A RY AN T H E OSOPH I C AL PRE S S

POINT L OMA , C A L I FORNI A

PRE FA C E

HE remarks under thishead are intended

to be introductory to each of the Manuals. w ic o f First, as to the spirit in h h they are re d T s u fe . he e Man als are not written in a controversial spirit, nor as an addition to the

stock of theories awaiting public approval . T he writers have no time to waste in arguing with people who do not wish to be convinced , or who ridicule everything which is new to m their limited outlook . Their essage is for those who desire to know —those who are seeking for something that will solve their m u f . u do bts and re ove their di ficulties For s ch, all that is needed is a clear exposition of the Theosophical teachings ; for they will j udge of the truth of a teaching by its power to an u swer the q estions they ask . People realize , much more now than in the early days of the ‘ u Theo so Theosophical Society, the val e of g m iv PRE FA C E

for the ever-increasing difficulties engendered m u by selfishness and aterialism, by do bt and

the multiplicity of theories , have created an

urgent demand which it alone can satisfy .

Again, it is necessary to state clearly and emphatically the genuine teachings of Theo

sophy, as given by the Founder of the Theo

sophical Society, H . P . Blavatsky, and her m u e successors , Willia Q . J dge, and Katherin

Tingley . For , as H . P . Blavatsky predicted , there are persons who have sought to pervert these teachings and turn them into a source of profit to themselves and their own selfish

and ambitious schemes . The true teachings do not lend themselves to such purposes ; their u ideals are of the p rest and most unselfish . Hence these persons have sought to promul gate under the name of Theoso phy a perverted r Br h fo m of the teachings, from which ot erli

ness and other pure motives are omitted , and B . l which contains doctrines which H . P avat malcfice nt u sky showed to be and destr ctive . As these pseudo-Theosophists have gained a certain amount of notoriety by using the names Th of the eosophical Society and its Leaders , it isnecessary to warn the public against them PRE FA CE

h a s and their misrepresentations . T eir te ching be m can easily shown , by co parison , to be di

re ctly contrary to those of H . P . Blavatsky, I n whomthey nevertheless profess to follow . -sacrifice stead o f having for their basis self , - urification hu self p , and the elevation of the

man race, these teachings too often pander to

m u . a bition, vanity, and c riosity In many cases u they are altogether ridic lous, and only cal

l e u . cu at d to make people la gh Nevertheless , as these travesties have served to discredit the name of Theoso phy and to keep earnest in uire rs u q away from the tr th , it is well that the u u p blic sho ld know their nature and origin . They are the work of people who were at one ime m embers of the Theosophical Society , ut who did not find in it that food for their wn perso nalities of which they were really in

arch . So they tu rned against their teachers u wo nded pride and vanity , and sta rted little tietie s of their own with themselves at

head . ‘ he writers of these Manuals have no per 11 u u grievance against any s ch cal mniators . ired by a profound love of the sublime t the have mam: ings of Theosophy, y vi PRE FA CE

their life-work to bring the benefits which they have thereby received within the reach of as

many people as possible . And they feel that they will have the hearty sympathy and co operation of the public in exposing folly and r n b ingi g the truth to light . Theosophy strikes unfamiliar ground in u modern civilization, beca se it does not come under any particular one of the familiar head

ings of Religion, Science , Philosophy, etc ., into which our age has divided its speculative ac ivi i s t t e . It dates back to a period in the history of mankind when such distinctions did not ex but a ist, there was one sis or Knowledge w embracing all . Religion and Science , as e m bu r have the today, are t imperfect g owths springing from the remnants of that great

- ancient system , the Wisdom Religion , which included all that we now know as religion and m science, and much ore . Hence Theosophy will not appeal to the same motives as religion ff and science . It will not o er any cheap and easy salvation or put a premium upon mental

inactivity and spiritual selfishness . Neither can it accommodate itself to the rules laid down by various schools of modern thought as to PRE FA CE vii

what constitutes proo f and what does not .

But it can and does appeal to the Reaso n . The truth of doctrines such as Theoso phy m aintains, can only be estimated by their ability to solve problems and by their harmony u with other truths which we know to be tr e . But in addition to this we have the testimony o of the ages, which has been too l ng neglected mo bu by dern scholarship, t which is now being revealed by archaeologists and scholars, as u H . P . Blavatsky prophesied that it wo ld in h t is century . It may pe rhaps be as well also to remind s u r tho e who wo ld c iticise, that the state of modern opinion is scarcely such as to warrant as um u f anybody in s ing the attit de o a j udge . u u e It wo ld be q ite prop r for a Theosophist, instead of answering questions or attempting m u to give proofs , to de and that his q estioners should first state their own case , and to be u u himself the q estioner . The res lt would cer tainl y show that Theosophy, to say the very u least, stands on an eq al footing with any other view , since there is no certain know u ledge, no satisfying explanation, to be fo nd anyw here . PRE FA C E

Since the days when the wave of mate rial sm n the i swept over the world, obliterati g traces of the ancient Wisdom-Religion and our t e replacing it by theological dogmatism, ligionshave had nothing to off e r usin the w ay of a philosophical explanation o f the law s o f a ur e Being as revealed in Man and in N t . Instead we have only had bare statements a and dogmatic assertions . The higher n tu r e of man is represented by such vague word s u no as Spirit and So l , which have little or m m eaning for the ajority . The laws of the universe are briefly summed up under the ” Go d u term , and all f rther consideration o f u ff n them sh t o . Then came a reaction agai st the dogmatism of religion , and man pinned his faith to knowledge gained by study and o m reflecti n , li iting his researches , however , to u the o ter world as presented by the senses, and fearing to trench upon the ground which dogmatic theology had rendered the field o f u u so m ch contention . The res lt of this has

been that neither in religions nor sciences , have we any teaching about the higher nature d of man or the eeper mysteries of the universe . T is his a field which is left entirely unexplored , PRE FA C E ix

or is at best the subject of tentative and un

guided conjectures . ou Until , therefore , religi s teachers have m satisfac so ething definite , consistent , and off e r u tory to , and ntil science can give us something better than mere confessions of nescience or impudent denials with regard to m everything beyond its own do ain , Theosophy can afford to assume the role of questioner u rather than that of q estioned , and does not ow e anybody any explanations whatever . It is suffi cient to state its tenets and let them vindicate themselves by their greater reason ableness ; and any further explanation that may be ofi e red is offered rather from good will than from any obligation . Theosophy undertakes to explain that which u other systems leave nexplained , and is , on u o its own special gro nd, with ut a competitor . u o It can iss e a challenge to theol gy, science , and m u other modern syste s, to s rpass it in giving a rational explanation of the facts of life . m u Again, there are so e q estions which it is um beyond the reach of the h an mind , in its

r esent sta e o develo ment to answ er mock p g f p , , PRE FA C E it would scarcely be j ust to arraign Theo sophy

for not answer ing these . Judgment should in all case s be precede d ul t o by w e f study . There are always h se w ho will impatiently ru sh to questions which a fur ther study would have rendered u n necessary ; and it is safe to say that the majority of objections raised to Theosoph ical teachings are such as could have been the c m ee solved by obje tor hi self, had he b n u i u se a gen ine student . In the ord nary co r s u u ar e of ed cation, scholars are req ired and c to l ontent , accept provisional y many of the ’ a t m u te chers s ate ents, in f ll confidence that further study will explain what in the begi n n m ing cannot be made clear . In the sa e spirit an earnest student of Theosophy will be wise enough to hold many of his diffi cu l u t ties in reserve, until , by f r her investigation, he has gained better acquaintance with his c subje t . In the case of those who are not willing to adopt these wise and patient meth u ma u ods of st dy, it y be reasonably q estioned whether they are the more anxious to learn

or to disprove . A bo ve all it is sought to make these Man PRE FA C E xi uals such that they shall appeal to the hear t and not mer ely to the head ; that they shall be of practical service to the reader in the m proble s of his daily life, and not mere intel e lectual exercises . For there have b en in past days books written by persons more dis tinguished for a cer tain grade of mental nim ble ne ss than for heartfelt devotion to the cause of truth ; and these have appealed only to those people who love intricate philo sophi l m ca proble s better than practical work . But

as H . P . Blavatsky so frequently urged , the message of Theosophy is for suffering human a ur ity ; and the gre t Teachers, whose sole p pose is to bring to mankind the Light of Truth and the saving grace of real Brother line ss can have no interest in catering for the mental curiosity of merely a few well

- . u to do individuals Even so lless men , said u H . P . Blavatsky, can be brilliantly intellect al ; but for those who are in earnest in their de sire to reach the higher life intellectual fire r works alone will have little att action . We

intend , therefore, to keep the practical aspect

of the teachings always to the front , and to s far as ibl tha the axe wh e n how, as poss e , t y PRE FA C E they claim to be the gospel of a new h and salvation for humanity . These Booklets are not all the product but r ff r a single pen , are w itten by di e Students at the International H eadquafl of the UNIVE RSA L BROT HERHOOD A ND T B S A TY m C alifor OPHIC L SOCIE at Point Lo a , Each writer has contributed his own quote the series . For further explanations on Theo so

. generally, the reader is referred to the B List published elsewhere in this volume anc nu : the other Ma als of this series , which t of Theosophy and the various Theosoph teachings . CONTENTS

Immortality

Planes in Ge neral The Need for Devachan Reality and Unreality Analytic and Synthetic Thought

A Plane of Spiritual Unity Theosophical and Materialistic Con ceptions

Kamaloka : the Place of Desire The Release from Entanglements

The E ntities of Kamaloka The New Day’s Work

2 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N last he himself becomes the Truth and the ” u the romsed Way . Jes s Christ implicitly p i this when he sa id Greate r works than the se ” o a and shall he do . Theo s phy te ches The o so phical students lear n that the inne r ’ -o -the - but a lam is no will wisp , is a ste dy p to lighten the darkness ; If any man willeth ” the c to do his will, he shall know of do trine . hn 7 17 (Jo , But although Theosophy has no hard and fast creed to be enforced under penalties he r e i or hereafter , it has teach ngs which may not u be neglected witho t seriou s loss . All who study these teachings without fear or p reju dice find them compe tent to lead the honest truth-seeker to a position from which their u acc racy can be proved, and when he has arrived at this position there

ea s nto flame the t o f actua no l p i ligh l k wle dge .

T en the ears e in to ear . m h b g h Ve ry di ly, ve ry

fir t. A d faintly at s n indee d, so faint and tende r are these fir st indications o f the commencement o f fe t at t e r m m true , actual li , h h y a e so e ti e s push e d me r fanc es me r ma n n ‘ aside as e i , e i gi i gs.

the Path L ight on . I MMORTA L I TY

Theosophy teaches the doctrine of Rein — ca rnation the belief of a majority of the people of the civilized world as a matter o f c common sense, a ne essary portion of the u u m law of Evol tion , witho t which it is ean in l s u r g e s . Reincarnation post lates cyclic e ” “ tu rn after pe riods of objective into sub ” — j ective life conditions objective as regard ed from one state being subjective from the m other . In a drea for instance , waking life is as unreal and subjective as dream-life is Bu w hen we are awake . t as the question of Reincarnation has been treated in another of h u t the u t t ese Man als , o which inq irer is e u ferred , it is nnecessary to devote space to its consideration here . The essential thing we have to learn from m Theosophy, which is so novel to any, is that the larger life of man is a sequence of lives u and not a uniq e thing, a detached adventure , quite different from what precedes it and fol lows it ; that the states after the death of the “ ” d u e u bo y are not s p rnat ral , are not a com ‘ lete B at a ma r . p break with everything natu al . K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA C H A N powerful is the impression that death is a total break of continuity $ Katherine Tingley says, speaking to those who still cling to the ignorances of the narrow creeds which have ’ obscured the light of Christ s teachings for so many centuries

Who among you can explain the Myste ry o f Death ? I have yet to meet tho se w ho nominally accept the dogmas o f the churche s and w ho are tho roughly satisfied with them; I have yet to find suc h w ho can face e at t no e e and un e r d h wi h k wl dg d standing. L e t me proclaim now that I o ff e r with abso lute knowle dge the stateme nt that The osophy reveals the B Myste ry o f Death . ut no Theosophist can even app roximately unde rstand the Myste ry o f De ath

“ u t i e f- s n d n il he s s l di cipli e d, an until he has abso lutely set aside the false ideas about death he has h w I i m bee n rece iving since e as bo rn. t s i possible r th w n r x mate to unde stand e L a , eve app o i ly, until he has found confidence in himself ; confidence in D n aw Fo r Dea o a T eos the ivi e L . th t h ophist is i i Birth ; t s Birth .

Theosophy teaches usthat Immortality can u m only be gained d ring the e bodied condition, for the illumination which releases the bo nds of selfishness is only to be won through strife ; I MMORTA L I TY S

uff The kingdom of heaven s ereth violence , f M and men o violence take it by force ( att. 1 l , and the purified Man to be complete must have the control of the material condi f tions as well as those o the higher regions . The only form of death which is utter disaster is caused by the withdrawal of the Higher Ego

from the personality . This may take place at a ny time during the life of the body owing to u persistence in evil . The state of s ch a being, cunning and mentally active but utterly self u ish and so lless, is terrible to contemplate .

H . . u P Blavatsky said there were many s ch, u sco rges for humanity . When the earnest truth- seeker who is not u l h nting for verbal f aws, one who has really suff d ere for want of the light , who has tried systems of thought and guessesinto the mean ing of things which lead to no satisfaction, regards Theosophy from a dispassionate stand point he will find that its teachings are not strange, that they are not the grotesque vagar m ies of ancient or odern ignorance . Already

t exeahe x to thousands they have come as the. 6 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N of what has hitherto been obscure in the philo is be sophies and religions of the world . It to m and f regretted for the credit of hu anity , or m the their sakes, that any who have found long-desired interpretation of their diffi culties through the study of Theosophy have not ac u knowledged the so rce of their inspiration, but dare to pose before the world as original thinkers, when they are but plagiarists . ” In considering the various planes or str ata of consciousness in Nature, it is necessary to grasp firmly the idea that there is a close correspondence between the constitution o f man and that of the Universe more than s i a clo e correspondence, for in fact man s a part of the universe, body, mind , and so ul, u fiber to fiber . Man is, in the lang age of m philosophy, the icrocosm of the Macro ” cosm u , the reprod ction or manifestation in little of the greater Kosmos . Scientists have discovered that man has in his body organs which are of little or no use to himbut which m i are functional in the lower ani als , and n a simila w a T has r y, heosophy says , he the po I MMORTA L I TY 7

s n te ntialitie of all the kingdoms , k own and

u n m . nk own, in germ or in anifestation The pity o f it is that he has been kept so ignorant of his greatness that he hardly dares to admit u it even when it is forced pon him, and prefers

to believe he has been born in sin , or is merely a higher animal without an immortal soul of which he can become cognizant if he u w ill . This is largely d e to the paralysing influence of the popular theology which has so long insisted upon the innate depravity of man m u u and the i possibility, witho t extraneo s out help , of his getting of the mire in which he was supposed to have been plunged by the

sin of Adam . Happily it looks as if the reign of fear and aba sement arising out of a perverted view of the story of the Fall of Adam one of the most instructive allegories of the ancient Mys te r ies when interpreted by the light of Theo m m sophy see s to be co ing to an end . Theo sophy alone can give the key to unlock the closed doors to the secret meanings of that ‘ ' and the like curious allegories oi w axeta 8 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

Bible and all the world-scriptures ar e ful the ignorance of which has been fostered l those whose interest it was to keep the mint Tl of the masses of the pe ople in subjection . th: fact that man is a god in potentiality , he is a glorious being in essence however th may be concealed under an outer mask u i grossness , that he is one with the niverse m ti essence and not a ere worm, is one of teachings of the Mysteries that was wilful$ concealed at first by those who ought to 113A b known etter, then denied , and which at la

has become almost lost to the western world . According to the teachings of Theosoph; which have been handed down by the gre: Lodge of Illuminati who have given out w h: they dared through their messengers since tl withdrawal of the Mysteries until the pe1 sent day and for the recent presentatio

of which we are chiefly indebted to H . I u Blavatsky , fo nder of the present Theosophic: presentation there are many states of co r sciousne ssof which the ordinary man has n< the slighte st idea ; states in w hich time an

lo K AMA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

modified an extraordinary effect upon our live u et would follow . S ppo se that instead of p ceiving events at the present rate say on tenth of a second we could observe a thou: and events in the time now taken to see om we should then clearly perceive things takin but one-ten-thousandth part of a sec ond t u t perform , and our lives wo ld apparently lengthened a thousand times ; the day w oul be crowded with incidents which we now on$ s : see in a confu ed way if at all , and would see

to be interminably long. For instance w should be able to study the movement of th so mor wings of a fly, or to hear unds far ’ to r acute than a bat s squeak, which many pe

. u b sons , even as it is, are deaf There wo ld

u u bl ‘ of course, no real change in o ter Nat re , we should have changed our relation to i' thereby realizing the existence of the hithert ur unknown . Conversely if o power of pe n ception slackened we should not see more tha a percentage of the events perceptible to u now ; they would go too fast to be follow e i d il n eta . $MMORTA L I TY 11

u Again , if our bodies were red ced to minute r p ropo rtions the laws of capillary att action , u co hesion, and adhesion wo ld bring us face

- to face with a set of problems which, as we ar e c - at present onstituted, are non existent f r o us . The cells of our bodies have their own con sc io usne ss ff , which is di erent from that of u u the organs b ilt p from them , and the con sc io usne ss of the organs is again different from the synthesizing consciousness in the - u m cerebro spinal nervo s syste . Like the cell , the personal human be ing is a part of a gr eater B he eing, t Higher Ego, which is trying to bring the consciousness of the lower self to a realization of its gr eat destiny ultimate u nity with Itself first, and then with the ALL . Throughout our study of the inner planes u m we sho ld never fail to bear this in ind , for it is essential to a fair understanding of the possibility of comprehending other planes ; the Higher Ego lives in many planes at the m u sa e time, so to speak, tho gh the personality

alse o ali s h o \t\s\s the f pers n ty a t e. cca l 12 KAMA L OKA A ND DE VA CH A N

it only lives the normal life of the sense s. What does the orthodox believer mean when he tells us of the heavenly world or of the abode of the damned ? His familiar use of o the words heaven, hell , purgat ry, or what u s not, does not deceive into thinking that the most erudite theological fledgling has any real

initiation into the meaning of those words . Has he been taught that heaven is a locality ? ? If so, where is it Is hell a place in the m interior of the earth, at the botto of some volcano ? Or are both of them only condi tions o f the mind here on earth ? How is it “ ” that the cloud o f witnesses surrounding us is not visible to the strongest eyesight ? u - The ch rch goer, however well educated be f and intelligent he may , will find it di fi cult to answer these and similar questions that a ut - child can p , and his self appointed spirit u ual guides can not do m ch better than he .

Nowadays it is becoming hard to find anyone , professional ecclesiastic or other , who will commit himself to anything definite in regard to the n x and the u e t world , pop lar haziness $MMORTA L I TY 13 as to its detailed condition is unfor tunately extending itself into disbelief in any spirit Bu ual world at all . t the fact is that the heaven and hell of the churches are grotesque and distorted survivals of the real knowledge taught in the Mysteries of Antiquity about the

inner planes of being . Theosophy has definite meanings to attach to the inner states whose pale reflections still persist under the names

u . a u heaven , hell and p rgatory The d rk clo d

of mystery covering them , and the fear of the u nknown that has been fostered is a powerful weapon in the hands of ecclesiasticism ; but i u e -dis once the earnest nq irer b gins , by self c i line u p , to realize the fleeting nat re of the per sonality and the immortality of the Higher u Ego , these nworthy fears which have been

u to u . sed keep him in s bjection, disappear PLANES IN GENERAL

T O get any conception of the Theoso phi cal view of life and evolution and to understand the meaning of the inner planes u be of existence , old prej dices have to set aside and an attitude free frombias must be u striven for, because the st dent has to meet u some q ite unexpected facts , and to give dis passionate consideration to theories which may be quite novel to him . It will not u aim do, if tr th be the of the inquirer, to : blink facts by saying Oh yes , those obser vatio ns have certainly as much right to be be lieved after due investigation as any other - u bu well a thenticated facts, t Professor S o und-so has pronounced them outside the pale e of r asonable consideration, or the Reverend u Mr . Blank has deno nced them as works of h i t e . n u e devil If the i q rer be sincer , if PL A NE S I N GE NE RA L 15 his motive be the pure one of wishing to gain power only to lift humanity from its r degradation ; in short, if he have the hea t u touch of compassion and love for all creat res , he will not be psychologi zed by the dictator

r de lud ial asse tions of all the professors , nor ed into begging the sanction of the priests before thinking for himself ; nor will he have to wait too long for light on his problems . Theosophy is older than the professors of modern science and antedates any existing priesthood known to the world $ The planes of which Theosophy speaks with no uncertain voice are definite states or m u strata of olec lar, or atomic vibration , as the be ff n case may , each correlated to di ere t and definite states of consciousness . They inter penetrate be tween the vibrations of terrestrial matter, earthly and atmospheric , and the physical senses are not fitted to respond to them . The laws obtaining on the inner planes us are not familiar to ; for instance , the farther m re we go fro the material plane , the more s nsive p i eaeis po shall we find the substance. 16 KAMA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

inner state in succession be comes to the mo$ fe elir ing power of thought, imagination, or A helpful illustration is seen in the septe na

division of the vibrations of light . There a no hard and fast lines to be drawn be tw e the different colors and yet the chemical a: some other properties of each are not t m : sa e , the violet rays of the spectrum bei

very different from the red . man H . P . Blavatsky says that it is a that the almost imperceptible separation t tween the physical and the astral ” t lowest of the inner planes of substance ai consciousness is not broken through co

ll u u 1 tinua y . The constit tion of a h man bei is so complex that he is necessarily on ma: ” planes at once, physical , astral , emotion m ental , and spiritual . The physical is hard

‘ more than the container of or vehicle for t m ff rest . We all know what a co plete di eren ’ there is between one s state when concentrati

u m u : in the p rely ani al condition of h nger, a that when the spiritual consciousness is arous a r s - sacrifi in to c r y out some elf c g deed . The

18 K AMA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

ness nearer to the mysterious Primal E neq and in so doing it has opened the way to clearer understanding of the cau ses s n mics of disea e or crime, of the origi

- u , so u he geni s of the called supernat ral p §7 _

omena , and of Death . Scientific men who have superficially read a little about Theosophy have criticised it for advancing statements about the various states of matter and spirit with the confidence of

knowledge, while the scientific world has been devoting the whole power of the human in tellect for centu ries in vain efforts to define r the simplest prope ties of physical matter . As a matter of fact Theosophy does not be gin to deal with the laws governing sub stance from the same standpoint as modern

science . Theosophy begins with states of con sciousne ss ; it learns the keynote, so to speak, of the diff erent conditions or planes ; it gets control of the underlying basis or Naumenau

of each , and so all the necessary experiments to verify details and to observe changes are conducted from a sure foundation of know PL A NE S I N GE NE RA L 19

ledge of the thing as it is . Theosophy has m proved that atter is crystallized life , is u a form of conscio sness, protean in its changes as the changing cycles pass . Modern science has very nearly touched this idea in the most recent and daring speculations about the electrons corpuscles of a non-mater ial nature centers of negative electricity . A goo d instance of the contrasting attitude o of Theos phy to modern science , and one that shows why science finds it impossible to reach the causes of external phenomena while con fi ning its attention to the physical plane , is seen in the consideration of the problem of us the elements . Modern science tells that the seventy-odd elementary substances are not re ducible to simpler form and that each has inherently diff erent characteristics from the rest ( though there has lately been some doubt expressed of this in orthodox scientific circles) and it recognizes no other forms of matter n molecu tha the electronic, and the atomic or lar u ; the solid , liquid , gaseo s , and the radiant “ ’ or fiery be ing considered merely meehaa xea\ K AMA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

changes of state caused by temperature and

pressure . Now the be tter instructed scientists dis or philosophers of antiquity, and the few ciple s of the ancient wisdom who kept the u e light from going o t during the Middl Ages, seous knew that the solid, the liquid , the ga ,

and the fiery were more than this . They had learned that these physical changes in the dis tances and relationships of the molecu les were ultimate se s produced by some , hidden cau , something radical and of a much dee per na ture than the proximate and fairly obvious ones which are the only subjects of physical

research today . N0 one wishes to deny the accuracy of the observations of scientists in regard to the ff u e e ects of changes of temperat re , pressur , in . t electric tension , etc , but that is not the po e at issue . Theosophy has reasons to accept th observations of those trained occultists of an d m cient and mo ern times , in possession of ore accurate and certain means of ascertaining the real cause of changes on the physical P lane than the materialist w ith hismechanical PL A NE S I N GE NE RA L 21

um u e instr ents, and it accepts as tr e their b lief e m- in the existence of s i intelligent forces , ” u Elementals, manifesting thro gh matter, and governing respectively the solid , the liquid , states ab and the other conditions . The of ( u sol te) matter are the real Elements , and c e a h state belongs to a plane, or more correct l - y , a sub plane of the astral world , and its manifestation in the physical world gives us ” “ u the solid , liq id, and the other condi “ m- tions . The se i intelligent forces , the ele me ntals r r of fire , air , wate , and ea th (the ” a a Sal m nders , Sylphs , Undines , and Gnomes as personified by the imagination of antiquity) modify the conditions of terrestrial matter o ur in accordance with their nature . If sight were only a little clearer we could see the action of these forces on the inner planes and would then clearly understand how they modi f m y the conditions of physical atter , changing

u s etc . it from the liq id to the olid state , , work ing through the agencies of the vibrations of heat and the rest . Theosophy declares from n and o he “h a en s absolute k owledge , t t e v 22 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

can mind it is clearly reasonable, that there ” u d ad be no s ch thing as blind force , or e u tu matter in the niverse, but that all na ral forces must have intelligence (of different r deg ees) behind them and guiding them . It is not necessary to believe that the lower forces of nature are possessed of intelligence are like the human mind ; less so, that they m d handled by an anthropo orphic, personal Go , like a man at a switchboard ; but it is rever ent and reasonable to find that there are grades the of intelligence, from the lowest to highest, guiding that manifestation of life we call Matter in its evolution from the inorga nic to

- full self consciousness . The planes of Devachan and Kamaloka are in many respects quite diff erent from the h a ffe physical , thoug they interpenetr te and a ct it, the latter the most owing to its proximity. The “ lower portion of the plane of Kama is the abode of an undesirable form of con sciousne ssand of dangerou s and unprogressed entities ; it is the reservoir of Passion . The hi her art ache s the Devachanic e g p appro stat , PL A NE S I N GE NE RA L 23 which is a high and pure condition where the i ighe r Ego rests after death illuminated ” . f y the light of the Higher Sel . Yet

)e vachan is not a plane of perfect knowledge . u n fact the soul in Devachan is under ill sion, “ 'f m u is a a kind, all the ti e ; this ill sion iec essary condition for the or der ly dev elop ment of the stifled spir itual aspirations of the w t life in the normal man of this age ; it is n u ot the f ll illumination .

Happiness , that ideal happiness which the a u o l needs as part of its training, and which t u deserves after the b rden of physical life , an not be gained under the conditions of - m a rth life in its present i perfect state . In ) e vachan the soul does not know it has left u s he earth ; or at least, s ch an idea a that of leath never occurs to it any more than other u a m nple sant things, and its existence see s to ie an intensely vivid and perfectly joyous n inua ion - o t t of the earth life just over . As he imagination is now intensely active in a vay never known while trammeled by the t a u h s ul cr eates te e r in , the surro ndings t e o 24 KA MA L OKA A ND DE VA CH A N

s . clea it elf are exquisitely delightful It is g l a er fe th t to undergo this experience of p Q ‘ be in n joy no painful ideas must allowed , a v therefore a certain amount of illusion is o f u necessity an attrib te of Devachan . He who has passed beyond illusion and w ho needs no Devachanic break between incarn ations or who needs no further incarnations at all, and who can bear the full blaze of the consuming fire of Divine Wisdom , is the o ne described in the eloquent and poetical language of the allegorical boo k of Re velation

H at o e rcome t I ma e him e th v h, will k a pillar in m e o f m God and he s the te pl y , hall go out th e nce no mo re ; and I will write upon him mine me —R iii o w n new na . ev . , 12.

26 KA MA L OK A A ND DE VA C H A N

In the Gospel of John the union of 1 higher part with the personality is referred in plain language

m h n ar the ranc e s I f a n I a t e vi e , ye e b h

’ m s f rt as a ranc nc abide not in e , he is ca t o h b h, a r m h fir withe e d ; — and cast the into t e e and t$ are burne d John xv, 5, 6 .

We cannot see the suffering of our frier when we are in Devachan ; happy illu si i fit again, for the imag nation has little more the memories of the past life to build w i and while we weave the images of our frier into our Devachanic dreamin bright and lii l unde r o i y colors , the real person may be g 1 very different experiences . That does make the Devachanic dreamany the less j <

ousduring the time it lasts . For Devachan not really a counterpart of the heaven of 1

u . orthodox . That heaven is s pposed to l r u Des ete nally, while the s bjective state of

but out m sc chan is temporary, and fro it the emerges to take up its complete life aga It is in earth- life that the real knowledge tl is beyond illusion mu st be gained ; when tl NE E D FOR DE VA C H A N 27

m n is done and a has become more than man, he will be able to see that Nature energizes ’ u ll for the so l s experience , and that a the ff u di erent experiences he has passed thro gh , m r embodied and dise bodied, have pa taken m u ore or less of the nature of ill sion . In fact, according to the greatest thinkers , all u U n things p to the Divine First Cause, the o e m c nscious in G r an philosophy, are under u ff ill sion in di erent degrees .

H . P. Blavatsky defines Devachan as

T he e f h s me dw lling o t e god . A state inte r diate e t e e n tw o e art - e s nt h ma b w h liv , i o which t e E go ( A t - Man s r h T r n m n Buddhi a , o t e i ity ade o e e nte rs

fte r its se ar on f rom K i m Rii nd t i a p ati pa, a he d s nte ra on f h r r n i g ti o t e lowe p i ciple s, on the death o f he o on e rt ' t b dy a h . 1

Again , one of her Adept teachers says

I n it w e are re ste d ; that part o f us which co uld not bloo m unde r the chilling skie s o f earth - life bursts into flo we r and goe s back with us to e arth life stronge r and more a part o f our nature than e e r e for s o u w re n v b e . Why h ld e pi e that nature

n 2 The S even P rinci leso M ua No . S e e a l , p f Man. ' Th K e t Th s r 1 e y o e osophy, Glosa y . 28 KA MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N kindly aids us in the interminable struggle ; w hy ke ep the mind revolving abo ut the p resent petty pe rsonality and its good and evil fo rtune s?

In that last passage there is the key to the r whole secret . It is the continual ha ping on the small events affecting the egotistic per sonality that holds us back from our right ful entering into our birthright of knowledge.

There is, behind what we call the personal m ” self, the great I personal Individuality , the u real Man, who is not bo nded by the limits of the personality, which is but a temporary and partial phase or aspect of the Higher Ego, as we have to learn before we can make any u progress . It is to the nion with this over shadowing higher Being that all the limited o f u personal lives s ccessive incarnations tend . The work of the present personality in each o f u s one is to blend itself with the Immortal, the Warrior, thereby gaining its salvation . The Bible says a man must be born again before he can enter the kingdom of heaven . True ; he mu st be born into the knowledge of

v The Path, vol . , p . 191. NE E D FOR DE VA CH A N 29 the higher existence that is waiting for him ; m then the petty things of his old , li ited and d selfish life will be as if they ha never been . In Devachan the soul touches the fringe of u off i the spiritual life ; it has p t , temporar ly, most of the trammels formed by the desires of the lower personality and has entered upon the fruition of those better things which were almost buried under a mountain of egotism and passion while on earth . Though Devachan is not the ideally perfect condition of the man who has attained his o w n u divinity, who has conq ered the great Enemy self and who has arrived at the region where things are seen as they are , u ff m where the law of ca se and e ect, Kar a , “ u un is known, where the J stice of God is de rstoo d m , and where the power to help hu an a ity has been g ined, still it is not the teaching of Theosophy that Devachan is a waste of time ; that would be an outrage on the Divine order of nature . Devachan is needed by the u soul for its restoration , for its p rification after the so iling and tiring e xper ience s o f 30 KA MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

u e earth . It is a restf l and blissful sle p

- after the day of earth life . Devachan is a period of adj ustment in which what may be called the undeserved sufferings of the past life on earth are healed by a compensat u cor ing joy, for Nat re balances her books re l run ct y in the long . The drop of water that has been raised up from the ocean r e u a o u t rns t last, however l ng the jo rney . As each personality cannot see the cau ses of o f uff u many its s erings in the past life , ca ses which have been sown in previous lives of u mu sin, it end res ch distress from the appar u h ent inj stice of fate ; and, owing to t e fact ” that we are all members of one another, ne literally, when o yields to evil all have to bear some of the penalties . For these appar u ently ndeserved sorrows , and for others which the Higher Ego has deliberately chosen for the help of mankind or for its own puri O fication me rciful , the Law has provided full and overflowing compensation in the joys of

Devachan ; for , whatever may be the illusion my nature of the surroundings of the sou NE E D FOR DE VA CH A N 31

m u in that state, there is no istake abo t the happiness of it being vivid beyond all present understanding. Another reason for the erroneous idea that the De vachanic illusion is a waste of time m en is the aterializing tend cy of the age , which is hypnotized into believing everything to be u mu nreal that it cannot test with its for lae , ut the u p into cr cible, or examine with the u spectroscope . And here we m st not forget

. e . the important tenet of Theosophy , i , that there is no break of continuity at death . u The soul, the higher Ego, goes on thro gh all u states , observing, learning and b ilding . In thus passing through the various planes there u is no waste of time, nless they have already bee n expe rienced and their lessons assimilated ; in such cases any further delay would be un Bu necessary . t in this age a repeated number u of sojo rns in Devachan is a necessity, for in it the reincarnating ego needs to get rid of the cramping physical body for a while to m approach nearer to its inner ost Divinity . A charge has been made against the Deva 32 KA MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

chanic hypothesis that it would be monoton so han ous . This is not so ; it is no more t it would be if the moments of the most exqu isite mental pleasure one has ever had were greatly t i accentuated , and leng hened out indefin tely. In such moments one loses almost entirely the sense of pe rsonal existence ; one is so fully absorbed in the feeling of the time that u s - the tho ght comes afterwards , when elf con sciousness ur has ret ned , why a whole hour has passed and it seems but a minute $ Such a state gives us the nearest approach or paral lel to the Devachanic absence of self- con scio usne ss that we are likely to experience

. a while embodied Schopenhauer, c lled the u great pessimist, a m ch misunderstood think u o er , uses arg ments based n similar postulates in support of his contention that the less self conscious we are the less we realize our x own separated e istence the happier we are . He is using arguments in favor of earth- life

' afi air being a poor as it is lived by mankind . Without entering into a consideration of th hil oso h n au p p y of Schope h er , it is only necce

34 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

fan m f fl cy gli pse s o bliss and happine ss, sti ed ii un rat f o omn i the ro s g e ul social s il, blo i g n y daw De a an r e n r i - f v ch , and ip ni g unde ts eve r ructif

k ' s . e r all nr z e s y th e u eali e d hop , aspi rat

re m e om fu rea z an th r m d a s, b c e lly li e d, d e d ea so f obj e ctive be come the realitie s o f the subj e ctive r n iste nce . A nd the e be hi d the curtain o f M its vaporo us and deceptive appea rance s are ce i e h I n a e w ho h r v d by t e iti t , as lea ne d the a secret ho w to pene trate thus far de e p into A r n o f n ca a be i g. REALITY AND UNREALITY T H IS brings forward again an interesting point and one that has to be referred to u u constantly in o r consideration of this s bject . The Author of the above refers to the illu sionary nature of the so- called objective and subjective existences . The teaching of Theosophy is that up to the highest state of Parabrahm m Go dhood , , the One Ulti ate Real r t u ity , eve y hing is more or less ill sionary ; less so as the highest is approached . The Initiate is one who can perceive some of the workings u behind the scenes of o ter nature , in regions u he unseen by the ncontrolled man of t world . This does not mean that the highest Initiates connected with this earth can penetrate into u e m u i the ltimate r al s of the First Ca se , st ll Parabr ahm less so of , for he made darkness ” \n a u e ar e. \e pavilion ro nd about him. W 36 K A MA L OKA A ND DE VA CH A N

by Those who have learned how to travel

safely into other planes , that while Devachan u m hi her not is nreal fro a g standpoint , it is u u ed so nreal as this life, of which , when red c ad to the last analysis, we have to mit that philosophically we know nothing but our own e states of feeling . All external things are pr sumed to exist per se in consequence of cer tain sensations and changes we exper ience ur u within o own conscio sness . By the open admission of the greatest minds of modern science we know nothing of matter as it

really is . But Theosophy helps u s to clear up the u u gro nd pon this point too . Theo sophy shows m that the ato is a life, a manifestation or center of consciousness ; that all things have ff intelligence in di erent degrees, that there ” u is nothing absol tely dead , and that there “ u u is no blind force . To p rs e this ques tion here would carry us be yond the scope our u but of present st dy, it will be considered u for im in another Man al , it is of extreme p ortance for a r ight unde rstanding of the RE A L I TY A ND U NRE A L I TY 37 d ff e u i erence between the hop f l , practical , and spiritual philosophy of Theosophy and the disheartening materialism prevalent today in physics . The leading characteristic of Devachan is the intense power of the Imagination in ac tion . The Imagination is the highest power we have, the creative power ; but how little is it allowed to come into play on earth $ Yet u a u witho t it, cr mped and s ppressed as it is ,

u . nothing wo ld be done Not only the artist , m the poet, the mathe atician and the inventor , but us also the b iness man, the organizer , the u use u u statesman , m st this fac lty . The nim aginative man loses more than half the savor m of life, while those who work their i agina tion most actively feel the keenest pleasure Bu possible to man . t in comparison with what is experienced by the soul in Devachan our most exquisite creations of the imagina bu tion are t pale reflections . Every one who has permitted the spiritu al nature to grow in u the least, who has c ltivated the higher pleas

u n and eleva ed hi e the. \ex e. res of a refi ed t , 38 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

o en of art , p etry, music, of natural beauty , g erous u afi friendship, and nselfish natural ec t tion, and so for h, will have a rich Devachan in which these can find fullest scope and development . The finest example of creative imagination on earth is one that is constantly before us

the innocent play of children . A few bits of stick, a stone or two and a puddle of water will supply the healthy normal boy with all the physical materials with which he will build a navy and a magnificent harbor in his own u u u mind . The most nsightly doll is s ally the favorite ; why ? Because it gives more scope for the imagination of the little maid ; the

finely dressed one with movable eyes, etc . , actually destroys the keen edge of the active i u e imag nation , j st lately come from D vachan . Watch the children at play in the hou se and learn with how few properties they can build up a whole drama ; a good lesson upon the action of the building facu lty of the im agination in Devachan can be learned in this RE A L I TY A ND U NRE A L I TY 39

It may be asked : Seeing that Devachan is m u an internal state, protected fro o tside con

t me n m tac with the world of and wo en , where will the materials come fromwith which the imagination is to work ? A fundamental postu late of Theosophy is that the Higher Self of which we are a part i u contains the potent alities of all nat re , that u m u it is an inexha stible ine of treas re . Con sider the action of a beautiful scene upon the

. in itsel u feelings Is it f a so rce of delight , like a red hot poker is a source of pain ? A dog can feel the effects of the heated iron as m u man but easily as the ost c ltivated , how ever long he may look at the landscape we have no reason to be lieve it affects himwith the same sense of delight that the artist gains t u om from i . The scenery aro ses s ething in

the man that the dog only has in germ . That s mt u be o e hing, that sense of pleas re, can aroused in the man in other ways too ; by mu a m sic, by noble poe . In Devachan the Inner power stimulates the memory of the best things lorifie s m and roduce s in the past life, g the , p 40 KAMA L OKA A ND DE VA CH A N

e flect h reat intensified the same , thoug g ly , in he r et . ar use t that the music, scene y, c , o l mind on the physical p ane . In Devachan everything that the higher part of the soul has desired gets the possibility of in a difler blossoming. The will is operative difler ent r cos i ent way, using a g ade of m c a r w c subst nce from the terrestrial , a g ade hi h responds more rapidly, infinitely more rapidly, i to the power of thought. Why, even in ord n a e suflicientl ary dre ms, who has not be n y awake to perceive that he was really shaping and molding a finer grade of matter than the physical ? There are innumerable observation i showing this, some even recorded in the tex books on sleep . It sometimes seems as if the fine substan o f which our dreams are made and which called astral matter for want of a bet term , is at the limit of pliability, for it sw e rs the molding efforts of the playful partially unrestrained lower mind so prom$ At times you can actually stand apart f the low er mind and w atch it shifting the n

42 KAMA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

In Devachan the soul is able to create its own surroundings more harmoniously and eas h ily than here . Being of its own creation , w at

is about it exactly suits its desires . Though o -m merely psych ental forms, are they much more illusory than the things of earth ? Here we are surrounded by crowds of things called ” m but u aterial , whose real nat re we do not know ; all we know is that we have called them to usby some kind of affinity with our desires ; m in a sense we have created the . Place a number of people in exactly the same circum a m m st nces , give the the sa e materials, and see in how short a time each one will have created his own characteristic environment $ In Deva m chan it is the sa e, only there the conditions m are more easily odified .

A NA LY TIC A ND SY NT HETIC THOU GHT

FOR the ordinary man the causes of intel lectual r easoning disappear a short time after the death of the body ; the mind the lower

A . mind the . $ , personality , Mr or Mrs RE A L I TY A ND U NRE A L I TY 43 that was loses touch with the things of the u e o ter plane and b gins to disintegrate , its higher elements rejoining the Higher Manas , fromwhich it came at birth ; and uniting with the spiritu al consciousness of Buddhi (the

Spiritual Soul , in the Esoteric classification ) enters the De vachanic state where Imagina n u m m tion reig s s pre e, carrying with it the ost m valuable and ennobling me ories of the past, the spiritual aroma of the life j ust ended ; m m while the lower ele ents of the ind , and the common and passional memories which h ave no part nor lot in paradise, go to their o w n be consid place , Kamaloka, which will m o f ered later . This is the inner eaning - u the Mystery Drama of the Cr cifixion . The Christos who is crucified between the two thieves represents the Higher Manas ; the peni tent thief the purer portion of the lower u Manas which ret rns to paradise , and the other the evil portion that has identified itself o with the l wer things of the world , and has to disintegrate in Kamaloka . It is well to bear in mind in this stage of 44 K A MA L OKA A ND DE VA CH A N our discussion that the ordinary reasoning s mind, the lower Manas, in normal case ceases to function as a reasoning being very shortly i after leaving the body, as it is disintegrat ng and fading away, while the higher portion when the unconsciousness produced by the shock of leaving the body is over takes up a new position , the feelings and the imagina tion getting an opportunity for expansion they never had when on earth . As soon as the o higher portion of the late pers nality, the peni m m tent thief , beco es co pletely one with the Christos and illuminated by the Radiance from above, this opportunity is much magnified . There are some exceptions to the rule of out m passing fro ordinary , reasoning, brain m u but ind conscio sness after death, they are so rare that they need not concern usmuch at present ; they are chiefly confined to advanced souls who are able to carry their full con sciousness backwards and forwards at will through the veil separating the visible from the u invisible planes . To have this power usef lly developed many lives of unselfish service must RE A L I TY A ND U NRE A L I TY 45 have be en spent ; it is a part o f the necessary equipment of an advanced Helper of human u ity . Without it his work wo ld be unduly limited . There is another class which contains a a -d u m cert in order of evil oers, incl ding a ong u m others suicides and exec ted cri inals , as well so t as me of the vic ims of sudden death , who keep their normal terrestrial consciousness for a considerable time and are in peril of losing the Devachanic rest altogether ; their case we must consider later . A PLANE OF SPIRITUAL UNITY T H OUGH Theosophy tells us that we do not see our friends in their bodily forms m while we are in Devachan, that does not ean that there is no possibility of communion be m tween the e bodied and the souls in paradise . u u o im Tr ly , and very fort nately, the s uls me r sed in the Devachanic state are well pro tecte d fromthe disturbance of be ing dragged down to the lower earthly spheres of con sciousne ssby mediumship or other necr oman tic practices . In the case of the raising of Samuel by the witch of Endor it would seem c that he either had not entered Deva han , only having been dead a short time, or that it was ” K ama-r a a his g , or astral shade , that was ma raised . Whichever it y have been , the returned spirit complained of be ing disquieted u e by being brought p . Theosophy do s not PL A NE OF S PI RI TU A L U NI TY 47

support the view that there is regular com munication be tween the living and the blessed a u de d in Devachan, nor as a r le , in Kamaloka , or that those who have passed on have the

pain of watching the troubles , the mistakes , or the crimes of the friends and relatives they m u have left behind. The ercif l Law is not so

u . re cr el There is a period of perfect rest, freshment and holy peace for the purified Manas after the probationary region of Kama

loka has been passed through . Close communi cation between the visible and invisible worlds would destroy this invaluable Opportunity of nd u n rest a rec peration between incar ations . but m It is nothing a for of selfishness , how u ever sublimated, and however disg ised in fine

phrases, that leads anyone to demand personal contact with the departed at the expense of m r . their prog ess E erson says , Why this ” pawing and clawing ? between friends ; why not be mo can we satisfied with a higher , a re mmu mmu spiritual co nion , a co nion of ideals and of unity of purpose ? The ghost - hunter who demands the presence in tangible form 48 K A MA L OKA A ND DE VA CH A N

u of a friend , a wife , or h sband ; who attempts to “materialize” a spirit has a very extra ordinary conception o i what spirituality means . The agnostic who supposes that he will prob e ably be annihilated after death , and yet do s u u a his d ty, living p to his highest ide ls of unse lfishne ss u honor and , has a tr er idea of the meaning of spirituality . What are we to think u m e u of the attit de of ind of a p rson , s ch as one well known to many students of Theo e sophy, who sincerely b lieved the tangible spir it o f his deceased wife was constantly with him a , advising him in all his actions by t pping on his shirt front $ If this phenomeno n had been really produced by the poor woman and due m ff u was not to so e entirely di erent ca se , u what a cruel thing it wo ld be to foster it , for it would be the surest way to hold her back fromthe rightful and sane evolutionary pro gr ess through Devachan and back to earth mu m life . The fact st be that those who de and and try to drag back the souls of the departed either do not realize the mischief they are doing because they are blinded by their e u

50 KA MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N tionshi o p with itself, with the Higher E g of the living ; overshadowing and gently influ encing the feelings of those with whom it has m the greatest sy pathy . By the very nature of the case it does not crudely impress the brain - mind of the survivors by speech or the but ou like , in the deeper concealed consci sness u which is not displayed on the s rface . In some very few dreams such experiences occur ; after these real dreams we vaguely recollect having had large and striking e xper i e nce s which the brain-mind can not clearly a bring to memory . Even in w king life we would notice certain unexplained sensations if our minds were purer and we were more observant impressions and ideas that come u from inner so rces . But the Theosophical teachings go a little farther still ; for it is distinctly stated , though e xa very briefly and guardedly , for fear of g er ation g , that the overshadowing love of a mother or devoted friend in Devachan exerts an influence that really protects the beloved fr om personal injury and other harm for PL A NE OF S PI RI TU A L U NI TY 51

u m u all the planes of nat re are interco m nicable, they are not separated into water- tight com artments u u p , and an nselfish tho ght has great er potency and power of penetration than a r st ongly colored , selfish one , for it is working m u . in har ony with Evol tion, with the Law i This is the orig n of the Christian expression , ” the Communion of the Saints ; the saints u u in this connexion are the resting, p rified so ls u o e m in Devachan . A glorio s pr sp ct will so e day be in sight for a regenerated humanity when the barriers of self shall be removed

u U nitv between the inner and the o ter , and the of Brotherhood realized as in the Go lden Age with the experience gained through the age o Bu l ng pilgrimage of reincarnation . t this can not come until mankind has awakened to its larger life, its real life, of which the pre se bu nt is t a distorted reflection , and the lower forces now acting in the interest of selfishness and pe rsonality have been transmuted to the u ser vice of the so l . It is the fearful materializing tendency of s the age that makesit difficult at hr st tor inse t. 52 KA MA L OKA A ND DE VA CH A N rer sin the West to understand such a met: physical conception as that of De vachan . I u r th the East s ch an idea is easily g asped , for

' people have not been hyp notized by a materia isic m t t science , teaching the that the existen u m l e uall of the so l is a yth, nor by an a most q

m : materialistic theology, trying to co pel the to believe in an impossible resurrection o ” Bu rt the body . t if an immo al soul exist a e mu b all , as we know it do s , it st necessarily

- u o ff r of a non physical nat re , and p ssess di ere characteristics and properties from those 0 the mental and physical and passional compor r isl ents of the man on earth, for they all pe Man to get the ideally perfect condition mus so clarify himself that the light of the $0 1 u him u ill minates thro gh and through .

H e is thyse lf ; ye t thou art but finite and liabl r H is e to e ro r . e e t rn an is r al , d su e . H e is ete rn:

trut . en once he has ente re t e e and b m h Wh d h , eco th arr o r h ne r u y W i , e will ve tte rly de se rt the e ; an at the da o f the reat e ace he e m y g p , will b co e on $ with thee .

i h L g t on the Path. PL A NE OF S PI RI TU A L U NI TY 53

Referring again to the recognition of our friends when they are in the Devachanic state our be and to their cognizance of existence , fore we can begin to grasp the problem intel ligently we must face this question : How do we recognize our friends on earth ? Is it by their external forms alone , by their little idio s n rasie s om y c or habits , or by s ething higher l ? and a most indescribable Is it , in short , by those things in which they are imperfect and fi e re nt om di fr the ideal, or by the things that r belong to the higher life, things which ca ry u the feeling of inner nity, of brotherhood , few though they may be ? The latter is the only sort O f recognition that is worth preserving or u man that can last . The low and ndeveloped recognizes in another of his own kind an eat ing and drinking animal ; the intellectualist fee ls sympathy with those who enjoy similar mental pursuits to his own ; each accords r e cognition to something in the other that is like u what is in himself, and prefers it , tho gh with a certain difference in order to give variety ;

but the diflerence must not be too gr eat . S4 K AMA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

Now consider those who have gone higher u d than the intellect al plane , and have develope - s a great heart force , a great love for other and a sympathy with their sufferings and a perfect willingness to sacrifice their own com u s u forts to help others . S ch great o ls stand

s ir itual in a p relationship to others, and they recognize something in others which answers to this inner attitude without a word the u e ut brooding So l, calling all the b st o of their a natures . They have been c lled to service by the recognition of something in their fellows which is trying to get out and realize itself n something imprisoned , something godlike, ot - u the intellect of the brain conscio sness . All m but other for s of recognition are temporary , u u nimportant, and cannot be carried thro gh the ages of the future . How miserable it would be to have to spend eternity with the ou very best persons y know, with all their t m lit le foibles and eannesses , their limitations and oddities ; for no one in our work- a- day m world is free fro large imperfections . Every one know s how fatiguing the society of the PL A NE OF S PI RI TU A L U NI TY 55 same people becomes on a very long ocean n voyage, and to thi k of an eternity spent in the same company without such a complete change in their and our own personality as to make practically new men is horrible . It may be said that mankind is improving and that after death the soul is freed frommany of the m u limitations of this life , and that a co m nion of advancing souls would not be so irksome at all ; that we shall recognize higher and better things in our friends than the animal or the intellectual as they make progress . This so but u is to a degree, it sho ld apply to life on earth better than to any theological beav ” u u en or s mmerland, tho gh the records of the past do not show any great advance in d spirituality within short perio s , nor does Theosophy give u sthe false hope that the very fact of leaving the physical body will enlighten us us i immediately, and makes ideal be ngs on ordinary personal lines . In De vachan the muddy vesture of decay has been temporarily left behind and the as u There for e thou hts o i pirations are p re . g 56 KAMA L OKA A ND DE VA C H A N love and helpfulness sent out from the puri fied soul reach the higher nature of those to whom they are sent and there is no real sep aration after death, though the gulf between Devachan and earth- life and the difliculty of impressing the brain upon return are so great that the embodied mind can very seldom re collect who or what it met when it rose to

Devachan ; still the eff ect remains . Katherine Tingley says

Oh if you could have the powe r to see the soul mo n on in h m f i n r in vi g t e aj e sty O ts e w bi th , the f n umn in i s glory o the divi e L ight, ill i ate d t ne w n n n f libe rty, asce di g, ascendi g $ I those w ho sor r ow n could but see , they would rej o ice i dee d at the o r an sn H e u t a gl y d i g all l j ah . A s he soul scends i s r i r n m with t g eat love , tspowe a d j oy, it thr owsthe m n back to those w ho can rece ive the , a d w ho then r r go o ut to he lp the people with a g eate r love . The i — divine nature s have be e n arouse d the glo ry Of the m L aw is upon the .

S8 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA C H A N that the j ustice o f the Almighty is eloquently u set forth thereby, and s rely we can safely admire His work $ It is true that the more thoughtful or prudent clergy of today are finding out that their flocks will not stand this u so sort of thing m ch longer, and they have begun to throw a veil of mystery around the next world thicker than was formerly thought u necessary, when the cr dest pictures were pre n sented to the wondering gaze of the ig orant . But even now the whole popular idea of the u u far f t re life, as as it is at all coherent, is fl tinged strongly with the personal avor, with m the i pression of limitation , of narrowness and u nreality . Popular Spiritualism goes one step further in materializing and formulating the life of the next world . Of course the majority of the people in Western lands pay little attention to any of the unlikely hypotheses of futurity ( until they approach their latter end, when they regret their ignorance) for they feel there is some thin r i usin most o f them g id culo , and that real PL A NE OF S PI RI TU A L U NI TY S9

m in spirituality is lacking in all of the . So diff erence has grown and scientific material ism sneers loftily at any suggestions of con s i s ss c ou ne beyond the terrestrial life . But there is a new spirit growing up be tween these warring factors of materialism m m a and superstition , and aterialis is we ken ing its hold upon the best thinkers of the twentieth century ; people of intelligence are not so much afraid of being suspected of be lieving that there are more things to be known than all the test-tubes and spectroscopes can

investigate , and here is another danger of the

age, as H . P . Blavatsky foresaw and pointed

out in her works i . e the danger of ru nning into the pursuit of so-called but really false i occultism . For as soo n as persons of inte ll gence in large numbe rs find out that both The ology and Science have been feeding them on

husks , the former ignoring, the latter denying the tru th of well- authenticated so-called sup ernatu ral u facts, they are likely to r sh in where angels fear to tread and dabble with things much better left alone by the unpr e 60 KAMA L OKA A ND DE VA C H A N

pared and the mere curiosity seeker . But for tunatel y Theosophy is here with its sane , rea sonable and demonstrable explanation of the n u u un s al facts in nature, an explanation war ranted and confirmed by the experience 0 s e age , preserv d and tested by generations o profound students and Masters in true Occult ism, the Science of Life . Now compare the unreasonable and gro te sque theories of the futu re life with its puer ile heaven and revolting eternal hell as taugh u for cent ries by the theologians, by the In u re re se n fallible Ch rch , falsely claiming to p t Christianity, the Chris ianity of the Compas sionate m Man of Sorrows, with the si ple , an cient and Theosophical teaching of Reinca rn u K amalok ation and its logical co nterparts ,

u u r and Devachan , in which the so l is p rifie and rested before taking up anothe r earthl '

a us ut he anc habit tion . Let p aside all in rited acquired habits of thought and look at th‘ thing squarely and see how perfectly our high est ideas of Divine Justice and the mercy o the L aw are satisfied by the conception of PL A NE OF S PI RI TU A L U NI TY 61 heaven where the real spiritual part of the man can get its own, where each one according to the nature of the higher aspirations and i o occupat ons of the past life, will have the p portunity of developing and realizing them in a fu lness never possible while trammeled with r the g oss material brain . The aver age period of time ( as w e r e ckon it her e ), spent in Devachan, is about fifteen u h ndred years, but varies widely in individual cases . In studying history with the light of Theosophy it becomes clear that there is some evidence o f this fromthe recurrence of many a cycles of about that period . For inst nce the Italian Renaissance (the word is literally cor rect commenced about a millenniumand a half after the great Greek civilization was on its r e decline, and there are others ; but the co rds o f the past are so imperfect and have been so twisted to fit this or that theological cree d that it is impossible to get full data at se u pre nt . To write the tr e history of the past with the light of Reincarnation is the task of th u w ll certainl have e fut re historian, who i y 62 K AMA L OK A A ND DE VA C H A N

much more to enlighten his path than we have . Katherine Tingley hasstated that at the proper time strange archaeological discoveries will be made confirming still more fully the teachings of Theosophy respecting the past history of

man than even the Egyptian, Babylonian , In m dian and Central A erican have done . Speaking of the length of the De vachanic u period , William Q . J dge says

But as the ethe real garme nts o f Devachan are m re as n an o se w e ear e re the s r u o l ti g th th w h , pi it al, moral and pyschic cause suse more time in expanding an e x aus n in a sta e t an t e do on ea d h ti g th t t h h y rth . The dream o f de vachan lasts until karma f n ff e f n i i $the law o cause a d e ct, o actio $ s sat sfie c n I n r is r in that directio . n devacha the e a g adua f exhaustion o fo rce . The stay in devac han

propo rtional to the une xhauste d psychic impuls‘ r in e in a - f T o s o s n o ig at d e rth li e . h e wh e actio s w e preponde ratingly mate rial will be soo ne r brought be

‘ nto re rt h fo r f T i t i bi h by t e ce o anhc . Tanha is r st fo r fe th n ma n thi li , e pulli g o r g etic fo o e in he skandh n r n i l n l dg d t as i he e t n al be i gs. “ ” skandhas are the se e dso f action le ft be hind w h n r D t e soul e te s evachan . The y are not de stre but r e vive at the pr ope r time and dr aw the PL A NE OF S PI RI TU A L U NI TY back to the right envi ronment on earth fo r himto or o h r w k ut t e e sultso f hisacts. $ The whole pe rio d ’ allotte d by the soul s force s be ing ende d in deva chan he ma , t gnetic threads which bind it to earth e in to as e T b g s rt the i r po we r . he S e lf wake s from the ream it is o rne s ft o ff d , b wi ly to a ne w bo dy, and then ust e fo re rt i se s f r mm , j b bi h, t e o a o e nt all the cause s that led it to devachan and back to the fe it is a o ut t e in li b o b g , and knowing it to be all

ust to be the re su t o f its ow n ast fe i j , l p li , t re pine s not but take s up the cross again and anothe r sou has come l back to earth .

Any diffi culty in understanding the concept of Devachan will be found to originate in ig no rance m u n of the co po nd nature of ma . As long as we are satisfied that man is but the n c ookin eating, dri king, talking, g animal , the ” - in- - e u egotistic man the stre t , it is nat rally diflicult to comprehend the possibility of such m a transcendental state, and the aterialists will seem to have a strong case ; but Theosophy has cleared up our conceptions of the real

man u u ur nature of , and a caref l st dy of o own states of consciousness from the standpoint of the Seven Principles of Man detailed in 64 K AMA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

u u another Man al, will give a s bstantial basis Devachani for grasping this idea of the c state , one of the most helpful of all the truths that Theosophy has brought to save us from the negation of agnosticism or the credulities of u m . o s perstition The clai that man is a s ul , immortal in essence, using many vehicles of more or less refinement in order to get in touch ff u with the di erent planes of nat re, that after the death of the gross body he passes into inner states where other experiences can be Devachanic obtained , one of which is the blos soming of all that is rare and beautiful in the memory of the past life, can not be repugnant to the sense of fitnessof any one who has not a strong theological or materialistic bias . To the bigoted in either camp we do not appeal ; u they have to go thro gh varied experiences , to uff seek abroad, to s er pleasure and grief be fore they will look for the light of the soul in the only place where it can be found w ith in the mselves , the only place where real peace u and satisfaction can be fo nd . The Devachanic and K amalokic experiences

66 K AMA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

The e r e t D H . P . Blavatsky says in S c oc trine

m th e ut on o f the rac s he F rs Now co pare e vol i e , t i t and S econd o f which are o f the nature o f A nna r a s r tu r e n an he Buddhi, the i p ssive pi i al p og y ; d t Thi rd Roo t Race shows th re e distinct divisions or s ca an r aspe cts phy iologi lly d psychically ; the ea lie st, sinle ss; the middle po rtions awakening to intelli h n m n t e n e a a . ge ce ; and thi rd a d last decid dly i l : i e . , u um o f Manas s cc bs t the te mptation o K i ma. KA MALOKA : TH E PLACE OF DESIRE

A LESS agreeable subject now presents it self for our consideration, the state or the complex variety of states called in Theo “ ”

m . o r sophy , Ka aloka, the Place of Desire N mally this stage of the evolutionary process u u sho ld be passed thro gh in a brief time , one hundred and fifty years being the maximum u sufli cin as a r le, and a much shorter time g in - u the case of pure minded , nselfish persons . Kamaloka is but the dark vestibule into the

bright abode of joy and light, Devachan, and therefore it would not be necessary to say u u u m ch abo t it, had it not had such a powerf l ff m e ect on the embodied portion of hu anity .

H . P . Blavatsky says

K A K let The semi- m r a n S . ate a e to MALO A ( ) i l pl , us su ect e an n e m bj iv d i visibl , whe re the dise bo die d ” e r sona t e s the a ra rm ll m - ra a p li i , st l fo s ca ed K a a g 68 KAMA L OKA A ND DE VA CH A N

rema n unt t e fa e out from m i , il h y d it by the co ple te e xhaustion o f the e ff ects o f the mental impul se s that create d the se eidolons o f human and animal asson n r i H p i s a d de si es. I t sthe ade s Of the ancient Gree s and th m t f h k e A en i o t e E gyptians, the land f e n o t o s. m o a h Sil Shad w K a al k as, like eve ry ot e r re n i se en n h gio , ts v divisio s, the lowe st o f whic h begins on earth o r invisibly in its atmosphe re ; the six ot e rs scen r h h a d g adually, t e highe st be ing the a o f t ose w a b de o h ho h ve die d o wing to acc ide nt, r u in f m o s icide a fit o te po rary insanity, or wer e t e r s t ms f x rn fo r o h wi e vic i o e te al ce s.

The passions and desires, according to the a intr in ordinary conventional accept nce, are ’ u u sic parts of a man s str ct re , inseparable

from him, and generally speaking of a similar u o nat re to those of the animals , th ugh more o w ho extensive in range and energy . Th se believe that de ath ends all suppose that they disappear like the noise of machinery when u the fires go o t. h f But according to T eosophy, while the orce of Desire is inherent in man and can not be

destroyed , or he will cease to be the micro co sm h ma e of the uni , t e i g verse , in which KA MA L OKA 69

De sire hasa prominent part as the propulsive “ ” r he colorin s fo ce , t evil g of this force , which

are u sually confused with the energy itself,

are not esse ntial and have to be eliminated.

These colorings the Kama principle , which e the have become, by our p rmission in past , z energi ed by the force of desire, are perver s c i sion , or more orrectly, surv vals or retro s n gr e s io s. They belong to a lower stratum than that upon which mankind is struggling to plant its feet . Our ideals have risen , and the lower passions needed for self-preserva f tion, while we lived under dif erent conditions , u are now a hindrance to progr ess . D ring life w e have the opportunity of transmuting the

De sire energy into proper channels . Each v e ent is a test of strength of will , and as we use it to extirpate the giant weed of self i m shne ss . e . i , the feeling of separateness fro r n the ace, the only heresy recog ized by Theo — m sophy which is the basis of all isery , so we get control of the power hitherto diverted

to inferior purposes . Using the word passion in a broad sense to cover the energized ten 70 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N dencie stowards separateness the egotism of pe rsonality let us regard it as a gr eat ocean pressing in on all sides and continually trying w to find the smallest leak . A little leak ill u r u q ickly g ow when neglected , ntil the whole e ship is in danger . When a ship sinks th crew have to escape in boats, and so the Higher Ego hasto leave the personal self to perish if the m floo d of passion has completely swa ped it .

There is a dark side to Nature , and passion , based on egotismor separateness and ensou led by the force of Desire , is not an evanescent m bu thing like the noise of the achinery , t a ” u roaring lion seeking what it can devo r, and its attacks are the most dangerous when m m But the victi thinks he is ost secure .

r h n m n i r f Once fo ce t e a i al i to h s ight ul place , that h nfe r r and o find ourse f in o sse ss n o f t e i io , y u y l p io f r f r t e r ns s t and un n $l o a g eat o ce hi h to u u pec e d k own.

TH E RELEA S E FROM ENTA NGLEMENTS

SINCE man grows into self - knowledge and m u divine wisdo only by str ggle , if it were

Thr o ugh the Gates of Gold . KA MA L OKA 71 not for the animal and mental desires we should have no field o f battle within . As

‘ u Bha avad Gitci Krishan says to Arj na in the g , the r m par t of g eat religious epic poe of India , with the meditation fixed upon the Higher u Self , resolve to fight, witho t expectation , de ” m u void o f egotism and free fro ang ish . n m Purified Desire is the Divine dy a o , the driving force in Nature . Desire first arose in IT (the Eternal Source) and the worlds appeared . But after death the passions are not des tr o e d u o y , tho gh they so n lose their controller , the Higher Manas , which withdraws its ray m sent into the brain at birth , and in ti e they m u u disintegrate fro exha stion of energy , tho gh the seeds are left lying in wait . The passions unite with the shell the astral and men tal dregs of the personality —which has a u u sp rio s life of its own, and lingers on while the momentumof the mental force lasts which i u u was orig nated d ring the previo s life . After u this s bsides , there is nothing left on the low er planes but the seeds ( skandhas) or e sse nce 72 KAMA L OKA A ND DE VA C H A N

of the lower desires, and other mental de ” posits, waiting for the Ego to emerge from r Devachan . We are responsible for the esi due left disintegrating in Kamaloka even after

the entrance into Devachan, and the more u q ickly they disappear the better for us . A a l h s person who has led pure, unselfish ife a little to get rid of and little to dread upon l un returning to earth, but the egotistica and a controlled have a heavy bill to p y . Kamaloka then is characterized by being the natural reservoir of a vast mass O f unco n i m - d trolled K a or desire force, colore with evil “ m u in large eas re in the lower portions , purer as it rises nearer to the De vachanic

state. The lower portion, nearest the earthly u plane , is alive with ndesirable thought ready at all times to pour into receptive minds on earth through the leaks caused by want of mor l a vigilance . The lower astral plane of which Kamaloka is a portion the word astral hav ing a very broad and comprehensive mean ing is a condition of substance having the p o w er to reflect back into the minds of men

74 KA MA L OKA A ND DE VA CH A N

portant thing to be borne in mind is that Kamaloka is not the region where the will should retain the ordinary activity of earth

life, occupying itself with the things which

should have passed out of its ken . It is the

time for purification and shedding only . The nearest approach we can make to the

astral conditions is in the ordinary dream, and but a this is partial, for the dre ming conscious r - ness is interlocked closely with the b ain cells . Still if we consider for a moment some of the mysterious characteristics of the dream state we shall see how strongly it resembles the

- after death state of Kamaloka . In a dream the ordinary ideas of time and space are non u in existent ; the judgment is us ally abeyance , m but the i agination is liberated . When sense r u m m less o vicio s drea s co e, the dreamer is practically on one of the lowest planes of n Kamaloka, and it is well k own to many dreamers that a cer tain part of the nature is dreaming them against the will of the better

part . Under such circumstances H . P . Blay atslg' taught her students to train the will KA MA L OK A 75 m to awaken the body, and by aking a habit of throwing out of the mind all impure thoughts immediately they begin to insinuate u u themselves during the day, s ch action wo ld u m n sir become a to atic at night in sleep . U de able thoughts o i all kinds come fromthe gr eat K amic reservoir as well as directly fromother but a r minds , they c nnot get in to do ha m if the mind is pure and the will strong enough to

. e ou u keep it so They do not b long to y , nless u yo invite them . The difficulty of understanding the astral planes from our present standpoint is similar to the diffi culty a student of geometry has at first in reading the drawing of a solid object laid out on a flat sheet of paper . The astral planes , and all planes above the physical have properties of their own which cannot be ren r dered in the te ms of the five senses . In m m u drea s we get a gli pse of the tr th of this . There are many well- authenticated accounts of long and elaborate dreams that have taken but a few seconds to experience yet which were crowded with such minute detail that the 76 KA MA L OKA A ND DE VA C H A N

events passed through would have taken yea rs

to realize on the physical plane . An account has just been published in the pape rs of a very long and remarkable dream in which a man thought he had traveled for years and u i had been thro gh eventful t mes , seeing them in the close detail, hearing conversations of

many people and so forth . All this took place during the moment that elapsed while a vase am was falling from a shelf . The dre er was u f lly awake when it started to fall, dozed for

a second, and awoke with the crash of the e x e ri breaking, having gone through a vast p

ence meanwhile . n Again , the experiences of persons under a u aesthetics are most instr ctive, for then also time and space seem almost annihilated ; and the curious testimony off ered by the French experiments in hypnotismabsolutely prove the - m picture making power of the ind . For in a u u stance, hypnotized s bject is given a n mber of blank cards from which he selects one which he declares positively has a portrait or i a number dr aw n on t . No one else can see KA MA L OKA 77

thi but a a any ng, when the c rd is c refully scrut inize d the experimenter finds that it is the very one upon which he mentally projected an m e th a ma be i age or a numb r as e c se y , and as there were no means by which the card could have been detected or the subject of the pic a ture or the number known, it would seem th t a subtle or astral ” image was visible to the hypno tized person whose sensibility was partly transferred to the astral plane . Birthmarks show the powerful effect of ante- natal pic tur es within the thought atmosphere of a m r othe . There are many other illustrations of the interpretation of the astral and physi cal planes that could be given if space per mi ed bu u can m tt , t the st dent easily find the m for hi self, as it is the object of this little Manual to give only a general outline of the Theo sophical teaching respecting the Deva K ml ki u chanie and a a o c planes . F rther de tails must be looked for in more advanced works and by personal reflection on various facts that come to light from time to time ri n s bea ng o thi question. THE ENTITIES OF KA MALOKA

mi f N OT only is the K a c plane dif erent in structure and characteristics from the but ma use terrestrial, its inhabitants, if we y m m the expression for so e of the , are of a very ff m di erent nature fro those of earth . It would be impossible for the most imagin ative novelist to describe races of beings of such remarkable qualities as actually exist on

the astral planes, and it is fortunate for us that we are protected from their approach so

long as we keep in a healthy state of mind . True Theosophy warns u s against meddling with things that do not concern us in the

astral world . The history of the past has con siste ntly proved that stepping aside from our m own normal , healthy develop ent, our whole u o i n some d ties life, and trying to get k ow l e dge by rushing into communication with en E NTI TI E S OF K A MA L OK A 79

tities on other planes , or trying to develop occult powers when we have not glimpsed the larger possibilities of the wonderful men tal and physical powers which are waiting m w ithin us u t m develop ent , are f ll of ex re e i m . danger to life and health, ental and bod ly The motive of the search into the psychic by -ways of nature is seldompure ; it is usually the same curiosity- hunting that inspires the average vivisectionist to repeat the ghastly experiments that have been tried a thousand bu u aim times ; t if it were p re, if the of the expe rimenter were the benefit of mankind solely without a thought of his own profit or m m u m a use ent, he wo ld be far ore usefully employed in putting his ideals into practice in qualifying to help the sufferings of humanity in ways about which there can be no diff erence of opinion . As Katherine Tingley has pointed out u misunde r , while there are tho sands of stood and neglected children crying for re demption from lives of misery and degrada u u tion , there is eno gh work for all witho t venturing where angels fear to trea The 80 KA MA L OKA A ND DE VA C H A N

rc es ll pe eption of the other, inner plan wi due eal come in its course, normally and h th

the i . e the ily , when right t me arrives Lik ee r mists clearing from a landscape , the d pe and inner meanings of things will gradually reveal itself as we make progress and ar rive at the condition which makes it nec essa ry that

it should . And when the first veil of matter shall be removed it will be seen that what is then revealed is perfectly normal and nat t o n ural , for we shall be in sympathetic rela i

ship with it . The Founders of the Theosophical Move ment recognized that at this critical per iod many ignorant experimenters would be in dan ger of allowing curiosity and the selfish de sire for power to allure them into ill-direct ed investigations of the strange facts which ” a spiritualism , hypnotism, the Hatha Yog

practices of the East, and branches of black ” ” m m u s u t agic, iscalled occ lti m , have bro gh to the attention of Western thinkers lately in a little more palatable form than hith er to T ni ize the dan e as . o mi m g r as far

82 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA CH A N

- for their orderly break up arrives . In the m had cases referred to above , that ti e not m i u t co e when death arr ved , the res lt being hat the suff erers cannot pass on to the rest in

Devachan, for the lower portion of the mind — the part we so falsely consider our real selves is yet entangled in the web of pas sions which it has been so busy weaving u aro nd itself during life, and it cannot get free until the full time of the cohesion of the m principles has expired, which is so etimes ” called the Second Death . Until then the personality is not only in peril itself but is u a danger to the living, partic larly in the case of executed criminals who have been thru st o ut of their bodies by the process of law in u w ho what they think an unj st manner, and are too often burning with hate for all man m kind . In the case of the victi s of accident there is not so much danger unless they have m led a very evil life, for they pass the ti e until the period of natural death in a dreamy sort u um of sleep . Fort nately the n ber of persons who come to sudde n ends is not very large E NTI TI E S OF K A MA L OK A 83

u bu in proportion to the pop lation , t it is large eno ugh to make the question of capital pun ishment a very irnportant one fromthe stand o i s u e xe po int Theo ophy, for as a r le each cuted person is a center of powerful and mal ignant force . It is now generally acknowledged that “ ” e u th re is tr th in what is dubbed telepathy , (thought-transference) that minds can be affe m m cted by other inds fro a distance , and that the unseen and subtle forces of nature are the most powerful . We have all noticed the curious epidemics of crime as well as dis ease that constantly take place ; but how many among our original thinkers have connected the simple cause and eff ect ? It is as easy for the discarnated murderer hypnotically to in j cet thoughts of hate and suggestion of self destruction and every kind of crime into the m um minds of the weak and edi istic , as it is for the expert hypnotist in the clinic to im press his subject with suggestions o f whate ver nature he likes . There is no need to call in the far- fetched idea of evil - spirits to help 84 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA C H A N to explain where the vile suggestions come m m un fro that cri inals and l atics often plead , u m t m honestly eno gh , te pt hem, as if fro an — irresistible source a voice in the air or a mm u co and in the ear . Fort nately for the world many countries have become suffi ciently u enlightened to abolish capital p nishment , and in many others public sentiment is agitating for the destruction of this blot upon our civil i i n zat o .

T r is on o n mn he e ly e w ay to kill a cri i al, and that is o transmu h m n t te t e evil within hi i to good, and the o nly w ay to do that is to recognize something e se n him l withi which is goo d, to evoke it and gain $ i - ts co ope ration.

A numerou s class of denizens of Kama loka is composed of the shells” of the recent ly decease d which cannot go far from their place of burial . It is difficult for the begin ner to realize the existence of these entities , w hich are not human beings and yet have a l m u um u m arge a o nt of h an nat re left in the .

,$ r o th H r t D r n r Myste ies f e ea oct i e , whe e this n t subj e ct is treate d at le g h .

86 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA C H A N

- a bu Kama r pa, the Body of Desire , t that term does not necessarily include the astral -m semi aterial form. u r A class of vag e , shadowy , and gene ally less coherent shells comes next in order . These have been able to escape from the vicinity of their graves through lapse of time ; they respond more feebly to the psychic cur rents set up by a mediumor the sitters at a é but s ance, they may be galvanized into a sort of fictitiou s life and the ghost-hunter is de ce ive d m m into thinking the i mortal souls . None of these pseudo- spirits know anything u a abo t Reinc rnation, which is not strange as they do not reincarnate . Only the Higher Ego reincarnates and it has passed into Devachan from which happy place it does not return to rap on tables or write on slates . The next forms that we are told about as K émaloka existing on the lower planes of , are purely shadowy remains that it is difficult to define or imagine . They are like a very ten n u m o s and ethereal old or impression , a kind o f thought-photograph of the Kama-rfipa E NTI TI E S OF K A MA L OK A 87

r long since disinteg ated . To be at all pe rcep tible they must be galvanized very strongly into activity by the thoughts and magnetic force of the sitters at a séance ; they are in m the last stages of deco position . There are also the disintegrating astral Ki ma- rfipas of animals ; and the last class we need to refer to at any length is thus de scribed by William Q . Judge

D fin e e ren n man u r f f e it , coh t e tities, hu so ls be e t o h s r t e pi itual tie , now tending down to the wo rst s a o f ll a tchi r nn n f t te a , vi , whe e a ihilatio o the pe r nali i he end so ty s t . The y are known as black H a n magicians. ving ce te re d thei r consciousne ss in the r nc e o f H im re se r p i ipl , p rve d inte llect, divo ce d mse s from r ar h n mn the lve spi it, the y e t e o ly da e d e n s w e n I n f a uma b i g k ow . li e they h d h n bodies and re ache d the ir awful state by pe rsistent live s o f evil fo r itso w n sake ; some o f such already doo med to beco me what I have described are among us on e s r n r ea rth today. Th e a e ot o dinary she lls for the y a cente re ll t e r forc in kdm h ve d a h i e a, thro wn out e e r s r o f o o ou t or as rat o n an v y pa k g d th gh pi i , d have m e m e r h a ra r I a co pl te ast y o f t e st l sphe e . put them in the classification o f she lls be cause they are such

‘ in the sense that they are doomed to disinte gr atxe n 88 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA C H A N

conscio usly as the othe rs are to the same end me h ni f c a cally . This class o she ll has lo st high e r mana bu in h r n o s, t t e st uggle ot nly afte r death but as e in fe h r o rt f manas w ll li , t e lowe p ion o which s ou a e e en r e u h ld h v b ais d p to godlike e xce lle nce, w s t rn f m i o r n a o away ro ts l d, and o w give s this entity inte llige nce which is devo id o f spi rit but has powe r to su ff e r as it will when its final day om shall c e .

In addition to these human reliquiae there are intelligences which are neither animal nor “ ” um m h u h an , called Ele entals , for t ey enso l

e the elemental forces of nature . Of thes sci ence at present knows nothing and has all to um learn . They are able to pose as h an spirits , u the m sing minds and organis s of sensitives , u u and deceiving the cred lo s . So far the entities spoken of as inhabiting the lower planes of Kamaloka may be said to but have a certain life of their own, there are “ ” what must be called pictures in the astral planes which easily deceive the untrained by appearing to be the faces of real persons when dressed up and projected into the terrestrial

r e i n at séance s . g on o f vibratio , and in dreams

90 KAMA L OKA A ND DE VA C H A N

mals originated, a notion which Theosophy of u course rep diates as entirely against reason, for the evolutionary process having brought us to the human stage cannot turn back the cur rent of progress . Once a man always a ” man . In certain cases of abnormal living it is pos sible for the Kama- rfipa the astral body with some of its lower memories and desires to linger on during the time the Higher E go is in Devachan and to attach itself loosely to the new personality as it is coming into m um ff birth . So e medi s su er unconsciously m m fro this isfortune, which explains certain phenomena ; but it is fortunately rare . The physically purifying and sanitary fires of the crematorium are helpful in destroying the m u astral for , which hangs abo t the physical body in cases of ordinary burial until every u u r part, except the bony str ct re, has lost its o m m u e . gani for Cre ation cannot, of co rse , touch u m the so l, but it helps it to liberate itself fro the ties of earth . THE NEW DAY ’S WORK M U CH more could be said upon the sub ects u but j treated of in this Man al , to do so would extend its scope beyond what was intended at the outset ; still it would not be satisfactory to conclude without a reference to a natural query often made by inquirers h ? Is there no recollection of Devac an Yes , there is, nearly always, a recollection of Deva u chan in yo ng children . They live haloed in u its glorio s light . Some persons distinctly remembe r the fad ing of this bright state of consciousness “ into ” he consid t light of common day, and as we ered above, the imagination, the most active u fac lty in Devachan, is strongly developed in m in the child, and di inishes in power as the tellectual faculties increase . But beautiful as the Devachanic state isand 92 K A MA L OK A A ND DE VA C H A N necessary as it is in our present evolution ary period to be able to say of nearly everyone ,

f f ’ f f A te r li e s fit ul eve r he sle eps we ll , there is the higher life of Divine Wisdom to u iI n r aim for , the life beyond ill sion, the pe sonal life in which Truth is seen face to face , the life in which the joy of serving humanity , unselfishl y to the endless end, swallows i ha up all egotism, in which the Self Div ne s ” slain the very knowledge of Desire , in which the Candidate for Perfection becomes as one of the divine in his desire to give rather a t than to t ke, in his wish to help ra her than u hun be helped, in his resol tion to feed the gry rather than take manna from Heaven

’ himself . 1 It is to lead humanity towards this ineffable goal that Theosophy has once more incarnate d r upon ea th in a new and grander form .

$ o o th l V ice f e S i ence . ' i ht th Path 1L g on e .

T H E U S L a n noon A ND Tnmsormcu NIVER A . SOCIETY we lcomes to membe rship all w ho truly love the i r fe llow men and de sire the e radication o f the r f evils cause d by the ba rie rs o race, cree d, caste or o or a n m man r c l , which h ve so lo g i pe de d hu p ogr e ss; to all since re love rs o f truth and to all w ho aspire to highe r and bette r things than the me re pleasures n e r f r a d int ests o a wo ldly life , and are pre pare d to do all in their po we r to make Brothe rhoo d a living ne r i h f f uman i r e gy n t e li e o h ity, ts va ious de part mn o ffe r un m e o or un s e ts li it d pp t itie . The whole work o f the Organization is unde r the r on f h e r and i l H di e cti o t e L ead Oflic a ead, K athe rine n in in s Ti gley, as o utl e d the C on titution.

Do not fail to profit by the following

I t is a regrettable fact that many people use the name o f Theo sophy and o f our O rganization fo r e f- nte re st as a so t at o f H P s l i , l h . . Blavatsky, the s r n m Foundre s, to att act atte tion to the se lves and to u T s gain public s ppo rt. hi they do in pr ivate and u c s eec and in u cat ons a o p bli p h p bli i , ls by lectur ing u un r t th rougho t the co t y . Wi hout be ing in any w ay connecte d with the U NI VERS AL BROTHERHOOD AND T S S T in man case st e e rm HEO OPHICAL OCIE Y, y h y p it it nfe rre t at t e are t u mse a n h to be i d h h y , h s i l di g t e pub nd man onest n u re rs are enc l lic, a y h i q i h e e d away f r m h tru s o f T eo so as re sente o t e th h phy p d by H . P . s r s m la ats and he r succes o a . u e and B v ky , Willi Q J dg ract x m K atherine Tingley, and p ically e e plifie d in their h u hitin oi humani Theosophical w ork for t e p g ty . T he I nternational Brotherhoo d L eague Founde d in 1897 by K athe rine Tingle y

I TS OBJECTS A RE T 1. o he lp men and women to re alize the nobility o f the r ca n an r i lli g d the i true position in life . T 2. o e ducate children o f all nations on the r oa e st ne s o f n rsa oo b d li U ive l B rothe rh d, and to pr epare destitute and home less children to become man workers fo r hu ity.

ame rat h c n f f r 3. To lio e t e o dition o un o tunate mn n asss t m o f wo e , a d i t he t a higher li e .

4 T o asss t ose w ho are o r a e een in . i t h , h v b , so mse s in onora pri ns, to e stablish the lve h ble po si fe tions in li . m T a un n . 5. o abolish capit l p ish e t

T r n u e t r un erstan n et een 6 . o b i g abo t a b t e d di g b w - z romo in ao called savage and civili e d race s, by p t g a close r and mo re sympathetic relationship between m the .

To re e uman suffe r n resu t n from 7. liev h i g l i g m w r and o r ca amt e s and ene r flood, fa ine, a , the l i i ; , g x n aid e and comfo rt to suff erin ally, to e te d , h lp g o r humanity throughout the w ld . Fo r furthe r info rmation r egar ding the above re ss Notices, add KATHERINE TINGLEY T n sor mC A H A D U A s I NTERNATIONAL no L R Q e , P m t n a Q a o a , Books Recommended to I nquire

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