the devas to rejoice in their offerings and receive a portion of the
merit as well. Each day the villagers responded faithfully by loudly
calling out “sãdhu”. Ãcariya Mun had them exclaim “sãdhu”, for
he knew from the devas, who came to hear his Dhamma talks
every night, that this sound reached them in the realms where
they lived. Hearing this sound, they knew that Ãcariya Mun was
living in the area.
DEVAS WHO VISITED Ãcariya Mun were invariably escorted by a
leader who was in charge of the group. These groups represented
many different realms of existence. Some were terrestrial devas
from near and far. Many were from the various celestial realms
mentioned in the Buddhist texts. When a group of devas intended
to pay Ãcariya Mun a visit, he always knew their time of arrival in
advance. If he knew, for instance, that a group intended to arrive
at two or three A.M., he would take some rest beforehand, getting
up to enter samãdhi only when the time approached to receive
them. If, however, they were scheduled to arrive around midnight,
he would first enter and then wait for them in samãdhi. This was
accomplished in two stages. First, he practiced normal medita-
tion until he attained a deep state of calm, where he rested for a
while. Then, as the time approached, he withdrew to just the right
meditative level to receive his intended visitors. There, he knew
intuitively whether or not they had arrived, or whether they were
still on their way. Having acknowledged their arrival, he then dis-
cussed with them whatever seemed appropriate for their particular
circumstances. Had he remained in a deep state of samãdhi, his
visitors would not have been able to have access to him. In normal