and dangers with which the spiritual Path is beset. Kabir has compared the three stages of the Path to the three phases of fire. Just as first there is only smoke and no fire, then there is fire enveloped in smoke, and lastly there is only fire without smoke, the beginnings of the Path are enveloped in thick ignorance, midway there is confused perception of the goal, and finally there is realisation of Truth without the slightest alloy of illusion. Since the Path lies through illusions of many kinds, the aspirant is never safe without the guidance of the Master who knows all the stages of the Path and can take him through them.
Before the opening of the inner eye the mind conceives of the goal as the Infinite, and this conception is based upon some symbolic image of Infinity such as the sky or the ocean, which suggests the idea of vastness. Abode of delusion Although such a concept of the Infinite is clean-cut and well defined, it has to be superseded by direct perception of the Infinite. The aspirant sees the Self directly when his inner eye of the spirit is opened. When this happens, the mind is dazed by what it sees and is no longer as clear as it was before the opening of this inner eye. Being dazed by the perception of the Self, the mind loses its capacity to think clearly and mistakes the seeing of the Self with its being actually realised. Hence comes the illusion of being at the end of the Path when one is still traversing it. In Sufi terms this particular part of the Path is known as Mukam-e-afasan or the Abode of Delusion. It is in such difficult phases of the Path that the Master can, through his skillful intervention, give a push to the aspirant so that he keeps on going instead of getting caught up on the way.
In fact, there is danger of the aspirant being detained on each one of the inner planes, because
