Meher Baba
Six fanas, and then Fana-Fillah
Six intermediate planes and their states of consciousness have to be experienced before reaching the seventh plane, which is the end of the journey. After entering a new plane of consciousness, a person usually takes some time before he can freely function on that plane. As there is a radical change in the total conditions of mental life, the person experiences a sort of paralysis of mental activity known as samadhi. A person is totally unconscious in sleep; whereas in samadhi he is conscious of bliss or light or power, although he is unconscious of his body and surroundings. The fourth plane is one of the most difficult and dangerous to cross: the pilgrim not only feels infinite power but has occasion for its expression, and a definite inclination to express it. On the sixth plane the pilgrim sees God as directly and as clearly as an ordinary person sees the different things of this world — and yet does not become one with God. If the pilgrim ascends to the seventh plane, he experiences Fana-Fillah, the final annihilation of the self in God. He has now reached the opposite shore of the vast ocean of imagination. It is the only real awakening.