Astral plane--granularity(reply to Anandji)

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Dear Anandji, Thankyou for the information. Ok, this posting let me type something technical and in finer granularity(I appreciate such posts from you) to make you understand even better. Actually westerners are still scratching the surface as far as these matters are concerned. And mind you this is not a prudish statement by

me. This is because of two fundamental natures of a western man: 1. Recording literally everything for everyone to see and read. 2. Approaching things in a highly logical manner with no place for intuition and a sense of Divinity. (Dont be fooled by this levitating stunt, this is a camera

trick!) I have found that only a few have really escaped these cluthces but these few(westerners) are really serious about their sadhana. Now the first reason makes certain secrets inaccessible because many are closely guarded secrets and the residents of such planes do not want to be open to the eyes of scrutiny of a modern man. Not that they are afraid or doing something wrong but rather they live

in such pure planes that even an intrusion by an ordinary humanbeing from below will be spoiling their purity. The only way to reach such planes or even know of them is through s siddhic source. Rishi planes are absolutely inaccessible with some even inaccessible by the Hindu trinity itself(Please read the three volumes of Aghor by Robert Svoboda for more information) The second reason which I have stated(which you have hinted in your reply posting) is what really impedes the progress of spirituality in the west. Some who are in sadhana camps in India still do not believe deep inside that such things are possible. Maybe they need a training in accepting miracles first before they even dwell upon sadhanas. Traditionally in the Puranas there are seven lokas, Bhuloka

(earth), Bhuvarloka (air), Svarlokaor Svargaloka (heaven), Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka (abode of tapas) and Satyaloka (abode of Truth), also called Brahmaloka or the world of Brahma.(Ofcourse there are seven nether worlds below too but that is a different issue) The concept of Lokas was adopted by Theosophy, and can be found in the writings of Blavatsky. There is also reference to kamaloka (world of desires) as a sort of astral plane or temporary after-life state, according to the teachings of Blavatsky, Leadbeater, and Steiner. In contemporary Vedanta these Theosophical ideas in turn influenced Indian conceptions, so that the Lokas are equated with Theosophical-style planes. In Theosophy, Kamaloka (derived from Sanskrit) is the semi-material plane, subjective and invisible to humans, where the

disembodied "personalities", the astral forms, called Kamarupa remain, until they fade out from it by the complete exhaustion of the effects of the mental impulses that created these eidolons of human and animal passions and desires. It is associated with Hades of ancient Greeks and the Amenti of the Egyptians, the land of Silent Shadows; a division of the first group of the Trailõkya. Trailokya, or Trilokya (Sk.). Lit., the "three regions" or worlds; the complementary triad to the Brahmanical quaternary of worlds named Bhuvanatraya. A Buddhist profane layman will mention only three divisions of every world, while a non-initiated Brahman will maintain that there are four. The four divisions of the latter are purely physical and sensuous, the Trailokya of the Buddhist are purely spiritual and ethical. The Brahmanical division may be found fully described under the heading of Vyahritis, the difference being for the

present sufficiently shown in the following parallel: -- Brahmanical Division of the Worlds. -- Buddhist Division of the Regions. 1.Bhur, earth. --1. World of desire, Kamadhatu or Kamaloka. 2.Bhuvah, heaven, firmament. -- 2. World of form,Rupadhatu. 3.Swar, atmosphere, the sky. -- 3. The formless world, Arupadhatu. 4.Mahar, eternal luminous essence. -- [see 3 supra] All these are the worlds of post-mortem states. For instance, Kamaloka or Kamadhatu, the region of Mara, is that which mediaeval and modern Kabalists call the world of astral light, and the "world of shells". Kamaloka has, like every other region, its seven divisions, the lowest of which begins on earth or invisibly in its atmosphere; the six others ascend

gradually, the highest being the abode of those who have died owing to accident, or suicide in a fit of temporary insanity, or were otherwise victims of external forces.I have personally seen such planes and my dear friend Mukund and myself used to discuss such things often in our chat conversations. It is a place where all those who have died before the end of the term allotted to them, and whose higher principles do not, therefore, go at once into Devachanic state -- sleep a dreamless sweet sleep of oblivion, at the termination of which they are either reborn immediately, or pass gradually into the Devachanic state. Rupadhatu is the celestial world of form, or what we call Devachan. With the uninitiated Brahmans, Chinese and other Buddhists, the Rupadhatu is divided into eighteen Brahma or Devalokas; the life of a soul therein lasts from half a Yuga up to 16,000 Yugas or Kalpas, and the height of the "Shades" is from half a Yojana up to 16,000 Yojanas (a Yojana measuring from five and a half to ten miles!!), and such-like theological twaddle evolved from priestly brains. But the Esoteric Philosophy teaches that though for the Egos for the time being, everything or everyone preserves its form (as in a dream), yet as Rupadhatu is a purely mental region, and a state, the Egos themselves have no form outside their own consciousness. Esotericism divides this "region" into seven Dhyanas, "regions", or states

of contemplation, which are not localities but mental representations of these. Arupadhatu: this "region" is again divided into seven Dhyanas, still more abstract and formless, for this "World" is without any form or desire whatever. It is the highest region of the post mortem Trailokya; and as it is the abode of those who are almost ready for Nirvana, and is, in fact, the very threshold of the Nirvanic state, it stands to reason that in Anupadhatu (or Arupavachara) there can be neither form nor

sensation, nor any feeling connected with our three dimensional Universe. You were referring to Sylvia Brown and her dealing with Astral plane and "the other side". But this is just one side of the coin. There is more to it. If you read the book"Autobiography of a yogi" You find a description of the AStral and a higher plane called cosmic plane. Brahmand and atheetha brahmand. The astral plane, also called the astral world or desire world, is a plane of existence according to esoteric

philosophies, some religious teachings and New Age thought. Although the word "astral" is often associated with New Age ideas, this term was also used historically by alchemists. In the late 19th and early 20th century the term was popularised by Theosophy, especially as developed by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater, and later Alice Bailey. In this cosmology, the astral is the first metaphysical plane beyond the physical, but is "denser" than the mental plane. The astral plane is also sometimes termed the world of emotion or world of illusion, and corresponds to Blavatsky's Kamic Plane. It should be noted however that in original theosophical literature (such as those written by Blavatsky), the term "astral" does not have the same meaning as the term is used in later theosophical literature (such as C. W. Leadbeater). The astral body, in her works, does not refer to the emotional body but to the etheric double or linga sarira. (Madame Blavatsky) Some equivalent concepts to the astral plane in various

esoteric teachings are the Barzakh or Imaginal or Inter-world in Islamic Esotericism (Ishraqism, Sufism, etc), the World of Asiyah in Lurianic Kabbalah (although this sometimes includes the physical plane as well), or Yetzirah in some interpretations of Hermetic Kabbalah, the "spirit world" in Spiritualism, the "Nervous" State in Max Theon's teachings, and the "Vital" World in the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and Mirra Alfassa. In his book Autobiography of a Yogi, Sri Sri Paramhansa Yogananda has explained with amazing clarity and detail the difference between the physical, astral, and causal planes, as per traditional Hindu philosophy. According to him when one dies his soul moves to the astral plane. There he reaps the results of his past actions or karmas and accordingly reinhabits a physical body or moves on to the higher causal plane. The term "astral

plane" has also more recently come to mean a plane of existence where otherkin believe their souls reside.But it s divine plane actually where siddhas live, cosmic plane is where munis live and rishis mandalas which are the highest is where rishis live. According to occult, Theosophical, and New Age teachings, the astral plane can be visited consciously with the astral body through means of meditation and mantra, lucid dreaming, or other forms of occult training and development. Some people would visit the astral plane by accident, simply by getting out of bed while the physical body remains sleeping. Unconsciously, the astral plane is the location of our consciousness while the vital body repairs damaged tissue and processes the wastes of the physical body. Some forms of Theosophy state that the astral world vibrates its energy through astral atoms that

copenetrate the physical world without trouble or confusion; and that all physical things have astral (and other subtle) counterparts. (Above is a rare scanned image of a Rosicrucian manual) According to Max Heindel's Rosicrucian writings, in the desire world, contrary to the physical world, force and matter are almost indistinguishable from each other. The desire-stuff may be described as a type of force-matter,

for it is in incessant motion, responsive to the slightest feeling of a vast multitude of beings which populate this world. He refers that a number of people and things may exist in the same place at the same time and be engaged in most diverse activities, regardless of what others are doing. The desire world is also said to be the abode of deceased persons, for some time subsequent to the event of death and, as it interpenetrates the physical world, these entities, the "dead", very often stay for a long while among their still living friends. It is also the home, among other various classes of beings, of the archangels which are native beings of this world. Heindel Heindel states that in the lower regions of the desire world the whole body of each being may be seen, but in the highest regions only the head seems to remain. In the lower regions of the desire world, there is the same diversity of tongues as on Earth, and the "dead" of one nation find it impossible to converse with those who lived in another country. In the higher regions of the desire world, the confusion of tongues gives place to a universal mode of expression which absolutely prevents misunderstandings of meaning: thoughts take a definite form and color perceptible to all, and this thought-symbol emits a certain tone, which conveys the meaning to the one to whom they are addressed. He states that in the desire world all is light and there is but one long day, and as the spirit is not fettered by a heavy physical body, it does not need sleep and existence is unbroken. Spiritual

substances are not subject to contraction and expansion such as arise here from heat and cold, hence summer and winter are also non-existent. Thus there is nothing to differentiate one moment from another in respect of the conditions of light and darkness, summer and winter, which mark time in the physical world. Due to inexistence of these conditions, only students of the stellar science are able to calculate the passage of time in the desire world. In the standard Dungeons and Dragons RPG planar cosmology, the Astral Plane is a dimension coexistent with all others, used as a means of transportation between planes. Color pools on the plane lead to the other worlds it touches. Hope this much of information further inspires your search. Yours yogically, Shreeram Balijepalli

 

 

 

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