English
On the astral plane objective results are sought for; on the Deva- chanic plane, no such effort intervenes between thought and its realisation. We are there in very much more direct touch, moreover, with that memory of Nature, the true medium of which, although it penetrates the lower planes, belongs in its nature to those which are definitely spiritual. So that the thought directed on the Devachanic plane towards any period in the past, instantaneously evokes an absolutely accurate picture of that period, event or episode, whatever it may be, and in this way, taking the Devachanic plane for the moment as a whole, and without regard to its sub- divisions, we may recognise a species of omniscience concerning inatters coming within range of this world’s affairs as a necessary attribute of full consciousness on Devachanic levels. However, throughout our study of this branch of the subject, we must constantly bear in mind the fact that Nature, even on the exalted planes of conscious- ness that transcend physical life, can only respond to the nature or development of the consciousness she is dealing with. This will apply to the occult pupil first penetrating the Devachanic planes as well as to the after death entities. It is only with difficulty and by degrees that the study of the circumstances concerning THE SPIRITUAL, PIANE. 255 spiritual evolution and the growth of the soul emanci- pates us from the misconception einbodied in the popular notion of the after state as a sudden exaltation, even of the most commonplace human beings, into angels of light in presence of eternal mysteries the moment they are set free from the body. That sort of abrupt change is no more possible than it would be for a newly born child, suddenly entering on the physical plane of life, to write Newton’s “ Principia ’’’ or Humboldt’s “Cosmos”’ the following day. And while the soul’s growth during its normal stages of progress is only accomplished very slowly, during physical existence ; so also, though enormously more hastened, the capacity of the occult disciple winning access to Devachanic levels must also be thought of as developing by degrees. Above the four sub-divisions of Devachanic exist- ence which have been dealt with so far,—the Rupa planes of Devachan, those that is to say in which the consciousness is still associated 1n some way with the idea of form,—there lie the three Arupa or formless planes, in reference to which it 1s exceedingly difficult it not impossible to give any coherent explanation in the language of physical life. Here the entity qualified to ascend to them in consciousness begins to realise that unity of all consciousness which is one of the most supremely important facts of nature to which occult study introduces us, but which transcends the state of consciousness of this waking life so immeasurably that it is hardly possible to deal with it in terms of the physical intellect. These higher planes are spoken of as formless rather, perhaps, because the soul rising to 256 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. these levels is enabled to cognise Realities independ- ently of any of their lower manifestations, than because on these levels we have yet lost touch entirely with form manifestation itself. For each of us whose spiritual growth has been such as to render it possible for us at any time to have relations with the Arupa planes of Devachan, the vehicle in which alone we can enter into such relations is that which used to be described in occult terminology as the Karana Sharira and has latterly been more often referred to as the Causal body. ‘That, so far as the present Manvantara is concerned, is the absolutely permanent vehicle of the true individuality of each man. It is the vehicle in which, divorced from all lower manifestations, he rises between the interval of death and re-birth to the highest phase of nature it is possible for him to touch, and in which he again descends through those intervening conditions, re-manifesting himself in vehicles appropriate thereto, until he reaches the physical body appertaining to his next manifesta- tion on earth. Entities functioning on the Arupa planes in the Causal body are objectively realisable by others on their own level, and the real reason why these planes have been described as formless is, as already stated, that they are not concerned with other forms except those which are assumed by the beings appertaining to them. By those who are capable of existence on these planes in consciousness, and of bringing back to their own recollection in the physical state a recol- lection of their feelings and perceptions there, these THE SPIRITUAL PLANE. 257 regions are described as oceans of living light and sound and colour, in the midst of which existence to begin with, before we attempt to figure in our imagina- tion its other characteristics, is a condition of the most intense delight. But the foremost, perhaps, from the point of view of the explanation I am attempting now to give, among the characteristics of the Arupa planes is that which distinguishes it even from those lower planes of Devachanic consciousness, themselves so glorious and beautiful that the language in which they are described leaves no further superlatives at our command with which to invest the still loftier attri- butes of the Arupa condition. On the Rupa levels, it will have been seen, the world which surrounds each entity—leaving for a moinent out of account those entities who may merely be functioning there tem- porarily, by virtue of a development which enables them to look on at their phenomena without being entirely involved therein—-is an ideal world, repre- senting in a perfection, which is unchangeable for him, the sum total of his loftiest aspirations and emotions. But if his spiritual growth has been such as to render it possible for him to pass upward eventually on to the Arupa planes, he will there be in no need of an ideal that shall in any way differ from the absolute reality of things. On the Arupa planes he sees all other beings there, exactly as they are, and yet this perception in no way interferes with the perfect beatitude of each, because by the hypothesis anyone capable of conscious existence on the Arupa planes at all has so transcended the limitations of life as we think of it down here, that 5 258 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. happiness is in no way dependent upon any unreal iusion. The thought is very difficult to assimilate in a mind unused to attempts at transcending the present conditions of existence, but even the loves and affections of our incarnate existence are the outgrowth in a certain sense of the limitations of our consciousness. They will not be dissipated or annulled by an ascent to regions of nature where the limitations, which in the first instance gave rise to them, are merged in a spiritual unity, but their character will be so completely modified in that almost unimaginable condition, that they will have lost touch with the circumstances of a transient character that constitute as it were the material out of which illusions and ideals of even the most beautiful nature are constructed. Words fail in connexion with thought of this kind to do more than convey hints and suggestions, but at all events whoever would frame in his mind a conception of the Arupa condition must bring together the two thoughts, that on that plane there is no room for any misconception of actual reality, nor is there any room for the faintest trace of regret or discontent. The form spoken of as representing an entity on any of the Arupa planes is the vehicle of the Higher Self called, as I have said, in the technical language of occultisin, the Karana Sharira. And just because the growth of this Higher Self as functioning in the one vehicle which is permanent throughout the Manvantara and passes from one personality to another, is the whole purpose to be accomplished during the evolution on which we are launched, it stands to reason that at THE SPIRITUAL PLANE. 259 any relatively early stage of the process the Karana Sharira in each case is extremely undeveloped. For the vast majority of mankind at the present level of progress, the truth is that nothing like active self- consciousness on the Arupa levels is possible. The Karana Sharira is gradually evolving and gathering from successive lives whatever slight contributions to its permanent nature be made by each experience. For the majority of mankind, if we think of the actual numbers on the earth’s surface around us, it must be recognised that the Higher Self is hardly grown suffi- ciently to be a nucleus of consciousness even on the Rupa planes of Devachan. It has only learnt, so to speak, to be fully conscious on the astral and physical manifestations. Ewen for the lowest examples of humanity it is in a certain sense established on the Arupa planes; but as consciousness is drawn back into it again after each physical existence, it fades into a feebler and feebler flame, until it may be thought of as a mere speck on the highest level to which it belongs. ‘Thus it returns to incarnation, recovering in its passage through the lower strata of existence, as we have seen, the material vehicles required for that kind of consciousness which it has learned to exert. But for the purpose of endeavouring to comprehend the Arupa planes we must keep our attention fixed on those entities already sufficiently developed to be truly conscious there and to exercise the faculties and energies appropriate to that phase of nature. Of course, on that level of existence all senses are merged in a single all-embracing capacity of appreciation, 260 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL.