Quest Magazine

Printed in the Winter 2019 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Shahar, Charles, "Spirit Life in Cemeteries" Quest 107:1, pg 36-38

By Charles Shahar

Cemeteries can be very vibrationally active or quiet, depending on a number of factors. Many burial sites have been chosen because they are high-energy environments. Located at the intersections of energy currents that result in a strong magnetism in the air, such settings have attracted disincarnate entities of all types. The veil or boundary between the grosser material sphere and the spirit world is thinner here, representing a kind of twilight zone, where the two dimensions can interact more directly. Cemeteries can therefore function as gateways to ethereal realms—although not necessarily the type you might want to connect to.

Ancient roads upon which funeral processions traversed were built to follow lines of energy (or ley lines) that converged upon graveyards, and were actually called “death roads.” According to renowned earth-mysteries author Paul Devereux, fragments of these roads have survived till this day in Western Europe, and are noteworthy for their straightness (Devereux, Earth Mysteries, 106). In medieval Holland, it was illegal to carry a corpse to burial in anything but a straight line (Devereux, Re-Visioning, 108). People would avoid crossing or walking along these roads, because the chances of meeting a ghost was considered to be high. The straightness was thought to encourage the spirit to make a beeline to the cemetery without deviating beyond its predetermined route.

From my own experience, older, smaller cemeteries are usually more likely to attract disincarnate entities. I find cemeteries that are at least 150 years old are often more busy with such activities than those that have been established relatively recently. Graveyards in disrepair, especially abandoned ones, often attract more entities than those that are vigorously maintained and manicured. Spirits generally do not like human activity, and will avoid any cemetery that is busy with workers. I also find spirits are more inclined to gather in cemeteries where there are plenty of trees rather than in those that occupy open ground. The presence of oak trees, particularly if they are gnarled and devoid of leaves, or have branches low to the ground, is also conducive for spirits to congregate.

Disincarnate entities are generally more active at night than during the day, particularly after midnight. Sunlight is usually too harsh for them to tolerate. On the other hand, there are entities who hang around during the day as well, and some do so for nefarious reasons. There are more spirits present on a heavily cloudy day than when the sun is blaring outside. They also like stormy or blustery days, when dark and foreboding clouds dominate the sky and blot out the sun. Some tend to be attracted to nights when there is a full moon or a new moon; others prefer the appearance of a very thin crescent, known as “Shiva’s moon.”

There are certain times of the year when the veil between our world and that of the twilight world becomes particularly thin, such as on Halloween night. One might think of Halloween as simply a children’s time for gaining treats and getting scared, but try meditating during the night of Halloween at a cemetery and see what types of energies you attract.

Spirit activity at cemeteries is quite intense at the winter and summer solstices, as well as the spring and autumn equinoxes. Members of pagan communities know this and generally time their most auspicious gatherings to coincide with these events. Fall is a time of transformation, and it is also the most active season for spirit activity.

What kinds of incorporeal entities hang around cemeteries? Among the most abundant are etheric wraiths. These are simply the discarded etheric shells of the deceased, which linger around the physical body and disintegrate along with it. They are sometimes visible as patchy mists that hover above grave sites, mostly around those of the recently departed. Even people who are only mildly sensitive can occasionally spot these wispy forms, but observers need to be alert and knowledgeable enough to know what they are looking at. Theosophist C.W. Leadbeater remarks that these etheric cast-offs are behind many of the commonly told stories of graveyard apparitions (Leadbeater, 53).

Other entities that hang around cemeteries are earthbound souls. Some are so attached to earthly life that they find it hard to disengage from it. Family members who come to mourn repeatedly pull these spirits back to the earthly sphere. They are compelled to linger near their loved ones, particularly at the site, where grieving is most intense. This category of earthbound specters is usually benign. They are rarely visible unless the astral form is so dense that it appears to people with a modicum of clairvoyant vision as a vague figure of the former corporeal self.

Some of the newly deceased will not initially leave the proximity of their physical bodies, fearing that if they stray too far, their connection to them will be severed. They will linger at the mortuary, attend their own funeral ceremony (I have often felt their presence), and will follow the funeral procession to the site where their body is interred. Most often they will not stay around the body after the burial takes place, although some will stay for much longer. In extreme cases, they may even try to enter the corpse in an effort to reanimate it. This is rare and involves an intense attachment to the physical form, or at the very least a confusion regarding one’s condition. Some souls refuse to recognize the finality of the rupture with their bodies.

There are also dark or malevolent entities that frequent cemeteries, including those that feed off the emotions of mourners who come repeatedly to the burial site. By entering the vulnerable auras of the distraught, these lower astral beings aggravate their suffering further, greedily feeding off it by siphoning life energy from their victims. There are also ghoulish spirits who are attracted to physical decay and decomposition. They resemble dark shadows of grotesque proportions. The smell of death attracts them, and they often linger at the gravesites of the recently buried.

The issue of burial haunting is one reason cremation is highly recommended by most spiritualists—and is also practiced by major faiths such as Hinduism, where it is done to assist the disembodied soul to move on. Occultists Harriette and Homer Curtiss suggest:

The recently deceased is often strongly, even morbidly attached to the discarded physical body for some time, hence haunts its burial place. But it is thus held only as a result of thought or desire, the desire to see what becomes of the former undergarment it wore while on earth. Cremation is therefore always desirable, not only because [it is] more sanitary and less revolting to think of, but because it consumes the physical magnetism and this releases the deceased at once from that source of attraction to the physical world (Curtiss, 65–66).

There are certain rules of etiquette that one should follow when visiting cemeteries. Always visit with an attitude of respect, whether in the day or at night. Never play loud music in a car when driving through the grounds. Avoid speaking with a loud voice, making loud jokes, laughing loudly, or otherwise behaving boisterously. All such actions are annoying for the entities who hang around cemeteries. You will attract their attention—and not in a good way.

I recommend treading carefully when walking through cemetery plots. If you must step on the graves themselves, tread lightly and with respect, even saying a little prayer as you walk through. Do not deface or disturb the site in any way, say by knocking over or displacing the headstones or the flowers and offerings that people have left there. This may all seem like common sense, but an immature or thoughtless person can easily deviate from conscious actions.

What can happen if you offend the spirits at a cemetery? There are a few possible responses, representing varying degrees of harshness. The first is that they may infiltrate your subconscious mind. They may strike you with a sudden fear, making you feel nervous and uncomfortable until you leave. They may distract your mind to the point where you might trip as you walk. The severity of such “accidents” will depend on the offense that you have caused. They may also follow you home and cause a bit of mischief. But these are all relatively rare occurrences, because most people know to approach cemeteries with a respectful attitude.

It is best to be tuned into the energy of a cemetery. If you feel strange when visiting a graveyard, it’s likely because the site is host to a multitude of spirit beings. For instance, you may experience goose bumps or a slight chill. If you feel a bit nauseous or queasy, this may be a warning sign that you have entered a cemetery frequented by powerful and possibly malevolent entities. They may not want to be disturbed and will guard their territory by vibing you. If you are sensitive, you will feel such vibes immediately.

I remember once driving on a photography outing to an old and decrepit cemetery about 100 miles from where I live. I snuck into the graveyard that Sunday afternoon by climbing up a padlocked fence. As soon as I touched the ground on the other side, I experienced a sinking feeling in my abdomen. As I walked through the cemetery, a sensation of dread overcame me. I realized that I was not welcomed there, and that the guardian spirits of the place were sending me strong signals to depart. I quickly climbed back up the fence and felt queasy until I got into my car. They had followed me a little way past the cemetery grounds.

I never returned to that graveyard, and I later understood that if I had stayed, these vibes would have gotten under my auric skin and perhaps caused difficulties for me later. In this case, scaling a fence and trespassing on the premises demonstrated a profound lack of respect for the sanctity of the grounds and for the beings that frequent it. These types of guardian entities are highly territorial and do not suffer intrusions lightly.

Guardian spirits can often be found in places such as old cemeteries, churches, monuments, old battlefields, and ancient temple ruins, where they hold vigil and do their best to discourage intrusions by unwanted visitors (Ashcroft-Nowicki and Brennan, 164–65). The mistake I made was not to ask permission from these beings before trespassing onto their grounds. If my request had been genuine and done with humility, they might have offered their permission, and I would have had a different experience. All it would have taken would be a brief meditation in which I could have raised my vibration before communicating with them.

I do not recommend that children play in cemeteries. They may be vulnerable to encroachments, and unwelcome guests may attach themselves to their astral fields. I am also leery of houses built at the edge of cemetery grounds, which are vulnerable to unwelcome visitations as well. Ancestral burial plots that are located near a house that has been passed on for generations may be particularly attractive places for earthbound spirits to linger. Even though their presence is generally benign, their souls’ progress is delayed by their worldly attachments.

For people who live next door to a cemetery, occult scholar John Michael Greer suggests planting a row of hawthorn hedges to separate the graveyard from the property and cultivating protective plants in the garden (Greer, 76). According to folklore, hawthorn hedges are considered to be magically (energetically) protective. Certain herbs and shrubs can be planted around the home—such as coriander, fennel, rosemary, and mullein—that repel unwanted negative energies (Struthers, 124). I have never experimented with such plants, but I suspect they work, because they are good conductors of etheric energy and respond well to the projected thoughts of people who use them for such purposes.

One would be mistaken to think of cemeteries as spiritual havens. Although they may be tranquil in their physical aspects, there may be all kinds of unpleasant shadowy creatures dominating their astral environment, particularly at night.

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Sources

Ashcroft-Nowicki, Dolores, and J.H. Brennan. Magical Use of Thought Forms: A Proven System of Mental and Spiritual Empowerment. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn, 2002.

Curtiss, Harriette A., and Homer F. Curtiss. Realms of the Living Dead: A Brief Description of Life after Death. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1917.

Devereux, Paul. Earth Mysteries. London: Judy Piatkus Ltd., 1999.

———. Re-Visioning the Earth: A Guide to Opening the Healing Channels Between Mind and Nature. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Greer, John Michael. Monsters: An Investigator’s Guide to Magical Beings. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn, 2011.

Leadbeater, C.W. The Astral Plane: Its Scenery, Inhabitants, and Phenomena. London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1905.

Struthers, Jane. Red Sky at Night: The Book of Lost Country Wisdom. London: Ebury Press, 2009.

Charles Shahar is a clinical psychologist by training and a social researcher by profession. He has lived in India, where he studied Vedanta philosophy. He has also taught yoga and meditation for seventeen years to diverse populations, particularly health-care professionals and patients.

 

 

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Printed in the Winter 2019 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: LeFevour, Amber, "Suicide and the Ageless Wisdom" Quest 107:1, pg 32-35

By Amber LeFevour

The increase of celebrity suicides within the last year shines a light on an epidemic that many people find too difficult to face. The national rate of suicide in the U.S. has been rising steadily over the past ten years. Statistics for 2016 noted that suicide accounted for 13.42 deaths per 100,000 individuals and was the tenth leading cause of death. Approximately 123 suicides occur per day, with white, middle-aged men as the leading demographic (https://afsp.org/suicide-statistics/).

The mental-health industry works to destigmatize all mental illnesses, especially as more individuals and celebrities speak about their struggles. Suicide Prevention Awareness Week is observed in September, and October is Depression Awareness Month, as many individuals with depression notice a downward trend in their mood beginning in the fall and going into winter. The seasons certainly have an effect, especially in the northern regions, which have less sunlight to enable the body to synthesize vitamin D.

One step towards increasing awareness and acceptance has been to draw the focus away from mental illness and towards mental wellness. Expressions like “taking a mental-health day” have started to work their way into common language. An increased emphasis on the mind-body connection has also helped normalize the idea that mental health is just as important as physical health. Even individuals who would not typically seek out psychotherapy are finding other ways to improve their mental wellness. January kicks off the year with Mental Wellness Month, so it’s a great time to take note of how you’ve been feeling and make any changes that might be helpful.

Suicide is the ultimate fear of any mental-health professional, and every threat is treated seriously. Traditional psychotherapy focused on helping individuals solve their problems by identifying the problems’ roots. This is an excellent way to stay in business, but it does not offer immediate relief to most clients. If a person is contemplating suicide, talking about their difficulties in childhood is not likely to dissuade them within the span of a fifty-minute session.

The postmodern view of psychotherapy, starting around the 1970s and ’80s, began focusing more on the here and now. An individual needs to be able to tolerate distress before exploring the causes of the distress. Just within the last ten years, psychotherapy has begun to embrace the teachings of the Buddha, including mindfulness, which has made its way to the forefront of psychotherapy as a preferred intervention. The change has been slow in coming: although researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn has been studying mindfulness for forty years, the mental-health industry, like the medical field, was long afraid to embrace something “alternative.”

With the postmodern movement, mental-health practitioners have steered away from “fixing the problem” in favor of helping individuals create a life worth living. This philosophy recognizes that pain is a part of life for everyone and that how each person handles the circumstances in front of them determines the course of their life. Michael White and David Epston created Narrative Therapy in the 1980s to reflect this shift. A key tenet of the theory is: “The person is not the problem; the problem is the problem.” A person’s ability to manage the problem and create a story around it determines the extent and severity of the problem itself. In psychotherapy, individuals are reminded that all thoughts and feelings are fleeting. One client in particular said to me, “You changed my whole perspective when you pointed out that no feeling lasts forever.”

This lesson is essential for any person considering suicide. However they might feel in this moment, it will change. They will smile again; they will laugh again. Clients will acknowledge this and immediately follow up with, “But the bad feelings are just going to come back again.” Absolutely. No feeling lasts forever, even the good ones.

One type of intervention comes from Dialectical Behavior Theory, created by Marsha Linehan. The technique, called “Ride the Wave,” encourages the individual to focus on the feeling in the moment. Notice the highs and the lows. Notice how it begins, how it increases, and how it recedes again. Dr. Linehan’s theory, which relies heavily on mindfulness, teaches individuals to slow down and notice the patterns of their thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Like meditation, the goal is for the individual to control their “feeling brain” so that their “thinking brain” can take control and make more informed choices.

Dr. Linehan also introduced the concept of radical acceptance to psychotherapy. This suggests that pain is pain; it is pain without acceptance of the pain that causes suffering. The relation to Buddhism can be seen again, as the Buddha provided a similar definition. Therapists help clients understand that they may not have created their situation and they may not like it, but they still have to change it. By recognizing the reality of the situation today, a person can turn inward in order to start living the life they want.

To emphasize this point, I can think of an example from my own experience as a psychotherapist. Two different individuals with severe medical illnesses had vastly different experiences based on their ability to accept and tolerate their pain and desires. In one case, the man was very upset about his illness and lashed out at everyone around him. His desire to not be ill led him to constantly seek out ways to alleviate his pain. His lack of acceptance created suffering for anyone around him, including his family, each of whom was dealing with their own struggles. The other man turned inward to make meaning of his pain, and sought out teachings on mindfulness to help him manage it. He accepted his illness by being open with others about his needs and seeking out assistance when necessary. While the pain continues, he is also able to enjoy his life and his family. Even though he struggles at times, overall he has created a life worth living.

In studying suicide prevention, many statistics analyze demographics, including age, race, gender, and mental-health issues. Spirituality has been studied as one possible protective factor, encouraging individuals to work towards something positive. Many religions tend to focus on the consequences of suicide and paint pictures of a fiery hell filled with torture. However, fear will only make a person work so hard, and for those in extreme distress or experiencing mental distress, it may not be enough to dissuade them anyway.

Recently some Christians have been changing their perspective and suggesting that suicide in fact is not a “mortal sin” and can be forgiven. The Catholic church has even expanded its teachings to say that an individual who is not in good mental health does not have the understanding of their actions, which is a necessary component of sin. While suicide leads to many consequences, especially for the loved ones left behind, no human can adequately judge or be certain what happens after death for the individual.

There are many theories about the after-death states for natural and unnatural deaths, with each religion giving its own interpretation. In any case, the individual practicing any faith has the responsibility to decide on their own what they truly believe. Theosophy offers several sources regarding suicide.

First, Mahatma Koot Hoomi, in a letter to A.O. Hume (Chin and Barker, 213–14), suggests that after death, the soul is able to sleep. In the case of suicide or a violent death, however, the dream may be more like a nightmare. A person who commits suicide may relive a specific moment during their lifetime over and over. Nevertheless, the doctrine of reincarnation, suggests that the soul is not stuck in this nightmare for eternity. Instead it is likely to stay in this place until it is able to work through the karma that led to these decisions, so that it may go on to enjoy its time in devachan before reincarnating. Furthermore, the karma incurred by the action will likely be worked out during the next lifetime. While we can’t escape our karma, there is no reason to believe that one negative decision made during a single lifetime will lead to an eternity of damnation.

H.P. Blavatsky expounds on the after-death states in an 1882 article in The Theosophist. An individual had written in, suggesting that a person who does not provide value to the world, and who in fact ends up causing harm through attempts to do good works, would provide more service through suicide. Blavatsky replies, “There is but one general law or rule for all suicides. But, it is just because ‘the afterstates’ vary ad-infinitum . . . the result will be in every case the necessity of living out the appointed period of sentient existence” (emphasis Blavatsky’s). Here she is suggesting that someone who commits suicide will not immediately move on to devachan, but instead will remain in the other bodies surrounding the soul, including the astral and mental. While the physical body may no longer be attached to the soul, the latter remains alive and active until the time at which it has predetermined to leave all bodies and return to devachan. In many ways, this echoes the statements made by K.H. Together, these statements suggest that the individual will remain working through the emotions tied to the suicide while waiting to leave the other, subtle, bodies behind as well. After that point, the individual will be able to enter the devachan that he has earned based on his lifetime on earth.

The Third Object of the Theosophical Society encourages study of the powers latent in humanity. When considering suicide, the study of after-death states seems like a fitting place to start. Raymond Moody Jr. began writing about near-death experiences (NDEs) in the 1970s, and the field has grown exponentially from there. The International Association for Near Death Studies was created in 1978 and remains active today, with local groups in many states and countries (https://www.iands.org/).

In his seminal book Life after Life (1975), Moody describes NDEs of individuals who had attempted suicide: “They report that the conflicts they had attempted suicide to escape were still present when they died, but with added complications. In their disembodied state they were unable to do anything about their problems, and they also had to view the unfortunate consequences which resulted from their acts” (Moody, 136).

A more thorough description of the after-death states of suicide is given by Theosophical lecturer Kurt Leland in his book The Unanswered Question (2002). During one of his dream states in which he was able to visit the other side, Leland was given the chance to speak with a former client who had suffered an accidental suicide. The client provided insights into the after-death effects of suicide:

Whenever anyone dies prematurely, especially by means of suicide . . . there’s an inquest . . . [a judge] looks over the facts of your dying and assigns you the task of identifying the exact point in your life when the troubles began. Then he locks you up in the state of consciousness you were in at that time until you find some other way of dealing with those troubles. Once you’ve found the solution you spend some time practicing the new way of dealing with them. Hopefully, when you go back in your next lifetime and confront the same set of conditions . . . you’ll be able to implement it and move on to other lessons. (Leland, 298) 

While Moody and Leland reinforce the basic concepts outlined by K.H. and Blavatsky, there is one notable difference in Leland’s description: K.H. indicated that the suicide would live out the moment of his downfall, whereas Leland describes reliving the moment that set the soul on the path towards that outcome.

Leland’s account sounds somewhat like the process of psychotherapy. Traditional psychotherapy, going back to Freud and Jung, tries to identify the root cause of a condition. Modern psychotherapy focuses on building the skills in this moment so that the individual will respond differently to any similar situation in the future. Additionally, the choices and actions are those of the client alone. The therapist cannot be present at all times to offer guidance or help the client use their skills; the client needs to be able to do so in the real world. In this way, psychotherapy can be seen as an analogue of the after-death states. Moody and Leland have described the afterlife review, which occurs for all individuals; this too has some similarities to psychotherapy.

The main difference between psychotherapy and Leland’s view is that a psychotherapist will never judge a clients for thoughts, feelings, or behavior, and will never prescribe consequences. The whole point of psychotherapy is to offer a nonjudgmental safe space where the client can explore issues that can’t be brought up in other situations. In fact, psychotherapists often struggle against clients’ fears about expressing suicidal thoughts: clients are often afraid that they will be sent to the psychiatric hospital if they admit to having fleeting thoughts of not wanting to live. Therapists work hard to reassure the clients that every feeling is acceptable and that not every feeling will result in a negative action. These feelings are more common than most people realize, and it reassures many individuals to realize that they are comparatively normal.

Leland’s client says that in his case, his soul decided to disconnect itself from the body because the path the client was taking was not beneficial to his spiritual evolution. For a person on earth struggling to understand suicide, this statement seems oddly comforting. Rather than implying that an individual is in so much pain and misery that they need to escape by any means necessary, the statement suggests that the Higher Self is still in charge and making decisions that are best for the soul, even if we on earth can’t understand it. In that sense, suicide doesn’t seem much different from any other illness or death. We can hardly know the plan set for our own souls, much less that of anyone else.

As a psychotherapist, I have had many clients who have contemplated suicide. I have seen that attitude, acceptance, and empathy determine a person’s level of resilience. I have met children and adults who have experienced trauma throughout their life, but who face each day with a determination to make things better. My goal is to help clients manage the pain of life before making the choice to end it, so they may truly escape the suffering they are enduring. Death remains a mystery for all of us, which we can only know when we get there. Until then, take care of your mental health and continue to build a life worth living.

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Sources

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “Suicide Statistics,” accessed Sept. 14, 2018: https://afsp.org/suicide-statistics.

Blavatsky, H.P. “Is Suicide a Crime?” The Theosophist 4, no. 2 (November 1882): 31–32.

Carey, Maggie, and Shona Russell. “Externalising: Commonly Asked Questions.” The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work 2 (2002): 76–84.

Chin, Vicente Hao, Jr., and A.T. Barker, eds. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in Chronological Sequence. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1998.

De Purucker, Gottfried. What Death Really Is: Questions We All Ask. San Diego, Calif.: Point Loma             Publications, 1986.

Leland, Kurt. The Unanswered Question. Charlottesville, Va: Hampton Roads, 2002.

Linehan, Marsha M. Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. New York: Guilford Press, 1993.

Moody, Raymond, Jr. Life after Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon—Survival of Bodily Death. Marietta, Ga.: R. Bemis, 1975.

Amber LeFevour, M.S., L.M.F.T., is a practicing marriage and family therapist in Illinois, with a focus on working with attachment and trauma. She primarily works with children and families. She has been actively involved with the Theosophical Society for eight years and has given two lectures in the Living Theosophy series.

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Printed in the Winter 2019  issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Samarel, Nelda, "Preparing for Death and After" Quest 107:1, pg 26-31

By Nelda Samarel

An ancient Mesopotamian tale, retold by W. Somerset Maugham, tells of a merchant in old Baghdad who sent his servant to the market to buy provisions. In a little while the servant returned, white and trembling, and said,

“Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I looked across the square and saw Death staring at me. Please lend me your horse so I may ride away to Samarra, where Death will not find me.”

The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant rode away as fast as the horse could gallop. Then the merchant went to the market and saw Death standing in the crowd. The merchant went over to Death and said, “Why did you frighten my servant when you saw him this morning?”

Death replied, “I am sorry and did not mean to frighten him. I was merely surprised to see him here in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”

 

It is said that the only certain things are death and taxes; some seem to avoid taxes, but no one avoids death. Yet we know little about this inevitable transition and less about how to prepare for it. We pretend that it doesn’t exist. We have inherited a terrible attitude toward death; it is black, solemn. We fear death because of the myths and misconceptions about the after-death states.

Myth: Death is the end; nothing in us survives.

Fact: There is no death in the sense of ceasing to be, only transition or change in the focus of consciousness.

 Myth: Death is a plunge into the unknown.

Fact: We can know what lies ahead.

Myth: Sinners go to hell forever.

Fact: It doesn’t make sense for those who have done one wrong or made one mistake to suffer for eternity.

These misunderstandings keep us from thinking about death. But we need to think about it and come to understand it at this moment so that we may adequately prepare for it.

Preparing for Death

The one aim of those who practice philosophy in the proper manner is to practice for dying and for death. —Plato, Phaedo 

To enjoy a peaceful and eventless death, you must prepare for it. —Sri Aurobindo

Learn to die and thou shalt learn to live. —F.M.M. Comper, The Book of the Craft of Dying

If we are planning a trip to an unknown place, how would we go about it? Would we fly somewhere, get off the plane, and think, “Where should I go? Where should I sleep?” Would we wander around and wonder what the place is like? Or would we prepare for our trip?

If we assume that death is not the end of consciousness, but simply a change in the focus of consciousness, then planning for it is no different from planning any other trip. Being prepared, we will arrive on the other side with the courage, confidence, and ability to keep us from experiencing bewilderment, fear, and helplessness in a strange new place. Not only will this preparation result in a more pleasant after-death experience, but it will allow us to be a center of peace, extending assistance to others who may not be as well prepared, and will also speed our own onward progress.

In order to prepare for the after-death states, we first need to explore what is meant by the afterlife.

Where Do We Go from Here?

Death is not a negation of life, or the opposite of life; it is the opposite of birth, but, like birth, it is a part of life. There is a continuum from birth to death, and that continuum endures after death. Quantum theory supports the idea that matter never “dies,” but continues in another form. What is that form?

Many traditions have theories and beliefs about the after-death states that may assist one in accepting death. There is a great deal in the Theosophical literature about this subject. The view presented here is based on a synthesis of H.P. Blavatsky’s writings, the Mahatma Letters from the Masters Morya and Koot Hoomi, and the writings of second-generation Theosophists Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater. Some of the second-generation writing appears to contradict points in the initial writings of Blavatsky and the Masters, but we must keep in mind that the second-generation writing was presented thirty years later and had the benefit of decades of further clairvoyant research on the subject. Much of Besant’s and Leadbeater’s thought was corroborated by the later Theosophical clairvoyants Geoffrey Hodson and Dora Kunz.

Before considering what happens after we die, it is essential to be familiar with the septenary human constitution.

Diagram 1. The Seven Human Principles                                                                  

1.	Universal	One Self, One Reality, eternal, boundless; the most subtle level, with the highest rate of vibration. All principles are aspects of the Universal. One cannot know the Universal except through its reflection in the spiritual consciousness.
2.	Spiritual consciousness	In close union with mind; associated with wisdom, discrimination, intuition, or spiritual insight.
3.	Mind	Associated with words, ideas. One principle, separating functionally at birth into two: Higher mind: linked with conception; beyond reason; turned inward, interwoven with the higher principle, spiritual consciousness; knows and is therefore beyond reason. Lower mind: linked with perception and reason; turned outward to objects of sense; interwoven with fourth principle, the desire body; functionally disintegrates between incarnations. If mind gravitates more toward the desire body, it is focused on the material, earthly plane; if it gravitates more toward spiritual consciousness, it is focused on higher or spiritual planes.
4.	Desire body (astral body)	Emotional consciousness, the craving principle within us; desire not only for base physical or emotional gratification, but also for more refined gratifications; seat of the personal will After death, it remains, along with the higher principles for a time, depending on intensity of the feelings, emotions, and cravings: the greater the intensity of feelings, the longer the desire body remains. Eventually it fades away, but its influences remain with the three higher principles.
5.	Etheric double	Pattern body; precedes physical nature and is the model or mold around which physical develops. At the death of the physical, it survives for a brief time near the corpse, or until cremation.
6.	Vital energy	Vital spark, the animating principle. Death of the physical body occurs when the vital energy is withdrawn.
7.	Physical	Physical nature, physical consciousness; the densest level, with the lowest rate of vibration; the vehicle of other principles during life.

The Septenary Human Constitution

Man, know thyself; then thou shalt know the Universe and God. —Pythagoras

Humans have a sevenfold constitution, ranging from the physical, which is the densest form, with the slowest rate of vibration, to the Universal, the most subtle, with the highest rate of vibration. (See diagram 1.) These principles are not stacked on top of one another, but are interrelated, occupying the same space in differing degrees of density of matter and rapidity of vibration.

The lowest four principles (physical, vital, etheric, and the desire nature) are known as the lower quaternary, the impermanent or mortal part of our nature. The lower quaternary is that part of us that is unique to this life. The higher three principles (mind, spiritual consciousness, and the Universal), known as the upper triad, arethe immortal, eternal part of our nature. The upper triad is the permanent individuality, or the part of us that reincarnates and knows the underlying unity of all existence. It is often referred to as the inner Self.

 The rays of the sun are many through refraction. But they have the same source. —Mahatma Gandhi

We may think of ourselves, then, as immortal beings (mind, spiritual consciousness, and the Universal) who use the mortal personality and body (physical, vital, etheric, and the desire nature) for one lifetime.

Mind, having lower and higher aspects, may be seen as the swing principle: if mind gravitates toward the next lower principle, the desire nature, life is focused on the material or earthly plane; if mind gravitates toward the next higher principle, spiritual consciousness, life is more focused on the spiritual.

Preparation Note

How do we want to focus our life, toward the material or the spiritual? We make this decision every day, every moment, using the mind, but it is reinforced by the desire nature, where the personal will resides. Use the personal will, moment after moment, to help prepare for the afterlife but, equally importantly, to determine the quality of this life.

The Laws of Periodicity and Continuity

Understanding the laws of periodicity and continuity will help us conceptualize the after-death states. H.P. Blavatsky writes in The Secret Doctrine:

The Law of Periodicity asserts that, throughout the universe there are periods of activity followed by periods of rest; for every period of activity there is a corresponding period of rest, followed by another period of activity and then rest. Alternations such as day and night, sleeping and waking, and ebb and flow are facts so common, so perfectly universal and without exception, that it is easy to comprehend that in it we see one of the absolutely fundamental laws of the universe.

According to the law of continuity, existence is continuous, consciousness endures, and physical death is not the end of consciousness. There is an alternation between activity, representing physical manifestation, and periods of rest, the absence of physical manifestation.

What Happens When We Die?                                   

Death may be understood as a withdrawal of the higher principles from the physical body. In reality, this withdrawal takes place gradually and goes unnoticed until it becomes pronounced. For example, as signs of aging begin, the physical body slows, there is less vigor, and the vital organs don’t function perfectly. Old age, then, is not the cause of death; rather it is the playing out of cycles; it is also the need for withdrawal and rest and for assimilation of life on earth.

Death of the physical and of the vital energy occur almost at the same time. For a short time, the etheric double remains near the corpse, then follows the physical and vital energy in dissipating. With physical, vital, and etheric death, one avenue of expression, one instrument of the personality, the physical, is lost. After death, we are not away somewhere else, but are right here, at a different rate of vibration, which is not perceptible to most.

Most people are unconscious at the moment of death and remain in this sleeping state for some duration after making their transition, awaking in the next state of consciousness, kamaloka.           

Kamaloka

Kamaloka is a Sanskrit term translated as place or location of desires. Again, this is not a different place, but a different state of consciousness. Mme. Blavatsky writes:

We accept consciousness after death, and say the real consciousness and the real freedom . . . begins only after physical death. . . . [The ego] is then no longer impeded by gross matter . . . it is free, it can perceive everything. . . . Can you see what is behind that door unless you are a clairvoyant? There (after death), is no impediment of matter and the soul sees everything.

In kamaloka, one is subject to very strong cravings, such as for eating, drinking, and sleeping, and to emotions, such as anger, hate, and love. Because these may be appeased only by the physical body, and there is no physical body in kamaloka, there is no way to appease these desires, resulting in unpleasant experiences of unfulfilled longing. The greater the intensity of emotions and cravings, the longer they remain. Experience in kamaloka, then, is directly related, in both length and quality, to the intensity of our emotions on earth.

 Preparation Note   

Can we appease all our desires while in our physical form, living on earth? If we are tired and desire sleep, are there times when we’re unable to do so? When we’re late and in a rush, are we ever unavoidably delayed by traffic? When we wish for more money, do we always have it? And, if we do have more, are we content or do we desire still more? The idea, then, as we are told in Light on the Path, is “kill out desire.”

After death, as on earth, we live in a world of our own making. Begin preparing for the after-death states by making our world, our reality better. Begin by reducing desires, negative thinking patterns, and selfishness.

When we are asleep, only our physical body is on the bed. We experience consciousness in the desire body, or astral body, during this time. Our experiences through our dreams may thus indicate what our life will be like in kamaloka.

Preparation Note   

It is not so much the content of our dreams as the emotions they evoke that is of greatest importance. Negative emotions in the dream state may indicate a need to change aspects of our waking state to one that is more balanced, wholesome, and peaceful. Be aware of dreams and use them to make positive changes in life.

In kamaloka, we have dropped our physical body and live in our desire body, or astral body. This body begins to disintegrate immediately after death. It struggles to preserve itself by rearranging its astral matter into concentric circles, with the coarsest material outermost, like a protective shell, creating a greater resistance to disintegration. This is a natural tendency, like the physical body’s attempts to preserve itself when endangered. This coarsest astral matter represents the basest of our desires while living in the physical. Since like attracts like, the astral body attracts coarse material from its surroundings. The individual is surrounded by base thought-forms, such as jealousy, vengeance, or greed, creating an unpleasant experience.

 Preparation Note   

After death it is helpful to resist the rearrangement of the astral matter and maintaining the desire body as it was in physical life. This requires resisting any fear that may be present after death, preventing the rearrangement of matter and resulting in a more pleasant and shorter life in kamaloka. This may be accomplished only through the personal will, which must be developed during physical life. Develop the personal will now through regular meditative practice. I will meditate.

Eventually the outermost matter disintegrates. When the passion has for the most part played out, the remainder of the astral body disintegrates, and our time in kamaloka is done. The duration in kamaloka is directly related to the amount of passion remaining when we die.

 Preparation Note   

The idea is to purge ourselves of all earthly desires during life and to direct our energies toward unselfish spiritual aspiration. I will give up my desires. I will get my emotional house in order now.

As every life differs, no two after-death experiences are identical. There always are variations. Kamaloka, then, is different for every person. Intensely spiritual people may pass through it quickly and regain consciousness in devachan, the next after-death state.

After Kamaloka

When the astral body has disintegrated or dissolved, along with the lower mind, the higher three principles (Universal, spiritual consciousness, and higher mind), move on. Before the desire body and lower mind completely fade away, however, their remnants—thoughts, desires, and emotions—are saved to become the elements forming the personality of the next physical incarnation. So right now we are actually forming the attributes of our next incarnation.

 Preparation Note   

Give consideration to every thought, desire, and emotion as those will determine our personality in the next incarnation.

Following is a period of gestation, an intermediate period of preparation for entry into the next state.

Devachan

After kamaloka, the three higher principles enter the state of devachan (meaning place of the gods or place of happiness). Like kamaloka, devachan is not a place, but a state of consciousness. Going from one state to another only signifies a change in the focus of consciousness from one principle to another. For example, while our consciousness is focused in the physical body, only the physical world is perceived and we live in that world; when our consciousness is focused in the astral or desire body, only that world is perceived.

Nothing of a gross nature like selfishness, greed, or sorrow can manifest in devachan because the material of the desire body is too coarse for devachan’s rarified atmosphere. Therefore the experience in devachan is one of supreme bliss. Unselfish aspiration is the dominant characteristic determining our experience of devachan. This aspiration may be in the form of unselfish pursuit of spiritual knowledge, high philosophic or scientific thought, literary or artistic ability exercised for unselfish purposes, or service for the sake of service. The keynote, then, is unselfishness, or altruism.

Whether or not one has achieved one’s ideals during earth life, whatever one has longed for will blossom into fulfillment in the after-death states, and into the next incarnation. Kamaloka is the experience of unfulfilled lower passions and desires, while devachan provides for the fulfillment of spiritual yearnings during earth life. In the after-death period, nothing comes from outside ourselves, and we are limited only by our lofty aspirations while in physical incarnation.

Devachan is not a reward of earth life, but a result. That which a man longs for, he becomes. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

Diagram 2.The Seven Human Principles and the After-Death States

 Preparation Note   

The quality of our consciousness in physical life determines our after-death condition; our lives today are preparing us for our after-death states. To experience a better devachan, one must live a life of higher, spiritual aspiration. The cultivation of full consciousness and unselfish devotion during physical life not only benefits us and others now, but will produce results in the afterlife. As our consciousness grows, along with our altruistic motivation and service, we develop a greater power for good, which in turn results in more beneficial outcomes in both the physical world and in the after-death states.

Because only truth, beauty, and goodness may enter the devachanic state of consciousness, all coarse emotions and thoughts created by the personality while in physical incarnation are left behind, like checked baggage to be collected when one’s stay in devachan concludes. At that point, leaving devachan, we pick up our checked baggage, which becomes the blueprint for the personality of our next incarnation. Unlike the baggage we check with airlines, this baggage is never lost!

The spiritual experiences, the memory of all the good and noble from our previous incarnation, become immortal, surviving to our next incarnation. Past lives, then, never are wiped out, but blended into the life to be. We are a blending of all our past lives.

After Devachan

After devachan is another period of gestation, followed by rebirth (see diagram 2).

The mechanism of birth is the opposite of the mechanism of death. With birth we assume bodies, like robes, one by one; in death we cast off the robes. The Bhagavad Gita says, “As a man, casting off worn-out garments, taketh new ones, so the dweller in the body, casting off worn out bodies, entereth into others that are new.” Annie Besant writes in Death and After:

We are far more complex beings than we appear to physical sight. To one who knows this, death is an episode, not a tragedy. It is liberation from the physical body and not an annihilation of consciousness. For our consciousness is not in our physical body, though for a time it may be focused through it. Unchanged by death, the powers of our consciousness may be greater and the extent of our vision and perception somewhat larger because of our freedom from the physical limitation, but we are the same people after death as before, mentally, morally, and spiritually.

Dora Kunz taught that, in the last moments before physical death and immediately afterwards, the greatest gift we may bestow on ourselves is being at peace. Being at peace immediately prior to and during our transition has a profound effect on the afterlife and future incarnations.

 Preparation Note   

Because we cannot be what is foreign to us, especially during such a momentous time as this final transition, we must make peace a part of who we are at every moment. This means that we must begin our practice now, at this moment. Because we don’t know when our time will come, it is never too early to begin. Now is the time to meditate, as that is the only way to make peace a part of the fabric of our being.

How we live our lives determines our after-death states and our future lives. Through living a life of equanimity (nonattachment), peace, self-acceptance, self-knowledge, generosity (service for the good of all), morality, and patience, our lives today, in the afterlife, and in future incarnations will be of the highest.

Whether or not one has realized one’s ideals during physical life, whatever one has longed for will blossom into fulfillment in the after-death states, and in the next incarnation. The best preparation for death, then, is a well-lived life. Gain skill in living in order to master the art of dying.

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Sources           

Besant, Annie. Death and After. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1893.

———. Man and His Bodies. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1912.

The Bhagavad-Gita. Translated by Annie Besant. Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 1987.

Blavatsky, H.P. The Secret Doctrine. Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 1979.

­­­­­­———. Collected Writings. Fifteen volumes. Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 1991.

———. The Key to Theosophy: An Abridgement. Edited by Joy Mills. Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 1992.

———. The Secret Doctrine Commentaries: The Unpublished 1889 Instructions. Edited by Michael Gomes. The Hague, Netherlands: I.S.I.S. Foundation, 2010.

Chin, Vicente Hao, Jr., and A.T. Barker, eds. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in Chronological Sequence. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1998.

Collins, Mabel. Light on the Path. Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 1974.

Comper, Frances Margaret Mary, ed. The Book of the Craft of Dying and Other Early English Tracts Concerning Death. New York: Arno Press, 1977.

Gandhi, Mohandas. “Absolute Oneness.” Young India. Sept. 25, 1924; accessed Sept. 18, 2018; http://www.gandhimemorialcenter.org/quotes/2017/8/14/absolute-oneness.

Hodson, Geoffrey. Through the Gateway of Death. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1956.

Leadbeater, C.W. The Life after Death and How Theosophy Unveils It. London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1918.

———. The Devachanic Plane. Los Angeles: Theosophical Publishing House, 1919.

———. The Other Side of Death. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1928.

———. The Astral Plane. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1933.

———. The Inner Life. Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 1967.

Plato. The Dialogues of Plato. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. New York: Random House, 1937.

Samarel, Nelda. Helping the Dying: A Guide for Families and Friends Assisting Those in Transition. Quezon City, Philippines: Theosophical Order of Service, 2010.

Sri Aurobindo. Works of Sri Aurobindo. 37 vols. Auroville, India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1997.

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Nelda Samarel, Ed.D., longtime student of the Ageless Wisdom, has been director of the Krotona School of Theosophy and a director of the Theosophical Society in America. She has also served on the executive board of the Inter-American Theosophical Federation. A retired professor of nursing, Dr. Samarel has numerous publications and presents internationally. Her article “Meeting the Needs of the Dying” appeared in Quest, fall 2016.

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Printed in the Winter 2019  issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: McDavid, Doss, "The Human Principles in Early Theosophical Literature" Quest 107:1, pg 18-25

By Doss McDavid

While students of Theosophy will be familiar with the way of describing the levels of human consciousness and the corresponding planes of nature that is pictured in diagram 1 (Jinarajadasa, 166), they may not realize that this model was the result of a gradual evolution that took place over the course of several years.

 Diagram 1. Chart on the constitution of man, from C. Jinarajadasa, First Principles of Theosophy.

The first book of the modern Theosophical movement, Isis Unveiled by H.P. Blavatsky, published in 1877, presented a considerably simpler model, although she hinted at a more complex system (Blavatsky, Isis, 2:367, 588). It was the familiar threefold division of body (soma), soul (psyche), and spirit (pneuma) that was used in Platonic philosophy and early Christianity. In this scheme, the body (sometimes called sarx or flesh) is part of the material world and is therefore subject to all the limitations of time and space. It is unconditionally mortal. The spirit is part of Divinity itself and is therefore unconditionally immortal. Between these two, the third element, psyche or perispirit, is conditionally immortal. Those parts of the soul that can identify with the spirit join in its immortality, while those parts that have a greater affinity for the body are doomed to share its fate—dissolution into the elements and gradual remodeling into future life forms.

After the founders of the Theosophical Society moved to India in 1878–79, this simple threefold scheme was replaced by a sevenfold division of the human constitution. These teachings were transmitted orally from HPB to A.P. Sinnett and A.O. Hume during the late summer or early fall of 1881. Hume almost immediately began to summarize them in a series of articles called “Fragments of Occult Truth,” the first of which appeared in The Theosophist of October 1881. This series had eight parts, the first three from the pen of Hume and the last five by Sinnett. The first article described the seven principles as follows:

1. The physical body, composed wholly of matter in its grossest and most tangible form.
2. The vital principle (jivatma), an indestructible form of force. When disconnected from one set of atoms, it is immediately attracted by others.
3. The astral body (linga sharira), composed of highly etherealized matter. In its habitual passive state, it is the perfect but very shadowy duplicate of the body, its activity, consolidation, and form depending entirely on
4. The astral shape (kama rupa or body of desire), a principle defining the configuration of
5. The animal or physical intelligence or consciousness or Ego. This is analogous to, though higher in degree than, the reason, instinct, memory, imagination, and similar faculties in the higher animals.
6. The higher or spiritual intelligence or consciousness, or spiritual Ego, in which the sense of consciousness in the perfected man mainly resides, though the lower, dimmer animal consciousness coexists in level 5.
7. The spirit, an emanation from the Absolute, uncreated, eternal. It is a state rather than a being.

 Around the same time, a series of “cosmological notes” was given by the Master Morya (Chin and Barker, 510) in order to further clarify the sevenfold nature of man. This seems to have taken place in October 1881, after the Mahatma Koot Hoomi, the first Master to enter into correspondence with the two Europeans, had gone into a prolonged retreat. The English terms used by the Master to translate the Sanskrit and Tibetan words in this early list of human principles were as follows:

1. Body
2. Life-principle
3. Astral Body
4. Will-form
5. Animal Soul
6. Spiritual Soul
7. Spirit

This terminology was used throughout the rest of the “Fragments” articles, which elaborated on the teachings given by the Mahatmas to Sinnett and Hume. In June 1883 Sinnett published Esoteric Buddhism. Many portions of this work are virtually identical to “Fragments of Occult Truth,” most of which, as we have seen, were written by Sinnett himself.

            Esoteric Buddhism (65) gives the following list:

1. Rupa		Body
2.Prana or Jiva		Vitality
3. Linga Sharira		Astral Body
4.Kama Rupa		Animal Soul
5.Manas		Human Soul
6.Buddhi		Spiritual Soul
7.Atma		Spirit

Esoteric Buddhism altered the nomenclature in an important way: it used the term animal soul for the fourth principle and adopted a new term, human soul, for the fifth. The sixth principle retained the designation of spiritual soul.

After its initial introduction in “Fragments of Occult Truth,” HPB and other Theosophical writers enthusiastically accepted the sevenfold classification and produced a barrage of publications promoting it. Three months after the publication of the first fragment, T. Subba Row wrote an article for The Theosophist entitled “The Aryan-Arhat Esoteric Tenets on the Sevenfold Principle in Man,” in which he showed the essential agreement between the sevenfold scheme presented in the fragments and traditional Indian philosophy (Subba Row, “Aryan-Arhat Tenets,” 93). Later on, he wrote a short article comparing the sevenfold scheme to the components of the human being in the systems of Vedanta and Taraka Raja Yoga (Subba Row, “Note to Esoteric Buddhism,” 223). In addition, a Parsi Theosophist wrote an article comparing the septenary division to the psychological analysis of the Avesta (“A Parsi FTS”). In 1886, Franz Hartmann, a medical doctor and prolific Theosophical writer, elaborated further on the septenary division and compared it to the parts of man enumerated by Paracelsus (Hartmann). Another article written during this early period was contributed by a Tibetan monk-librarian who was said to be a member of the Theosophical Society. In this article, he gives the following description of the after-death states employing the terminology used in Esoteric Buddhism:

From the dead body the other principles ooze out together. A few hours later the second principle––that of life—is totally extinct, and separates from both the human and ethereal envelopes. The third—the vital double—finally dissipates when the last particles of the body disintegrate. There now remain the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh principles: the body of will, the human soul, the spiritual soul, and pure spirit which is a facet of the Eternal. The last two, joined to, or separated from, the personal self, form the everlasting individuality and cannot perish. . . . At the first relaxation of the will . . . the spiritual self, temporarily losing its personality and all remembrance of it, ascends to higher regions. Such is the teaching. (Blavatsky, “Tibetan Teachings,” 100–01)

One article written by HPB during this period tries to reconcile the teachings of Isis Unveiled with the system explained in the fragments (Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled and The Theosophist,” 288). When a Theosophist pointed out the seeming contradiction between the more recent teachings affirming reincarnation and the earlier denial of this teaching in Isis, HPB provided another diagram and explained that the denial of reincarnation found in Isis pertained to the “astral monad” and not to the “spiritual monad” (see diagram 2). The “astral monad” is not ordinarily reincarnated, while the “spiritual monad” is reembodied again and again on this and other planets until it attains liberation.

Diagram 2. A table published in The Theosophist of 1882 attempting to reconcile earlier and later versions of teachings on reincarnation. Spelling and punctuation from the original.

Another significant publication was Paradoxes of the Highest Science, which was printed in Calcutta in 1883. This book is composed of previously unpublished material by the French occultist Alphonse Louis Constant, better known as Éliphas Lévi. Hume translated it from French into English and published it with notes from K.H., using the pseudonym of “Eminent Occultist” (E.O.). In these notes, K.H. refers to the seven principles and states that “the body of man is the vehicle of the three pairs of spouses, viz. the 2nd and 3rd, the 4th and 5th, and the 6th and 7th principles ”(Lévi, 123; cf. right column of table). One of K.H.’s notes contains a table providing additional information about the human principles and showing the correspondence between the principles and the planetary rulers according to the Mandaean text called the Codex Nazaraeus. It goes as follows:

 

Daemons and Principles Compared
Daemons in the Codex Nazaraeus	Seven Skandhas or Principles
Sol.	Spirit, the reflection of the ONE Life.
Spiritus (Holy Spirit), Astro (Venus) or Lebbat Amamet.	The spiritual soul (Female).
Nebu (Mercury).	The Animal Soul (Manas).
Sin Luna, called also Shuril and Siro.	The Kama Rupa—the most dangerous and treacherous of the principles.
Kiun (Kivan): Saturn.	The Life-soul, Linga sarira.
Bel, Jupiter (life supporter).	The Vital principle.
Nerig, Mars—the son of man who despoils the other sons of man; called also “Excoriatores.”	The Gross body or material form—per se an animal, and a very ferocious and wild one.

 

The sevenfold classification was not completely free from controversy. Despite his early advocacy of it, T. Subba Row soon changed his mind, calling it “unscientific and misleading” in the first of his famous 1886 series of lectures on the Bhagavad Gita (Subba Row, Notes, 13–15). He announced that in his coming lectures he would be using a psychological model based on four principles—Atma, Karanopadhi (the reincarnating ego), Sukshmopadhi (the lower psychological nature, called the astral body in these lectures, although, confusingly, it was a completely different thing from the astral body or double described in “Fragments” and Esoteric Buddhism), and Sthulopadhi (the physical body). Atma is described as the Logos or Universal Spirit, shining its radiant light through three upadhis, or vehicles, derived from different levels of differentiated material substance.

When HPB wrote a conciliatory article trying to harmonize the two views (Blavatsky, “Classification”), Subba Row refused to take yes for an answer (Subba Row, “Constitution”), requiring a further response from HPB. Reading this series of back-and-forth polemical articles is somewhat painful but instructive for serious students.

HPB’s Secret Doctrine used the septenary division of Esoteric Buddhism. With the formation of her Esoteric School in 1888, however, she explained to her pledged students that this division was not the last word on the subject. It was, she now taught, a convenient but incomplete teaching, which she was now supplementing with additional information. In her esoteric teachings, she maintained that the first and seventh principles were not actually human principles at all. The first principle (the physical body) was completely illusory and hardly worth consideration, while the seventh principle (the spirit) was so transcendental as to be outside of “man” altogether. While the earlier teachings spoke of manas (mind) as a single principle, HPB’s esoteric papers make a distinction between its higher and lower portions. Prana was not assigned a plane of its own but was explained as the manifesting aspect of Atma as the One Life. Besides these more or less familiar constituents of the human being, HPB introduced her esoteric students to a mysterious principle called the Auric Envelope and swore them to strict secrecy about it. This mysterious principle provides the invisible pattern on which the rest of the human nature is structured—from our subtlest vestures down to the grossest. It contains our link to higher worlds and preserves the karmic seeds that prevail from life to life.

Diagram 3. Plate 1 from HPB's first Esoteric Instruction.

 

The human principles and the corresponding cosmic elements (tattvas) from which they arise were tabulated in the Esoteric Instructions as follows (Blavatsky and Caldwell, 439):

Adi (First) Tattva	Auric Envelope
Anupadaka (Parentless) Tattva	Buddhi
Akasa (Space)Tattva	Higher Manas
Vayu (Air) Tattva	Lower Manas
Tejas (Fire) Tattva	Kama
Apas (Water) Tattva	Astral body
Prithivi (Earth) Tattva	Body in prana or animal life

 

These seven principles are symbolically represented by diagram 3. In it, the Auric Envelope is represented by the blue egg, Buddhi by the yellow crescent, Higher Manas by the indigo upward-pointing triangle, Lower Manas by the green downward-pointing triangle, and Kama by the red inverted pentagram. Prana and the etheric double are represented by the orange and violet parts of the upright pentagram, the outline of which represents the physical body. Atma is represented by the shining white circle at the summit. Standing above and beyond the seven principles, it is referred to as threefold (Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer). Its link with the sevenfold man (the light of the Logos) completes the Sacred Four or Tetraktys.

In Blavatsky’s Esoteric Instructions, each of the seven human principles is correlated to one of the sacred planets, although the “moon” and the “sun” are symbols for unknown planets. The real moon—the parent of our earth—is a dead planet, while the real sun is our central star corresponding to the Atma or triple spirit in man.

 

                                         Diagram 4. Correspondences shown in HPB’s first Esoteric Instruction.

 

As HPB described it: “In their completeness, i.e., super-spiritually and physically, the forces are TEN: to wit, three on the subjective and inconceivable, and seven on the objective plane” (Blavatsky and Caldwell, 357). In the microcosm, the human principles correspond to parts of the physical body.

During the last years of her life, HPB continued to use the original sevenfold classification of principles in her public writings, although she hinted at the esoteric teachings. Thus, for example, in The Key to Theosophy (119–20) she hinted at the mystery of the Auric Envelope when describing the properties of buddhi:

The Spiritual Soul, Buddhi . . . conceals a mystery, which is never given to any one, with the exception of irrevocably pledged chelas, or those, at any rate, who can be safely trusted. Of course, there would be less confusion, could it only be told; but, as this is directly concerned with the power of projecting one’s double consciously and at will, and as this gift, like the “ring of Gyges,” would prove very fatal to man at large and to the possessor of that faculty in particular, it is carefully guarded.

           

Similarly she made a clear distinction between the lower and higher manas:

If we pass on to the Human Soul, Manas or mens, everyone will agree that the intelligence of man is dual to say the least: e.g., the high-minded man can hardly become low-minded; the very intellectual and spiritual-minded man is separated by an abyss from the obtuse, dull, and material, if not animal-minded man. . . . Every man has these two principles in him, one more active than the other, and in rare cases, one of these is entirely stunted in its growth, so to say, or paralysed by the strength and predominance of the other aspect, in whatever direction. These, then, are what we call the two principles or aspects of Manas, the higher and the lower; the former, the higher Manas, or the thinking, conscious Ego gravitating toward the spiritual Soul (Buddhi); and the latter, or its instinctual principle, attracted to Kama, the seat of animal desires and passions in man. (Blavatsky, Key, 120)

In the Key, HPB expressed the desire that Theosophists could agree on a simplified nomenclature, using English instead of the Sanskrit terminology:

To avoid henceforth such misapprehensions, I propose to translate literally from the Occult Eastern terms their equivalents in English, and offer these for future use.

The Higher Self is Atma, the inseparable ray of the Universal and One Self. It is the God above, more than within, us. Happy the man who succeeds in saturating his inner Ego with it!

The Spiritual divine Ego is the Spiritual soul or Buddhi, in close union with Manas, the mind-principle, without which it is no Ego at all, but only the Atmic Vehicle.

The Inner, or Higher “Ego” is Manas, the “Fifth” Principle, so called, independently of Buddhi. The Mind-Principle is only the Spiritual Ego when merged into one with Buddhi,—no materialist being supposed to have in him such an Ego, however great his intellectual capacities. It is the permanent Individuality or the “Reincarnating Ego.”

The Lower, or Personal “Ego” is the physical man in conjunction with his lower Self, i.e., animal instincts, passions, desires, etc. It is called the “false personality,” and consists of the lower Manas combined with Kama-rupa, and operating through the Physical body and its phantom or “double.”

The remaining “Principle” “Pranâ,” or “Life,” is, strictly speaking, the radiating force or Energy of Atma—as the Universal Life and the One Self,—Its lower or rather (in its effects) more physical, because manifesting, aspect. Prana or Life permeates the whole being of the objective Universe; and is called a “principle” only because it is an indispensable factor and the deus ex machina of the living man. 

She then indulged in a little wishful thinking:

Enq. This division being so much simplified in its combinations will answer better, I believe. The other is much too metaphysical.

Theo. If outsiders as well as Theosophists would agree to it, it would certainly make matters much more comprehensible. (Blavatsky, Key, 175–76)

Following HPB’s death, Theosophists continued to adjust the terminology. In some cases, they were trying to make the original teachings more accurate and understandable. In other cases, for better or worse, they were supplementing the original teachings with their own experience.

            We will now return to the diagram shown at the beginning of this article, but we will add on the right side of the diagram the principles enumerated in Mme. Blavatsky’s Esoteric Instructions to see what has happened.

               Diagram 5. HPB’s description of the human principles in relation to other Theosophical schemas.                                   

Beginning with the physical plane shown at the bottom of the chart, we will move progressively to higher and higher levels as we examine the relationship between the earlier and later nomenclature. In accordance with the hint given to the Inner Group at the meeting of September 24, 1890 (Blavatsky, Inner Group Teachings, 23), the astral and physical bodies described in Esoteric Buddhism were said by the later writers of the Adyar Society (notably Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater) to exist on the higher and lower portions of the physical plane. These writers adopted the term etheric double or vital body to describe the part of the human being that was originally called the astral body (or linga sharira) in the earlier literature. While the dense physical body is said to draw its substance from the three lower subplanes of the physical plane (solid, liquid, and gas), the etheric double is said to be composed of four “ethers,” which make up its upper subplanes.

The double is the subtle mold on which the physical body is built during the development of the embryo. It never ordinarily goes far from the physical body, except when a portion of it is pushed out during anesthesia or is exuded as ectoplasm by spiritualistic mediums. After death, it hovers close to the decaying corpse and dissolves into its own elements.

Following the precedent set by Subba Row, the later writers consistently refer to the kama rupa as the astral body. As the seat of the animal passions and desires, it is necessary to human life but should not be allowed to have the upper hand. It is a useful servant but a dangerous master. As seen by the later writers, it exists on the seven subplanes of the astral plane.

The lower manas, or lower mental body, comes next. This is the seat of concrete mind—the outwardly directed mind that makes grocery lists, balances the checkbook, and plots to achieve the objectives of everyday life. It is our conscious, everyday, thinking mind.

After the death of the physical body, the lower mind is pulled in opposite directions by kama, holding onto earthly life, and buddhi, lifting the mind up to higher levels of consciousness. This is the “struggle” in kamaloka described in the Masters’ early letters to Sinnett (Chin and Barker, 193).

When the struggle is over, those elements of the lower manas that gravitate toward the higher mind or spiritual ego are taken into the “happy land” of devachan until it is time for a new birth. Those elements of the manas that are unfit to accompany the spirit into devachan perish along with the discarded body of desire. This is the infamous “astral shell” that can appear at spiritualistic séances, impersonating the true individuality that has passed on. It gradually dissolves into its elements, although in the case of very materialistic individuals it can remain intact as a “dweller on the threshold,” harassing the ego in a new incarnation. All these things are explained in HPB’s Esoteric Instructions.

The higher manas comes next. While the lower manas exists on the four lower subplanes of the mental plane, the higher manas exists on its three higher subplanes. The higher manas is the most concrete aspect of the causal body or reincarnating Ego, the permanent individuality that persists from life to life. This higher mind is sometimes called the thinker.

Beyond the reach and range of manas or thought, we have buddhi, the seat of intuition or direct inner knowing. According to the later writers, it exists on the fourth, or buddhic, plane.

Enveloping the entire human being is the auric envelope or auric egg. According to the later writers, it belongs to the lower subdivisions of the fifth or “nirvanic” plane, where it serves as the seat of the spiritual will (Leadbeater, 1:225). The lowest aspect of the Triple Spirit (called the Monad by the later writers) manifests on the higher levels of this same plane. The higher two aspects of the Triple Spirit or Monad exist on the two planes beyond the nirvanic. These have been called the paranirvanic and mahaparanirvanic planes and are sometimes confusingly given names that correspond to the two highest tattvas of HPB’s scheme.

This scheme, shown in diagram 5, is now more or less universal among most of the prominent writers in the Adyar Theosophical Society. It was also used by Rudolf Steiner, Max Heindel, and Alice Bailey, who were indebted to Besant and Leadbeater for their understanding of the planes and principles.

Critics of Besant and Leadbeater have accused them of making up nonexistent planes and levels of being. This is a little unfair. Their presentations were based for the most part on indications given in the Esoteric Instructions and Inner Group teachings. It is true that they changed some of the original nomenclature, but they thought they were helping the situation. The same may be said of Gottfried de Purucker, the leader of the Point Loma Theosophical Society from 1929 to 1942, with his controversial teachings about the multiple monads within the human constitution and their correlations with planets and cosmic systems, but that is a story best left for another day.

Just as HPB came to regret performing miraculous phenomena and giving too much information about her Masters, she likewise claimed to regret popularizing the septenary classification of principles. In conversation with her students in London she said the following:

Europeans ought never to have been given the seven principles. Well, perhaps in a hundred years you will understand it. It would be a thousand times better to hold to the old methods, those that I held to in Isis Unveiled, and to speak about triple man: spirit, soul, and matter; then you would not fall into . . . such heresies as you do. (Blavatsky, Secret Doctrine Dialogues, 626)

Was the popularization of the septenary division of human principles a good idea or a mistake? As modern students, living over a hundred years later, we are free to judge for ourselves!

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References

Blavatsky, H.P. “Classification of Principles.” In The Theosophist 8, no. 91 (April 1887): 448–56.

———. The Inner Group Teachings of H.P. Blavatsky. San Diego, Calif.: Point Loma Publications, 1985.

———. Isis Unveiled. Two volumes. Pasadena, Calif.: Theosophical University Press, 1960 [1877].

———. “Isis Unveiled and The Theosophist on Reincarnation.” In The Theosophist 3, no. 11 (August 1882): 288–89.

———. The Key to Theosophy. Pasadena, Calif.: Theosophical University Press, 1946.

———. The Secret Doctrine. Two volumes. Pasadena, Calif.: Theosophical University Press, 1952 [1888].

———. The Secret Doctrine Dialogues. Los Angeles: Theosophy Co., 2014.

———. “Tibetan Teachings.” In Lucifer 15, nos. 85 and 86 (September and October 1894): 9–17 and 97–104.

Blavatsky, H.P., and Daniel Caldwell. The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2004.

Chin, Vicente Hao, and A.T. Barker, eds. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett: Chronological Edition. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1998.

Hartmann, Franz. Magic, White and Black. New York: John W. Lovell, 1890.

Hume, A.O. “Fragments of Occult Truth” [part 1]. In The Theosophist 3, no. 1 (October 1881): 17–22.

Jinarajadasa, C. First Principles of Theosophy. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1960.

“A Parsi FTS,” “Theosophy and the Avesta,” The Theosophist 4, no. 1 (October 1882): 20–25.

Leadbeater, C.W. The Inner Life. Two volumes. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1917.

Lévi, Éliphas. The Paradoxes of the Highest Science. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1922.

Sinnett, A.P. Esoteric Buddhism. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1884.

Subba Row, T. “The Aryan-Arhat Esoteric Tenets on the Sevenfold Principle in Man,” in The Theosophist 3, no. 4 (January 1882): 93–99.

———. “The Constitution of the Microcosm.” The Theosophist 8, no. 92 (May 1887): 504–11.

———. Notes on the Bhagavad Gita. Pasadena, Calif.: Theosophical University Press, 1978.

———. “Note to Esoteric Buddhism and Hinduism.” In The Theosophist 5, no. 9 (June 1884): 223–25.

Doss McDavid was born in San Antonio, Texas. After receiving his Ph.D. in biophysics in 1976, he was employed at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He retired in 2012 as professor emeritus. He holds several patents and is one of the founders of Radworks Corporation and Dental Imaging Consultants. He has been a member of the Theosophical Society since 1969 and is a member of the San Antonio branch. He served two terms on the board of directors of the American Section. His study course, An Introduction to Esoteric Principles, is available online at the TSA website and from Quest Books.

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