T H E O S O PH I CA L M A N ! AL S . No .

T HE D E VA C H A N I C PL A N E
OR

THE HE A VE N W O RL D

I TS CHA R ACT E R I S T I CS AN D I N H AB I T ANT S

B!

(L ‘M L E AD B E AT E R
.

S ECO ND E DIT IO N

R EVIS E D A ND E NL A R! E D

T H E T H E O S O PH I CAL P! B L I S H I N! S O C I E T!

L OND O N AN D B E N AR E S

1
9 02
 PR E F A C E .

F e w words a re needed in se n ding tltis little ooo/e ou t

in to tlze wo rld .
fI t is t/te s ixtlt o a se ries o f M a n u a ls

des ign ed to m eet tne puolic de ma nd for a s imple exposition

of l eosopltica l tea cltin s S o m e lz a ve co mpla in ed t/ta t
g .

ou r litera tu re is a t o n ce to o a ostruse , too teclz n ica l, a nd

too ex pensive for tile o rdin a r

y re a de r,
a n d it is ou r hope
t/I a t tlze p rese n t se ries may su ccee d in supplying w ita t is
a ve r
y re a l w a n t . T/ze osoplzy is not on lyf or t/ze lea rn ed ;

it is fo r a ll . Per/zaps a mo ng t/zose w /zo in t/zese little

oooks ca tclz tlzeir first glimp se f

o its te a c/z in s
g, titere may
be a f ew w /zo will be led oy tlze m to pe netra te more
deeply in to its lz iloso /ty, its scie nce a nd its reli gi
p p o n,

w it/t tlze s tude n t s z ea l a n d

’

facing its a os tru se r

p roole m s

/ a rdo ur B u t t/ze se M a n ua ls
’
tile n eo p y
z te s . a re n ot

w ritte n o n ly f or tlz e ea
ge r s tude n t, w /zo m no in itia l

fl
dg icu ltzes ca n da u n t t/zey a re w ritte n fo r t/ze busy me n
a nd w omen f o Me w o k day
r a - -
world, a nd see k to ma ke

pla in so m e of tile rea t tru t/zs tlta t ren der life ea s ie r to

g
b ea r a nd dea tlz easie r to f a ce . Written oy se rv a n ts o f
tlze M a ste rs w lzo a re t/ze E lde r B rot/ze rs o f o u r ra ce ,

t/zey ca n lza ve no otlze r oo ect j tita n to serve ou r

f
ello w

m en .
 A! T HO R S NOT E
’
.

e nquir
y Iza s s lzow n tltat tlze word
D eva clza n is e tymologica ll
y inaccura te a nd mis
le ading, t/ze a utlz or wo uld p refer to omit it a ltoget/ze r,

a nd to iss u e this ma nua l u nde r t/ze simpler a nd mo re

descriptive title f
o l e M e n ta l Pla ne .
!
Tlze p ub
lis /ze rs inform lzim, Izowever, t/z a t tlz is a ltera tio n
f
o

title wou ld ca use dificu lties in t/ze ma tte r f

o cop yrzg ,
lzt

a nd produce co n fus io n in va rious ways , so lte defers

to t/ze ir w is/zes .
 CO NT E NT S .

PA ! E

i
I ntro duc t o n — The pl ac e . of th e m e n t l pl
a an e i n e volutio n
D ifiic ultie s f e xp re ss io n
o 1

! e n e ral C harac te ris tics . A b e au ti fu l d c iptio n

es r T he
li
b ss of th e H e av e n W o rl d —I ts i-
n t e nse vit a li ty
—A n e w m e th od
o — —
f c o gn i t io n S urro und i n gs T he se a o f l ight—T he colou r
l an gu ge o f t e an ge ls The g re at wave s —T he lo we r and th e
a h —
high e r he av e n wo rlds—The actio n o f though t—The form ti on
o
a

o f arti fici l e l e m e n t als Tho gh t fo rm s Th e sub pl n e s—Th e

a — u — - -
a

re c o rd s o f the pas t 8

I nha b itants .

I . H u m an —Th e e m b od i e d —Ade pts and th e i r pupils

.

Th ose i n sle e p o r t ran ce 30

Th e d ise m b o d i e d —Th e i r co n scio us ne ss—The q u al ti e s i

n e c e ssa ry fo r the h e av e n li f e — Ho w a m an firs t gai ns

-

it
T h e lo we r h e ave n s wi th e xam ple s from ea ch
,

The reality o f th e h e av e n li fe -

Th e re n u n ci atio n o fh e av e n
T he high e r h e ave n s
II . N on H u m an —
-
T h e e l e m e n t al e s s e n c e —
. W hat it is
Th e ve ili n g o f th e S pi rit —Th e e l e m e n tal k i ngdo m s
H o w th e e sse n c e e volv e s 87
T he an i m al k i ngd o m 95
—
Th e D e vas Th e i r cl asse s 96
II I . 1 00

C o nc lus io n .
—Th till high pl n
e s er a es IOI
 T H E D EV A C H A N I C PL AN E .

I N T RO D! C T I O N .

I N the p re vio us manual an attempt was made to describe

—
to some e xt e n t the astral plane the lower part of the vast
u n s e e n wo rld in the mi dst of which we live an d move
un he e di n g
. I n this little book m ust be un der taken the
still harder task of try i ng to give some idea of the stage
n e xt above that — the men tal plane or the heave n world -
,

o fte n spok e n of in o ur Th e osophic a l literat ur e as that of

D evachan or S uk havati
‘

Altho ugh in calli ng this plan e the heaven world we dis

,
-
,
.

tinc tly i n te n d to i mpl y that it co n tai n s th e realit y which

u n d e rlies all the bes t an d most spirit ual ideas of heav e n
which have been propoun de d in various religion s yet it ,

m ust b y no means be co nsi dere d from that poi n t of view

o n l y I t is a realm of nat ure which is of exceedi ng import
.

—
a nc to us a vast an d spl e n di d world of vivid life in which
e

we are livi n g no w as w e ll as in the periods i n terve n i ng

be tween ph y sical i ncar nation s . I t is o n ly o ur lack of
deve lopme n t o n ly the limitation imposed upo n us b y this
,

robe of fle sh tha t preve n ts u s from fully re ali z i ng that

,

all th e glory of the highest heaven is about us here an d no w ,

is
 2

and that i nfluences flowin g from that wo rld are ever playi ng
u po n us i f we will o nly u nd e rsta nd an d receive them Im .

possible as this may seem to the m an of the world it is the ,

plai nest of realities to the occ ultist and to those who have
n o t ye t grasped this fundam en tal tr uth we can b ut repeat
the advice give n by the B uddhist teacher Do no t com
plai n and cry and pray b ut open yo ur eyes an d se e The
, .

light is all abo ut you if yo u would o nly cast the ban dage
,

from your eyes an d look I t is so wo nderfu l so beau tiful

.
, ,

so far beyon d what any man has d reamt of or p rayed for ,

and it for ever an d for ever ( T he S o u l of

. a
!
Pe op l
e ,

p : 6 3 !is
. .

I t is absol utely necessary for the stu de nt of Theosophy

to reali z e this g rea t truth that th e r e e xist in nat ure various
,

plan es or di visio ns each wi th its o wn matter of an app ro

,

p ria te degree of d e nsity which in

, ea c h cas e i n terpe netrates
the mat ter of the plane nex t be low it I t sho uld also be .

clearly understood that the use of the words high e r and

!
low e r wi th refere nce to th e se p la ne s does no t refer in an y
!

way to their posi tio n (since they all occupy the same space ! ,

b u t o n ly to the degree of rarity of the matter of which they

are respecti vely com posed or (in oth e r words ! t he e xte n t to
—
,

w hich their matte r is s ubdivi ded for all matter of which we

kn ow an ythi n g is essen ti ally the sam e and d iffers o nly in the ,

ext en t of its s ubdi vision an d the rapidity of i ts vibration .

I t follows therefore tha t to speak of a man as pass ing

, ,

from o ne of these pla n es to another does no t in the least

sign ify any kind of movemen t in space b ut si mply a change ,

of conscio usness Fo r every man has within him se lf ma tter

.

belo nging to every o ne of th e se pla nes a ve hi cl e corre ,

spo ndin to each in which h can f un ctio n u po n it wh e n he

g , e

lear ns how this may be done S o that to pas s from one

.

plane to another is to cha nge the foc us of the conscious ness

form o ne of the v e hicl e s to an oth e r to use for the tim e th e ,
 3

as tral or the men tal body i n stea d of the physica l Fo r .

na tu rally e ach of these bodies respo nds o nly to the vi b ratio ns

of its o wn plane ; an d so while the man s co n scious n ess is ’

focussed in his astral body he will percei ve the astral

,

world on ly j ust as while our c o n sciou sn e ss is usi ng o nly the

,

physical sens es we perceive n oth i ng b ut this physi cal world

— though bo th these worlds (an d man y o thers ! are in e xist
e nce an d full acti vi ty all ro un d us all the while I nde ed .
,

all these pla n es tog e ther co n stit ute in realit y o ne migh ty

living whole tho ugh as ye t o ur fe e bl e powers are capable of
,

obse rving on l y a ve ry small part of this at a t ime .

W h e n co ns i derin g this questio n of locality and i nt e r

pe ne tration we m ust b e on our guard agai nst possibl e mis
conceptions I t sho uld be unde rstood that n o ne of the
.

th ree lowe r planes of the solar syst e m is coe x t e n sive with i t

except as regards a particular condition of the high e st or
atom ic s ub divisio n of each E ach physical globe has its
.

ph ysical plane (i ncl udi ng its atmosphere ! its astral plan e , ,

an d its m e n tal plan e al l i n terpe n e trati n g o ne an oth e r

,
an d ,

th e refore occupy i ng the same positio n in space b ut all q ui te ,

apart from an d n o t comm un icati n g with the correspondi ng

pla nes of any other globe I t is o nl y whe n we rise to the
.

lofty levels of the buddhic pl ane that we find a co nditio n

commo n to at any rate all the plane ts of our chain
, ,
.

Notwi thstan di ng this there is as sta ted above a co n

, , ,

ditio n of the atomic matt e r of e ach of these plan es which

is cosmic in its e xtent ; so that the se ve n atomic su b plan e s
of our system taken apart from the rest may be said to con
—
, ,

stitute o ne cosmic pla ne the lowest someti mes called the

,

cosm ic prakri tic

-
T h e i n te rpla ne tary e th e r for exam pl e
—
.
, ,

wh ch appears to extend th rough th whole of spac

i e e i n deed
must do so at lea st to the farth est visible star otherwise
,
—
our physical e yes coul d no t perceive that star is com posed
,

of physica l ulti ma te atoms in their normal an d uncom pres se d

 4

condi tio n B ut all the lower and more complex forms of

.

ether e xis t o nl y (so far as is at prese nt k now n ! in co nnec tio n

wi th the various heav e nly bo dies aggregated round them ,

jus t as their atm osphere is though probably extendi ng co n

,

siderably further from their surface .

Precisely the same is tr ue of the ast ral and me n tal planes .

T he astral plane of o ur o wn earth i n te rpe netrates i t and its

atmosphere but also e xte nds for some distance beyond the
,

atmosphere I t may be re m e m be red that this plan e was

.

called by the ! re e ks the s ubl unar world The me ntal plan e .

in its tu rn i n t e rpe netrat e s the astral b ut also e xten ds further

,

in to space tha n does th e latter .

On ly the atomic matter of e ach of thes e plan es and e ve n ,

that o nly in an entirely fre e condi tio n is c o e xtensive with ,

-

the interplane tary e th e r and cons e quently a perso n can no

,

more pass from pla net to la n et even of o ur o wn chain in

his astral body or his m in body than he can in his physi
-
,

cal body I n the causal body when v e ry highly de veloped

.
, ,

this achievemen t is possible tho ugh even th e n by no m e an s

,

wi th the eas e and rapi di ty wi th which i t can be done upo n

the b uddhic pla ne by those who have s ucceed e d in raising
thei r co nscious ness to that level .

A clear com prehension of these facts will pre v e n t the

co nfusio n that has sometim es b e e n mad e by st uden ts b e
twee n the me ntal p lan e o f o u r earth an d those other globes
of our chain which exist o n the men tal plane I t m us t be .

un derstood that the sev e n globes of o ur chai n are real

globes occupying defi n ite an d separate posi tions in space

, ,

n otwiths tandi ng t he fact that some of them are no t upon the

physica l plane ! lobes A B F and ! are s e parate from

.
, , ,

us and from o ne another j ust in the same way as are M ars

and the earth ; the o nly diffe re nce is that wh e reas the
latter have physical as tral an d m en tal planes of their o wn
, ,

globes B an d F have no th i ng below the as tral plane and A ,

 5
and ! nothing below the men tal The as tral plane deal t .

wi th in M an ual V an d the men tal plane wh ich we are abou t

to con sider are those of this earth only an d have no thi ng to ,

do wi th these oth e r pla net s at all .

The mental plan e upo n which the heaven life takes place -
,

is the third of the five great planes wi th which h uman i ty is

at present co ncern ed havi ng below it the astral and the
,

physical and abo ve it the buddhic and the nirvanic I t is

, .

the plane upo n which man u n less at an exceedingl y early

,

s tage of his progres s spe n ds by far the greater part of his

,

ti me during the process of evol u tio n for except in the case ,

of the e n tirely un deve loped the proportio n of the physical

,

life to the celestial is rarely much great e r than o ne in twe n ty ,

an d in the case of fairly good people it wou ld sometimes fall

as low as o ne in thirty I t is i n fact the true and perm anent
.
, ,

home of the reincarnati ng ego or so ul of man each desce nt ,

into incarnation being merely a short though impor tan t epi

sode in his career I t is there fore well worth o ur while to
.

dev ote to its s tudy such time and care as may be ne cessary
to acquire as thorough a c omprehen sion of it as is possible
for us while en cased in the physical body .

! n fortu na tely there are prac tically ins uperable difficul ties
in the way of any attemp t to pu t the facts of this third plan e
n n —
of n ature i to la guage an d no t unnatu rally for we often ,

find wo rds insuflic ie nt to e xpress our ideas and feeli ngs

even o n this lowes t plane R eaders of Tire Astra l Pla ne
.

will remem ber what was there s ta ted as to the im possi bili ty
of convey ing any adequate co nceptio n of the marvels of
that regio n to those whose experie nce had no t as ye t
transcen ded the ph y sical world ; o n e can b ut say that
eve ry observati on there made to that e ffect applies wi th
tenfold force to the e ffort which is be fore us in this seq uel
to that treati se No t o nl y is the matter which we m ust
.

en deavour to describe m uch further re moved than is as tral

 6

matter from tha t to which we are accustomed b ut the ,

co n sciousn ess of th at pla ne is so imm e n sely wid e r than

an ythi ng we can imagin e dow n here and its very condi tions
,

so e n tirely di fferen t that whe n called upo n to transla te it

,

all i nto mere ordi nary words the explorer feels hi mself
u tterly at a l o ss and can o n l y tru s t that the i n t uitio n of his
,

read e rs will S upplem e n t the i n e vi tabl e impe rfe ctio ns of his

descriptio n .

To take o ne o nly o u t of many possi ble e xam ples of our

di fficulties it wo uld s e em as tho ugh o n this men tal plane
,

space and time we re no n e xi ste nt , for even ts which down

-

here take place in s uccession and at widely separated places -

,

appear there to be occ urri ng sim ul tan eo usl y an d at the

same po in t That at least is the e fle c t prod uced o n the
‘

c onsci o usn ess of the ego though th e re are circ umsta nces
,

which favo ur the s upposition that absolu te simul taneity is

the a ttri bute of a still higher plan e and that the sensatio n
,

of it in the h e ave n world is simply the resul t of a s uccessio n

-

so rapid that the in finite s imally m in u te spaces of time are

indistin guishable just as in the well k now n op tical ex
,
-

p e rim e n t of whirli n g ro u n d a stick th e e n d of which is red

hot the e ye re ceives the i mpression of a continuo us ri ng of
,

fire if the stick be wh irled more than te n ti mes a second ;

no t beca use a co n tin uous ri ng re ally exis ts b ut becau se the ,

averag e h uma n e ye is in capable of d is tin guish i ng as separate

anysim ilar impre s s ions W hJ Ch follow o n e ano ther at i n tervals

of less th an the te nth part of a seco n d .

H owever that may be the reader will readily comprehen d

,

that in the e ndeavo ur to descri be a conditio n of ex iste nce

so total ly unlike that of physical life as is the one which we
have to co nsider it will b e im possible to avoid sayi ng man y
,

th ings that will be partly un in telligible and may eve n seem

wholly incredi bl e to those who have n o t personally e x
p e rie n c e d that high e r life That
. th is should be so is as I ,
have said i nevi table so readers who find themselves un able
, ,

to accept the report of o ur i n v e stigators m ust simpl y wait

for a more satisfactory accou n t of the heaven world un til -

they are able to exam i n e it for themselves : I c an o n l y

repe at the assurance previo u sl y give n in m e A stral Pla ne
that all reasonable precautio n s have been taken to en s u re
acc uracy I n this case as in that we may say that no fact
.
, ,

old or n e w has been a dmitted to th is treatise un less it has

,

bee n confi rmed by the testimo ny of at least two i nde p e nde n t

trai n e d i n vestigators amon g o urs e lves and has also been
,

passed as correct by ol de r st uden ts whose k nowledge on

th e se poi n ts is n ecessaril y m uch greater than o urs I t is .

hoped therefore that this accou n t though it ca nn ot be con

, , ,

side re d as complete ma y y et be fo u nd reliable as far as it

,

goe s
.
!

The ge neral arrangemen t of the previo us man ual will as

far as possible be followe d in this one also so that those ,

wh o wish to do so will b e abl e to com pare the two pla n es

!
s tage by stage The headi ng S ce ne ry wo uld how e ve r b e
.
, ,

i nappropriate to the men tal pl ane as will be seen lat e r ; we

,

will th e re fore substit ut e for it the ti tl e which follow s .

 ! E N E RA L C H A RA C T E R I S T I C S .

Perhaps the least u n satisfactory method of approachi ng

this exceedi ngly di ffic ult s ubject will be to pl unge in medias
res and make the a tt empt (fore doome d to failure tho ugh it
be ! to depict wha t a p upil or trai ned st ud e n t s e e s wh e n
fi rst the heave n world O pe ns be fore him I use the word
-
.

pupil advisedly for unless a man sta nd in tha t relation to

,

one of the M as ters of W isdom there is b ut li ttl e likeli hood

,

of his bei ng able to pass in full co nscious n ess i nto that

glorious land of bliss and retur n to earth with clear
,

remem bra nce of that w hich he has see n there The nce no .

accommoda ting spirit e ve r comes to utter cheap plati

! !

tudes through the mouth of the professio nal medi um ;

thither no ordinary clairvoyan t e ver rise s tho ugh sometimes
,

the best and purest have entered it wh en in deepest trance

they slipped from the co ntrol of their mesm e ri z ers yet —
eve n then they have rarely brough t back more than a fain t
recollec tio n of an i ntense but i ndescribable bli ss gen erally ,

deeply coloured by their perso nal rel igio us co nvictions .

W hen once the departe d so ul wi thdrawi ng i n to himself

,

after wha t we call death has re ached that plane neith e r

, ,

the y earn i ng thoughts of his sorrowing frie nds no r the

a ll ureme nts of the spirit ualistic ci rcle can e ve r draw him
back in to com mu nio n with the physical earth until all the
spiritual forces which he has se t in motio n in his recent
li fe have worked themselves o ut to the full and he o nce ,

more stan ds ready to take u po n himself ne w robes of flesh .

Nor, even if he could so re tur n wo uld his accou nt of his

,

estpe rre nc e s gi ve an tru e idea of the pla ne for as will pre

y , ,
 9

se n tlybe seen it is on l y those who c an enter it in full waki ng

,

con scio us n ess who are able to move abo ut fre ely an d dri nk in
all the won drous glory an d bea ut y which the heaven world has -

to show B ut all this will be m ore fully explai n ed later when

.
,

we come to deal with the i n habitan ts of this celesti al real m .

A B E A! TI F ! L D E S CR I PT I ON .

In an earl y letter from an emi nen t occ ultist the followi ng

beau tifu l passage was give n as a quotation from memory I .

have n ever bee n able to di scover wh e n ce it was taken though ,

what seems to be an other versio n of it co n siderably e xpan ded , ,

appears in B eal s Catena of B udd/list Scriptu res p 3 7 8

’
,
. .

!
O ur L ord B ! D D H A sa ys : M a ny thousa n d my riads
of s y stem s of worl ds be yo n d this is a region of bliss
call e d S uk havati This region is en circled wi thi n seven
.

rows of raili ngs seven rows of vas t c urtai ns seven rows

, ,

of wavi n g trees This holy abod e of the Arhats is gove rned

.

by the Tathagatas an d is possessed b y the B odhi sattvas .

I t has se ven precious lakes in the midst of which flo w ,

cry stalli ne waters havi ng se ve n and yet o ne dis ti nctive

properties and q ualities This 0 Sétriputra is the .
,
‘

D evachan .I ts divi n e udam b ara flower casts a root in

the shadow of every earth an d blossoms fo r all those
—
,

who reach it Those born in this blessed regio n who

.

have cros sed the gol den b ridge an d reached the sev e n
—
golde n mountai n s they are trul y fe licitous there is n o
more g rief or sorrow in th at cycle for them .
!

V eil e d tho ugh they be u n der the gorgeous imagery

of the O rie nt we may easil y t race in this passage some
,

of the leadi ng characteristics which have appeared most

promi n e ntly in the accou nts of o ur o wn modern i n ve sti
gators The seve n golden moun tai n s c an be b ut the
.
! !

seve n s ubdivisions of the men tal plane sep arated fro m ,

 IO

one ano ther by barriers impalpable ye t real and e ffective ,

there as seven rows of ra ilings seve n rows of vast

!
,

curtai ns seven rows of wavi ng trees might be h e re : the

,

seve n k i nds of crystall ine water, havi ng each its dis ti nc tive
properties and qualities represe n t the di fferent powers
, .

and co ndi tions of mi nd b e lo ngi ng to them respec tively ,

whi le the o ne q uality which they all have in commo n

.

is tha t of ens uri ng to t hose residi ng upo n them the utm os t

inten sity of bliss whi c h they are ca pable of experienci ng .

I ts flower indeed casts a roo t in the shadow of every

!

!
earth for from every world man enters the correspo ndi ng
,

heaven and happi n ess such as no to ngue may tell is

,

the blossom which burgeons forth for all who so live

as to fit themselves to at tain it Fo r the y have crossed .
!

!
the golden bridge over th e stream which divides this
real m from the world of desire ; for them t he struggle
between the higher and the lower is over and for them , ,

th e refore is no more grief or sorrow in that cycle

,
!
,
!

un til once mo re the man puts hi mse lf forth in to inc ar

natio n and the celestial world is again left for a ti me

,

behind .

T HE B u ss o r m e H E AV E N \VO RL D -
.

This i n te n si ty of bliss is the first great idea which

mus t form a backgro un d to al l our co ncep tio ns of the
heave n life I t is no t only that we are deali ng with a
-
.

worl d in which by its very cons tit ution evi l and sorrow
, ,

are impossible ; it is not onl y a world in which every

creature is happy ; the facts of the case go far beyond
all that I t is a world in w hich eve ry being m ust from
.
,

—
the very fact of his prese n ce t here be enjoyi ng the ,

bliss of w hich he is capabl e a worl d

respon se to his aspiratio ns is limited
ly by his capaci ty to aspi re .
 I I

H ere for the first time we begin to gras some thing

p
of the t rue n at ure of th e great S ource of L ife ; here for
the firs t time we ca tch a far away glimpse of what the
-

L o c o s mus t be and of wha t H e means us to be

, And .

whe n the stu pendous reali ty of it al l b urs ts upon our

asto n ished vision we can not b ut feel that with this
, ,

knowledge of the tru th life can never agai n loo k to us as

,

i t did before We ca nnot b ut marvel at the hopeless

.

i nadeq uacy of all the worldl y ma n s ideas of happiness ;’

indee d we can not avoid seei ng that m ost of them are

,

abs urdl y i nverted an d im possibl e of real iz ation and ,

tha t for the most part he has actu ally turned his
back u po n the very goal which he is seeking B ut here .

at las t is tru th and beau ty far transcendi ng all that ever

,

poet dreamed ; and in the light of its surpassing glory all

other joy seems di m and fai nt unreal and unsa tisfying
,
.

S ome detail of all this we mus t endeavour to make clear

lat e r on ; the poin t to be emp hasi z ed for the mom ent
13 tha t this radian t se nse no t o nly of the welcome absence
,

of all evil and discord b u t of the i nsiste nt overwhel ming

, ,

p rese nce of un iversal j oy is the first and most s triking

,

sensation experien ced b y him who e nters upo n the heave n

world And it n ever l e aves hi m so long as he remai ns
.

th e re ; whatever work he may be doing whatever still ,

higher poss ibilities of spi ri tual ex altatio n may arise before

him as he learns more of the capabiliti e s of th is new
worl d in which he finds himsel f the strange i ndescribable
,

feeli ng of i nexpressible delight in m e re existe n ce in such

—
a realm underlies all else this e njoyme n t of the abo unding
joy of othe rs is ever pres e nt with him Nothi ng on earth .

is like it nothi ng c an i mage it ; if o ne c ould suppose the

,

boundi ng l ife of childhood ca rried up into our s piri tual

ex perience and t he n in te nsifi ed many th o usandfold pe r ,

haps some fain t shadow of an idea of it might be su ggeste d

 I2

ye t e ven such a simile falls m isera bly sho rt of that which

lies beyond all words —the tremendous spiritual vitality of
this celestial world .

One way in whic h this intense vitality mani fests itself is

the extreme rapidity of vi b ration of all particles an d atoms
of this mental matter As a theoreti cal proposition we are
.

all aware that even here on the physical plane no particl e

of matter thou g h formin g part of the densest of solid
,

bodies is ever for a moment at rest ; nevertheless wh en

,

b y the openin g of astral vision this becomes for us n o

lon ger a mere theory of the scie n t ists b ut an actual and ,

ever present fact w e reali ze th e universality of life i n a

-
,

manner and to an ext e nt that was quite i mpossi ble before

our mental horizon widens out and we b eg in even already
,

to have g limpses of possi b il ities in nature which to those

who cannot yet see must appear the wildest of dreams
'
.

I f this be th e e flec t of acquiri ng th e m ere astral vision ,

and applyin g it to dense physical matter try to imagi ne ,

the result produce d on the mind of the ob server when ,

havin g left this physical pla n e behind and thorou g hly

studied the far more vi vid life and in fi nitely more rapid
vi b rations of the astral he fi nds a new and transcenden t
,

sense ope nin g wi thin him which unfolds to his enraptured

,

gaze yet another and a hi g her world whose vi b rations are

,

as much quicker than th o se of our physical plane as

—
vi b rations of i ght are than those of sound a world where
l
the omnipresent life which pulsates ceaselessly around an d
within him is of a di fferen t order altogether is as it were ,

raised to an enormously hi g her power .

A Ne w M E T HO D or C O! N IT I ON .

The very sense i tsel f b y which he is ena bled to cog nize

,

all this is not the least of the marvels of this celestial

,
 I S

world ; no lon ger does he hear and see and feel by separa te
and li mited organs as he does down here nor has he even
, ,

the immensely extended capacity of sig ht and hearin g

which he possessed on the astral plane ; instead of these
he feels within him a stran ge new power which is not any
of them and yet includes them all and much more a power
,
—
which ena bl es him the momen t any person or thin g
comes before him not only to see it and feel it and hea r it
—
,

b u to kn ow all a bout i t instan tly inside and out i ts

t
causes its e ffects and its possi b il ities so far at least
, , ,

as tha t plane and all be low i t are concerned He finds .

that for him to think is to rea lize ; there is never any

dou b t hesitation or delay a bout this direct action of the
, ,

h i g her sense . I f he thin ks of a place he is there ; if of a

,

friend that friend is befo re him N o long er can m is un de r

, .

stan din gs aris e no lon ger can he b e deceived or m isled by

,

any outward appea rances for every thou g ht and feelin g of

,

his fri en d li es ope n as a book be fore him on that plan e .

And if he is fortunate enoug h to have amon g his friends

another whose hig her sense is opened the ir in tercourse is ,

perfect beyond al l earthly conception For them distance .

and separation do not exist ; their feelin g s are no lon ger hid
den or at best b ut half expressed b y clumsy words question
and answer are unnecessary for the thoug ht pictu res are
,
-

as they are formed and the interchang e of ideas is

,

as rapid as 15 the ir flashin g into existe nce in the mind

—
.

All kn owled ge is theirs for the searchin g all that is , ,

which does not tran scend even this lofty plane ; the
past of the world is as open to them as the presen t ; the
indeli ble re cords of the memory of nature are ever at
their disposal an d history whether ancient or modern
, , ,

unfolds itself before their eyes at their will N0 lon ger .

are they at the mercy of the historian who may be ,

ill inform ed and ust be more or less partial ; they can

p
-
,
 I4

study for themselves any inciden t in which they are

in terested with the a bsolute certai n ty of see in g the truth
,
!
,

the whole truth and nothin g but the truth

, I f they .
!

are a ble to stand upon the hig her levels of the plan e ,

the lon g line of th eir past l ives unrolls itself before them
like a scroll ; they see the k armic causes which have
made them what they are they see what karma still
lies in front to be worked out before the lon g sad
count is closed and thus they reali ze with unerrin g
,
!

certainty their exact place in evolution .

I f it be as ked whether they can see the future clearly as

the pas t, the answer m ust be in the neg ative for that faculty ,

be lon g s to a still hi g her plan e and thou g h in this men tal

,

plane prevision is to a g rea t extent possi ble to them yet it ,

is not perfect because wherev er in the we b of destiny the

,

hand of the developed man comes in his powerful will may ,

i n troduce new threads an d chan ge the patte rn of the life to

,

come The course of the ordinary undeveloped man who

.
,

has practically no will of his own worth speakin g of may ,

often be fores een clearly enoug h b ut when the eg o boldly

,

takes his future into his own hands exact prevision becomes
,

impos si ble .

S ua a o un n m o s .

T he fi rst impressions then of the pupil who enters this

, ,

mental plane in full consciousness will pro ba bly be those of

inten se bliss indescri ba ble vitality enormously increa sed
, ,

power and the perfect con fidence which flows from these ;
,

and when he makes use of his new sense to examine his

s urroundin g s what does he see ! H e finds himself in the
,

midst of what seems to him a whole universe of ever c han g -

i ng lig ht and colour and soun d such as it has never entered

,

in to his loftiest dream s to imag ine V erily it is true that .

down here eye hath not seen nor ear Ji ath heard neither
, ,
 I S

hath it entered into the he art of man to conceive the !

g lories of the heaven world : and the man who has once
-

experienced them in full consciousnes s will reg ard the world

with widely different eyes for ever after ! e t this e xperience
.

is so utterly unlike anythi ng we know on the phys ica l plane

that in tryin g to put it in to words one is trou bled by a
curious sense of helplessness —o f a bsolute incapacity not ,

only to do it j ustice for of (Ira ! one resi g ns all hope from

,

the very outset b ut even to g ive any idea at all of it to those

,

who have not themselves seen it .

L e t a man imagine himself wi th the feelin g s of inten se

,

bliss and enormously inc reased power already descri bed ,

fl oatin g in a sea of livin g li g ht surrounded by every con

,

c e ivab le variety of loveliness in colour and form — th e whole

chan g in g with every wave of thou g ht that he sends out from

his mind and bein g indeed as he presen tly discovers only
, , ,

the expression of his thoug ht i n the matter of the plane and

in its elemental essence For that matter is of the very same
.

order as that of which th e mind body is itself composed

-
,

and therefore when that vi b ration of the part icl e s of the

min d body which we call a thou g ht occurs it immediately
-
,

exten ds itself to this surroundin g mental matter and sets up ,

correspondin g vi b rations in it while in the elemental essence

,

i t imag es i tself with a bsolute exactitude C oncrete thou g ht

.

naturally takes the shape of its o bj ects while a bstract ideas

,

usually represent them selves by all k inds of perfect and most

beautiful geometrical forms ; thoug h in thi s connection it
should b e remem bered that many thoug hts which are little
more th an the merest a b stractions to us down here become
concrete facts on this loftier plane .

I t will thus be seen that i n th is hi g her world anyone who

wishes to devote himself for a time to quiet thou g ht and to ,

a bstract himself from his surro un din g s may actually live in

,

a wo rld of his own without po ssi b i lity of in terruption and ,

 16

with the additional advantage of seein g all h is ideas (and

their consequences fully worked out ! pass in g in a sort of
,

pan o rama before his eyes I f however he wishes ins tead to

.
, ,

o bserve the plan e upon which he fi nds himself it will b e ,

n ecessary for h im very carefully to suspend his thoug ht for

the time so that its creations may not influence the readily
,

impressi ble matter around him and thus alter the entire
,

con ditions so far as he is concerned .

This holdin g of the m ind in suspense must not be con

founded with the blankne ss of m ind towards the attain ment
of which so many of the H atha ! og a practices are directed
in the latter case the min d is dulled down into a b solute
passivity in order that it may not by any thou g ht of its own
o ffer resistan ce to the entry of any external influence that
—
may happen to approach it a condition closely appro xi
matin g to mediumship ; while in the former the mind is as
keenly alert an d positive as i t can be holdin g its thoug ht in
,

s uspense for the moment merely to prevent the intrusion of

a personal equation into the o b servation which it wishes to
make .

W hen the visitor to the m en tal plane succeeds in putt in g

himself in this position he fin ds that althou g h he is no
lo n g er hi mself a centre of r adiation of all that marvellous
weal th of lig h t and colour form and sound which I have so
, ,

vai nly endeavoured to picture it has not therefore ceased to

,

exist ; on the con trary its harmonies and its coruscation s

,

are b ut grander and fuller than ever Castin g a bout for an

.

explan ation of this phenomenon he beg ins to realize that all

—
,

th is mag ni fi cence is not a mere idle or fortuitous display a

kin d of de vac hanic aurora borealis ; he finds that it all has
—
a meanin g a meani n g which he h imself can understand ;
and prese n tly he g rasps the fact that what he is watchin g
with such ecstasy o f deli g ht is simply the g lorious colour
—
lang uage o f the Devas the expression of the thou g ht or the
 I7

co n versation of bei ng s far h ig her than himse lf in the scale

of evolution By experimen t an d pract ice he discovers that
.

he also can use th is new and beautiful mode of express ion ,

and b y this very discovery he enters into possession of

another great tract of his heritag e in this celestial realm
—the power to hold converse with and to learn from its
, ,

loftier non human inha bitan ts with whom we shall deal more
-
,

fully when we come to treat of that pa rt of our su bj ect .

By this time it will have become apparent why it was

impossi ble to devote a section of this paper to the scenery
of the mental plane as was done in the case of the astral ;
,

for in poin t of fact the mental world has no scenery except

such as each individual chooses to make for himself by his
thoug ht —un less indeed we take into accoun t the fact that
the vast num bers of entities who are contin ua lly passing
before hi m are themselves o bj ects in many cases of the
most transcen dent beauty ! e t so difficult is it to express
.

in words the conditions of this hig her life that it would be

a sti ll better statement of the facts to say that all possi ble
—
scenery exis ts there that there is nothin g conceiva ble of
loveliness in earth or sky or sea which is not there with a
fulness and intensity beyond all power of imag ination ; b ut
that out of all this splendour of livin g reality each man sees
only that which he has within himself the power to see
that to which his development durin g the earth life an d the -

astral li fe ena bles him to respond

-
.

T HE ! R E AT W av e s .

I f the visitor wishes to carry h is analysis of the plane still

further and discover what it would be when entirely undi s
,

turb e d by the thoug ht or conversation of any of its in hab i

tants he can do so by formi ng ro und himself a hug e shell
,

thro ug h which none of t hese infl uences can penetrate and ,

a.
 18

th en (of course holdin g his own mi n d perfectly sti ll as b e

fore ! e xaminin g the con ditions which exist inside his shell .

I f he performs th is ex pe rim ent with su ffici e nt care he wi ll

—
,

fi nd that the sea of li g ht has become not still for its par
tic le s continue their intense an d rapid vi b rations b ut—
,

as it ,

were homog eneo us ; that those wonderful coruscations of

colour and co nstant chan g es of form are no lon g er tak in g
place b ut that he is now a b le to perc eive another and
,
'

entirely difle re nt series of reg ular pulsations which the other

more arti fi cial phenomena had previously o bscured T hese .

are evidentl y universal and no shell which human power

,

can make Wlll check them or turn them aside T hey cause .

no chan ge of colour no a ssumption of form b ut flow with

, ,

resistless reg ularity throug h all the matter of the plane out ,

wards an d in ag ain like the exhalations and inhalations of

,

some g reat breath beyond our ken .

Th e re are s e v eral sets of th e se clearly disti n g uisha ble

,

from one an other by volume by period of vi b ration and by

, ,

the tone of the harmony which they brin g and grander than ,

them all sweeps one g reat wave which seems the very heart
—
beat of the system a wave which wellin g up from unknown
,

centres on far hi gher planes pours out its l ife throu g h all our
,

world an d then draws back in its tremendous tide to That

,

from which it came I n one lon g undulatin g curve it comes

. ,

and the sound of it is like the murmur of the sea and yet
in it and throu g h it all the while there echoes a mi g hty
—
rin gi n g chan t of triumph the very mus ic of the spheres .

T he man who once has heard that g lorious son g of nature

never quite loses it again even here on this dreary physical
plane of illusion he hears it always as a kind of undertone ,

keepin g ever before his mind the stren g th and li g ht and

splendour of the real life a bove .

I f the visitor be pure in heart and mind and has reach ed ,

a certain d egree of sp irit ual development it is possi ble for

,
 19

him to identi fy his consciousness wi th the sweep of that

—
wondrous wave to mer ge his spirit in it as it were an d let , ,

it bear him upward to its source I t is possi b le I say b ut

—
.
,

it is not wise unless indeed h is M aster stands beside hi m

, ,

to draw him back at the ri g ht moment from its mi g hty em

b race for otherwise its irresisti ble force will carry h im away
onward and upward into still hi g her planes whose far ,

greater g lories his eg o is as yet una ble to sustai n ; he will

lose consc iousness an d with no certainty as to when and
,

where and how he will reg ain it I t is true that the ultimate
.

o bj ect of man s evolution is the attainment of unity b ut he

’
,

must reach tha t fi nal g oal in full and perfect co nsciousness

as a victorious kin g enterin g triumphantly upon his heritag e ,

not drift into a bsorption in a state of b lank unconsciousness

but little removed from an nihilation .

T HE L OW ER AND rn s H ro naa H E AVE N WOR L DS -

.

All that we have hitherto attempted to indicate in this

description may be ta ken as applyin g to the lowest su b
division o f the mental plane ; for this realm of nature ,

e xactly like the astral or the physical has its seven su b

, ,

divisions Of these the four lower are called in the books

.

the rfipa or form planes and these consti tute the L ower
,

H eaven W orld in which the average man S pe nds his long

-
,

life of b liss between one incarnation an d the next T he .

other three are spoken of as arflpa or form less and they ,

consti tute the H i g her H eaven W orld where functions the

—
-
,

reincarn atin g e go the true home of the soul o f m an .

These S anskrit names have been given because on the rfipa

planes every thoug ht takes to i tself a certain de fi nite form ,

while on the ar upa su bdivisons it expresses itself in an entirely

different m an ner as w ill presen tly be explained T he
, .

distinction betw e en these two great divisions of the glam

 20

the r upa and the —is

very marked ; i n de ed it even
arfipa ,

extends so far as to necessita te the use of d ifferent vehicles

of consciousnes s .

T he vehicle appropriate to the lower h eaven world is th e -

mind body while that of the hi g her heaven world is th e

- -

—
,

causal body the vehicle of the reincarnatin g eg o in which ,

he passes from life to l ife throu g hout the whole evolutio nary
period Another enormous distinction is that on those four
.

lower su bdivisions some de g ree of ill usion is still possi b le

not indeed for the entity who stands upon them in full
consciousness durin g life b ut for the unde veloped person
,

who passes there after the chan ge which men call death .

T he h ig her thoug hts and aspirations which he has po ured

forth durin g earth life then cluster round him and make
a sort of shell a bout him —a kind of su bj ective world of
-
,

his own ; and in th at he lives his heaven life perceiv in g -

,

b ut very fain tly or n ot at all the re al g lori es of the pla n e

which lie outside and indeed usually supposin g that
, , ,

what he sees is all there is to see .

! e t we should be wro ng i n thinkin g of that thoug ht cloud -

as a limitat ion I ts function is to ena b le the man to

respond to certain vi brations —not to shut him o ff from the
.

others T he truth is that these thoug h ts which surround

.
,

the man are the powers b y which he draws upon the

wealth of the heaven world T his mental plane i tse lf is a
-

—
.

reflection of the Divine M ind a storehouse of in fi nite

extent from which the person enj oyin g heaven is a b le to
draw j ust accord in g to the power of his own tho ug hts and
aspirations generated durin g the physical and astral l ife .

But in the hi g her heaven world this limitation no lon ger

-

exists it is true that even there m any eg os are only sli g htly
and dream ily c onscious of their surroundin g s b ut in so far ,

as they see they see truly for thoug ht no lo ng er assum es the

, ,

sam e lim ite d forms which i t took upon itself l o wer down .
 2!

T HE ACT I O N or T HO ! ! HT .

T he exact con di tion of m in d of the human inha b itants

of these various su b planes wil l naturally be m uch more
-

fully dealt with under its own appropriate headi ng ; b ut a

comprehension of the manner in which thou ght acts in the
lower and hi g her levels respecti vely is so necessary to an ,

accurate understanding of these great divisions that it will

perhaps be worth while to reco unt in deta il some of the
experiments made by our explorers in the endeavour to
throw lig ht upon this su bj ect .

At an early period of the investigation it became evident

that on the mental as on the as tral plane there was prese nt .

an elem ental essence quite d istinct from the mere matter

of the plane and that it was if possi b le even m o re in
, , , o

s tan tane o us l
y sen sitive to the action of thou g ht here
than it had been in that lower world But here in the .

h e aven world all was thou gh t su bstance and therefore not

- -
,

only the elemental ess ence but the very matter of the plane
,

was directly affected b y the action of the mind ; an d hence

it became necessary to make an attempt to discriminate
between these two e ffects .

After various less conclusive experiments a method was

'

adop ted which gave a fairly clear idea of the di fferent

res ults produced one investi gator remain in g on the lowest
,

su bdivision to send out the thou g ht forms while others -

,

rose to the next hig her level so as to be a b le to o bserve

,

what took place from a bove and thus a void many possi
,

b ilitie s of confusion . ! nder these ci rcumsta nces the

experimen t was tried of sendin g an affec tionate and helpful
thoug ht to an a bsent friend in a far distm t cou n try .

T he result was very remarka b le a sort of vi b ratin g shell ,

formed in the matter of the plane issued in all directio n s

,
 22

rou nd the operator correspondin g e xactly to th e circle

,

which spreads out in sti ll water from the spot where a stone
has been thrown in to it except that this was a sphe re of
,

vi bration extendin g i tself in many dim e n sions instead of

merely over a flat surface T hese vi brations like th o se on
.
,

the physical plane tho ug h very much more gradually lost

, ,

in intensity as they passed further away from their source till ,

at last at an enormous distan ce they seemed to be e xhaus ted ,

or at least became so fa int as to be impercepti b le .

T hus ev ery one on the mental plane is a cen tre of radiant

thou g ht an d yet all the rays thrown out cross in all
,

di rections without interferin g with one another in the

slig htest degree j ust as rays of li ght do down here This
,
.

ex pa n din g sphere of vi brations was many coloured and

opalesce nt b ut its colours also grew g radually fainter an d
,

fainter as it spread away .

T he e ffect on the elemental essence of the plane was ,

ho wever entirely di fferent I n this the thou g ht imme

,
.

diate ly called into ex is tence a distinct form r ese m b lin g the

hu man of one colour only thou g h ex hi bitin g many shades
, ,

of that colour T his form flashed instan taneo usly across

.

the ocean to the friend to whom the g ood wish had

bee n directed and there took to its elf elemental essence
,

of the astral plane an d thus became an ord inary arti fi cial

,

elemen tal of that plane waitin g as explained in M anual

, ,

N o V for an opportunity to pour out upon him its sto re

.
,

of helpful influence I n takin g on that astral form the

.

mental elemen tal lost mu c h of its brilliancy thoug h its ,

glowin g rose colour was still plainly visi ble inside the shell
-

of lower matter which it had as sumed showin g that j ust ,

as the ori gi nal thou g ht ensouled the elemental essence of

its own plane so that same tho ug ht plus its form as a
, ,

mental elemental acted as soul to the astral elemental

,

thus followin g closely the met hod in which the ul timate

 23

sp irit itself takes on sheath after sheath i n its descent

throu g h the various planes an d su b planes of matter
- .

Further experimen ts alon g similar lines revealed the

fact that the colour of the proj ected elemental varied
with the character of the thoug ht As a bove stated .
,

the thou g ht of stron g affection produced a creature of

g lowin g ros e colour ; an inten se wish of healin g pm
-
,

je c te d towards a sick friend

, called in to e x is tence a most
lovely silvery white elemental ; while an earnest mental
-

effort to steady and stren gthen the mind of a depressed

and despairin g person resulted in the production of a
beautiful flashin g golde ny e llo w messen ger .

I n all these cases it will be perceived that besides the ,

effect of radiatin g colours and vi brations produced in the

matt er of the plan e a de finite forc e in the shape of an
,

elemen tal was sent forth towards the person to whom th e

thou g ht was direct ed ; and this invaria bly happened with ,

one nota ble exception One of the operators while on

.
,

the lower division of the plane directed a thou ght of intense

,

love and devotion towards the Adept who is his spiritu al

teacher and it was at once noticed by the o bservers a bove
,

that the result was in some sense a reversal of what had

happened in the previous cases .

I t should be premised that a pupil of any one of the great

Adepts is always co nnected with his M aster by a constant
c urrent of though t and influence which expresses itself on
,

the mental plane as a grea t ray or stream of dazz li ng lig ht of

all colours — violet and g old an d blue and it mi ght perhaps
'
have bee n expected that the pupil s earnest lovin g thou ght ,

would send a special vi b ration alon g this line I nstead of .

th is however the res ult was a sudden in tensifi cation of the

, ,

colours of th is bar of li g ht and a very distin ct flow of

,

spiritual influence W a rd: tire pupil so that it is evident

,

that when a st udent turns his thoug ht to his Master what he ,

 24

re ally does is to vi vify his connection with that M aster an d ,

th us to open a way for an additional outpourin g of stren g th

and help to him self from hig her plan es I t would seem .

that th e Adept is as it were so hi g hly charg ed with the

, ,

in fluences which sustain and stren g then that any thoug ht ,

which bring s into increased activi ty a channel of communi

cation with him sends no current towards him as it ordin ,

arily would b ut s imply g ives a wider openin g throu gh which

,

the g reat ocean of his love fi nds vent .

On the arftpa leve ls th e differen ce in the e ffect of thoug ht

is very marked especially as reg ards the elemen tal essence
,
.

T he d istur bance set up in the mere matter of the pla n e

is similar thoug h greatly intensi fi ed in th is much more
,

re fi n ed form of matter ; b ut in the essence no form at all is

now created and the method of action is entirely chan g ed
, .

I n all the experiments on lower planes it was found that

the elemental hovered a bout the person th ou g ht of an d ,

awaited a favoura ble opportunity of expendi ng h is en ergy

either upon his mind body his astral or ev en his physical
-
, ,

body ; here the result is a kind of lig htn in g flas h of the -

e sse nce from the causal body of the thinker direct to the
causal body of the o bj ect of his thoug ht ; so t hat while the
thoug ht on those lower divisions is always directed to the
mere personali ty here we i nfluen ce the reincarnati ng ego
, ,

the real man himself and if our messag e has any reference
,

to the personali ty it wil l reach it only from a bove th roug h ,

the i n s trumentali ty of his ca usal vehicle .

T HO ! ! HT -
FO R M S .

Naturally the thoug hts to be see n on this plan e are not

all de fi nitely directed at some other person ; many are
simply thrown o ff to float vag uely a bout and the diversity ,

of form and colour shown amon g th e se is practica lly in finite ,

 25

so that the stu dy of them is a sci ence in itself and a very ,

fascinati ng o ne Anyth in g like a detailed desc ription even

.

of the main classes among them would occupy far more

space than we have to spare ; but an idea of th e principles
upon which such classes might be formed may be gained
from the followi ng extract fro m a most illuminative paper on
the subj ect written by M rs Besant in L ucifer (the earlier
.

form of TM Tfieo sopltiea l R eview ! for Septem ber 1 8 9 6 .

She there enunciates the three great principles underly in g

the production of the thought form s which are t h rown o ff by
-

—
the action of the mind that (a ! the quality of a thought
det erm ines its colour (b ! the nature of a thought determi nes
,

its form (e ! the de fin ite ne ss of a thought determines the

,

clearness of its outline ! ivi ng in stances of the way in

.

which the colou r is a ffec ted she continues : ,

If the astral and mental bodies are vibrating under the

influence of devotion the aura will be su ffused wi th blue
, ,

more or less inten se beautiful and pure accordin g to the

,

depth elevation and pu rity of the feeling In a church

, , .

such tho ught fo rm s may be seen rising for the most part
not very de fi ni m outlined b u t ro lling masses of blue
,

clouds T oo often the colour is dulled by the intermixt ure

.

of sel fi sh feelings when the blue is mixed with browns and

,

thus loses its pure brilliancy But the devotional thought

.

of an unsel fish heart is very lovely in colour like the deep ,

blue of a summer sky Through such clouds o f blue will

.

often shine out golden stars of great brilliancy starting ,

upwards like a shower of sparks .

!
Anger gives rise to red of all shades from brick red to
,
-

brilliant scarlet ; brutal anger will show as flashes of lurid

dull red from dark brown clouds while the anger of noble ,

indignation is a vi vid scarlet by no mea ns un beauti ful to

’
,

look at though it gives an unpleasan t thrill

, .

!
A ffection sends out clouds of rosy hue varying from ,
 26

dull crimson where the love is animal in its nature rose red
, ,
-

mingled with brown when sel fi sh or with dull g reen when ,

j ealous to the most exquisite shades of delicate rose like the

,

early flushes of the dawning as the love becomes puri fi ed ,

from all sel fi sh elements and flows out in wider and wider
,

circles of generous im personal tenderness and compassion

to all who are in need .

In tellect produces yellow thought form s the pure reason -

,

directed to spiritual ends giving ri se to a very delicate ,

yellow wh ile used for more sel fi sh ends or mi ngled

,

with am bition it yields deeper shades of orange clear and ,

inten se ( f
L vol i p
!
. uc i e r x x , . . .

I t must of course be borne i n mi nd that astral as well as

mental tho ught fo rm s are descri bed in the above quotation
o

some of the feelings mentioned needing matter of the lower

plane as well as of the higher before they can fi nd expres
sion Some examples are then given of the bea utiful flower
.

like and shell like forms sometim es taken by our nobler

-

thoughts ; and especial reference is made to the not infre

quen t case in which the thought tak ing human form is , ,

liable to be confounded wi th an apparition :

A tho ughtfo rm may assume the shape of its proj ector ;
if a person wi lls strongly to be present at a particular place ,

to visit a particular person and be seen such a thought, ,

form may take hi s own shape an d a clai rvoyant present at ,

the des ired spot would see what he would probably mistake
for his friend in the astral body Such a thought form .
-

might convey a mes sage if that formed part of its content

, ,

setti ng up in the astral body of the person reached vibrations

like its own and these being passed on by that astral body
,

to the brain where they would be translated into a thought

,

or a sen tence Such a thought form again might convey to

.
-
, ,

its proj ec tor by the magnetic relation between them vi bra

, ,

(
!
tions impressed on itself p . .
 27

The whole of the article from which these extracts are

taken sho uld be very care fufly s tu died by those who wish to
grasp this very complex b ranch of our subj ect for with the , ,

aid of the b eautifullye xe cute d colou red illustrations which

o

accompany it it enables those who cannot yet see for them

,

sel ves to approach much more n early to a realization of what

tho ught forms actually are than anything pre vi ously wri tten
-
.

T un S ! B -
P L A N ES .

If it be asked what is the real di fference between the

matter of the various sub plan es of the mental plane it is
-
,

not easy to answer in other than very general terms for the ,

unfortu nate scri be bankrupts himself of adj ec tives in an

unsuccessful endeavour to describe the lowest plane and ,

then has nothing le ft to say abou t the others What indeed . . ,

can be said except that ever as we ascend the material

,

becom es fi ner the harmonies fuller the light more li vi ng

, ,

and trans paren t ! There are m ore overtones in the sound ,

more deli ca te inte rshade s in the colou rs as we rise mo re

—
,

and more new co l ours appear hues enti rely unknown to

the physical sight ; and it has b een poetically yet truly said
that the light of the lower plane is darkness on the one
above it Perhaps this idea 18 simpler if we start in thou ht
.

from the top instead of the bottom and try to realiz e t at

,

on that highest sub plane we shall fi nd its appropriate

-

matter ensouled and vivifie d by an energy which still flows

—
down like light from above from a plane which lies away
beyond the mental altoget her T hen if we descend to the
.

second subdi vision we shall fi nd that the matter of our fi rst

sub plane has become the en ergy of th is o r to put the
- — ,

thing more acc urately that the origi nal energy plus the
, .

garment of matter of the first sub plane with which it has

-

en dued itself is still the en ergy ensouling the matter of th is

,
 28

second sub plane In the same way in the third division

-
.
,

we shall fi nd that the original ene rgy has twice veiled itself
—
i n the mat ter of these fi rst an d second sub planes through
which it has passed : so that by the time we get to our
seventh sub d i vision we shal l have our original energy six
times enclosed or vei led and therefore by so much the
,

weaker and less active T h is process is exactly analogous

.

to the veiling of Atm a the pri mordial Spirit in its descen t

, ,

as monadic essence in order to energize the matter of the

pl anes of the cosmos and as i t is one which frequently takes
,

place in nature it wi ll save the student much trouble if he

,
’
will try to familiarize himself with the idea (see M rs Besant s .

A m en! Wisdom p 5 4 and footnote !

, .
, .

T H E R e c o a ns o r T HE PAS T .

In speaking of the general characteristics of the plane we

mus t not om it to mention the ev er present background
—
-

formed by the records of the past the memory of nature ,

the only real ly reliable history of the world W hile what we .

have on th is plane is not yet the absolute record itself but ,

merely a reflection of somet hing hi g her still it is at any rate ,

clear accurate and continuous d i ffering there in from the

, , ,

disco nnected and spasmodic manifestation which is all that

represents it in the as tral world It is therefore only when
.
, ,

a clairvoyant possesses the vision of th is men tal plane that

his pic tures of the past can be relied upon and even then ,

un less he has the power of pass ing in full consciousness

from that plane to the physical we have to allow for the ,

possibility of errors in bringing back the recollection of what

he has seen .

B ut the student who has succ eeded in developing the

powers latent within himself so far as to enable him to use
the sense b longing to this mental plane while he is sti ll in
e
 29

the physical body has before hi m a fi eld of historical

,

research of most entranc ing interest N ot only can he

.

review at hi s leisure all h istory with which we are acquainted ,

correcting as he examines it the many errors and miscon

c e ptio ns which have crept into the accoun ts handed down

to us ; he can also range at will over the whole story of the

world from its very beg inn ing watch ing the slow develop
,

ment of intellect in man the descen t of the L ords of the

,

F lame and the growth of the m ighty civilizations which

,

they founded .

N or is his study c on fi ned to the progress of humanity

alone ; he has before him as in a m useum all the strange
, ,

animal and vegetable forms which occu pied the stage in

days when the world was yo ung ; he can follow all the
wonderful geological changes which have taken place and ,

watch the course of the great cataclysms which have al tered

the whole face of the earth again and again .

M any and varie d are the possibili ties opened up by

—
access to these records so m any and so varied indeed that
even if this were the only advantage of the mental plane it
wou ld still transcend in interest all the lower worlds But .

when to this we add the rem arkable increase in the o ppo r

tun itie s for the acquisition of knowledge given by its new
and wider faculty—the privilege of direct un tramm elled
intercou rse not only with the g reat Deva k ingdom but with
the very M asters of W is dom themselves—the rest an d re lief
,
'

from the weary strai n of physical life that is brought by the

enj oym ent of its deep unchanging bl iss and above all the
, ,

enormously enhanced capabili ty of the developed student

—
for the service of his fellow men then we shall begin to
-

have some fain t conception of what a pupil gain s when he

wins the right to enter at will and in perfect consciousness
upon his heritage in th is bright realm of the heave n wo rld
.
.
 3 O

I N H A B I TA NT S .

I n our endeavour to describe the inhabitan ts of the

mental plane it will perhaps be well for us to divide them
into the same three great classes chosen in the manual on
—
the astral plane the hum an the non human and the -

—
, ,

artific ial though the sub d ivisio ns will naturally be less

-

numerous in this case tha n in that since the products of

,

man s evi l passions which bulked so largely there can fin d

’
, ,

no place here .

I H ! MA N
. .

E xactly as was the case when dealing with the lower

world it will be desirable to su bdivide the human inhabi
tants of the m ental plane in to two classes—th o se who are
,

still attached to a physical body and those who are not

,

the living and the dead as they are commonly but m ost
,

erroneously called Very little experien ce of these higher

.

planes is needed to alter fundamen tally the stu dent s ’

conception of the change which takes place at death ; he

realizes immed iately on the opening of his consciousness
even in the astral and still m ore in this men tal world that
, ,

the fulness of true life is something which can never be

known down here an d that when we leave this physical
,

earth we are passing into that true life not out of it W e , .

have not at presen t in the E ngl ish language any convenien t

and at the same ti me accurate words to express these
c on ditions perba s to call them respectively embodied and
disem bod ied wi ll e on the whole the least misleading of
, ,
 3 I

the various possible phrases L e t us therefore proceed to

.

c onsider those inhabitants of the mental plane who come

under the head of

T H E E M B O D IE D .

T hose h uman be ings who while sti ll attached to a

,

physical bod y are found moving in full con sciousness and

,

activity upon this plane are invariably either Adepts or

,

their initiated pupils for until a student has been taught by

,

his M aster how to use his mental body he will be un able to

move with freedom upon even i ts lower levels T o fu nction .

consciously durin g physical life upon the higher levels

denotes sti ll greater advancement for it m eans the un i fica
,

tion of the man so that down here he is no longer a mere

,

personality more or less influenced by the individuality

,
—
above but is him self that individuali ty tram m elled and
,

confi ned by a body certainly but nevertheless having

, ,

within h im the power and knowledge of a highly developed

ego.

Very magn i fi cent obj ects are these Adepts and initiates to
t he vision which has learnt to see them —splendid globes of
light and colour driving away all evil influence wherever
,

they go acting upon all who co me near them as the

,

sunshine acts upon the flowers an d shedding around them a

,

feeling of restfulness and happin ess of wh ich even those who

do no t see them are often conscious It is in this celestial .

world that m uch of their most important work is done

more especially upon its higher levels whe re the in dividu ,

ali ty can be acted upon directly It is from th is plane that

.

they shower the grandest spiritual in fluences upon the

world of thought ; from it also they i mpel great and
b e ne fic e n t movements of all kinds Here m uch of the .

spiritual force poured out by the glorious se lfs acxkfie e c k

 3 2

the Nirmanakayas is distributed ; here also d irect teaching

is given to those pupils who are sumc ie n tly ad vanced to
receive i t in this way since it can be im parted far m ore
,

readily and co mpletely here than on the astral plane In .

addition to al l these ac tivities they have a great fi eld of work

in connection with those whom we call the dead but this ,

will be more fitly explained u nder a later heading .

I t is a pleasure to fin d that a class of i nhabitan ts w hich

obtruded itself pain fully on o ur notice on the astral plane
is almost en tirely absen t h e re I n a world whose charac
.

te ris tic s are un se lfis hne ss and spirituality the b lack magici an
and his pupils can obviously fi nd no pla c e since sel fi shness
,

is of the essence of all the proceedings of the darker schools ,

and their study of occult forces is entirely for personal ends .

N ot but that i n many of th em the in tellect is very highly

developed and consequen tly the matter of the mind body
,
-

extrem ely active and sensitive along certain lines ; but in

every case those lines are connected with personal desire of
some sort and they can therefore fi nd expression only
,

through that lower part of the m ind body which has become
-

almost i nextricably entangled with astral matter . As a

necessary consequence of this lim itation it follows that their
acti vities are practically con fi ned to the astra l and physical
plan es A man the trend of whose whole life is evi l and
.
,

sel fi sh may indeed have periods of purely abstract thought

,

during which he may uti li z e the mind body if he has learnt

-

how to do so ; but the moment that the personal ele m ent

comes in and the e ffort to produce some evi l result is made
, ,

the thought is no longer abstract and the man fi nds him

,

self workin g in connection with the fam iliar astral matter

once more One might almost say that a black magi c ian
.

could function on the mental plane only whi le he forgot that

he was a black magician .

But even wh ile he forgot it he could be visible on the

 33

mental plane on ly to men fun ctioning conscious ly on that

—
plane never by a ny possibili ty to those who are enj oyi ng
th e heavenly rest in this region after death since each of
,

them is so en tirely secluded wit h in the world of his own '

tho ught that nothing outside of that can afle c t him and he ,

is conseq uen tly absolutely safe T hus is j usti fi ed the gran d

.

old description of the heaven world as the place where the

-

!
wicked cease from troubling an d the weary are at rest
, .

IN S L EE P 0R T R A NCE .

In thin ki ng of the em bodied in habitants of the mental

plane the question naturally suggests itself whether either
,

ordinary people during sleep or psychically developed per

,
~

sons in a trance condition can ever penetra te to this plane

, .

I n both cases the an swer must be that the occurrence is

possible though extremely rare Purity of life and pur
,
.

pose would be an absolute pre requisite and even when the ,

plane was reached there would be nothing that could be

called real consciousness but si mply a capacity for recei ving
,

certain impressions .

A s exemplifying the possibili ty of entering the men tal

plane d uri ng sleep an incident may be mentioned which
,

occu rred i n connection with the experimen ts m ade by the

L ondon L odge of the T heosophical Society on dream con
sc io usness an account of some of which was given in my little
,

book on D rea ms I t may be remembered by those who have

.

read that treatise that a thought picture of a lovely tropical

-

landscape was presented to the mi nds of various classes of

sleepers with a view of testi ng the extent to which it was
,

afterwards recollected on awaking One case w hich was .

not referred to in the acco un t previously published as it had ,

no special conn ection with the phenomena of drea ms wi ll ,

serve as a useful illustration here .

 34

It was that of a person of pure mind and considerable

though untrain ed psych ic capacity ; and the e ffect of the
presentation of the thought picture to her m ind was of a
-

somewhat start ling character So in ten se was the feeling of

.

reverent j oy so l o fty and so spiritual were the thoughts

,

evoked by the contem lation of this glorious scene that the ,

consciousness of the s ceper passed entirely into the m ind

body or to put the same idea into o ther words rose on to
, ,

the mental plane It mus t not however be supposed from

.
, ,

this that she became cognizant of her surro undings upon that
plane or of its real cond i tions ; she was simply in the state
,

of the o rdi nary person who has reached that level after
death floating in the sea of light and colour i ndeed but
, ,

nevertheless en tirely absorbed in her own thought and con

scious of noth ing beyond it —resting in ecstatic contem
,

p la tio n of the landscape and of all that it had suggested to

—
her yet contemplating it be it understood with the
, ,

keener insight the more pe rfect appreciation and the e n

, ,

hanced vigour of thought pecu liar to the mental plane and ,

enj oying all the whi le the in tensity of bliss which has so
ofte n been spoken of before T he sleeper remained in that
.

condition for several hours though apparently enti rely

,

unconscious of the passage of time and at last awoke with

,

a sense of deep peace and i nward j oy for which since she ,

had brought back no recollection of what had happened she ,

was qui te unable to account There is no doubt however

.
, ,

that such an experience as this whether remembered in the

,

physical body or not would act as a distinct impulse to the

,

S piritual evolution of the ego concerned .

T hough in the absence of a su fficient num ber of e xpe ri

men ts one hesitates to speak too p ositively it seems almost ,

certain that such a result as this j ust described would be

possible only in the case of a person having already some
amount of psychic development : and the same condition
 35

is even more de fi nitely necessary in order that a mesmerized

s ubj ect should touch the mental plane in trance So de .

c ide dly is this the case that probably not one in a thousand
,

among ordinary clair voyants ever reaches it at all ; but on

the rare occasions when it is so attai ned the clairvoyant as ,

before remarked m ust be not only of exceptional develop

,

ment but of perfect purity of life and purpose ; and even

,

when all these unusual characteristics are present there still re

mai ns the diflic ulty which an untrained psychic always fi nds
i n translating a vision accurately from the higher plane to the
lower All these considerations of course only emphasize
—
.
, ,

what has been so often insisted upon before the necess i ty

of the careful training of all psychics under a quali fi ed
instructor before it is possible to attach much wei ght to
their reports of what they se e .

T HE D I S E M BODI E D .

Before considering in deta il the condition of the dise m

bodied entities o n the various subdivisions of the m enta l
plane we must have very clearly in our m inds the broad
,

distinction between the rfipa and arfipa levels of which men ,

tion has already been made On the former the man lives
.

entirely in the world of his own thoughts still fully ide n ti

,

fying himself with his personality i n the life whic h he has

recently quitted ; on the latter he is simply the reincarnatin g
ego or soul who (if he has developed sufiic ie nt con
,

sc io u sn e ss on that level to know anything clearly at all !

understands at least to some extent the evoluti o n upon
, ,

which he is engage d and the work that he has to do

, .

I t should be remembered that every man passes through

both these stages between death and birth though the um ,

developed maj ority have so little consciousness in either o f

 3 6

them as yet that they might more truly be said to dream

throu gh them N evertheless whether conscious ly or un
.
,

c o nsmo usly every h um an

, being must touch the higher
levels of the mental plane before reincarnation can take
place ; and as his evolution proceeds this touch becomes
m ore and more de finite and real to him N ot only is he .

more conscious there as he progresses but the period he ,

passes in that world of reality becomes longer ; for the

fact is that his consciousness is slowly but steadily risi ng
'

th rough the difle re nt planes of the system .

Prim iti ve man for exam ple has comparatively litt le con
, ,

sc io us nes s on any plane but th e physical during l ife and the ,

lower astral after death ; and indeed the same may be said
of the quite un developed m an even in our own day A .

perso n a little more advan ced begins to have a short period

of heaven life (on the lower levels of course ! but sti ll spends
-
, ,

by far the greater part of his time between incarnations on , ,

the astral plane As he progresses the astral life grows

.

shorter an d the heaven life lo er unti l when he becomes an

-
,

intellectual and spiritually m in ed person he passes th rough

-

the astral plane with hardly any delay at all and enj oys ,

a long and happy soj ourn on the more re fi n e d of the lower

mental levels By this time however the consciousness in
.
, ,

the true ego on its higher level is awakened to a very con

s ide rab le exten t and thus his conscious life on the mental
,
—
plane di vides itself into two parts the later and shorter
portion being spent on the higher sub plan es in th e causal -

bodi
Ti i e process previously described then repeats itself the ,

life on the lower levels gradually shorten ing while the ,

higher life becomes steadi ly longer and fuller till at last

—
,

the tim e comes when the consciousness is un ifi e d when

the higher and lower selves are indissolubly un ited and the ,

man is no longer capable of wrapping himse lf up in his own

 37

cloud of thought and m istaking the little that he can see

,

through that for the whole of the great heaven world around -

—
him when he realizes the true possibilities of his life and ,

so for the fi rst time tru ly be gins to live But by the time .

that he attains these heights he wi ll already have entered

upon the Path and taken his future pro gress de fi nitely into
,

hi s own hands .

T HE ! A
! L I T I ES E E A R!
N C SS F O R T HE H E A VE N L I FE
-
.

T he g reate r rea lity of the heaven life as compared with -

that on earth shines forth clearly when we consider what

conditions are requisite for the attainment of this higher
state of exis ten ce Fo r the very quali ties which a man
.

must develope during li fe if he is to have any existen ce in

,

the heaven world after death are j ust those which all the
-
,

best and noblest of ou r race have agreed in considering

as really an d permanen tly des irable I n order that an .

aspiration or a thought force should result in exis tence

-

on that plane its dom inant characteristic must be un se lfish

,

ness.

'

Afle c tio n for family or friends takes many a man in to the

heaven life and so also does rel igious devotion ; yet it
-
,
'

wo uld be a mistake to suppose that all afle c tio n or al l

devotion must th erefore necessarily fi nd its port maria ! -

expression there for of each of these qualities the re are

obviously two varieties the sel fi sh and the unse lfish—tho ugh
,

it might perhaps reasonably be argued that it is only the

latter kind i n each case which i s really worthy of the
name .

There is the love which pours itself out upon its obj ect
—
,

seeking for nothing in return never even thinking of itself ,

but on ly of what it can do for the loved one ; and such a

feeli ng as this generates a spiritual force which can not work
 3 8

itself out except upon the m en tal plane But there is al so

—
.

another emotion which is someti mes called love an ex

acting sel fi sh kind of passion which desires mainly to be
lo ve d—which is thinking all the time of what it receives
rather than of what it gives and is quite li kely to ,

degenerate i nto the horrible vice of j ealo usy upon (or even
without! the smallest provocation Such a ffection as this .

has in i t no seed of the mental development ; the forces

which it sets in motion will never rise above the astral
plane.

T he same is true of the feeli ng of a certain very large

class of religious devotees whose one th ought is not the
, ,

glory of their deity but how they may save their own
—
,

m iserable souls a position which forcibly suggests that

they have not yet developed anything that real ly deserves
the name of a soul at all .

On the other hand there is the real religious devotion ,

which thinks never of self but only of love and gratitude

,

towards the deity or lea der and is fi lled with ardent desire
,

to do somethin g for hi m or in his name ; and such a feeling

often leads to a prolonged heaven life of a comparatively -

exalted type .

T his would of course be the case whoever the deity or

leader might be and followers of Buddha Kris h na
, , ,

Ormuz d Allah and C hrist would all equally attai n their meed
of celestial bliss—its length and quality de pe ndin upon
, ,

the intensity and purity of the feeling and not in t 6 least ,

upon its o bjm t though this latter c onside ration would

,

undoubtedly a ffect the possibility of receiving instruction

durin g that higher life .

M ost h uman devotion however l ike most human love

, , ,

is neither wholl ypure nor wholly sel fi sh T hat love m ust .

be low indeed i nto which no unsel fish thought or imp ul se

has entered ; and on the other hand an affection which is
 39

usually and ch iefly qui te pure and noble may yet sometimes
be clouded by a spasm of j ealous feeling or a passing
thought of self In both these cases as i n all the law of
.
, ,

eternal j ustice discrimin ates unerringly ; and j ust as the

momen tary flash of nobler feeling in the less developed
heart w ill s urely receive its meed in the hea ven world even -
,

though there be naught else in the l ife to raise the soul

above the astral plane so the baser thought which erstwhile
,

dimmed the holy radiance of a real love will work out its
fo rce in the astral world i nterferin g not at all with the
,

magni fi cent celestial life which flows infallibly from years

of deep a ffection here below .

How A M AN F I RS T ! A I NS T H E H EA E N L I F E
V -
.

It will be seen therefore that i n the earlier stages of

, ,

their evolution many of the backward egos never con

sc io u sly att ain the heave w wo rld at all whilst a still larger,

num ber obta in only a comparatively slight touch of some

of i ts lower pla nes E very soul must of course withdraw
.

into its true self upon the higher levels before reincarna
tion but it does not at all follow that in that condition
it will experience anything that we should cal l conscious
11 6 5 8
. This subj ect will be dealt with more fully when we
come to treat of the arfipa planes ; it seems better to
begin with the lowest of the rttpa levels and work steadily
‘

up wards so we may for the moment leave on one si de that

,

portion of humanity whose conscious exi stence after death

is practically con fi ned to the astral plane and proceed to ,

consi der the case of an entity who has j us t risen out of that
position —who for the fi rst ti me has a slight and fleeting
consciousness in the lowest subdi vision of the heaven
world .

Th ere are e vidently variou s methods y b w l

 4o

rtant step in the early development of the soul may be

rought about but it wi ll be su fficient for our present pur
,

pose if we take as an illus tration of one of them a somewhat

pathetic litt le story from real life w hich came under the
observation of our studen ts when they were investigating
thi s question I n this case the agen t of the great e vo lu
.

tio nary fo rces was a poor seam stress living in one of the
,

dreariest and most squalid of our terrible L ondon slums a —

fetid court in the Eas t End into which light an d ai r could
scarcely struggle .

N aturally she was not highly ed ucated for her l ife had
,

been one long round of the hardest work un der the least
favourable of condi tions ; but nevertheless she was a good
hearted benevolent creature overflowing with love and
, ,

kindness towards all with whom she came in to contact .

He r roo m s were as poor perhaps as any in the court but

, , ,

at least they were cleaner and neater than the others S he .

had no money to ive when sickness b rought need even

more di re than us ufito some of her neighbou rs yet on such ,

an occasion she was always at hand as often as she could

snatch a k w m om ents from her work o fferi ng with ready
,

was within her power .

a provi dence to the rough ignoran t ,

they gradually came to look

of help and mercy always at ,

illness Often after toilin g all

.
,

t s intermission she sat up half

’
,

at nursing some of the many

urro undings so fatal
n slum and in
her unremitting
the on ly higher
 4 1

T he conditions of existence in that court being such as

th e y were there is littl e wonder that some of her patients
,

died and then it becam e clear th at she had done for th e m

,

m uch more than she knew she had giv e n them not only a
little kindly assi stance in their temporal trouble but a very ,

important impul se on the course of spiritual evolution F o r

—
.

these were undeveloped soul s e ntities of a very backward

c lass who had n e v e r yet in any of their births set in motion
-

the spiritu al forces which alone could give them consciou s

exis tence on the mental plane ; but now for the fi rst time
not only had an ideal towards which they could strive been
put before them but also really unsel fi sh love had been
,

evoked in th e m by her action and the very fact of having

,

so strong a fee ling as thi s had raised them and given them
more individuality and so after their stay in the a stral plane
,

was ended they gained their fi rst experience of the lowest

subdivi sion of the heaven world -
A short experience
.
,

probably and of by no means an advanced type but still of

, ,

far greater importa nce than appear s at fi r st sight ; for when

once the great spiritual energy of un se lfishne ss has been
awakened the very working out of its results in the heaven
,
-

world gives it the tendency to repeat it self and small in ,

amount though thi s fi rst outpou ring may b e it yet builds ,

into the soul a faint ti nge of a quality which will certainly

express itself again in the next li fe .

So the gentle benevolence of a poor seam stress has given

to sev e ral le ss developed souls t he ir introduction to a con
sciou s spiritual life which incarnation after incarnation will
grow steadily stronger and react more and more upon the
,

earth lives of the future

-
T hi s little incident perhaps
s uggests an expl an ation of the fact that in the variou s
religion s so much importance is attached to the personal
—
el ment in charity the direct association bet ween donor
e

and re c ipient .
 42

S s vm n S! P L AN E ;
B- ra r
t L o rn sr Hm v xx .

This lov est su bdivis io n of the he ave n wro rld , to which the
ac tio n o f o ur po o r se ams tre ss jraise d the o b e cts of he r
kindly care has for its pri ncipal charact eris tic that of fe c
af
tion fm family o r frie nd s—unse lfis h of (n u rse but usually
,
'
, ,

som ewhat narrow Here ho wever we m ust guard our

.
, .

selva against the possibi lity of m isconception W hen it is .

sai d that family affe ctio n take s a man to the se ve n th

ce le sfial sub ph n e and re ligious de vo tio n to the sixth,

two sub divisio ns, firs t spe nding a long perio d of happines s
in the midst o f his family, and then passing upward to the
ne xt le ve l, there to e xhaust the spiri tual forces en gendere d

happens for in suc h a case as

,

we have suppose d the man would awaken to cons cious ness

i n the sixth su bdi vision w here he would fi n d him self e rr
,

gage d together with those w hom he had lov ed so m uch in

,

the highes t form of devotion w hich he was able to rea lize .

And whe n we think of it this is reasonable enough for the ,

man who is c apab le o f religious devotion as well as mere

fam ily affe ction is naturally li kely to be endowed with a
developm en t of the latter virtue than
su sceptible to influence in one direction
rule holds good all the way up ; the
lways include the quali ties of the lower
to itself and when it does so i ts
,

in habitan ts al m ost in variably have these qualities in ful ler

m e asu re than the souls on a lower plane .

Wh en it is said that fam ily attr action is the characterist ic

 43

of the seven th su b plan e it must not therefore be supposed

-
,

for a momen t that love is con fi n ed to this plan e b ut rather ,

that the man who will fi nd himself here after death is one
in whose character this affection was the hi g hest quality
the only one in fact wh ich entitled him to the heaven life
, ,
-

at all But love of a far no bler and g rander type than

.

anythin g to be seen on this level may of course be found

upon the hi g her su b planes - .

One of the fi rst enti ties encoun tered b y the investigators

upon this su b plane forms a very fair typical example of its
-

inha b itan ts T he man durin g l ife had been a small groc er

—not a person of intell ectual developmen t or of any parti
.

cu lar rel i gious feelin g b ut simply the ordinary honest and

,

respecta ble s mall tradesman N o dou b t he had gone to.

church regularly every S unday because it was the c ustomary ,

and proper thin g to do ; b ut reli g ion had been to him a

sort of dim cloud which h e did not really un derstan d which ,

had no connectio n with the b usiness of everyday l ife and ,

was never taken into acco unt in decidin g its pro blems H e .

had therefore none of the depth of devotion which mig ht

have lifted him to the next su b plane ; b ut he had for his -

wife and family a warm affection in which there was a larg e

el e ment of unse lfis hne ss T hey were constan tly in his
.

mind and it was for them far more than for himself that he
,

worked from morn in g to n ig ht in his tiny litt le s hO p ; and

so when after a period of ex istence on the astral plan e he
, ,

had at last shaken hi mself free from the disinteg ratin g

desire body he found himsel f in this lowest su bdivision of
-
,

the heaven world with all his loved ones gathered round
-

him .

H e was no more an intellectual or hi ghly spiritual man

than he had been on earth for death b rin g s wi th it no ,

sudden development of that kind the surroundi n g s in which

he found himself with his family were not of a very refi ned
as in te nsd y happy as he n s m pahk d hd ng an d sino e he
was all the time thin king o f his family rathc r than o f hims e lf
h e was undo u bte dly develo pin g unse lfish characteristics ,
which wo uld be built in to h is so u l as permanen t q ualitie s,
an d so would re appea r in all his fu tu re lives o n a rt h .

An other typica l case was that o f a man who had die d

whil e his only daug h ter was sti ll yo un g ; h ere in the hea ven
world he had her always wi th him and always at her best ,

an d he was con tin ually occupying himself i n w eavi n g all

sorts of bea utiful picture s of h e r fu ture ! e t another was
.

that of a youn g g irl who was al ways a bs orbed in c ontem

latin g the m an ifold perfections of her father an d plan n in g
p
,

ittle surpris es and fresh pleas ures for him . An other was a
! ree k woman who was spendin g a marvellously happy time
wi th her th ree children —one of them a bea utiful boy whom ,

she delig hted in imagi ning as the victor i n the Olympic

games .

A striki n g characteris tic of th is su b pla n e for th e last few

-

cen turies has be en the very larg e num be r of R oman s

—
,

C artha g i nia ns,

and E n g l ishmen to be found th e re this being
of these nations the prin ci

usually en ters more

co n sequ e n tly tak es

was of co urse an almost in fin ite variety amon g the

, ,

erve d th eir di f
, ferent deg rees of adva n ceme n t being
by varyin g deg rees of lumi n osity while ,

38 of colour i ndicated re s e tive ly the qualities

s e rso ns in question had g ‘c
elop e d S ome we e
p . r
0 had died in the full stren g th of th e ir af fection ,
 45

and so were always occupied wi th the one perso n they loved

to the entire exclusion of all others 5 others there were who
had been alm ost savag es one example bein g a M alay a very
, ,

undeveloped man (at the stag e which we should tech nically

descri be as that of a low third class pitri ! who o b ta ined a
-

sli ght experience of the heaven life in connection with a

-

dau g h ter whom he had loved .

I n all these cases it was the touch of unsel fish affection

which gave them their heaven ; i ndeed apart from that , ,

there was nothin g in the activity of their personal lives w hich

could have expressed itself on that plane I n most instances
.

o bserved on this level the imag es of the loved ones are very
far from perfect and consequently the true egos or souls of
,

the friends who are loved can exp ress themselves b ut poorly
throug h them th ou g h even at the wo rst that expression is
much ful ler and more satisfyin g than it ever was in physical
l ife I n earth life we see our frien ds so partially we know
.
-

only those parts of them which are con genial to us and the ,

other sides of their characters are practically non e xiste nt for

us. Our comm union with them and our knowledg e of them
down here mean very much to us and are often to us amon g
,

the greatest thin g s in life yet in reality this communion and

this knowled g e m ust always be excee din g ly defective for ,

even in the very rare cases where we can think that we

know a man thorou g hly and all throu g h b ody and soul it , ,

is stil l only the part of hi m which is in man ifestation on

these lower planes while in incarnation that we can kn ow ,

and there is far more behind in the real eg o which we can

not reach at all I ndee d if it were possi ble for us wi th the
.
, ,

direct and perfect vision of the mental plane to see for the ,

first time the mko le of our friend when we met him after
death the pro bab ility is that he would be quite un rec o g
,

niz able certainly he woul d not be at all the dear one

whom we thoug ht we had known before .
 46

I t must be understood that the keen a ffection which alone

b rin g s one man in to the heave n life of another is a very
~

powerful force upo n these hig her planes —a force which

reaches up to the soul of th e man who is loved an d evokes ,

a respo n se from i t Natu ral ly the vividness of that response

.
,

the amount of life and energ y in it, depends on the develop

men t of the soul of the lov e d one b ut there is no case in
,

which the response is not a perfectly real one as far as it

goes .

Of course the soul or eg o can be fi lly reac hed only upon

—
his own level one of the arflpa su bdivisions of this mental
plane b ut at least we are very m uch n earer to that in any
stag e of the heaven world than we are here and therefore
-
,

under favoura ble conditions we could there know enor

m o us ly more of our friend th an would ever be possi ble here ,

while even under the most unfavoura b le of condi tions we are

at any rate far closer to the reality there than we have ever

T wo factors have to be taken into account in our con

—
sideration of this su bj ect the de gree of development of
each of the persons concern ed I f the man in the heaven
.

life has stron g affection and some development in sp irituality

he will fo rm a clear and fairly perfect thou g ht imag e of his
—
-

frien d as he knew him an image throu g h which at that

level the soul of the frien d could exp ress himself to a very
considera ble extent But in order to take full advantage of
.

that opport unity it is necessary that that soul should h im self

h e very fairly advanced in evolution .

Ve see the refore that th ere are two reasons for which
‘

, ,

aanife statio n may be immrf e ct T he imag e made b y

.

lead man m ay be so vague and ine fficient that the

I, even thou g h we ll evolved may be a b le to make v e ry
-
,

use o f it ; and on the oth er han d ev e n when a g ood

,

is made the re may not be su fficien t developmen t

,
 47

on the friend s part to ena b le him to take due advanta g e

’

of it .

But in any and every case the soul of the friend i s reached
by the feelin g of affection and w hatever may be its stag e of
,

development it at once responds by pourin g its elf forth into

the imag e which has been mad e T he extent to which the.

true man can express himself throu g h it depends on the

—
two factors a bove mentioned the kind of imag e which is
-

made in the fi rst place and how m uch soul there is to ex

,

press in th e second ; b ut even the feeb lest imag e that can

be made is at any rate on the mental plan e and there fore , , ,

far easier for the eg o to reach than is a physical b ody two

whole planes lower down .

I f the friend who is loved is still alive he will of course be

enti rely unaware down here on the physical plane that his
true self is enj oyin g this addi tion al manifestation b ut t his
'
,

in no way aflec ts the fact that that man ifestation is a more

real one and contai n s a n earer approxi mation to his true se lf
than th is lower one which is al l that most of us can as yet
,

see.

An interestin g point is that since a man may well enter

into the heaven life of several of his departe d fri ends at once
-
,

he may th us be simultaneously man ifest ing himself in all

these various forms as well as perhaps manag in g a physical
, , ,

body down here T hat conception however presents no

.
, ,

di fficulty to anyone who understands the relation of the

di fferent plan es to one another it is j ust as easy for him to
man ifest hi mself in seve ral of these celestial i mages at once ,

as i t is for us to be sim ultaneously con scious of the pressure

of several d ifferent articles ag ainst different parts of our
‘b ody T
. he relation of one plane to another is like that of
one dimension to another no num ber of uni ts of the lower
dimension can ever equal one of the hig her and in j us t the , .

same way no num ber of these mani fes tations could exhaust
the power of re sponse in the eg o above On the contrary
.
,

such mani festation s afford him an apprecia b le addi tional

opportunity fo r development on the mental plane an —
opportunity which is the direct re sult and reward under
the operation of the law of di vine j ustice of the
actions or qualities which evoked such an outpourin g of
affection .

I t is clear from all this that as the man evolves his o ppo r
,

tun itie s in all directions b ecome g reater N ot only is he

.

more likely as he advances to attract the love and reveren ce

of m any and so to have m any strong thou g ht im age s at his
,
-

disposal on the mental pl ane ; b ut also his power of m ani

fe statio n throu g h each of these an d his receptivi ty in it
rapidly increase with his progres s .

T hi s was very well illustrated by a simple case which

recently came under the notice of our investi gators I t was .

that of a mother who had die d perhaps twenty years ago ,

leavin g behind her two b oys to whom she was deeply

attached . N aturally they were the most prominent figures
in her heaven and qu ite naturally too she thou g ht of them
, , ,

as she had left them as boys of fi fteen or sixteen years of

,

ag e T he love which she th us ceaselessly poured out upon

.

these mental images was really actin g as a b e n e fic e n t force

showered down upon the g rown up men in this physical
-

world b ut it did not affect them both to the same exte n t

,

not that her love was stron g er for one than the other b ut ,

b ecause there was a g reat di fference in the v itality of the

imag es themselves No t a di fference be it understood that
.
, ,

the mother could se e ; to her both appeared equally with

her and equally all that she could po ssi b ly desire yet to the
eyes of the investi gators it was very evident that one of the se
imag es was very much more instinct with living force than
the other On tracing this very interestin g phenomenon to
.

its source it was found that in one case the son had g rown
,
 49

u p in to an ordinary man of —
b usiness not
spe cially evil in
any way b ut b y no means spiri tually minded while the
,
— -

other had become a man of hi g h unsel fi sh aspiration and of ,

considera ble re fi nement and cultu re H is life had been .

such as to develope a much greater amount of consciousn ess

in the soul t han his brother s and consequently this hi g her
’
,

self was ab le to vitalize much more fully that imag e of his

youthful days which his mother had formed in her heaven
l ife T here was more soul to put in and so the imag e was
.
,

vivid and livin g .

Further research re vealed num bers of si m ilar instances ,

and it was very clearly seen that the more hi g hly a soul is
evolved i n sp irituali ty the more fully he can express
,

himself in such manifestations as his friends love has ’

p rovided for him And by such fuller expression he is also

.

enabled to derive more and more bene fi t from the li ving

force of that love as it pours itself upon hi m throu g h these
tho ughb im age s . As the soul grows these imag es become
fuller expressions of him till when he gains the level of a
,

M aster he con sciously emplo ys them as a means of helpin g

and inst ructin g his pupils .

Alon g these lines only is conscious communication

possi ble between those still imprisoned in the physical body
and those who have passed in to this celestial realm As .

has been said a soul may be s hini ng out g loriously throug h

,

his imag e in a friend s heaven life and yet in his manifesta

’
-
,

tion throug h the physical body on this plane that soul may
be entirely unconsci o us of all this and so may suppose ,

himself una b le to comm unicate with his departed friend .

But if tha t soul has evolved his consciousness to the point

of un i fi cation and can therefore use his full powers while
,

stil l in the phy s ical body he can then realize even duri ng
, ,

this dull earthly l ife that he still stands face to face with his
friend as of yore —that death has not removed the man he
,

! !
 5 0

loved b ut has only opened his eyes to the grander wider

, ,

l ife which ever lies around us all .

I n appearance the friend would seem much as he did in

earth life yet somehow stran gely glori fi ed I n the min d
-
,

body as in the astral body there IS a reproduction o f the

physical form within the outer ovoid whose s hape is deter
mined b y that of the causal body so that it has somewhat
,

the appearance of a form of denser mist surro unded by a

l ig h ter mist Al l throug h the heaven life the personali ty
.
-

of the last physical l ife is distinctly preserved and it is ,

only when the consciousn ess is fi nally wi thdrawn into the

causal body that th is feeling of personality is merg ed in the
in dividuality and the man for the first time since this
,

descent into in carnation reali zes himself as the true and

com paratively pe rman ent eg o .

M en sometimes ask whether on this mental plane there is

i —
an y consciousness of t me any al tern ation of n ig ht and
day of sleep in g and wakin g The only wakin g in the heaven
,
.

world is the slow dawnin g of its wonderful bliss upon the

m ind sen se as the man enters upon his life on that plane
-
,

an d the only sl ee pin g is the equally g radual sin kin g in to

happy uncon sciousness when the lon g term of that life at
leng th comes to an end I t was once descri b ed to us in the
.

beg inni ng as a sort of prolongation of all the happiest hours

in a man s life mag ni fied a h undredfold in bliss ; and
’

thou h that de fi nition leaves m uch to be desired (as indeed

all p ysic al plane de fi nitions must ! it still comes far nea rer
-
,

the truth than this idea of day and nig ht T here is indeed .
, ,

what see ms an in fi ni ty of variety in the happiness of the

heaven world b ut the chan g es of sleepin g an d wakin g form
-

no part of its plan .

On th e fi nal separation of the mind body from the astral -

a of blan k unconsciousness usually supervenes

mr v in
g i n le n g th b etween very wide limits — analog ous
 5 1

to that which usually follows physical death T he awak .

cu in g from this in to active m ental con sciousness closely

'
resem bles what often occurs in waking from a ni ght s sl e ep .

Just as on fi rst awakenin g in the mornin g one sometimes

passes thro ug h a period of intensely del ig htful repose durin g
which one is conscious of the sense of enj oyment thoug h ,

the mind is as yet inactive and the b ody hardly under

con trol so the en tity awaken in g in to the heaven world first
,
-

passes th roug h a more or less prolong ed period of intense

an d gradually increasi n g b liss before h i s full activity of
consc i ousn ess on that plane is reached W hen fi rst th is
.

se nse of won drous j oy dawns on him it fi lls the entire fi eld

of his consciousness but g radually as he awakens he fi nds
,

himself surrounded by a world peopled by his own ideals ,

and presenti n g the feature s appropriate to the sub plane to -

which he has been

S I! TH S! BPL ANE ;
- ra n; Saco nn H EAVE N .

T he dominan t characteris tic of this su bdivision may be

said to be anthropomorphic religious devotion The .

distinction be tween such devotion an d the relig ious feelin g

which fi nds its expression on the second su b plane of the -

as tral l ies in the fact that the former is purely unsel fi sh (th e
man who feels it bein g totally unconcerned as to what the
result of h is devotion may be as regards himse lf! while the ,

latter is always aroused by the hope and des ire of gaining

some advantag e th rou g h it ; so that on the second astral
s ub plane such reli g ious feelin g as is there active invaria b ly
-

contains an element of sel fish barg aini ng while th e devotion

,

which raises a man to this sixt h s ub p lane of the h eaven

world is en tirely free from an y such taint .

On the other hand this phase of devotion which co m

, ,

sists esse ntially in the perpe tual adoration of a person;

 $ 2

dei ty must be carefully d istin guish ed from those still

,

hig her forms which fi nd th eir e xpression in perform in g

some de fi nite work for the deity s sake A few e xamples ’
.

of the cases o b served on this su b plan e will perhaps show -

these distinctions more clearly than any mere description

can do .

A fairly larg e n um ber of entities whose men tal activities

work themse lves out on this level are drawn from the
oriental reli gions ; b ut only those are included who have
the charac teristic of pure but comparatively unreason ing
and unintelli gent devotion W orshippe rs of Vishnu both
. ,

in hi s avatar of Krishna and otherwise as well as a few ,

followers of S hiva are to be found here each wrapped up

, ,

in the self woven cocoon of his own thoug hts alone with
-
,

his own g od and o blivious of the r est of ma n kind except

, ,

i n so far as h is a ffections may associate with him in his

adoration those whom he loved on ear th A Vaishnavite .
,

for example was noticed wholly a b sor bed in the ecstatic

,

worship of the very same imag e of Vishn u to which he

had mad e o ffering s durin g l ife .

S ome of th e most charact eristic examples of this plan e

are to be found amon g women who indeed form a very ,

larg e maj ority of its inha b itants Amon g oth ers there was
.

a H indu woman who had glori fi ed her hus ban d i n to a

divine bein g an d also thoug ht of the child K rishna as
,

playin g with her own children b ut wh ile these latter were

,

thoroug hly human and real the child Krishna was o b vio usl
,

nothin g b ut the sem blance of a blue wooden imag e galvaniz

into life Krishna also appeared in her heaven under an other
.

form that of an e ffeminate yo un g man playin g on a flute ;

b ut she was not in th e least confused or trou b led by this
dou b le manifestation An other woman who was a
.
,

worshipper of S hiva had confounded the g od with her

,

hus band l ooking upon the latter as a manifestation of the

,
 53

former so that the on e seemed to be constan tly chan g in g

,

into the other Some Buddhists also are found upon this
.

su bdivision b ut apparently excl usively those less instructed

,

ones who regard the Buddha rather as an o bj ect of adoration

than as a great teacher .

T he C hristian reli g ion also contri b utes many of the

inha bitants of this plane T he unintellectual devotion
.

which is exempl i fi ed on the one hand by the illiterate

Roman Catholic peasant an d on the other b y the earnest
,

and sincere soldier of the Salvation Army seems to

! !
,

produce results very simi lar to those already descri bed for ,

these people also are found wrapped up in con templation

of their ideas of C hrist or his mother respectively For .

instan ce an I rish peasant was seen a bsor bed in the deepest

,

adoration of the V irgin M ary whom he imaged as standin g

,

on the moo n after the fas hion of T iti an s Assumption ’ !

,
!

b ut holdin g out her hands and speakin g to him A .

me dimval monk was foun d in ecstatic contemplation of

C hrist cruci fi ed and the intensity of his yearnin g love and
,

pity was such that as he watched the blood droppin g from

the wounds of the figure of his C hrist the stig mata re
produced themselves upon his o wn m ind body -
.

Another man seemed to have forg otten the sad story of

the cruci fi xion and thoug h t of his C hrist only as g lori fi ed
,

on his throne with the crystal sea b efore him and all
, ,

aroun d a vas t m ul titude of worshippers among whom he ,

himself stood with his wife and family H is a ffection for .

these relatives was very deep yet his thoug hts were more
,

occupied in adoration of the C h rist thou g h his conception

,

of his deity was so mate rial that he imag ed him as constan tly
chan gin g kaleidoscopically backwards and forwards between
the form of a man and that of the lam b bearin g the flag
which we often see represen ted in church windows .

A more in teresting case was that of a S panish m m ! h e

 54

had di ed at a bout the e of nineteen or twenty I n her .

’
heaven she carri ed h e rse f back to the date of C hrist s life
upon earth an d imag in ed herself as acc o m panyin
,

throug h th e chain of events recoun ted in the g os s and ,

after his cruci fixion taki n g care of his moth er the V irg in
M ary No t unn atu rally pe rhaps, her pictures of the
.
,

scen ery an d costum es of Palestine w ere en tirely inaccurate ,

for the Saviour an d his disciples wore the d ress of S pan ish
p easants while the hills roun d Jeru salem were mig hty
,

moun tains cl o thed with vin eyards and the olive trees were
,

hun g with grey S pan ish moss S he thoug h t of hersel f as

.

even tually martyred for her faith an d ascendin g into heaven

, ,

but y et only to live over and over again this li fe in which

she so deli g hted .

A quaint and pretty little e xample of the heaven life -

of a child may conclude our list of in stan ces from thi s

s ub l n He had di ed at the ag e of seven and was
p a e .
,

occupied in re enactin g in the hea ven world the rel igious

- -

stori es which his I rish nurse had told him down here ;
an d best of all he loved to th in k of himself as playing wi th
the i n fan t Jesus an d hel pin g him to mak e th o se clay
,

sparrows which th e power of the C h rist ch ild is fa bled to-

have b rou g ht to life an d caused to fly .

I t will be see n that the b lind unreaso nin g devotion of

which we have been speak in g does not at any ti me raise
its votaries to an y g reat spiritual heig h ts ; b ut it must be
rem em bered that i n all cases they are entirely happy and
sati sfi ed for what they receive is always the
,

ich th ey are capa ble of appreciatin g N or is it .

very g ood effec t on their future ca reer ; for

mere devotion such as this will ever
produce an increased capacity
an d in most u ses it leads also
 SS

and enj oys such a heaven as we have been descri bin g thoug h ,

he is not likely to make rapid prog ress on the path of spiritual

develo pment is at least guarded from many dangers
, ,

for it 15 very impro ba ble that in his next b irth he should

fall into any of the g rosser sins or be drawn away from his
,

devotional aspirations into a mere worldly life of avarice ,

am bition or dissipation Nevertheless a survey of this

,
.
,

s ub plan e distinctly emphasi zes the necessity of followin g

-

S t Peter s advice Add to your faith virtue and to virtue

.
’
, ,

k now ledge .
!

S ince such stran g e resul ts seem to follow from crude

form s of fai th one looks with i nterest to see what e ffect is
,

produced b y the still cruder materialism which not long

ag o was so painfu lly common in E urope M adame .

Blavatsky has stated in Tbe Key to M osoplty that in some

cases a materialist has no conscious life in the heaven world -
,

since h e did n ot whil e o n earth believe i n such a post .

morte m condition I t seems pro ba b le however tha t our

.
, ,

g reat founder was employ in g the word materialist in a !

much more restricted sense than th at in which it is generally

used since in the same vol u me she also asserts that for
,

them no conscious life after death is possi ble at all whereas ,

it is a matter of com mon knowledg e amon g those whose

nig htly work lies upon the astral plane that many of those
whom we usually call materialists are to be met with there ,

and are certainly not unconscious .

For example a prom inent ma te ralis t intimately known

,

to one of our mem bers was not lon g ag o discove red by

his friend upon the hig hest su b lane of the as tral where
p
-
,

he had surrounded him self W i th his books and was ,

contin uin g his studies almost as he mi g ht have done on

earth On bein g questioned b y his friend he readily
.

admitted that the theorie s which he had held while

upon earth were confuted b y the irresisti b le logic c (
 o ut of the highe r forc e s in him in the

Assure d! he has lost m uch by his No

dou bt he ll he been a ble to und erstand the bea uty o f
.

the relig ious ida l , it would have ca ll ed forth in him

a mighty en ergy of d evo tion the effe ct of which he would
,

have be en reapin g no w All that which mig ht have

.
,

his, is miss i ng But his

.

affection his earn est an d ti reless

,

also were great outpourin gs of en ergy which m ust ,

produce their res ul t an d can produce i t nowh ere b ut

,

upon th e m en tal plane The a bsen ce of on e k in d of

.

force cann ot preven t the action of the others .

A n oth er i n sta n ce still more r ecently o bserved was

that of a materialist who on awaken in g upon the as tral
plane afte r d eath supposed h imself to be still alive and
'
,

mere ly c uein g an unpl easan t dream Fortunately .

for him was among t he band of those a ble to

fun ction upon the astral plan e a son of an old friend
o f his , who was commissioned to search for him an d
e n d eavour to re n der him some assistance N atu rally enoug h
.
,

oun g man to be merely a fig u re

receipt of a messag e from his
tte rs which had occurred before
was convinced of the
he found himse lf; an d
 57

became at once exceedingly eager to acquire all possible

infor m ation about it T he instruction which is being given
.

to him under these condition s will undoubtedly h ave

a very great e ffect upon him and will l argely modify
,

not only the heaven life which lies before him but also
-

h is next incarnation upon earth .

W hat is show n to us by these two and by m any other

examples need not after all surpri se us for it is only ,

wh at we might expect from our experience upon the

physical plane W e co nstantly fi nd down here th at nature
.

make s no allowance for our ignorance of her laws ; if ,

under an impression that fi re does not burn a m an ,

puts his hand into a fla m e he is speedily convinced of

,
’
his mistake In the same way a man s disbelief in a
.

future existence does not a ffect the facts of n ature ; and

in some case s at least he simply fi nds out after death
th at he was mistaken .

T he kind of materialism referred to by M adame

Blavatsky in the re m ark s above mentioned was therefore
probably something much coarser and more aggre ssive
than ordinary agnosticism —something which would render
it exceedingly unlikely that a man who held it would
have any qualities requiring a life on the mental plane
in which to work themselves out .

F I FT H S ! B- P L ANE ; TH E T H I RD H E AV E N .

The chief characteristic of thi s subdivision may be

de fi ned as devotion expressing itself in active work T he .

C hri sti an on thi s pl ane for example instead of merely

, ,

adoring his Saviour would think of himself as going

,

out into the world to work for him It is especi ally .

the pl ane for the working out of great schemes and

—
d e sig s unrealized on earth o f great organizations inspired
n
 5 8

by religious devotion and usually havin g for their object

,

some philan thrOpic pu rpose It must be borne in m m d

.
,

however that ever as we rise higher greater comple xity

,

an d variety is introduced so that though we may sti ll

,

be able to give a de fi nite characteristic as on the whole

dominating the plane we shal l yet be more and m ore
,

liable to fi nd variations and exceptions that do not so

readily ran ge them selves un der the general heading .

A typica l cas e al though somewhat above the average

, ,

was that of a man who was found carrying out a gran d

scheme for the amelioration of the condition of the
lower clas ses W hile a deeply religious man hi m self
.
,

he had felt that the fi rst step necessary in dealing wi th

the poor was to improve thei r physical condi tion ; and
the plan which he was now workin g out in h is heaven life -

wi th tri umphant success and lo vmg attention to every

detail was one which had o ften crossed his mind while
on earth though he had been quite unable there to take
,

any steps towards i ts realization .

His i dea had been that if possessed of enormo us wealth

, ,

he would buy up and get i nto his own han ds the whole
—
of one of the smaller trades o ne in which perhaps three
or four large fi rms only were now engaged ; and he tho ught
'

tha t by so doi ng he could c hee t very large savings by

doing away with competit i ve advertising and other wastefu l
forms of trade rivalry and thus be able while supplying
, ,

g oo d s to the public at the same price as now to pay ,

m uch better wages to his workmen It was part of his .

t he m e to buy a plot of land and erect upon i t cottages

his workmen each s urroun ded by its little garden ;
,
’
te r a certain n um ber of years service each workman ,

acquire a share in the pro fi ts of the business which

'
3 snfi c ien t to provide for him in his old age .

3 ou t this syste m our ph ilan thropist had hoped

 S9

to show to the world that there was an em in ently practical

side to C hristianity and also to win the souls of his
,

men to his own faith out of gratitude for the material

benefi ts they had rec eived .

Another not dissi milar case was that of an Indian

prince whose ideal on earth had been the divine hero
k in g Rama on whose example he had tried to model
, ,

his life and methods of govern ment N at urally down .

here all sorts of u ntoward accidents had occurred and ,

many of his schemes had consequently failed but in ,

the heaven life everything went well and the greatest

-
,

possible result followed every one of his well mea nt -

—
e fforts Ra m a of course personally advising and directi ng
his work and receiving perpetual adoration from all his
,

devoted subj ects .

A curious and rather touching instance of personal

religious work was that of a wo m an who had been a nun ,

belonging to one not of the contemplative but of the work

ing orders She had evidently based her life upon the
.

text
, I nasmuch as ye have done it u nto one of the lea st
!

!
of these my brethren ye have done it unto me and now
, ,

in the heaven world she was still carrying out to the fullest
-

extent the inj unctions of her L ord and was constantly ,

occupied in healing the sick in feeding the hungry

—
and clothing a d helping the poo r t he peculi arity of the
n
, ,

case being that each of thos e to whom she had m in istered

at once changed into the appearance of the C hrist whom ,

she then worshipped with fervent devotion .

An instructive case was that of two sisters both of whom ,

had been intensely religious ; one of them had been a

crippled invalid and the other had spent a long life in
,

tending her On earth they had often discussed and

.

planned what religious and philanthropic work they would

carry out i f they were able and now each is the m o st de w
,
 6o

mine nt figure in the hea ven of the other, the cripple bei ng
we ll and strong , while each thinks of the other as j oining
he r in carrying out the unrealize d wishes of her earth life -
.

This was a very fi ne example of the cal m continuity of life

in the case of people of unsel fi sh aims ; for the only differ
e nce that death had m ade was to eli minate di sease and
ng and to render easy the work which had heretofore
,

bee n i m possible.

On th i s plane also the higher type of sincere and devoted

mission ary acti vity fi nds expression . Of course the ordinary
ignorant fanatic never reaches this level but a few of the
,

noblest cases such as L ivingstone might be found here

, ,

aged in the congenial occupation of converting m ulti

fie s of people to the particular religion which they
o

happened to advocate One of the most striki ng of such

.

cases which came under notice was that of a M oham medan ,

who imagined him self as working m ost z ealously at the con

version of the world and its governmen t accord ing to the
,

m ost approved principles of the fai th of Islam .

It appears that under certain conditions artistic capacity

may also bring its votaries to this s ub plane But here a.

careful distinction mus t be drawn T he artist or m usician

.

whose o nly obj ect is the sel fi sh one of personal fam e or who
,

h im self to be influen ced by feelin gs of

naturally generates no forces which
men tal plane at all On the other
.

art whose disciples regard it as a

wer entru sted to them for the spiritual elevation
express itself in even h igher regions than
t hese two ex tremes t hose devotees of art
 61

As an example of this may be m e ntioned a m usician of

very religious tem peramen t who regarded all hi s labour of
love simply as an o ffering to the C hrist and knew nothi ng ,

of the magn i fi cent arrangemen t of sound and colour which

his soul inspiring compos i tions were producing in the matter
-

of the men tal plane N or would all his enthusiasm be

.

wasted and fruitless for wi thou t his kn owledge it was bring

,

ing j oy and help to many and its results would certain ly be

,

to give him increased devotion and increas ed m usical

capacity in his next birth : but wi thout the still wider aspira
tion to help h umanity this kin d of heaven life m ight repeat -

itself alm ost indefi nitely I ndeed glancing back at the

.
,

th ree planes with which we have j ust been deali ng we may ,

notice that they are in all cases concerned wi th the working

—
out of devotion to personalities either to one s family and ’

—
friends or to a pe rsonal deity rather than the wider devo !

tion to hum ani ty for i ts own sake which fi nds its expression
on the next sub plane - .

Fo u a rn S !
'
B- P L AN E ; ra n F o uarn H EA VE N .

So varied are the activities of this the highest of the rupa

,

levels that it is di fficult to group them under a single

,

characteristic Perhaps they m ight best be arranged into

—
.

four main divis ions unse lfish pursuit of spiri tual knowledge ,

hig h philos ophic or scienti fi c though t literary or artistic ,

abi lity exercised for un selfi sh purposes and service for the
,

sake of service T he exact defi nition of each of these

.

classes will be more rea d ily comprehended when some

examples of each have been given .

N aturally it is from those religions in which the necessity

of obtain ing spiritual knowledge is recogn ized that most
of the population of this s ub p1an e is drawn
~
It will be .

rem em bered that on the six th sub plane we found many -

 62

Budd hists whose rel igion had chiefly take n the for m of
devotion to thei r great lea der as a person ; here on the con
,

trar , we have these m ore intelligent fol lowers whose suprem e

y —
aspiration was to sit at his feet an d learn who looked upon
hi m in the light of a teacher rath er than as a bei ng to be
adored .

No w in their hea ven life this highest wish is ful fi lled ;

-

the find them selves in very tru th learning from the Buddha ,

an the im e which they have thus made of him is no

em pty form ut m ost assure dly thro ugh it shines out the
,

wonderful wisd om power an d love of that m ightiest of

, ,
'
earth s teachers They are therefo re acqu iri ng fresh know
.

ledge an d wi der vie ws ; an d the e ffect upon their next l ife

cannot b ut be of the m ost m arked character T hey will .

not pe rhaps re m e m ber any i n dividual facts that they may

have learn t (though when such facts are presen ted to their
m ind s in a subse qu e nt life they wil l grasp them wi th avidi ty
an d intuitively recogni z e their truth ! but the res ult o f the
,

te nc hing will be to buil d in to the ego a strong tendency

to ta ke broade r an d m ore ph ilosoph ical views on all suc h
s
will at once be see n how very d e fi ni tely and unmismk
a b ly s uch a he ave mlife as this haste ns the evoluti o n of the
and o nce m ore our atten tion is d rawn to the eno rm ous

ht w es in

ha ve nJ if
e and by virt ue o f his o wn
o f hims e lf
.

illum in ate
 63

the teachings in his own books bri nging out of them the
,

more hidden meanings .

M any of the followers of the path of wisdom among the

—
Hindus find the ir heaven upon this plane that is if thei r ,

teachers have bee n men possess ing any real knowledge A .

few of the more advanced am ong the S fifis and Pars is are
also here and we still fi nd some of the early ! nosti cs whose
,

spiritual development was such as to earn for them a pro

longed stay in this celestial region B ut except for this .

comparatively small number of S ufis and ! nosti cs neither ,

M oham medanism nor C h ristianity seems to raise its followers

to this level though some who nomin ally belong to these
,

religions may be carried on to this s ub plane by the presence ~

in the ir character of qualities whic h do not depend upon the

teachings pecu liar to their religion .

In this region we also fi nd earnest and devoted students

of Occultis m who are not yet so far advanced as to have
earned the right and the power to forego their heaven life -

for the good of the world Among these was one who in
.

life had been personally known to some of the investigators

—a Buddhist monk who had been an earnest studen t of
T heosophy and had long cherished the hope of being one
,

day privileged to receive in struction directly from its Adept

teachers I n his heaven life the Buddha was the dominan t
.
-

fi gure while the two M asters who have been most closely
,

concerned with the T heosophical Society appeared also as

his l ieutenants expounding and illustrating h is teaching
, .

All three of these images were very ful l of the power and
wisdom of the great bein gs whom they represented and the ,

monk was therefore de fi nitely receiving real teac hing upon

occult subj ects the e ffect of which would almost certain ly
,

be to brin g him actually on to the Path of I ni tia tion in h i s

next birth .

Another instance from our ran ks which was encoun tered

 64

on this level illustrates the terrible effect of harbouring

unfoun ded and un charitable suspicions I t was the case of
.

a devoted and self sac rific ing student who towards the end
-

of her life had unfortunately fallen into an attitude of quite

unworthy and unj usti fi able distrust of the motives of her old
friend and teacher M adam e Blavatsky and it was sad to
notice how this feeling bad shut out to a considerable
exten t the higher influence and teaching which she m ight
have enj oyed in her heaven life -
It was not that the influ
.

ence and teaching were in any way withheld from her for ,

that can never be 3 but that her own mental attitude ren
dered her to some exten t unreceptive of them She was of .

course quite unconscious of this and seemed to herself to

,

be enj oying the fullest and most perfect com m union with
the M asters yet it was obvious to the investigators that but
,

for this unfortunate self limitation she would have reaped

-

far greater advantage from her stay on this level A wealth .

of love and strength and knowledge almost in fi nite lay there

at her hand but her own in grati tude had sadly crippled her
,

power to accept it .

It will be understood that since there are other M asters

of wisdom besides those connected with our own movement ,

and other schools of occultism worki ng along the same

general lines as that to which we belong students attached,

to some of these are also frequently met with upon this sub
p lane
.

Passing now to the next class that of high philosophic

,

and scienti fic thought we fi nd here man y of those nobler

,

and more unsel fi sh th in kers who seek i nsight and know

ledge only for the p urpose of enlighten ing and helping their
fellows We are not including as studen ts of phi losophy
.

those men either in the E ast or the W est who was te their
—
, ,

ti me in mere verbal a ume n t and hair splitting for that is

-

a form of discussion w ich has its roots in sel fi shness and

 65

conceit an d can therefore never help towards a real un der

,

standi ng o f the f acts of the universe : for naturally such

foolish supe rfic iality as this produces no results that c an
work them se lves out on the menta l plane .

As an i n stan ce of a true student noticed on this sub

plan e we may men tion one of the later followers of the neo
platonic system whose name has fortunately been pre serv ed
,

to us in the surv ivi ng records of that period He had .

striven all through his earth life really to master the teach
-

in gs of that school and now his heaven li fe was occupied in

,
-

unravelli ng its my s teries an d in endeavouring to understand

its bearing upo n human life an d development .

Another ca se was that of an a stronomer who seemed to ,

have begun li fe as orthodox but had gradually u n der the

,

influence of his studies widened out i n to Pan theism in his

heaven life he was still pursuing the se studies with a m in d
-

full of reverence and was u n doubtedly gaini ng real know

,

ledge from those great orders of the D evas through whom ,

on thi s plan e the maj e stic cyclic movemen t of the mighty

stellar i n fluences seem s to express it self in ever changi ng -

coru scations of all pe ne tratin g living light He was lost in

o

contemplation of a vast panorama of whirling nebulae and

gradually formi ng sy stems and worlds an d he appeared to
-

be groping after some dim idea as to the shape of the

univer se whic h b e im agined as some vast anim al His
,
.

thoughts surrou n ded him as elemental form s sha ped as

s tar s and one e s pecial source of j oy to him con s isted in
,

li sten ing to the stately rhythm of the m u s ic that pealed out

in mighty c horales from the movi ng orbs .

T he third type of activity on this plane is that highest

kind of arti stic and literary e ffort which is chiefly in spired
by a de sire to elevate and spiritualize the race Here we .

fin d all our greate s t m u s ician s ; on thi s s ub plane M ozart -

,

B e ethoven Bach W agner and others are still flood ing the
, ,

is .
 66

heave n world with harmony far more glorious even than the
o

grandest which they were able to produce when on earth .

It seem s as i f a grea t stream of divine m usic poured into

them from higher region s and was as it were specialized
, , ,

by them and made their own to be then sent forth thro l

all the plane in a great tide of melody which adds to q g;
,

bliss of all around T hose who are functionin g in fu ll

.

consciousness on the m ental plane wi ll clearly hear an d

thoroughly appreciate th is magni fi cent outpouring but ,

even the disembodied enti ties of this level each of who m ,

is wrapped up in h is own thought cloud are also deeply

-
,

affected by the elevating and en nobling influence of its

resonant melody .

T he pain ter and the sculptor also if they have followed

,

their respective arts always with a grand unsel fi sh aim are

, ,

here constantly making and sending forth all kinds of lovely

—
forms for the delight and encouragemen t of their fellow men
the form s being simply artificral elem entals created by
their thought And not only may these bea utiful co nc e p
.

tions give dee pest plea su re to those living entirely on the

mental plane ; they m ayalso in many cases be grasped by
—
the minds of artists sti ll in the fle sh may act as inspira .

ti o ns to them and so be reproduced down here for the

,

elevating and en nob lin g of that portion of humanity w hich

is struggling amid the turmoil of physical li fe .

One touching and beautiful fi gu re seen upon this plane

was that of a boy who had been a chorister and had d ied ,

at the age of fourteen H is whole soul was full of m usic

.

and of boyish dev otion to his art deeply coloured with the
,

thought that by i t he was expressing the religious l o ngin gs

of the m ultitu de who crowded a vas t cathedral and yet was ,

at the same tim e pouring out to them celestial encourage

men t and inspiration He had known little enough save for
.

this one great gift of so ng but he had used that gift

,
 67

wort hily trying to be the voice of the people to heaven and

,

of heaven to the people and ever longing to know more

,

music and render it more worth ily for the C hurch s sake ’
.

An d so in th is celestial life his wish was bearing fruit and ,

over him was bending the quain t angul ar fi gure of a

m ediaeval St Cecilia formed by his loving thought fio m the
.
,
-

picture of her in a stained glass w indow But though the .

ou ter garb was thus a scarcely artistic representa tion of a-

doubtful ecclesias tical legend the rea lity which lay behind
,

it was living and glorious for the chi ld ish thought form was -

vivifie d by one of the mighty archangels of the celestial

hierarch y of song and through it he taught the chorister

,

a grander strain of m us ic than ever earth has kn own .

— ’
Here al so was one of earth s failures for the tragedy of
the earth life leaves strange m arks sometimes even in the
-

heavenly places I n the world where all thoughts of loved

.

o nes smile upon man as friends he was thinking and writing

,

in solitude On earth he had striven to write a great book

.
,

and for the sake of it had refused to use his literary power
in making mere sustenance from paltry hack work but -

none w o uld look at his book and he walked the streets

,

despai ring till sorrow and starvation closed his eyes to

—
,

earth He had been lonely all his life in his youth

.

friendless an d shut out from fam ily ties and in his m an ,

hood able to work only in his own way pushin g aside ,

hands that would have led hi m to a wider view of life s ’

possibilities than the earthly paradi se which he longed to

make for all .

N ow as he thought and wrote though there were none

, ,

whom he had loved as personal or ideal helpers who could

mak e part of th is his mental life he saw stretching before ,

him the ! topia of which he had dreamed for which he had ,

tried to live and the vast thron ging impersonal m ultitudes

,

whom he had longed to serve ; and the j oy o f the ir \m

 68

s urg ed bac k on him and m ad e hi s s ol i tu de a heav en .

W hen h e i s b o r n ag ai n on earth h e wi ll sure ly re tu rn

wi t h po wer t o achi e ve as w e ll as t o plan an d thi s ce l es tial
,

vi si on will be partially bodi ed fo rth i n h ap pi e r te rrene

liv e s
.

M a n y were fo u nd on this p lan e w ho duri n g th e ir earth

stay ha d devoted th e m se l ves to h elp i n g men beca u se t h ey
—
felt th e ti e o f b ro th er h ood wh o rendered se rvice for t h e
s ake o fs ervice ra th e r tha n beca us e th ey des ired to p l e as e any
p ar ticular dei ty T h e y wer e e ngag ed in w or ki n g o ut wi th
.

full kn o w l edge a nd cal m wi sdom vast s ch em es o f be ne fi

cen c e mag n ific en t p la ns o f wo rld i mp ro vem e nt an d at t h e
, ,

sa me tim e th ey we re m a tu ri n g powe rs wi t h w hich to carry

them o ut hereaft er on th e lower p lane o f p hysi ca l li fe .

T HE RE A L IT ! O F THE HE AVEN L I F E
-
.

C riti cs wh o hav e very im pe rfectly app re hended th e

The os op hical teachi n g o n th e su bj ect o f the hereafter have ,

somet i mes u rg ed t h at t h e life o f t h e ord i nary person i n the

lower h eav en w orld i s not hin g b ut a drea m and an ill us i o n
—that wh en h e i m ag i nes him self happy am ids t hi s famil y
-

and fri ends or ca r ry i ng out hi s pl ans with s u ch ful n es s o f

,

j oy and s ucces s h e 18 reall y on ly th e victim o f a cr u e l

,

del u s i on : an d th i s i s som e ti m es u n favo ura bly c on tras ted

!
with w h a t i s call ed th e so lid obj ec ti vity o f t h e h eaven
!

promised by o rth odoxy Th e reply to su ch a n o bj ec ti on i s

.

twofo l d : fi rs t t h at whe n w e a re s tu dy in g th e p ro ble m s o f

,

th e fu tu re life we are not co n c erned to know w hic h o f tw o

hypo th eses p ut be fo re us wo ul d b e t h e pl eas an ter (tha t be ing ,

after all a ma t ter o f op i n i on ! b u t rath er w h i ch o f th em i s

, ,

th e tru e one ; and secon dl y tha t w h en we enqu i re more

,

ful lyinto th e facts o f th e ca se w e s ha ll see tha t t h ose w ho

mai ntai n th e illusi on th eo ry are looking at the m a tter fro m
 69

qu ite a wron g po i n t o f vi ew and h ave u tte rl y m is under stood

,

t he fac t s.

As to t he fi rs t po i n t th e actual s tat e o f affa i rs i s qu ite

,

eas i ly discoverab le by those who have devel oped t h e power

to pass consciously on to t h e mental plane during l i fe and
when so i nvestiga ted i t i s found to ag ree perfectly wi th the
account g iven to us by t he Masters o f Wi sdom t h ro u g h our
g reat founder and t eacher Madame B lavat sky T his a t once .

d i sposes o f t he solid o bj ec tivi ty theory men ti oned a b ove ,

and transfers th e onus o f proo f to the s h oulders o f our o r

th o do x friends As to the second poin t if the contention
.
,

b e that on the lower levels o f t h e heaven world t ruth in its -

fu l ness i s not yet kno w n to man and tha t consequen t ly ,

illusion s ti ll exists th ere we must frankly admit that t h at is so

, .

B ut that i s no t what is u s ual ly meant b y those who b ri n g

forward th i s o bj ecti on ; th ey are g enerally oppressed b y a
feel i n g th at the h eav en l ife wi ll b e more i llusory and useless
-

—
t han the physical an i dea t h an w hi ch not hi n g c ould b e
more ent i rely opposed to the fac t .

I s it contended t h a t on that plane we make our o wn

surroundin g s an d fo r tha t reason see only a very small par t
,

o f the plane ! S urely down here also the world o f w h ich a :

person i s sensi b le is never the w /zo le o f t he outer world b u t ,

only so muc h o f it as his senses h i s i ntellec t his educati on

, , ,

ena ble him to take i n I t is o b vi ous that dur i n g earth l ife

.
-

the averag e person s concepti on o f e v erything around him i s

’

r —
really qui t e a w on g one empty imperfec t i nacc ura t e i n a
, ,

doz en ways fo r w h at does he know o f the g reat forces

, ,
—
et heri c astral men tal wh i ch l i e b eh i nd everyt hi n g h e sees ,

and in fac t form by far the mos t i mporta nt part o f i t P

Wh at does he kn ow as a rule even o f th e more recondi t e
, ,

p h ysical facts wh i c h surround h im and meet h im a t every

step t h at h e ta kes P T h e truth i s t ha t h ere as i n h is heaven ,

li fe he l i ves in a world w hi c h is v ery larg ely o f h i s own

,
 7 o

—
creati on H e does not r ealize i t either the re or here but that
,

i s onl y b eca u se o f hi s o wn ig n orance because he kn ows no

,

b ett e r .

I s it sai d that i n the h eaven w orld a man takes h i s

-

th o ug ht s fo r real thin g s ! H e i s q uite ri g ht ; they a re

real t hi n g s and on thi s th e th oug ht p lane not hi n g but
, ,
-
,

th o ught ca n be real T h e re we recog n ize that great fact

.

h ere w e do no t ; on wh i ch plane t h en i s the d el usion, ,

gr eat er T h os e th o ughts o f hi s ar e i ndeed realities a nd are ,

ca pabl e of prod uci n g th e m os t s trikin g r esults upo n li vi ng

m en res ults w hi c h can nev e r be oth erw is e th an bene fi ci al
-
,

becaus e u pon th a t hi g h p lane there can be none but lovin g

thoug ht T hus it will be see n t h a t t he th eo ry that the
.

heavm hfe i s an illu si on is merely t h e result o f a m is

co nc ep tion an d s h o w s i mpe rfe ct a cq uainta nc e w ith its co n
,

ditio n s an d poss i b il iti e s th e tru th i s t hat the high e r we rise

t h e near er we d ra w to th e on e r eali ty .

I t wi ll pe rh aps as s i st t h e be g in ner to co m pr eh e n d h o w
real an d h ow entirel y na tural is th e high er port io n of a
m an s life if h e r ega rds it s im p ly as th e r esult o f th e earlier
’

po rti o n spe nt u pon the two l o wer plan e s W e al l k now well .

tha t ou r h ig h est i deals are n ev er realized t h a t ou r hi g h es t ,

as pi ratio ns ne v er he ar ful l fruit d o wn h er e S o that it .

w o ul d s eem as th o ug h in t his way s om e e ffo rts w ere frui t

l ess so m e for ce was l ost B ut we k n o w t hat cann o t be
,
.
,

for th e l a w o f t h e conse rvati on o f energy h o l ds g ood o n the

hi g her p la nes j u s t as on t h e l ow er M u c h o f that hig her
.

spi ritu a l energy wh i ch m an pour s forth can n ot r eact u pon

him w hil e i n ea rth life fo r u n til hi s hig h er p ri n ci p les are
-
,

freed fr om th e i ncu b us o f th e fl esh th ey are una b l e t o ,

r es pon d t o th ese far fin er an d more su b tle vi bratio ns But .

in th e h eav en life for the fi rs t ti me all th is hi n dran ce is

-

rem o v ed a n d t h e acc um ulated energy i m med iately pours

,

i tself forth in the i ne vita b l e r eaction which th e law of

 7 1

e ternal j us ti ce demands . As B rown i ng has gra ndly ph rased

it
Th e re s hall n e ve r b e o ne lo st go o d ! W hat was, shall live
as b e fo re
The e v il is n ull, is n o ught, is s il e n c e im lyin g s o un d p
W hat was go o d s hall b e goo d , with, fo r e vil , s o muc h g o o d
m o re
O n the e arth the ro k e n arc s : in the he ave n a e rfe c t
b p
ro un d .

All w e have wille d or ho p e d or d re am e d of go o d shall

e x15 t;
N o t in its s e m b l an c e ,
b ut its e lf: no be auty , no r go o d ,
no r po w er
W ho se vo i c e has go n e fo rth, b ut e ac h s urvive s fo r th e
m e lo di s t
W he n e te rn ity affir m s th e c o n c e ptio n o f an ho ur .

T he hi gh tha t r o ve d to o high, th e he ro i c fo r e arth t o o h ar d,

p
Th e a ss i o n t hat l e ft the
p gro un d to lo se its e lf in the
s k y,
Are m u s ic s e n t up to ! o d b y the l o ve r an d th e ard b
E n o ugh that H e h e ar d it o n c e we sh all h e ar it b y and -

by .

Ano ther point wort h b ear i n g in m i nd i s that thi s sys tem

upon w hi ch nature has arrang ed t he li fe after dea th i s th e
only imag inab le one wh ich could ful fi l i ts o bj ec t o f mak i ng
every one happy t o t he fulles t extent o f hi s capac ity for
happiness I f the j oy o f heaven were o f one par ti cu l ar type
.

only as it is accordin g to the orthodox t h eory th ere mus t

, ,

always b e some who would weary o f it some w h o would b e ,

i ncapable o f participati ng in i t ei th er from wan t o f taste i n

,

th a t parti cular d irecti on or from l ack o f t h e necessary

,
—
education to say nothin g o f th a t o th er o bvi ous fac t tha t if ,

t hi s condition o f a f
fa i rs were e t ernal t he g rosses t inju stic e ,
 7 2

mu s t be perpetrated b y g iving p ractically the same re ward

t o all wh o enter n o m atter what th ei r res pectiv e deserts
,

m ig ht be .

A gai n wh a t o th er arran e men t with r egard to relatives

,

and friend s cou l d po ssi b ly eq ually satis factory ! I f th e

d eparted wer e a bl e to fol l ow th e fl uc tuatin g fortun e s of th eir
frie n ds on earth ha ppin e s s w ou ld be i mpossi ble fo r them ;
,

if wi th o ut kn ow in g wh at was ha ppenin g to them they ha d

, ,

to wa i t u n til th e death o f tho se friends befo re mee ti n g t hem ,

ther e w oul d be a pai n fu l pe ri od of sus pe n s e o fte n ex ten di n g

,

o v er many yea rs w h ile th e fri end w o u ld in m any case s

,

arriv e s o m uc h ch an g e d as to be no l on g er sym pat h e tic .

O n th e sys t em so w is el y pro vid ed for us by na t ure e v e ry

o n e o f thes e di ffi c ul ties is avo ided ; a m an d ec id es fo r
hi mself both th e len gth and th e c h arac t e r o f h is h ea ven
l i fe by the cau ses wh i ch h e h imself g e n erates d urin g hi s
earth life ; th e refo re he cannot but have exactly the amoun t
-

whic h h e ha s deserved and e xa c tl y t h at q ual ity o f j o y

,

w h i c h i s bes t sui ted to h is i diosyn c rasie s T hose w h o m h e

.

l oves mos t h e has e ver with him an d a lway s at th e ir n o bles t

,

an d best ; wh il e no s h adow o f d i scord o r chang e can ever

c ome be tw een the m s inc e he r eceiv es from the m all th e
,

t i m e e xac tly w h a t h e wis hes I n point o f fact the arran ge

.
,

m ent rea l ly m ade i s in fi nite l y superior t o anyt h in g w hich

t he imagina ti on o f man has b een a bl e to o ffer u s in i t s place
as i ndeed we mig h t ha ve expec te d for all th ose spec u la tio n s
,

w e re ma n s idea o f what is best ; b u t t h e t r u th i s ! od s

’ ’

id ea .

TH E R s n un c mrro n o r H EA VEN .

I t ha s l ong been u nders tood a mon g s tu de n ts of oc

cu l tis m th a t a mon g th e possi b ili ti es o f more rapid prog ress
"
w hi ch come to a man a s h e a d va n ces is that o f re
p o u n c i ng t he rewar d of D evachan , as it has been cal led
!
 73
—th a t i s of gi vi n g u p th e l i fe o f bli s s in t he h eaven
,

world b e tw een two incarnatio n s in order to return more

rapidly t o carry on work on t he physical plane T he p h rase .

quoted is no t a very g ood one fo r we shall b e muc h more

,

likely to ar rive at a correct understandin g o f the heaven li fe -

if we look upon i t as th e necessary result o f the earth li fe -

,

rat h er than as its reward I n the course o f his p h ysical

.

e xistence a man sets in motion by his h i gher th oug h t s and

aspirations w h at may b e descri b ed as a certain amou n t o f
spiritual force whic h will react upon him when he reaches
,

t he mental plane I f there b e b ut little o f this force it will

.
,

b e compara tively soon exhausted and the heaven life wil l

,
-

b e a s hort one ; if on the contrary a g reat deal has b een

, ,

g enerat ed a correspondin g space o f tlm e will b e needed fo r

,

its full worki ng and the h ea ven will be very g reatly

,

prolon g ed .

As a man developes in sp i ri t uali ty t herefore his lives in

, ,

th e heaven world will b ecome lon g er bu t it must n o t be

-
,

supposed that his prog ress is there by delayed or h is o ppo r

tu n i tie s o f use fulness lessened For all b ut very hig hly
.

advanced persons the heaven li fe is a bsolutely necessary as

-
,

i t is only u n der its conditions t ha t t h eir aspirations can b e

developed into faculty their experiences into wisdom ; and
,

the prog ress which is thus made by the soul is far g reater
th an w ould be possi ble if by some miracle h e was ena bled
to remain in p h ysical inc arnatio n fo r t h e en t ire period I f .

i t were otherwise o b viously t he w hole law o f nature would

,

st ulti fy itsel f fo r t h e nearer i t came to th e at tainmen t o f i t s

,

g reat o bj ec t t he more determined and formida b l e would b e

—
,

its e fforts to defeat itself hardly a reasona ble view to take o f

a law w h ich we know to b e an expre ssio n o f the mos t
exal ted W i sdo m !
T h e possi b i li ty o f th e renun ci ation o f this h eaven li fe is by -

no means wit hi n the r each o f e very o ne The ! rea t Law

.
 74

permits no m an to ren o unce bli nd ly that o f which h e is

i gn orant n o r t o depart from th e or dinary course o fev o lution
,

un less and u n til i t 15 c e rta in that su c h departu re will be fo r

his ultim ate ben efi t .

T h e g en eral rul e is that no o n e is i n a po siti o n to r enoun c e

th e b liss o f h eaven u n til he has ex peri en ced it d urin g earth
—
life u n til h e is su fficient ly de v e l oped t o b e a bl e t o raise
his co n sci o usn ess to th a t p lane an d b ri ng back with hi m a
,

clea r an d fu ll me m o ry o f that g l o ry which so far transcen ds

terres tria l con ce p ti on .

A little thoug h t w i ll m ake o b viou s the reas o n a n d th

justi c e of this I t m i g ht b e sai d tha t s i nc e i t i s th e p rogress
.

o f th e soul which i s really in q ue s tion it w ou ld be suffi cien t

,

for him to u nd erstand o n h i s o wn p lane t he d es ira b ility of

makin g th e s acrific e o f c eles tial b l is s an d th en t o com pe l
,

his l ower se lf t o ac t in acc orda nc e w ith h is de ci sion .! et

th at woul d hardly be s t ric t jus ti ce for th e enjo y m en t of
,

h ea ve nly bli ss on t he r upa l e v el s th oug h i t bel on g s to the

,

eg o be lon g s to him o nl y as m an ifested thro ug h hi s pe rso n

,

a li ty it is the life o f t ha t pe rsona lity with all it s fam i liar pe r

,

son al surro undings that i s ca rri e d on in th e lo w er he ave n wo rld

, .

And so b efore t h e ren uncia tion o f a ll this can tak e plac e ,

that perso n ality mu s t r eal ize clear ly what it i s tha t is being

giv en up th e l ower mi nd m u s t be in a cc o rd wi th th e h ig h er
on thi s su bject .

N o w such real iza ti on obv i o u s ly invo l ves th e posse ssi o n

d uri n g earth life o f a consc iousness on th e m e ntal p lan e
-

equi va l ent t o that w hi ch the per son in q uestio n w o u ld h ave

afte r dea th B ut i t mu st he rem em bered that t h e e voluti o n
.

of co n sci o u sn ess takes p lace from bel o w u pward as i t w ere, ,

and tha t th e co m paratively u n developed m aj o ri ty o f man

k i nd are e ffect i ve l y co n sci ou s as ye t onl y in th e p h ys ical
body T heir astral bo di es are fo r th e m ost par t s till s hape
—
.

l e ss an d u n organ ized b ridg es of com m uni cation i ndeed

 75

be tw ee n the ego and its p h y s i cal v est ure and eve n vehi c l es ,

fo r t h e recep tion o f se nsa t ion b u t i n no sens e as ye t

,

in strumen ts i n the h and o f the rea l man o r adequate

express i on s of his futu re powers on t h a t p la n e .

I n t he more ad van c ed races o f mankin d we fi nd t h e

as tral b ody m uch mo r e de velope d and the c o nsci o u sness
,

in i t i n many cases fairly comp l ete po te n t iall y thou g h e ven ,

then i n mo st cases the m an is en tirel y self centre d con — -

s cio u s o f h i s ow n thoug ht s m ai n ly an d b ut little o f his actual

,

surroundin g s T o advan ce s till furt h er s ome fe w o f t h o s e

.
,

who have taken u p t h e study o f occu ltism h a v e been reg u

laxly awakened on that plane and h a ve th erefore en t ered
,

upon the fu ll u se o f th e i r astra l fac ul t i es a nd are de riv ing i n

,

many ways g reat bene fit t herefrom .

I t does no t h o w eve r necessar ily fol l o w that suc h men

, ,

s hould at fi rst or eve n for som e conside rab l e ti m e remem b er

, ,

upon the p hysical plane the ac t ivit ies and exp eri ences o f
th eir astra l l ife As a g eneral ru l e th ey wo uld do so part ially
.

an d interm itte n tl y b ut there are case s in which for various

,

reasons practically n ot h in g wor th ca l lin g a memory o f tha t

hig h er exi s ten c e fi nds its way throug h in to the ph y sical brai n .

An y kind o f de fi ni t e cons c iousnes s on the m e n ta l plane

would o f c ourse i ndica te s ti ll further advan c ement and in
, , ,

th e case o f a m a n wh o was de velopin g qui te n ormally an d

reg ularly we s h o ul d expec t to fi nd such c onsciousness
dawnin g on ly as the connection b e t ween the a s tral and t he
p h ysical becam e fair l y well es tab lished B ut i n th i s one .

s i d e d and arti fic ial condi ti on which we call modern

civiliz at ion p e o pl e do no t always deve l ope q uit e reg ularly
,

and norm al l y a nd so there are case s to be fo u nd i n whic h a

,

considerab le amo u n t o f consc iousnes s on the mental plane

h as been a c q u ir e d a nd duly l inked on to the astra l li fe and ,

yet no k no wl edge o f all thi s h ig h e r ex istenc e ev er gets

th roug h i n t o the p hysica l b rai n at al l .
 7 6

S uch cases are very rare bu t they c ertainly do exist an d

, ,

i n t h em we see a t once th e possi bi lity of an exce p tio n to

o ur rule A perso nali ty o f this type m ight be s u ffici entl y
.

de ve l oped to tas te th e i nd esc ri ba ble bli s s o f hea ve n and so

ac quire th e ri g h t to re noun c e it w h i le h e was a ble to b rin g
,

th e m emo ry of it no farth e r d own t han i n to his as t ral life .

But si nce by th e h ypo th esis that as tral life wo uld be o n e o f

full and perfect co nsc i ousne s s for th e perso nality s uch ,

rec o llec ti o n w o u l d be am p ly s u fficien t to fu l fi l t he re

q uire m e n ts o f j u s tic e
, e v en though no sh ado w of all thi s
ever ca me t h roug h into th e p hy si cal waki ng con sci ou sness .

T h e gr ea t po int t o bea r in mi nd i s that si n ce it is th e

personal ity th a t m u st res ig n it is also t h e perso nality th a t
,

m ust experien c e an d i t m u s t b ri n g bac k t he rec ol lec tio n to

,

s ome plan e o n which it fu n ctions n o rmall y an d in full c o n

sc io usn e ss b u t th at pla ne nee d n o t be th e phy si cal if these
con di tions ar e fu l fill ed u po n t h e astral S uch a ca se would
.

be un l ike ly t o occu r ex cept am o ng those wh o were al ready at

lea st pro bati on ary pu pi l s of o ne o f t h e M asters of Wisdom .

T h e m an who wi shes t o perform thi s great feat mu s t

th ere fore work wi th th e mos t i ntense earnestn ess to mak e
i fa wo rthy ins t ru ment i n t h e h ands of tho se w ho h e l p
—
th e w orl d mus t t hr ow h i mse lf wit h th e m o s t d ev o ted
fervo ur in to l a bou r fo r the s piritual good o f oth ers no t ,

arroga ntly assu m i ng that h e i s al rea d y fit for so gr eat an

h onour but rather hu m bl y h op i n g that perha ps a fte r a life
,

or two o f s tr enuo us e ffort h is Ma s ter m ay t e ll h i m t h at th e

ti me ha s come wh en to hi m al so th i s may be a poss ibi lity .

T H E H I! H E R H E AV E N WO R LD
-
.

W e n o w turn from the fo ur l o wer or r opa l e vels of th e

mental p la ne on which man fu n ctio ns i n hi s tempo rary
,

pe rs on ality to the co ns i dera tion o f th e three h ig h er or arfipa

,
 77

l evels his true and relati v ely perm anen t h ome H ere so
,
.
,

far as h e s ees a t all he sees c l early fo r h e has risen above

, ,

th e illusions o f personality and t h e re fracting medi um o f t h e

lower sel f and thoug h h is con s ciousness may b e dim
, ,

dreamily uno b serv an t a nd scarcely awake ye t his vision i s ,

a t leas t true howe v er limi ted T h e condi t ions o f cons c ious

, .

ness are s o far a way from all wi th whic h w e are fami l iar
down here th a t all ter m s known to psycholog y are useles s
and misleadin g T his h as b een called t h e realm o f t he
.

noumenal in contrast with the phenomenal o f the formles s ,

in contrast wit h t h e formed b ut it is still a world o f mani

fe statio n h owe v er real when opposed t o t h e unreali t ies o f
,

lower s tat es an d it still h as forms h o wever rare i n th eir

, ,

materials and su b tle in their es s ence .

After t h e pe riod o f wha t we usually call th e h eaven li fe i s -

over t h ere i s s t ill ano t her phase o f exis tence fo r the soul
,

b efore it is re born on earth and t h oug h in the case o f mos t

,

people t h is s tag e is a comparati v e l y s h or t one we must no t ,

ig nore it if we wish to have a complet e concep tion o f man s ’

superphysical li fe .

W e are perpet ually m i sunderstan din g th e li fe o f man

b ecause we are in t h e h ab it o f takin g a partial v iew o f i t and ,

entirely disre gardm g i t s real nature and o bj ec t We .

g enerally look at i t in fac t from t h e point o f view o f t he

, ,

p h ysical body and no t in t he leas t from t hat o f t h e soul ;

,

and w e t herefore g et the w h ole th in g ut terly ou t o f propor

tion Eac h mo v emen t o f t h e ego towards t hese lower planes
.

and b ack i s in reality a vas t circular sweep we take a li ttle

frag men t o f the lower arc o f this circle and regard it as
a straig h t line a ttac h in g qui t e undue importance to i t s
,

b eginnin g and endi ng w h i le t h e real turn i n g po i n t o f th e

,
-

circle na turally entirely escapes u s .

T h ink o f the matter fo r a momen t as i t mus t seem to the

true man on h is own pl an e as soon as h e b egins t o be at all
,
 7 8

clearly consc io us th e re I n o bedi en c e to th e d es i re fo r

.

mani festation w h ic h h e finds wi t hin hi m whi c h is im p ressed,

upon him by t ha t law o f evolution w hich is the will o f th e

Lo g o s h e co pies t he acti on o f t hat Logos by po uri n g hi m self
,

fort h into l ow er p lanes .

I n the course o f this p ro c ess he clothes hims elf with

—
matter o f t h e vari o us p lan es in to whi c h he passes me ntal ,

astral an d p h ysical i n tu rn al l th e wh ile stea dily p res sin g

, ,

outward T hro ug h th e ear l i er part of that little frag men t o f

.

e xis t en ce o n the physi cal p lan e which we cal l hi s life th e ,

outward fo rc e i s sti ll str on g but at about th e mi ddle o f it in

, ,

ord inary ca se s that forc e b ecomes exha u sted and th e great

, ,

inw ard s wee p b eg i n s .

N o t th at t here i s any sudden or viol e nt chan g e fo r t his is ,

n o t an angl e b ut still part o f th e curv e o f th e sam e circle

,

exa c tly co rrespondin g to t he m o men t o f ap h eli o n in a

p lanet s course round its orbit ! e t it is the real turning
’
.

poin t o f th at littl e cy c l e o f evo l u ti on t h o ug h wi th us it 18

,

u sually not m ar ked i n any way I n the ol d I ndian sch eme

.

o flife i t was mar ked as th e en d o f th e gn lza rtfia o r h o us e

’

h o l de r perio d o f the m an s earth l y exi s ten ce

’
.

Fro m thi s po i n t th e re s hou l d be no thi n g but a stea d y

draw in g inw ar d o f th e whol e fo rc e o f th e m an an d his ,

a tte n tion o u g ht to b e more and m o re with drawn from m e re

ea r thly t hi n g s and con cen trate d on those o f hig h er p lan es
—from w hi c h we a t on ce see h o w exceedingly ill adapted
,
-

to real prog ress ar e the modern co n dition s o f E uro pean

life
.

T h e po in t at wh i ch the m an d rop s h i s p hysica l bod y is

i —
no t a s p eci ally importan t one i n th s arc o f e vo l u ti on by no
means so i mportan t as the n ext chan ge w hi c h we mig ht c all
,

hi s death on the astral p lane and his birth in t h e h eav e n

w orld al th o u g h reall y it is s imp ly th e tran s fer o f th e co n
,

s c io usn ess fio m as tral matter to men tal matt e r in th e course

'
 79

o f the sa me st eady wi thdrawal o f whi ch we h ave already

spoken .

T h e fi nal resul t o f th e li fe is known only w h en i n th at

proce s s o f wi thdrawal th e c on sciousness i s on c e more
c en tred in t he ego in his h o me in th e h ig her h eaven world -

th en i t is seen w h at new qua l i ties h e h as acq u ired in the

course o f th a t par t icular li ttle cycl e o f h is evolu t ion A t .

t ha t ti m e al so a glimpse o f th e life as a whole i s o b tained

the so u l h as fo r a momen t a flas h o f clearer con s ciousnes s ,

i n whic h h e sees the resul t s o f th e li fe j us t comple ted and ,

somethin g o f what will follow from i t in his next bi rth .

T hi s glimpse can hardly b e sa i d to involve a knowledg e o f

t he nat u re o f the next incarnation exc ep t in th e vag ue st and
,

mos t g eneral sense no dou b t th e m ain o bj ec t o f t he c oming

l i fe wo uld be seen b u t th e vision would be c hiefly valua ble
,

to th e sou l as a lesson i n th e karm i c resul t o f h is a ction in

t he past I t o ffers h im an oppor tu n ity o f whic h h e ta k es
.
,

more or le s s advan tag e accordin g to the s tag e o f develop

men t to whic h h e has already a ttained .

A t fi rs t he makes li ttle o f i t since h e is b u t very dimly

,

conscious and very poorly fitt ed to apprehend fact s and thei r

varied in ter rel ations bu t gradually h i s po wer to apprec iat e
-

wh a t h e sees i ncreases and lat er t he a bili ty comes to

,

remem b er su c h fl as h es a t t he e nd o f previous li ve s and to ,

compare th em and s o to e st imat e th e progres s wh i ch h e is

,

making alon g th e road wh ich he h as to tra v erse .

TH I R D S! B -
PL A NE T H E FI F T H H EAV EN .

T his t h e lo w es t o f th e
, su b plane s is al so by far the
arfipa -
,

mo st pop u lo us o f a ll the r eg ion s wit h w hic h we are s e

q ua i n te d fo,
r h ere ar e presen t almos t all th e six t y th o us and
mil l ions o f souls w ho are s aid t o be eng ag ed in the pre sen t
—
hu man evo l u tion a ll i n fac t excep t th e comparati ve ly s mal l
, ,
 80

n u m ber who are c apa b l e o f fu nc ti o ni n g on the seco n d an d

firs t su b planes Each sou l i s represent ed by an ovo i d form
—at first a mere film col o url es s an d al m o s t invis ibl e of
-
.

, ,

mo st t en uou s co n s i s ten cy ; b ut as the eg o devel o pes thi s

, ,

body beg i ns to s h o w a sh im m erin g iri desce n ce l i k e a s oap

b ub b l e co lours p layin g over i t s s urface li k e th e chan ging
,

hu es made by s u n light on th e sp ray of a wat e rfall .

Composed o f ma tte r in con ceiva bl y fi ne d elicate an d ,

e th ereal in t en se l y ali ve and pu l sa tin g w i t h livin g fir e i t

, ,

b eco mes as it s evo luti on proceeds a radi an t g l o be of flas hing

colou rs i ts hi g h v i b ra tion s s en din g ri ppl e s of c hang i ng hues
,

ov e r its s urface hues of w hi c h earth kno ws no thing

-

b rillian t so ft an d lumi no u s be yond the power of language to

,

d e s c ri be Tak e t h e co l o u rs o f an E gyp tian su n set an d add

. ,

to th em t h e wonde rfu l so ftn ess o f an Eng lis h s ky a t even ti de

—rais e these a s hig h a bove th emselves in li g h t an d tr ans
lucen cy and s plen dour as th e y are a bo v e the colours giv en
’
- —
by th e ca k es o f a c hil d s p ain t box and e ven th en n o ne who
have not seen can i m ag e the b eau ty o f th ese radiant orbs
whi c h fl a s h into th e fie l d o f cla irvo yant visi on a s i t is lifted
to the l e vel o f t hi s s u pe rnal wor ld .

All th ese ca usal bodie s are fi l led wi t h li ving fi re draw n

fro m a h ig h er p lane with whi ch t h e g l o be app ears to b e
,

connect ed by a q uiv ering th rea d of in ten s e lig h t vivi dl y ,

recal li n g to t he mind th e w o rd s o f t h e stanzas o f Dz yan ,

!
t h e S park han g s from th e Flam e by th e fin est thread o f
F ohat and as t h e so ul grows and i s a ble to rece i ve mo re
and more from th e i ne xh aus tib l e ocean of the D ivi ne S p i r i t
whic h pours do wn t h ro ug h t h e th read as a ch an ne l the l atter ,

expan ds an d giv es wider pas sag e to t h e flood ti ll on the ,

next su b p lane it m ig h t b e im aged as a waters p ou t co n

-

n ec tin g earth an d s ky and h ig her s ti ll as itself a g reat g lo be

,

th roug h which rushes the li ving s prin g until t h e cau sal body
,

s eem s to melt in t o th e in po uring light Onc e more the .

 81

S ta n z a says i t fo r u s : T h e thread b etween the W atc h er

and hi s shado w become s more stron g and radian t wi t h every
c hang e T he mornin g s u nligh t has chan ged in to noon day
.
-

glory T hi s i s thy presen t wh e el said t he Flam e to th e

.
,

Spar k T h ou ar t mysel f my imag e and my sh adow I

.
, .

have clo th ed mysel f in thee and thou art my vahan to th e ,

day B e wi th us wh en thou shal t t e be come my s e l f and

,
- -
,
’
-

o thers th yse lf and me

, .
!

T h e souls who are connec ted wi th a phy s ical body ar e

di s ting ui sha ble from t hose enj oyin g the disem bodied stat e
by a di fference in t he t ypes o f vi bration s se t u p on t he sur
face o f the g lo b es and i t is therefore easy on th i s plan e to
,

see a t a gla nce wh ether an indiv1dual i s or i s no t in incarna

t ion a t the time T he immense maj ori ty w h e th e r in or ou t
.
,

o f t he body are bu t dreamily semi cons c ious t houg h few are

,
-
,

no w in the condi tion o f mere c olourles s fil ms ; t hose w h o

are fully awake are marked and brillian t exception s s tandin g ,

ou t amid t he less radian t cro w ds like s tar s o f the fi rs t

mag nitude and b etween these and th e leas t developed are -

—
,

ran g ed every varie ty o f s iz e and beau ty o f colour eac h thus

repre s entin g the exac t s tag e o f e volu tion at w hic h h e has
ar rived .

T he maj o rity are no t yet su fficien tly de fi ni t e even in suc h ,

c on sci ousne s s as they posse s s to unders tand t h e purpo s e or ,

t he laws o f the evolution in which t hey are engag ed ; t h ey

seek incarnation in o b edience to t he impulse o f t h e Cosm i c
Will and also t o Ta n/263 t he b l ind th irs t fo r mani fes ted li fe
—
, ,

a desire t o fi nd some region in which th ey can feel and b e

conscious o f livin g F or in their earlier stag es th e s e unde
.

v e lo pe d s ouls canno t f ee l th e inten s ely rapid and piercin g

v i b ra t ions o f t he hi gh ly re fin e d ma tt er o f t heir o wn plan e ;
-

the stron g and coarse bu t comparatively slow mo veme nt s o f

t he heavier ma tter o f t he physical p l an e are the only ones
that can evoke any re sponse from th em S o i t is only u po n .
 82

t h e p hysical p lane that th e y feel the m selves t o be alive at

al l an d t his e x p l ai ns th eir stro ng cra vi n g for r e b irth i n to
,

earth li fe T h us fo r a ti m e th eir des ir e agrees exactly wi th

-
.

the la w o f th e ir e vol uti o n T h ey can devel ope on ly by

.

m ea n s o f these i mpacts fro m with o ut to which they are ,

g ra d ually ro us ed to respond and i n this earl y stage they can

,

rec e i ve th em onl y i n e arth life By s l ow deg rees their po wer

o
.

o f response inc reas e s and is awake ne d fi rst to the high er an d

,

fi ne r o f th e ph y s ical vi brati on s an d still m o re slo wl to

th o se o f t h e astral pl ane T h en t hei r astral bod ies wy
,

. I ich ,

u n ti l no w have bee n mer ely b ri dges to c on ve y sen sa ti on s to

th e so ul gr ad uall y be co m e de fin ite vehicl e s which they ca n
,

u se and th ei r co nscio us ne s s be gi ns to be cen tred rather in

,

th eir emo ti ons th an i n m e re p h ys i ca l sen sa ti ons .

At a la te r s tag e b u t always by th e s am e proc es s o f learn

,

i ng t o res po nd to i mpacts from witho u t th e sou ls l earn to

—
,

cen tre their consci o u s ne ss i n the mental body to live in

a n d acc o rdi n g to t h e m e ntal i m ages wh ich th e y have fo rm ed
fo r th emse l ves a nd so t o g ov e rn th ei r e m otions by t he min d
, .

! e t furt h er on t h e l on g l on g ro a d t h e c en tr e shi fts to t h e

,

cau sa l bo dy and th e so u ls rea lize thei r tru e li fe W hen t hat

, .

t i m e comes they will be fo u nd u po n a h igh er su b-plan e than

this and th e l o wer earthly exist en ce wi ll be n o l on g er
,

nec es sary for th em ; b u t for t h e p resent we are th in ki ng o f

th e l es s e volved maj o ri ty wh o s till pu t fo rth as g ro ping
, ,

wa vi n g ten tacl es i nto th e oc ea n o f e xi st ence t h e perso n ali t ies

wh ich are th em se lves on t he l ower p lane s o f life t ho ug h ,

t hey are as yet in no sen se a ware that th ese perso na lities are
t h e m ean s w here by t h ey are to be n o uri sh ed and to gr ow .

T hey see no thin g o f their pas t or th eir fu tu re not being yet ,

conscio u s o n t h eir o wn plane S ti ll as t h e y are slowl y

.
,

dra w in g in expe rie nc e a nd ass im i latin g i t t h e re gro w s u p a ,

sen se t ha t certa in th in g s are good t o do an d o th e rs had a nd ,

t h is e x p ress e s i tse lf imperfec tly in the c o nn ec ted per son ality

 33

as the begi nn i n g of a conscience a feelin g o f ri g ht an d ,

wron g : and graduall y a s th ey de v e l ope th is s en s e more

, ,

an d more cl early a nd c l early f orm u lat e s i tsel f i n t h e lower

nat ure and b ec ome s a l es s inefficient g uide o f c ondu ct
,
.

B y mea n s o f th e opportun i tie s g i ven b y th e fla s h o ffu l ler

consciousness to w h ich we have previ o u s l y referred the ,

most advan c ed souls o f thi s su b plane deve l ope to a po i n t

-

a t w h i ch th ey a re en gaged i n s t udy i n g th e i r past trac i n g ou t ,

the causes s e t g oin g i n it and learn i ng m uch fr om t h e re tro

,

spe c tio n s o t h at th e i mpu l ses sent dow nwards become

,

clearer and more de fini te and t rans l a t e t hemselv es i n t he

,

lower con sci o us ne ss as fi rm con v iction s and imperative

intui tions .

I t is per hap s scarc ely necessary to rep eat that the th oug h t
i mag es o f th e rfipa l ev els are no t carr ied i n to th e h ig h er
h ea ven wor l d all i llus ion no w i s pas t an d each s oul knows
-
,

his real kindred s ee s th em and i s s een in his o wn royal

,

nature as t h e tr u e immor tal man t hat pass e s o n from li fe to

,

li fe wi th a l l th e tie s in tact that are kni t to h i s real bein g

, .

S ECON D S! B -
PL ANE ; T H E S I ! T H H EAVE N .

From th e den s ely thron g ed reg ion wh i ch w e h av e b een

-

conside ri n g we pass i n to a more thinl y pop ul at ed world a s -

,

ou t o f a gr eat c ity in to a peacefu l co u ntry sid e ; for a t t he -

present s tag e o f hu man evol u tion on l y a s m all m i nori t y o f

i ndividual s have ri s en to thi s loft ier l ev e l wh ere even the
leas t ad van c ed is de fi ni t ely selfcon sc io u s a nd also con
-
,

scious o f h i s s urrou n ding s A ble a t l ea st t o so me ex ten t to

.

review the past throug h which he has come t he s oul on this ,

level is aware o f th e p u rpo s e and meth od o f e volu tion ; he

knows th at h e is en gag ed in a w ork o f s elf dev el opmen t and -
,

recogn iz es th e s tag es o f phy s ical and port marten: l i fe t hroug h -

w h ich he pa ss e s i n h i s l ower vehi cl e s T h e per sonali ty wi th

.
 84

which he i s con n ected i s seen by him as part of him self an d ,

he en d eavo u rs to g ui de i t us i n g his kno wledg e of the past

,

as a s t ore o f exp eri ence fro m w hich he fo rmulates pri n ci p les

o f co n d uct c lear an d immu ta b le co n victions of ri g ht an d
,

wro ng T hes e h e s ends d o w n in t o hi s l o w er mind s uper

.
,

i n tend i n g an d directi ng i ts activi t ies Whi l e b e con tinually

.

fail s in th e earli er part o f hi s life on t hi s s ub plane t o m ake -

th e l o wer mi nd u n ders ta nd l og i cally th e fo un dations of t he

p ri nc i pl es h e i mpr es s es on it b e y e t very d e fin i tely succeeds
,

i n m aki ng th e i m pres s i on an d su c h a bs tract i d eas as trut h

, ,

j ustice and ho n o ur bec ome u n challe ng ed an d ruling c onc ep

ti on s in the l o w er m ental life .

T here are rul es o f cond u c t e nfo rced by social nati o nal, ,

and re lig iou s sancti o n s by whi c h a m an gui d es hi m se lf in

,

dail y li fe w hi c h m ay ye t b e s wep t away by some rush

,

o f t em ptat i on some o ve rrnas te ring surg e of passi on an d

,

desi re ; but t h er e are some th ings an ev o lv ed m an ca nno t

—
do t hi n g s w hich are ag ai n s t his very nature ; h e cann o t lie ,

o r betray or do a d i sh ono ura ble acti on I n to t h e in most

,
.

fi b res o f his bei n g certai n p ri n ci ples are wr o ug ht an d to act ,

ag ain st t h em i s a n i mpo s s i bili ty n o matter w hat maybe th e

,

s train of ci rc um s tance or th e torr en t of te m p tati on for

these thi ng s are o f th e li fe o f th e soul Whil e howe ver h e
.
, ,

thus su c c eeds i n g ui d ing his lo wer vehicle; his k no wledg e o f

it and its do i n g s i s o ften far fr om preci se an d clear H e .

sees th e l o w e r p la nes b u t di m ly u n d er s tan din g th e i r prin

,

c iples r at h er than th ei r deta i l s and part o f his e vol ution o n

,

this pl an e consi s ts o f co m in g more a nd more con sciously

in to direct touch wi th th e pers on ali ty whi c h s o im perfectly
repre sen ts him bel ow .

I t will b e unders tood from t his that on ly s uch so uls as

ar e delib era tel y ai min g a t spi ritu al gro wth live on thi s p lan e ,

and they ha ve i n con seq u en c e become larg el y r e cep tiv e o f

in fl u en ces from the p lan es abov e the m T he chan nel of .
 85

c ommun icati on g ro ws and enlarg es and a fu l ler flood pours ,

t hrough T h e t houg ht u nder th is i nfluen ce ta kes on a

.

si n g ularly clear an d p i ercin g q u al i ty even i n t he l es s ,

developed an d t he effect o f t h i s i n t he lower m i nd s ho w s

,

its elf as a t enden cy to ph i lo s ophic and a b stract t hinkin g .

I n t h e more h i g h ly e volved th e vision i s far reachin g : it -

ran g e s wi th clear i n sig h t o ver the pa st recog n i z in g the ,

caus e s s e t u p th e i r wor ki n g ou t and w h a t rem ai n s s till un

, ,

ex h a u s t ed o f th eir effect s .

T h e s o u ls l ivin g on this plane h ave wide opportuni ties fo r

growt h w hen freed from the physical b ody fo r h ere they ,

may recei v e in struc t ions from more advanced en t i tie s ,

comin g in to d i rect t ou c h wit h their t eac hers N0 lon g er .

by thoug ht pi ctu res b u t b y a flashing l uminousness im po s

-
,

s i b l e t o desc ri b e the very es senc e o f th e idea flies like a

,

sta r from one soul to th e o ther it s correlations expres s in g ,

th em s e l ve s a s lig ht wa v e s pour i n g o ut from the cen tral

star an d needin g no s eparat e enunciati on A t houg ht is
, .

l ike a lig h t placed in a room i t shows all thin g s round it ,

b u t requires no words t o descri b e them .

FI RS T S! B -
PL ANE ; T H E S E V EN T H H EAV EN .

T his th e mos t g l orious l evel o f the men tal worl d h a s bu t

, ,

fe w deni z en s a s ye t from our h umani ty for on its heig ht s ,

d w e ll none b u t the M ast er s o f W i s dom and Co mpassion ,

an d thei r i ni ti a t ed pup i ls Of th e b ea uty o f form and

.

co l o u r an d sound h ere no words can s peak for mor tal ,

l an g uage has no t erms in w h ich t ho s e radian t splendour s

may fi nd expre s s i on Eno ug h t ha t they a re and that
.
,

s ome o f o u r race are wearin g th em t he earnes t o f w h at ,

o th ers shall b e t he frui t ion o f wh i ch t he seed was sown on

,

l owlier p l anes Th e se h ave a ccompl is h ed th e men tal e vo lu

.

ti on s o that i n the m th e h ig her s h ine s ou t e v er t hr ough t he

,
 86

l o w er ; fr o m th e i r ey es th e illu s ion ve il o f person ali ty has

-

b e en lifted an d t h ey k now an d realize tha t th ey ar e not th e

,

low er n ature b ut on l y use it as a v e hi c l e o f experi en c e I t

,
.

may still hav e pow er i n th e l es s ev o l ved of th em t o s hackle

a nd to ham per b u t th e y can n e v er fall i n to t h e blu nd er of
,

con fus ing the vehicle with the self be hi n d it F rom thi s .

they are saved by carryi n g th e ir cons ciou snes s th ro u g h uh .

broken n o t only from da y to day b ut from life to li fe s o

, ,

that past liv es are n o t so m uch l ook ed back u po n as always

prese nt in the consciou s ness the man fee ling them as on e ,

life rather than a s many .

At thi s h ei g ht th e s o ul is c o n s ci o u s o f the l owe r h eav e n

w orld as well as of hi s own and if he h as an y m an ifes tatio n s
,

th ere as a t h oug ht fo rm i n the hea ven life o f his fri en ds he

-
,

can mak e th e full es t u se o f th em O n th e thi rd s u b plane.

-
,

and ev en i n th e l ow e r part o f t he s econd his cons cio u sn es s ,

of the sub-planes below him was still dim and his action i n ,

th e t h ou gh t form l arg ely i n stin c tive and au toma tic B u t as

-
.

s oon as h e g o t w e ll in to the s econd s ub plan e hi s v ision -

rap i dly becam e clearer an d h e r ec og n iz ed th e thoug ht

,

fo rm s w i th p leas ur e as ve h i cl es thro u g h whi c h h e was a b l e

to exp ress mo re of him se lf i n certain ways than h e c o ul d
t h ro u g h hi s per sonality .

N ow t h at h e is fun cti on in g in th e ca us al b ody am ids t th e

mag ni fice n t li gh t and splendo ur o f the h ig h es t h eav en hi s ,

consc i o us ness i s i ns tantaneo u sl y an d pe r fectl y ac tiv e at an y

po in t i n t h e l o w er d ivisi on s t o wh i ch h e wi lls to di rec t it ,

an d he th ere fore can i n ten ti onal l y project a d di ti on a l ener gy

, ,

in to s uc h a t hought fo rm w h en he wish es t o u se i t for the

-

purpo se o f teach i n g .

From thi s hi g h es t l eve l o f th e m en tal world c om e d o wn

mo st o f th e in fluenc es po u red o ut by th e M as te rs of Wi sd om
as th e y work for the e vo lu ti o n o f the hum an rac e ac ting ,

di rectly on t he s ouls of men s h edd in g on th em the ins p i rin g

,
 87

energ i e s w hi ch stimu l a t e sp ir i t ual g row th whic h en l ight en

,

th e in t el lec t and p uri fy the emo tion s H ence g enius re

.

c e iv e s i t s illumina t ion here all upward effor t s fi nd their

g uidance As the s u n rays fall everywhere from one cen t re
.
-

and each body tha t receives t hem use s them after its nature ,

so from the Elder B rot h ers o f t h e race fall on all soul s the
ligh t and life w h ic h i t is t heir function t o di spense ; and
each uses as muc h as i t can assimilate and t here by grows
,

an d evolves . T hus as everywhere else the hi ghes t g lory

, ,

o f t h e h eavenly world is found in the g lory o f ser v ice and ,

t h ey who have accomplished the mental evo l ution are the

foun ta i ns from w h ich flows stren g t h fo r those w h o s t i l l are
clim bin g .

I I N O N H ! MA N
.
-
.

Wh en we a tt emp t to descri b e th e non human inhab i -

tan t s o f the mental p l ane w e a t once fi nd our se l ves

,

face to face with di ffi culties o f t he mos t insupera b le

character F or in t ouchin g t he seventh heaven we com e
.

into c on tac t for t he fi rs t t i me with a plane wh i c h is

—
cosmic in its ex ten t o n whic h therefore may b e met
, ,

many an entity which m ere h u man lan g uag e has no

words to por tray F or t h e purposes o f our presen t paper
.

it wil l pro ba bly b e b e st to pu t aside altog ether t ho s e

vas t hosts o f being s w h ose rang e is cosmic and con fi ne ,

o u r remark s s tric tly t o t he i nhab i tants pecul i ar t o t h e

men tal plane of our own chain o f worlds I t may b e .

remem bered t ha t i n the manual on 7 726 A stra l Pla ne

the same course was adopted no attemp t b ein g made
,

t o descri be Visi tors from o t her plane t s and sy stems ; and

al thoug h such visitors as were t here only occ a siona l
would here b e very much more frequen t it seems b e st ,

i n this case also to adher e t o th e same rule A fe w .

 88

word s therefore u pon the elem ental ess e nce of th e p lane

, ,

and the secti on s o f th e grea t Deva kin g do m w h i ch are

especia lly co nn ect ed with i t wi ll be as m uch as i t W111

be useful t o give h ere ; and th e e xtrem e diffi cul ty
presenti ng even these com para ti vely sim pl e id eas wi ll
co nclusively s how how imp os s i bl e it w o ul d be to deal
with others which coul d no t but be far m ore co m p licate d .

T ri s E L E M E NTA L E S S E NCE .

I t may be reme m bered th a t i n o n e o f t h e earlier l et ters

received from an Adep t teach er t h e rem ark was ma de t hat to
com p reh en d the co n di t i o n o f th e firs t an d sec o nd of the
elemen tal k i n g do ms w as impos si b l e e xcep t t o an i ni tiate
ah o bserv at i on which s h o ws h o w par tial mus t be the
succe ss which can attend an y e ffor t to descri be th em
d o wn here upo n th e physic a l plane I t wi l l be well .

firs t o f all that w e s h o uld en deavo ur t o fo rm as cla r

an id ea in o ur m i n ds as possible o f wh at el em en tal es sen ce
really is sin ce this is a poi n t u po n which m uch co n fus i o n
,

oft en seems t o exist even a mong st th o se wh o hav e mad e

,

considerable s tu dy o f T h eo s op hi ca l lit e rature .

W HAT I T is .

E le men tal es sen ce t hen is m er e ly a name appli ed

, ,

d urin g c ertain early sta ges o f its ev o l u ti on to t h e m onadi c

ess ence whi ch in its tur n may b e de fin ed a s th e out
,

po u rin g of th e Divine L i fe fro m th e S eco n d Log os in to

matter We are all fami liar wi th t h e fac t tha t befo re
.

this o ut po u ri ng arri ves at the s tag e o f i n d i vi d ualizatio n at

whi ch it fo rms th e ca usal body o f a man it has pame d ,

th ro ug h an d en s oul ed i n t urn s i x l ower ph as es o f evolu ti o n

— the ani mal v eg e tabl e mi n eral and th ree elem e n tal
, ,
 89

ki ng doms Wh en energ izi n g t hroug h t hose res pe cti ve

.

stag es it h as some ti mes b een cal led th e anim al veg e ta bl e

or m i neral monad—t houg h thi s term i s d istinc tl y mis
,

l eading sin c e l on g b efore it arr i ve s a t any o f t hese

,

kin gdoms i t has b ecome no t one bu t m a ny monad s T h e .

name was ho wever adop t ed to con v ey t h e i dea t hat

, , ,

thoug h d i fferen ti a t ion i n the mon adi c e s sence had al ready

l ong ag o set in it h ad no t ye t be en carried t o th e
,

ex ten t o f indi viduali za tion N o w wh en t his monadi c

.

es s ence is energi z ing throug h the three g rea t elemen tal

kin g doms whi ch prec ede the mineral i t is called b y t he ,

name o f elemen tal es sence

!
.
!

T H E V EI L I N ! or T H E S PI R I T .

B efore h owever th e natu r e o f the monadi c es s en ce

, ,

and t he man n er in w h ich i t mani fests i tse lf on the vario us

p l ane s can b e u nders tood t he me thod i n whi ch s pir it
,

en folds i tsel f in it s descen t in t o matter m u s t b e realiz ed .

W e are no t now dealin g w ith the orig ina l formati on o f

the matter o f t he planes bu t s imply wit h t he d e scen t
,

of a new wav e o f evolu tion in to matt er already exi st in g .

B efore the period o f which we are s peaking th i s ,

w ave of l i fe has spen t coun tl es s ag es e vo l vin g in a manne r ,

of w h ich we can h ave very l i ttle comprehen si on t hro u g h ,

t he s ucces siv e encasemen t s o f a tom s molecule s and cel ls ; ,

but we wi l l l ea ve al l that ear l ie r par t o f its s t upe ndous

h is t ory o ut of acco u n t for the momen t and cons i der ,

on l y i t s descen t in t o the ma tter of planes s omewha t more

wi thin the grasp o f human i ntel l ect t h ou gh sti ll far a bo v e,

th e merely p h y s ical l e vel .

B e it understood th en tha t wh en sp i r it re s t ing on any

, ,

plane (i t matter s n o t w h ich ! on i ts pa th do w n w ard i n to

,

matter is dri ven by th e resi stless for c e o f i t s own e vo lu

,
 9 0

ti on t o p as s o n ward t o t h e plane n ext below it must , ,

in o rder t o m an ifest it se lf th ere en fo l d its elf i n a t le as t

—
,

th e ato mic m a tte r o that low er p lane draw ro un d i t self

f
as a b o dy a v ei l o f t ha t m a tt e r to wh i ch it wi ll act as soul
,

or en ergi z in g forc e S imilarly wh en it c o ntinues its de

.
,

scen t to a t hi rd p lan e it m u s t draw ro u nd i tself so me o f

,

it: m att er and we s ha ll have th en an enti ty whos e bod y

,

o r o ute r co ver in g c onsis ts o f th e atom i c mat ter of that thir d

plane
—
.

B u t t h e fo rce e nergi z ing i n this enti ty its soul so to

—
,

speak will no t be spi ri t i n the condition in wh i ch i t

was upo n the hi g he r p l an e on w hich we first fo u n d it ;
it will be tha t sp irit plus th e veil o f t h e a tomi c matter of
th e second p lane t hro ug h which it has pas sed Whe n a .

still fu rth er d e sc ent is m ade to a fo urt h p lan e the enti ty

,

becomes s till m ore c omplex for i t will th en hav e a bod y

,

of th e matt e r o f t ha t fo urth p la n e en so uled by s piri t

,

alr ea d y twice v e iled in th e a to mic matt er o f the s econ d

,

an d thi rd p lan e s I t will b e seen that s inc e this pro ce ss

.

repeats i ts elf fo r ea ch p la ne of the s o l ar syst em by the ,

tim e th e o rig i n al force rea ches o ur p hy si ca l lev el it is

so th o ro ug h ly v ei led that it i s s mall wond er that men ofte n
fai l to rec ogn i z e it as sp iri t at a ll .

For exam pl e l et us suppos e the or dinary un traine d

—
,

c l a irv oyan t tryin g to i nves ti g a te th e m in eral mo nad t o

exam ine the life fo rc e b eh in d th e m ine ral kin g dom T h e
o
.

s ight of su c h an one w o u ld be prac tica l ly cer ta in to be l imite d

to th e as tral pl an e and w o u ld qu ite p ro bably be exceeding l y
,

impe rfec t e ven th e re ; so to him that fo rc e w o u ld a ppear

s i mp l y as t ral B u t a trained studen t exam in in g it with
.
,

hi g her power wou l d see tha t w hat th e c lai rv o yant had tak e n
,

fo r as tra l force was mere ly astral a tomic m atter set i n m oti on

by a fo rce com ing th ither fr o m th e atom i c part of the
m ental p lane T he more a dvan ced s tu de nt w ould be able
.
'
 9 1

to s ee t hat that at om i c men tal matt er in it s turn was only a

vehic l e i n wh ich someth i n g from th e h ig hes t b uddh i c
su b plane was work i n g w h ile th e Adep t would perce iv e t ha t
-
,

t h e b uddh i c mat ter was b u t t he veh i cle o f th e n i rvanic an d ,

tha t th e force w h ic h entered in to and w orked t hroug h all

th ese succ e ssive veils came in real i ty from outside th is
c os m ic prakri tic p l an e a ltog et her and wa s i n t ru th si mply
-
,

on e of th e m an i fe stat ion s o f the Divi ne F orce .

T H E E L E M EN T A L K I N ! D OM S .

T he elemen tal essenc e wh i c h we fi nd on the men tal plan e

c onstitu te s t h e fi rs t and second o f th e g rea t elemen t al
king doms A wave o f th e Di vi ne L ife ha vi n g fi nis h ed i n
.
,

some previous aeon i ts downward e v olu t i on throu gh th e

b udd hi c p l ane pour s down in to th e s e ven th h eaven and
, ,

en soul s g reat masses o f th e a tom i c men tal mat ter th u s ,

becom i n g t h e elemen ta l e ss ence o f the fi rs t g rea t king dom .

I n t his i t s simples t condition i t does no t com bine the

, ,

atoms i n to molecules in order t o form a body for itsel f b u t ,

si mply applies b y its attraction an immense compre ssin g force

t o th em W e may imagine t he force on fi rs t reach i n g this
.
,

plane on its downward sw oop to b e en t irely unaccus tomed

,

to i ts vibra t ions and una ble at fi rs t to respond to them

,
.

D u ri ng th e aeon whic h i t spends on this le v el its evolu t ion ,

wi l l cons i s t i n acc u stomin g it sel f t o Vi b ra te at al l rates wh i c h

are poss i b l e t here so t ha t a t any moment i t can ensoul and
,

use an y com b i na ti on o f t he mat ter o f t ha t plan e D urin g .

th is long period o f evolution i t wi ll have taken upon itself

all possi ble com b i nations o f the matter o f the three artipa
levels b u t a t t he end o f t he time i t re turn s to t h e atomic
,

level no t o f co u rse as it was be fore bu t b earin g laten t

, , ,

wi th i n it all the power s w h ich i t h as gained .

I n th e su cceedi ng aeon it pours i ts e l f down in to th e fou rt h

 9 2

s ub p lane o f th e m ental —that is to say the hi g hest o f the

-

—
,

u
r pa l e vels an d d raws t o itself as a body som e of the
m atte r of th a t su b divisi o n I t is then th e ele men tal .

ess e n ce o f the sec ond kin gdom in its simple s t condition ;

b ut as before i n the c o urse o f it s ev oluti on it take s o n gar bs
,

m an y and v ariou s c ompo s ed of all pos s i b le comb inations of

,

the matter of th e l o wer su b p lan es -

.

I t mi g ht naturally be su ppo s ed that these eleme n tal

ki ngd om s which exis t an d functi on u pon the m e ntal plan e
m us t certai nly be ing so m uch higher be further advan ce d
, ,

in evoluti on than the third kin gdom which bel o ngs ,

excl u sive ly to th e as tral p lan e T hi s h owever is no t so ; fo r

.
, ,

it m u s t be remem be red that in s peakin g o f this phas e of

!
evol ution th e wor d hi g h e r mean s n ot as usual mo re
!
, ,

ad va nce d b ut less advanced since here we are d eali ng wit h

, ,

the m o nadic essence on th e downwa rd s wee p of its arc an d ,

p rogress for the ele mental es sence therefore means descent

in to m att er ins tead of as with us a sc e nt towards hi g h er
, ,

p lan e s ! nless th e stude n t bears th is fact c ons tantly and

.

clearly in m i nd he will agai n an d agai n fi nd hi mse lf beset

,

b y perplexi n g ano malies and h i s vi ew o f th is side of

,

ev o l u ti on will be l acking i n gra sp a nd com preh en si ve ness .

T h e g en eral charac teri stics of e lem en tal e ssen c e were

i ndicat ed at considera ble length i n th e m anual on I ll: ‘

A stral Pla ne and all t ha t is th e re sai d as to the n umber o f

,

s ubdivi s i ons i n th e ki n g do ms a n d thei r marvell o us i mp ressi

b ility by hu m an th o u g ht i s eq uall y tr ue of thes e celes tial

va ri eti es A fe w words s h ould pe r h aps be sai d t o explain
.

h ow the sev en h o rizo n ta l su bdi vi s ions o f each kin g dom

arran ge th emsel ves in con n ection w i th the vari o u s parts of
th e men tal pl ane I n th e ca se o f t h e fi rs t ki n gd om i ts
.
,

hig hes t s u bdivi sion c o rr es po nd s with the fi rst s ub p lane -

,

while th e sec o n d and third sub plane s are ea c h d i vi d ed in t o

thr ee p arts each of w hich i s t h e habitat o f o ne o f the
,
 93

elemen ta l s u b di vi sion s T h e s ec ond ki n gdom dis tr i b u tes

.

i ts e l f over th e l o w er heaven w orld its hig h es t s u b d ivi sion

-
,

corres pon din g t o the f urth su b plan e wh ile th e fift h sixt h

q
-
, ,

and se venth sub planes are eac h di vided in t o two t o

-

accom modate th e remainder .

H o w T H E E S S EN C E E VO L V ES .

S o m u c h was written i n t he earl i er part o f thi s manua l a s

to th e effect o f thoug h t upon the men tal elemental essen ce
th a t i t will b e unneces sary to re tu rn t o that branc h o f the
su bj ec t no w ; b u t it m u s t b e borne i n m i nd t ha t it i s if ,

possi ble even more i n sta n tan eously s ens iti ve t o t ho u g ht

,

ac ti on h ere than it i s on the a s tra l p l ane th e wonderfu l ,

de licacy with w hi ch it responds to the fai n t e st acti on o f the

m i nd b ei n g cons tan tly an d prom in en tly b roug ht be fore our
i nves tig ator s W e sh al l g rasp thi s capab il ity t he more fully
.

if w e realiz e that it i s i n such respons e th a t its very l i fe c o n

—
sist s th at it s progress is greatly helped b y th e use made o f
it i n th e proc ess o f thoug ht by t h e more advan c ed en ti ties
wh o se e vo l u ti on it sh ares .

I f it c ould b e i magined as en ti rel y free fo r a momen t from

th e acti on o f th oug h t it wo u ld appear as a formless c on
,
—
glomerati on o f danc i n g in fi n ites i mal a toms ins t inc t i ndeed
wi t h a marve l lo u s in tens ity o f l i fe ye t pro bab ly makin g b u t
,

little p rog ress on th e do w nward path o f i ts involu ti on in t o

matt er B u t w h en th ou g ht se i z e s u pon it and s ti rs i t i n to
.

ac ti vi ty th rowi n g it on t he r upa l evels i n to all k i nds o f

,

lovely forms and on t he arfipa le v els i nto flas hi n g s treams it

, ,

recei ves a dis ti n ct additional i mpulse w hi ch o ft en repeated , ,

hel p s it forward on it s w ay For whenever a th oug h t is

.

di rected from th o s e h i gher l evels to t he affai rs o f eart h it ,

naturall y s weeps down w ard and takes upon i t sel f the mat ter
of the l ow er p lane s I n do i ng so it brin gs in to con tact with
.
 94

th a t ma tt er th e el em en tal e ssence o f whi ch it s fi rs t veil was

fo rm ed and so b y d egree s ha b i t uat es th a t es s e n c e to an swer
,

i n g to low er vi brati o n s ; and this g eatly a ssists i ts dow n

ward ev o luti on in to matt e r g
—
.

V e ry no tic ea bly al so i s it a f fe c ted by m usic b y the

sp l en di d flo ods o f g l ori ous sound of w hich we hav e p revi
o usly spok e n as po u red fo r t h u pon thes e l o fty p l ane s by th e
gr eat m as ters o f m e l od y wh o ar e carryi n g on t h ere in far
full er mea sure t h e work wh i ch do wn h ere o n t hi s d ull earth
th ey had o nly c o mm en c ed .

'
A n o ther po int w hi c h s h ou l d be r e mem bered is th e vas t
difle re nc e b e tween th e gran d eu r an d pow er o f th o ug ht o n
thi s p lan e and t h e comparative fee blen e ss o f th e e ffo rts that
w e d ig n ify with th a t nam e do w n h ere Ou r o rdi nary.

thoug ht beg ins in th e m i nd body o n th e lo wer m e ntal level s

-

and cl ot h es i ts e lf as it d esc ends with th e a pprop riate astral

elementa l essence bu t w hen a man ha s advance d so far as
to hav e hi s conscio usness active i n t h e tru e se lf i n the hig her
heav en wor l d hi s th o ug ht commences th e re a nd c lo t hes
-
,

itse lf fi rs t i n th e e l em en ta l essen ce o f the l o wer l e vels o f the

m en tal pla n e a n d i s c o nseq u en tly i n fi n i tel y fi ne r more
,
'
,

pe netratin g and i n every waymore e fle c tive I f th e tho ug ht

, .

he d irected exc l usive ly to h ig h er o bj ects i ts vi bra tions ma y

,

be of t oo fin e a ch arac te r to find exp res si on on t h e as tral

p lan e a t al l ; b ut w hen the y do a ffect th i s l o w er m a tte r t hey
'

wi l l do so wi th mu ch more far reach i n g e fle c t than t h o se

-

w h i c h are gen erated so mu c h nea re r t o its own l ev el .

Followi n g t h is i dea a s tag e fu rth er we see t h e t h o u g ht o f

th e i n iti ate tak i n g its ri se upon th e budd hic p l an e a bov e the
,

menta l wor l d a l to gether and c l ot hi n g i tself wi th the ele

,

m ental es sence o f the h i g he st h eave ns for ga rm en t whil e ,

the tho ught of th e Adept pours down from N irvana itself,

wi eldin g th e tr em en do us th e w h o l ly in ca lc ul a b l e po wers of
,

regi ons be y on d the ke n o f m ere o rd in ary huma n i ty T h u s .

 95

ev er as our c on c ep ti on s ri se hi g h er we see be fore us w i der

and w i der fi e l d s o f use fulness fo r our enormous l y i n c reased
capac i t i es and we realiz e how true is th e saying th at th e
,

work o f one day on levels suc h as these may we l l s urpass in

efficiency th e to i l o f a thou s and years on the phys i cal plane .

TH E AN I M A L K I N ! DO M .

T h e anima l king dom is repre s en ted on t h e men ta l pl ane

b y t wo m ain div i sions I n the lower h eaven world we fi nd
.
-

t he g roup souls to whic h t h e vast maj ority o f animals are

-

attached and on t h e third su b plane t h e causa l bodie s o f

,
-

the comparatively few mem b ers o f t h e k i ng dom w h o are

yet indivi dua liz ed T hese latter however are not strictly
.
, , ,

speaking ani m als any lon ger ; t h ey are practica l ly t h e only

,

examples now t o b e s een o f the qu it e primitive causa l body ,

u ndeveloped in s iz e and as ye t coloured on l y very fain tly b y

th e firs t vi brations o f new l y b orn quali ties
-
.

After h i s dea ths on the physi c al and as tral planes t h e ,

i ndi vidual iz ed animal has usual ly a very prolong ed thoug h ,

often somewh at dreamy li fe in the lower heaven world -

.

H i s condi tion du ring that time is analog ous t o that o f the

h uman being on the same l evel t houg h wit h far l ess mental
,

a c ti vity H e i s surrounded by h is own th oug h t form s e v en

.
-
,

th oug h h e may b e b ut dreamily c onscious o f them and ,

t hese are sure to include the forms o f his earth fr i end s in -

t heir ve ry bes t and mos t sympathetic moods An d s ince .

th e love w h i ch is s tron g enoug h and unsel fis h enoug h to

form suc h an imag e mus t also be stron g enou g h to reac h
the soul o f the l oved one and draw a response from him
, ,

even the pe t s upon whom our kindness is lavished may do

th eir little trifle in return towards helpin g on our evolution .

Wh en the individuali z ed an i mal retires in to his causal

body to awai t t he t urn of the w h ee l o f e vol u tion which sha ll
 9 6

ve him t h e opportu n ity of a pri m i tive human i n carnation ,

e see m s to l os e al m os t all cohsc io usne ss of outer things ,

and to spend th e tim e in a sort o f deli g htful tran c e of the

dee pest peac e an d co nt en t me nt E ven then i nte rio r d evelop
.

ment of some so rt is surely tak ing p lace th o ugh its natu re ,

is difficu lt for u s to comprehend B u t at l eas t i t is certain

.

that fo r every en ti ty w hi ch co mes i n to c on n ec ti on with i t ,

w het h er h e be onl y j u s t enter i n g upo n human e v o luti o n or

p repar ing to pas s bey o nd it th e h eav en w orl d m ea ns the
,
-

highes t bli ss of which that entity is at its level ca pa bl e .

TH E DE VAS , O R AN ! E LS .

But little ca n be exp res sed i n h uman lan guage abou t

these wonder ful and exal ted bein gs an d mos t of what ,

we kn ow of them has al rea d y been written in Tire Astral

Plane F o r t he in fo rma ti on o f t hose who have not that
.

man ual a t hand I will repeat h ere so m e wh a t o f th e g en eral

explanati o n th ere given wi t h r eferen ce to these en ti ties .

T he hi g h est s ystem o f evoluti o n specially co nn ected with

this earth so far as w e know i s t ha t o f th e beings who m
, ,

Hindus call the Devas an d wh o have e lsewh ere been

,

spo k en of as angels son s o f ! o d etc T hey may, in

, , .

fact be regard ed a s a k i n g d o m lyi n g next above hu manity

,

i n th e sa me wa y as h um an ity i n tu rn l i es n ext abov e '

th e animal ki ng d om b ut with thi s impo r tan t difle re nc e,

,

tha t w hile for an an i mal there is n o possi bility of e volu ti on

t hroug h any k ing dom but the hu m an man w h en he attain s
, ,

the level of t h e Ase k ha o r full Ad ept finds vari ous pat hs

, ,

of ad vance m ent opening before hi m of w hic h th i s great,

D e va ev olu tion is o nly one (see I nvisible H elpers p , .

is fre q u en tly
!
I n Orien tal literatur e thi s word De va
!

vagu ely to mean alm o st any k ind o f non human o

i t would ofte n i n clude the highe st of the

 97

spiri tua l powers on t he one h and and nat u re spiri t s and

,
-

arti fi ci al elementals on the other H ere h owever its use

.
, ,

will b e res tricted to the m ag ni fi cen t evo l ution wh i c h w e

are now considerin g .

Thoug h connected with this earth these an g els are ,

b y no means con fi ned to i t fo r t h e whole o f our present

,

chain o f seven worlds is as one world to them t heir ,

evolution b ein g throug h a grand system o f seven chai n s .

T heir h os t s have hitherto b een recruited chiefly from

other h umanities in the solar system some lower and ,

some hig her than ours since b u t a very small portion

,

o f our own has as ye t reached the level at w hi ch fo r

u s it is possi b l e to j oin them ; b ut it seems certain tha t

some o f their very numerous classes have not pass ed
in their upward progress t hrou g h any h u m anity at all
comparable with ours .

I t is no t po ssi b l e for u s a t pres ent to unders tan d very

much ab ou t them b u t it is clear that w h at may b e de
,

sc ri b ed as the aim o f their evolution is cons i derably hig h er

than ours ; that is to say while the o bj ect o f our human
,

evolut i on i s to raise t h e success ful portion o f hum anity t o

the posi tion o f t he Ase k ha Adept b y the end o f the sevent h
ro u nd t h e o bj ect o f the D eva evolu tion i s t o rai se the i r
,

foremos t ran k to a very muc h hi g h er leve l in the corre

spo n din g period . For them as for us a s teeper b u t
, ,

shorter path t o s ti ll more su b lime heig h t s lies open to ear

n e s t e ndea vour ; b u t what those h ei g hts may b e in their
case we can only conj ec ture .

TH E I R D I V I S I O N S .

T h ei r t h ree lower grea t divisions b eginn i n g from the,

bottom are generally called K am ade vas R fipade v as an d

, , ,

A rfipade vas w h ich may b e translate d as an g el s o f th e as tral

,
 9 8

w o rl d th e l ower h eaven w orld an d the hig h er heave n w o rl d -

—
-
, ,

re sp ecti ve l y jus t as o ur ordina ry body here t he l o west

body po ss ible fo r us—i s t h e ph ys ica l s o the ordinary body of
.

a Kamadev a i s t he as tra l ; s o tha t h e s ta nds in so m ew ha t

the sa me po si t io n as hum an i ty will d o wh en i t r eache s
plan et F and he living or dinaril y in an as tral body wo ul d
, , ,

g o o ut o f it t o high er sph e res i n a men tal bod y j ust as w e

mi g ht i n a n a s tra l b ody whi le to en ter t h e caus al body
,

w o ul d b e to h im (w hen su ffici ent l y deve lo ped! no g rea te r

'

e flo rt th an to u se t h e m e n tal b ody m ig h t be to u s ln t he
.

sa m e way t h e R 0 deva s ordinary body wo ul d be t h e

’

men tal since hi s ha ita t i s th e four rfipa l e vel s of th e m e nta l

,

pl ane ; w h i le th e A m p a dev a be l ong s t o th e t hr e e h i g h er

l ev els o fth at p la n e an d o w n s no denser body tha n t h e ca u sal
,
.

A bo v e th e ArOpade vas there are fo u r oth er gr eat class es o f

thi s ki ng do m i n ha b i tin g respecti vely t h e fou r h ig h er pla nes
,

o f o ur solar sy s tem and ag ain a bove and beyond th e Deva

,

kin gdom altogeth er stan d th e g reat h o s ts o f the plane tary

spiri ts but th e cons i derat ion o f su ch g l o rifi ed be i n g s would
be o u t o f pl ace h er e .

E ach o f t he t wo g reat d ivisi ons o f thi s kin gdom which

hav e be en men ti oned as i n h a b i tin g th e men tal p lan e
con tai ns w ithi n i tse lf many d i ffe rent cl asses ; but the ir l ife
i s i n eve ry way so far remov ed from ou r own tha t it is use
less to endeavour to g i ve anyt h in g b ut t h e mo st g eneral
i dea o f i t I do not kn ow th at I can be tter indi c ate the im
.

pression prod u c ed upon th e m inds o f our in vestigato rs o n

the su bj ect than by reprod uci ng the very words us ed b y one
o f th em at th e ti me o f the enqu i ry : I ge t t h e e fle c t o f an
—
i nte n sely exalted con sc iousn ess a c on sc i o usn es s g lo ri o us
beyond all w ords ; yet so ver y s tran g e ; so di eren t so f
f —
entirely d i ffe rent fro m anyt hi n g I ha ve ev er felt before so ,

u nlike any pos s ible kind o f human experi enc e that it is ,

!
a bso lutely h ope l ess to t ry to put i t i n to words .
 99

Equall y hope l e ss is it on th is phys ical plan e t o try to

g iv e any i dea o f the appearance o f thes e m i g hty b e i n g s ,

fo r it ch an g e s w i t h e v ery l i ne o f thou g h t which they follo w .

S ome re feren c e was m ade earlier i n this paper t o t h e

m ag ni fi cen c e an d w onderful power o f expre ssi on o f th e i r
c olour l an g uag e a nd it wi ll a l so h ave b een reali z ed from
-
,

some pas s i n g remark s made i n descr i b i n g th e human

i nha b i tants t ha t u nder cer ta i n c ondi t i on s it is possi ble for
men func tion i n g u pon thi s plane to learn mu ch from them .

I t may b e remem b ered h ow one o f them had an i mat ed t h e

an g el fi g ure i n t h e he av e n l i fe o f a chorister a nd w as teac h
-
,

in g him mus i c g ran de r far t h an any ever heard b y earthly

ears and ho w i n a no th er c ase th ose c o nnected wi t h t he
,

w i eld i n g o f certai n p l ane tary i nfluen c es wer e hel p i n g fo rw ard

t h e evoluti on of a c er ta i n astronomer .

T h eir rela t i on to th e na ture sp i r its (fo r an accoun t

-

o f w h om see M an u al V ! m i g h t b e de scri bed a s s omewha t

resem blin g thoug h on a h i g her sc a l e th a t o f m e n to th e
, ,

an i mal k i n g dom ; for j ust as t he a n i m a l c an attai n

i ndividual iz a ti on on l y b y associat ion w i t h man so it appears
,

t ha t a p ermanen t re i ncarnat i n g i nd i vi d ual i ty c an normally

b e ac qu i red b y a na ture spirit on l y b y an attachment o f
-

som e wha t s i m il ar c h arac t er to mem ber s o f s o m e o f th e

order s o f D ev as .

O f course n othi n g th a t h as b e e n or i ndeed c an b e said

, ,

o f this grea t an g e lic evoluti on doe s m ore than b rush t he

fri n g e o f a v e ry m i g h ty su bj ec t the full er ela boration o f
,

w h ic h i t m ust b e left to each reader t o make for him s el f

when h e dev e lope s th e c onsciousness o f t h es e hi g her planes
ye t wh at h as b een written slig h t and un sati s factory as it is
,

and mus t b e may h elp to g i ve some fa i n t i dea of the h osts

,

o f helpers with whi ch man s advanc e i n e v o lu t i on wi ll b rin g

’

hi m in to t o uch and to s how h ow every a sp i rat i on which his

,

in c rea s ed capac i ti es mak e poss i b le for hi m as he ascend s is

 100

more t h an satis fie d b y t h e b e n e fic e n t arr an g emen ts w hi ch

nat ure ha s m ade for hi m .

I I I A R TI F I CI A L
. .

V ery fe w word s nee d b e said upon th i s b ran c h o f o u r

s u bj ect T he men tal p l ane is even m ore fu ll y peop l ed tha n
.

the astral b y th e arti fi cia l elementals cal le d in t o te mpor ary

existen c e by the th o u g ht s o f i ts i nha bitants an d w h en i t i s
rem em bere d how much g rander and more power fu l th oug ht
is u pon t h i s p lane and tha t i ts forces are b ein g wiel d ed no t
,

only by t he human inh ab i tan ts em bodi ed and di s em bodie d

, ,

b u t b y t he D evas and b y visi t ors from hig her planes it will ,

a t once b e seen tha t th e impor ta nce and influence o f su ch

ar t i fi cial entities can h ardly b e exagg erat ed I t is no t
.

n ec e ssary h ere t o g o over ag ain t he ground travers ed in th e

pr eviou s man ual as t o the effect o f men s thoug hts an d th e
’

necessity o f g uardin g t hem c areful l y ; and enoug h wa s sai d

in descri bin g th e di ffere nce b e twe en t he action o f t ho ug ht
on the r upa and arflpa levels t o s how how the arti ficia l e l e
menta l o f the m enta l plan e is called i n to existence and t o ,

g ive some idea o f t he i n fi nite varie t y o f temporary enti t i e s

whic h are so produced and t h e immense impor tance of
,

the work t ha t is cons tantly done b y their means ! rea t .

use is made o f t he m b y Adepts an d their init i ate d pupils ,

and it is nee dless to say t ha t t he art ificia l elemental

formed b y such power fu l minds as t h ese i s a b ein g o f
in fi n i t ely long e r exi stence an d proport i onat ely g reat er
power than any o f thos e des cri be d in d eal i ng wit h the
as t ral plane.
 [01

CO NC L ! S I O N .

In g lanc i n g ove r what has been wr itten th e prominent ,

idea i s no t u nnat ura ll y a h u m il iati ng sen s e o f th e u tter

—
i nadeq uacy o f al l t he attemp ts at de s crip ti on o f th e hope
lessne s s o f any e ffort to put into human w ords the ine flab le
'

glories o f th e h eaven world S till lamen tab ly imperfec t a s

-
.
,

su c h an essay as thi s mu s t be it is ye t better t h an no thin g

, ,

an d it may se rve t o pu t i nto t he mind o f t h e rea der some

fai n t concep ti on of wha t awai t s h im on t he oth er si de o f the

g rave ; and t houg h w hen he reaches t h is bri g ht realm o f
b li ss he w i l l certai n l y fi nd i n fi n i tely more t han he h as b een
led to expect he will no t it i s hope d hav e to u n l ear n any
, , ,

o f t h e i nform ati on th a t h e has here ac q ui red .

Man as at pre s ent constituted ha s wi t h in him p rin

, ,

c iple s b elon g i n g to tw o pl anes even hi g her than t he men ta l ,

fo r his Bu dd h i represents him u p on wha t fr om tha t very

fact we call t h e b uddh i c plane and h is Atm a (t h e d i vi ne
,

spark within hi m ! upon t ha t third plane o f th e s olar sys t e m

w hich has usuall y been spoken o f as th e n i r van i c I n t h e .

averag e man thes e h ig hest p ri nc i ple s a re a s yet almost

entirely undevel oped an d in any ca se t he p l anes to which
,

t hey b e l on g are s till more b eyond the reach o fal l descr i pt i on

than is the m en t al I t must su ffice t o say th a t on t he
.

b uddhic p l an e a ll li mitations b egin t o fal l a w ay and the ,

consciousn ess o f man expands until h e rea li ze s no lon ge r in ,

t heory on l y bu t b y ab solu t e experi en c e th at the con

, ,

sc io u sn e s s of his fe llows i s included w ithi n h is own and he ,

feels and know s and experiences w ith an a b solu t e perfection

o f sympa thy a ll th a t i s in t h e m b ecause it is in rea li ty a part
,
 1 02

of h imse l f; w h i l e on th e nirvanic plan e h e move s a s tep

fur ther, and reali z es t hat his c onsciousne s s and t hei r s are
o n e in a y et h i g her s ense ,
b ecau s e th ey are a l l i n rea l i ty
fac et s o f th e i n fi n i tely g reater consciousne s s o f th e L o c o s ,

in Wh om they a ll l ive and move and hav e t heir b ein g ; s o

that when the dewd rop sl i p s i n t o th e sh i ning sea th e
! !

ef fe ct pro d uced i s rat h er a s th ou g h the proce ss h ad b ee n

reversed and the o c ean poured in t o t h e drop w hi c h now ,
—
fo r t h e fi r st ti m e rea li z es t h a t it is th e ocea n no t a par t o f
it bu t t he wh ole Paradoxi cal u tt er l y in c ompre h en si b l e
, .
, ,

a ppa rent l y impossi b le ; y et a b s o l u tely t rue .

—
B u t t his muc h a t l ea s t we may g rasp th a t th e bless e d
s tate of N irva na is no t as s ome have ignoran tl y s upposed a
, ,

c ond i t i on o f b lank not h in g ness b u t o f f

,
ar more i n t ense an d

b e ne fic e n t activity ; and tha t ever as we rise hig her in t he

s ca l e o f na t ure ou r possi b ilities b ecome g rea t er our work fo r
,

o ther s ever g rander and more far r eac h in g and tha t in fin it e

-
,

wi sdom and in fi n it e power means only in fi ni t e capacity for

s ervice b ecause th e y are di r ec t e d b y in fi nite l ove
,
.

PR I NT E D B! NE I L L A N D CO . . E D I NB ! R ! H .