness. The third section of the first heaven is Alm-e-Vaktya's real heaven, for in this heaven exists the first plane of the subtle world.

The first and second sections of the first heaven are like a compound (a plaza with squares) around the third heaven, the actual plane itself. Only after reaching the real heaven does the pilgrim experience the fullness of Alm-e-Vaktya — the World of Time.

The first heaven (the astral) is closer to the gross world than to the subtle world, and time exists only in the gross world. The shadow of the first plane (the first heaven, the astral) gives man the sense of time.

The pilgrim in the third heaven has journeyed beyond time and exists outside the boundaries of time and is not affected by time as is an ordinary man. It takes thousands of years and many lifetimes to pass through the planes and heavens, but this time is not the same as gross world time.

Time becomes subtle in the subtle planes; it is subtle time, and becomes mental time in the mental planes. Being independent of time is one aspect of experiencing one's divinity (spanning time); this independence is fully enjoyed in the first plane once the pilgrim is stationed in the third heaven.