The Astral Plane

The next inner, or higher, Plane is known as the Astral Plane. In the company of the Master Rebazar Tarzs, who is apparently over 500 years of age, the Eckankar Master Paul Twitchell gives an account of his Soul travel journey to the Astral Plane: A brilliant sphere of light appeared on the horizon. As it came closer and grew larger, it revealed itself as a small sailing vessel; at the tiller Rebazar Tarzs. [the great Tibetan Saint who is a leading advocate of Eckankar] …Soon I saw a city surrounded by a high wall… Behind the wall was a gigantic mountain… Rebazar Tarzs said… “That is the city of Sahasra-dal-Kanwal, the capital of the Astral world… We will stop here to gather enlightenment and knowledge from the ruler of this world, Jot Niranjan, who is the manifestation of all negative power in this universe. He is king over all the Pinda world, which includes the physical universe, and the Anda, which includes the Astral worlds. …Everything (p8-9) seemed to be made of soft white stone that glistened in the reddish light of a sun which was not visible to the eye. …The zone of Ashta-dal-Kanwal… is the pure Astral zone. …(p10) The people of this world live for thousands of years, which gives them a sense of being immortal… Many religions and cults have their heavenly abode in this region. [at the top of the Astral world] They believe that this is the highest they can achieve in their afterlife…” (p12) Suddenly we were standing inside a vast room… An entity sat upon a dais… who was clad in a light red robe. …“The Lord of this world,” explained Rebazar Tarzs, bowing. “He has manifested himself to greet us. Usually he lives in the invisible as pure negative nature itself.” Niranjan [spoke.] (p13) “…Your preachers know nothing, your philosophers are little better. …Wisdom is never for the multitudes, but for the few who seek it. (p14) Some call me God, not knowing the divine truth, for having seen my form in light they believe they have come to the ultimate end. …In your search for supreme enlightenment, the teachers, whose ignorance is often appalling, try to make you reach this goal by observing moral precepts, righteous living, compassion, and spiritual achievement. I, as the supreme Lord of this world, tell you that it takes more than the seeking of such attributes of God. …Few in the world of the earth planet understand. …(p15) Only a Godman… can give one this insight into all things. …Man…, his religious beliefs become frozen over the centuries. His religions do not come from within, anymore. …The truth never pretends it has the monopoly on God. There are many (p16) ways to God, and each Soul must be free to choose which one It prefers. …Each of the Occidental [or Western world] philosophies and religions pretends that theirs alone is the true church. …But it serves my purpose for I am the creator of this universe and there must always be my three sides of nature: birth, survival, and death…” (p17) The Lord of the… Astral Plane, who governs the physical world in its hierarchy, has many names: Jehovah by the Jews; Ganesha by the Hindus. …But it is the same God ruling the same world under Jot Niranjan.” (p142-143) (The Tiger’s Fang by Paul Twitchell)  

                Ghost Rider by h.koppdelaney

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The Solar Plexus chakra is the Doorway to the Astral Plane, or Emotional Plane, which is also the home of our Astral body or Emotional body. The mantra for this Plane is I believe VAM or a variation of this mantra using the VA sound. The lowest Astral levels are referred to as hell. Many Christians believe that those who go to hell go there for eternity but this is not true. In a revelation given to the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith regarding eternal damnation we read: SECTION 19 vs. 1. I am Alpha and Omega, Christ the Lord; yea, even I am he, the beginning and the end, the Redeemer of the world… 4. …I, God, am endless. 5. Wherefore, I revoke not the judgments which I shall pass, but woes shall go forth, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, yea, to those who are found on my left hand. 6. Nevertheless, it is not written that there shall be no end to this torment, but it is written endless torment. 7. Again, it is written eternal damnation; wherefore it is more express than other scriptures, that it might work upon the hearts of the children of men, altogether for my name’s glory. 8. Wherefore, I will explain unto you this mystery, for it is meet unto you to know even as mine apostles. 9. I speak unto you that are chosen in this thing, even as one, that you may enter into my rest. 10. For, behold, the mystery of godliness, how great is it! For, behold, I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand is endlesspunishment, for Endless is my name. Wherefore— 11. Eternal punishment is God’s punishment. 12. Endless punishment is God’s punishment. (Doctrine and Covenants) The angels who took Emmanuel Swedenborg into the Spirit World teach him the true nature of the Devil and Satan: Chapter 35 vs. 311.In the Christian world it is wholly unknown that heaven and hell are from the human race, for it is believed that in the beginning angels were created and heaven was thus formed; also that the Devil or Satan was an angel of light, but having rebelled he was cast down with his crew, and thus hell was formed. The angels never cease to wonder at such a belief in the Christian world, and still more that nothing is really known about heaven, when in fact that is the primary principle of all doctrine in the church. But since such ignorance prevails they rejoice in heart that it has pleased the Lord to reveal to mankind at this time many things about heaven and about hell, thereby dispelling as far as possible the darkness that has been daily increasing because the church has come to its end. They wish for this reason that I should declare from their lips that in the entire heaven there is not a single angel who was created such from the beginning, nor in hell any devil who was created an angel of light and cast down; but that all, both in heaven and in hell, are from the human race; in heaven those who lived in the world in heavenly love and belief, in hell those who lived in infernal [or hellish] love and belief, also that it is hell taken as a whole that is called the Devil and Satan - the name Devil being given to the hell that is behind,… and the name Satan being given to the hell that is in front, where those are that are called evil spirits… The angels said that the Christian world had gathered such a belief about those in heaven and those in hell from some passages in the Word understood according to the mere sense of the letter not illustrated and explained by genuine doctrine from the Word… (Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen by Emanuel Swedenborg) When Mary and Elizabeth fled to Zoan, Egypt with their sons Jesus and John, the Master Elihu teaches them: There are two selfs; the higher and the lower self. …The only devil from which men must be redeemed is self, the lower self. If man would find his devil he must look within; his name is self. If man would find his saviour he must look within; and when the demon self has been dethroned, the saviour Love, will be exalted to the throne of power. (The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi H. Dowling Chapter 8 vs. 5, 21-22) The devils of hell are mankind because we are all living in these inner Worlds right now. Beloved Quan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, took a stand centuries ago that She would not enter complete Freedom- She would not enter Heaven until there were no more in hell. She teaches that; Hell is human beings’ own creation, and the accumulation of that is… the psychic or astral world, in which there are only destructive forces… That sphere of action will be removed from the atmosphere of earth and replaced by a compound which is for the blessing of mankind; for it is to lift even those who are rebellious and take them away from the destructive activities. In the book The Twelve Blessings by George King, the Master Jesus teaches: The only devil… exists upon this earth. Mankind on this earth, as they go through the cycles of birth and death are the devils in hell. We are the fallen angels who fell from the Presence of God and Heaven millions of years ago.

Our location on the Astral Plane depends on the quality of our thoughts and feelings or emotions. Negative feelings or desires such as hate, anger, fear, [Fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in Love. (Bible, 1 John 4:18)] lust, criticism, etc. will draw us down to the lower levels. In the inner Worlds, birds of a feather flock together or in other words, like attracts like.

Mercury and Persephone Leaving Hades by h.koppdelaney

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Contrary to what the orthodox Christian priests would have us believe no one has to remain in hell for eternity. No God of Love and Mercy would allow such a thing. The Divine Love of God, or the Christ, always resides in our Hearts no matter what we have done or no matter where we are. This means that even in the depths of hell we can still learn to feel the Divine Love of God in our Hearts thus opening up a Doorway from hell to Heaven.

In the Apostle Paul’s epistle to the Romans he says: I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, …nor height, nor depth… shall be able to separate us from the Love of God. (Bible, Romans 8:39) The Apostle Peter teaches that; Christ… being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit… went and preached unto the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient… in the days of Noah. …For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. (Bible, 1 Peter 3:18-20, & 4:6) According to C. Jiuarajadasa in his book First Principles of Theosophy: In the astral world, and in its lowest subdivision live for a time men and women acutely miserable and that… part of the astral world is evidently the “hell” described in all the religions; …a higher part of the astral world is evidently “purgatory” and… a higher part still is the “Summerland” described by the communicating entities at spiritualistic séances. (p136) This higher part of the Astral Plane I believe is probably the Higher Astral Plane or the Causal Plane. It would be similar to the divisions of the Physical Plane. Theosophy teaches that the higher part of the Physical Plane is the Etheric Plane. The Ascended Masters point out, with regards to the Theosophical Society, that Madam Blavatsky brought forth the first idea of the Masters to the Western world and went through such crucifixion as few endure but it has anchored the thought and feeling in the Western world, that there are Those Who are called Masters. The Masters Kuthumi and Morya El undertook a great fundamental work by releasing to the world what Light was permissible in the beginning of the Theosophical Society. They were not then Ascended but since have become Ascended Masters.

In the Bible Saint Paul teaches us the difference between the angels in the three kingdoms of Heaven: 40. There are… celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. (1 Corinthians 15:40-41) The angels teach Emanuel Swedenborg more about these kingdoms of Heaven: Chapter 61 vs. 583. The heavens are in the higher parts of the spiritual world, the world of spirits in the lower parts, andunder both are the hells. The heavens are visible to spirits in the world of spirits only when their interior sight is opened; although they sometimes see them as mists or as bright clouds. This is because the angels of heaven are in an interior state… and for this reason they are above the sight of those who are in the world of spirits. But spirits who dwell in the plains and valleys see one another; and yet when they are separated there, which takes place when they are let into their interiors, the evil spirits do not see the good spirits; but the good spirits can see the evil spirits. Nevertheless, the good spirits turn themselves away from the evil spirits; and when spirits turn themselves away they become invisible. But the hells are not seen because they are closed up. Only the entrances, which are called gates, are seen... when they are opened to let in other like spirits. All the gates to the hells open from the world of spirits, and none of them from heaven.   

Chapter 44 vs. 421. The world of spirits is not heaven, nor is it hell, but it is the intermediate place or state between the two; for it is the place that man first enters after death; and from which after a suitable time he is either raised up into heaven or cast down into hell in accord with his life in the world. 422. The world of spirits is an intermediate place between heaven and hell and also an intermediate state of the man after death… The state of heaven in man is the conjunction of good and truth in him; and the state of hell is the conjunction of evil and falsity in him. Whenever good in a man… he comes into heaven… but whenever evil in a man… he comes into hell… 426. In the world of spirits there are vast numbers, because the first meeting of all is there, and all are there explored andprepared. The time of their stay in that world is not fixed; some merely enter it, and are soon either taken into heaven or are cast down into hell; some remain only a few weeks, some several years, but not more than thirty. These differences in the time they remain depend on the correspondence or lack of correspondence of man’s interiors with his exteriors. 428. …All the hells are shut towards that world, being open only through holes and clefts like those in rocks and through wide openings that are so guarded that no one can come out except by permission…Heaven, too, is enclosed on all sides; and there is no passage open to any heavenly society except by a narrow way, the entrance to which is also guarded. These outlets and entrances are what are called in the Word the gates and doors of hell and of heaven. 429. The world of spirits appears like a valley between mountains and rocks, with windings and elevations here and there.

At the Gate by h.koppdelaney

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The gates and doors of the heavenly societies are visible to those only who are prepared for heaven; others cannot find them. There is one entrance from the world of spirits to each heavenly society, opening through a single path which branches out in its ascent into several. The gates and doors of the hells also are visible only to those who are about to enter, to whom they are then opened. When these are opened gloomy and seemingly sooty caverns are seen tending obliquely downwards to the abyss, where again there are many doors. Through these caverns nauseous and fetid stenches exhale, which good spirits flee from… but evil spirits seek for them because they delight in them. For as every one in the world has been delighted with his own evil, so after death he is delighted with the stench to which his evil corresponds… 430. With every man there are two gates; one that leads to hell and that is open to evils and their falsities; while the other leads to heaven and is open to goods and their truths. Those that are in evil and its falsity have the gate to hell opened in them, and only through chinks from above does something of light from heaven flow into them, and by that inflowing they are able to think, to reason, and to speak; but the gate to heaven is opened in those that are in good and its truth…
Chapter 5 vs. 29. There are three heavens, entirely distinct from each other, an inmost or third, a middle or second, and an outmost or first… 30. The interiors of man, which belong to his mind and disposition, are also in like order. He has an inmost, a middle, and an outmost part; for when man was created all things of Divine order were brought together in him, so that he became Divine order in form, and consequently a heaven in miniature. For this reason also man, as regards his interiors, has communication with the heavens and comes after death among the angels, either among those of the inmost, or of the middle, or of the outmost heaven, in accordance with his reception of Divine good and truth from the Lord during his life in the world. 31. The Divine that flows in from the Lord and is received in the third or inmost heaven is called celestial, and in consequence the angels there are called celestial angels; the Divine that flows in from the Lord and is received in the second or middle heaven is called spiritual, and in consequence the angels there are called spiritual angels; while the Divine that flows in from the Lord and is received in the outmost or first heaven is called natural; but as the natural of that heaven is not like the natural of the world, but has the spiritual and the celestial within it, that heaven is called the spiritual-natural and the celestial-natural, and in consequence the angels there are called spiritual-natural and celestial-natural… 32. In each heaven there is an internal and an external; those in the internal are called there internal angels, while those in the external are called external angels… 33. Let it be clearly understood that with the angels it is the interiors that cause them to be in one heaven or another; for as their interiors are more open to the Lord they are in a more interior heaven. There are three degrees of interiors in each angel and spirit, and also in man. Those in whom the third degree is opened are in the inmost heaven. Those in whom the second degree is opened, or only the first, are in the middle or in the outmost heaven… From this it is clear that the states of the interiors are what make heaven, and that heaven is within every one, and not outside of him; as the Lord teaches when He says: -The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall they say, Lo here, or Lo there; for behold the kingdom of God ye have within you. (Luke 17: 20, 21) 34. Furthermore, all perfection increases towards interiors and decreases towards exteriors, since interiors are nearer to the Divine, and are in themselves pure, while exteriors are more remote from the Divine and are in themselves grosser… Because in the angels of the inmost heaven the interiors have been opened in the third degree their perfection immeasurably surpasses the perfection of angels in the middle heaven, whose interiors have been opened in the second degree. So the perfection of these angels exceeds in like measure the perfection of angels of the outmost heaven… 35. …There were some from the outmost heaven who had not yet been taught that the interiors of angels are what constitute heaven, and who believed that they might come into a higher heavenly happiness by simply gaining access to a heaven where higher angels are. These were permitted to enter among such angels. But when they were there they could see no one, however much they searched, although there was a great multitude present; for the interiors of the newcomers not having been opened in the same degree as the interiors of the angels there, their sight was not so opened… They hastily betook themselves to the heaven from which they came, glad to get back among their like, and pledging themselves that they would no longer covet higher things than were in agreement with their life… It is otherwise when, as is often done, angels are raised up by the Lord out of a lower heaven into a higher that they may behold its glory; for then they are prepared beforehand, and are encompassed by intermediate angels, through whom they have communication with those they come among. From all this it is plain that the three heavens are entirely distinct from each other… 39. …In every angel and also in every man there is an inmost or highest degree, or an inmost or highest something, into which the Divine of the Lord primarily or proximately flows… This inmost or highest degree may be called the entrance of the Lord to the angel or man, and His veriest [or highest] dwelling-place in them. It is by virtue of this inmost or highest that a man is a man, and is distinguished from irrational animals, for these do not have it. From this it is that man, unlike the animals, is capable, in respect to all his interiors which pertain to his mind and disposition, of being raised up by the Lord to Himself, of believing in the Lord, of being moved by love to the Lord, and thereby beholding Him, and of receiving intelligence and wisdom, and speaking from reason. Also, it is by virtue of this that he lives to eternity… (Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen by Emanuel Swedenborg)

When Emanuel Swedenborg teaches that the angels interiors are opened up to various degrees, I believe this means that the angels are fully conscious in their inner or higher selves on a higher Plane while still residing on a lower Plane which reflects their interior state of consciousness. This would be similar to a psychic who is conscious of the interior psychic world, or their inner Astral body’s world, while still living in the outer physical world. Another example of this is the Ascended Masters Who dwell on the physical Sun. They are at the same time fully conscious on the Soul Plane. That there are in fact at least three heavens is confirmed by the Bible when Saint Paul teaches: 2. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. 3. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) 4. How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. (2 Corinthians 12:2-4)    

Paramhansa Yogananda’s Master, Sri Yukteswar, teaches him about the Astral Universe and the Astral Sun Heaven He has become a Saviour on after His resurrection in 1936. He points out that there are basically two groups of beings in the Astral Universe. Those who are still re-embodying on this Physical Plane to work out their karma and those who no longer have to re-embody on this earth but still have Astral karma to work out so they are re-embodying on the Astral Plane: “I am in truth resurrected- not on earth but on an astral planet. Its inhabitants are better able than earthly humanity to meet my lofty standards. There you and your exalted loved ones shall someday come to be with me. …As prophets are sent on earth to help men work out their physical karma, so I have been directed by God to serve on an astral planet as a savior,” Sri Yukteswar explained. “It is called Hiranyaloka or ‘Illumined Astral Planet.’ There I am aiding advanced beings to rid themselves of astral karma and thus attain liberation from astral rebirths. The dwellers on Hiranyaloka are highly developed spiritually. …No one can enter Hiranyaloka unless he has passed on earth beyond the state of sabikalpa samadhi into the higher state of nirbikalpa samadhi. [In sabikalpa samadhi the devotee has spiritually progressed to a state of inward divine union, but cannot maintain his cosmic consciousness except in the immobile trance-state. By continuous meditation, he reaches the superior state of nirbikalpa samadhi, where he moves freely in the world and performs his outward duties without any loss of God-realization.] The Hiranyaloka inhabitants have already passed through the ordinary astral spheres, where nearly all beings from earth must go at death; there they worked out many seeds of their past actions in the astral worlds. None but advanced beings can perform such redemptive work effectually in the astral worlds. Then, in order to free their souls more fully from the cocoon of karmic traces lodged in their astral bodies, these higher beings were drawn by cosmic law to be reborn with new astral bodies on Hiranyaloka, the astral sun or heaven, where I have resurrected to help them. There are also highly advanced beings on Hiranyaloka who have come from the superior, subtler, causal world. …My work is with those astral beings who are preparing to enter the causal world. …There are many astral planets, teeming with astral beings. …The inhabitants use astral planes, or masses of light, to travel from one planet to another, faster than electricity and radioactive energies. The astral universe, made of various subtle vibrations of light and color, is hundreds of times larger than the material cosmos. The entire physical creation hangs like a little solid basket under the huge luminous balloon of the astral sphere. Just as many physical suns and stars roam in space, so there are also countless astral solar and stellar systems. Their planets have astral suns and moons, more beautiful than the physical ones. The astral luminaries resemble the aurora borealis. …The astral day and night are longer than those of earth. …Astral planets abound in opal lakes and bright seas and rainbow rivers. The ordinary astral universe- not the subtler astral heaven of Hiranyaloka- is peopled with millions of astral beings who have come, more or less recently, from the earth. …Various spheric mansions or vibratory regions are provided for good and evil spirits. Good ones can travel freely, but the evil spirits are confined to limited zones. …These beings dwell in the gloom-drenched regions of the lower astral cosmos, working out their evil karma. In the vast realms above the dark astral prison, all is shining and beautiful. The astral cosmos is more naturally attuned than the earth to the divine will and plan of perfection. Every astral object is manifested primarily by the will of God, and partially by the will-call of astral beings. They possess the power of modifying or enhancing the grace and form of anything already created by the Lord. He has given His astral children the freedom and privilege of changing or improving at will the astral cosmos. …No one is born of woman; offspring are materialized by astral beings through the help of their cosmic will into specially patterned, astrally condensed forms. The recently physically disembodied being arrives in an astral family through invitation, drawn by similar mental and spiritual tendencies. …The anatomy includes an astral brain, or the thousand-petaled lotus of light, and six awakened centers in the… astral cerebro-spinal axis. The heart draws cosmic energy as well as light from the astral brain, and pumps it to the astral nerves and body cells, or lifetrons. Astral beings can affect their bodies by lifetronic force or by mantric vibrations. The astral body is an exact counterpart of the last physical form. Astral beings retain the same appearance which they possessed in youth in their previous earthly sojourn; occasionally an astral being chooses, like myself, to retain his old age appearance. …All astral beings see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. …The ethereal astral body may occasionally be cut or bruised but is healed at once by mere willing. Beauty in the astral world is known to be a spiritual quality, and not an outward conformation. …Joyous astral festivities on the higher astral planets like Hiranyaloka take place when a being is liberated from the astral world through spiritual advancement, and is therefore ready to enter the heaven of the causal world. On such occasions the Invisible Heavenly Father, and the saints who are merged in Him, materialize Themselves into bodies of Their own choice and join the astral celebration. In order to please His beloved devotee, the Lord takes any desired form. …Friends of other lives easily recognize one another in the astral world,” Sri Yukteswar went on in his beautiful, flutelike voice. “Rejoicing at the immortality of friendship, they realize the indestructibility of love, often doubted at the time of the sad, delusive partings of earthly life. The intuition of astral beings pierces through the veil and observes human activities on earth. …The advanced beings on Hiranyaloka remain mostly awake in ecstasy during the long astral day and night, helping to work out intricate problems of cosmic government and the redemption of prodigal sons, earthbound souls. …Inhabitants in all parts of the astral worlds are still subject to mental agonies. The sensitive minds of the higher beings on planets like Hiranyaloka feel keen pain if any mistake is made in conduct or perception of truth. These advanced beings endeavour to attune their every act and thought with the perfection of spiritual law. …Astral beings sustain themselves principally by cosmic light.”

“Master mine, do astral beings eat anything?...”

“Luminous ray like vegetables abound in the astral soils,” he answered. “The astral beings consume vegetables, and drink a nectar flowing from glorious fountains of light and from astral brooks and rivers. …Although dwellers on the heavenly planets like Hiranyaloka are almost freed from any necessity of eating, still higher is the unconditioned existence of almost completely liberated souls in the causal world, who eat nothing save the manna of bliss. The earth-liberated astral being meets a multitude of relatives, fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, and friends, acquired during different incarnations on earth, as they appear from time to time in various parts of the astral realms. He is therefore at a loss to understand whom to love especially; he learns in this way to give a divine and equal love to all, as children and individualized expressions of God. Though the outward appearance of loved ones may have changed, more or less according to the development of new qualities in the latest life of any particular soul, the astral being employs his unerring intuition to recognize all those once dear to him in other planes of existence. …The span of life in the astral world is much longer than on earth. A normal advanced astral being’s average life period is from five hundred to one thousand years, measured in accordance with earthly standards of time. …Visitors to the astral world dwell there for a longer or shorter period in accordance with the weight of their physical karma, which draws them back to earth within a specified time. The astral being does not have to contend painfully with death at the time of shedding his luminous body. …Many of these beings nevertheless feel slightly nervous at the thought of dropping their astral form for the subtler causal one. The astral world is free from unwilling death, disease, and old age. …At physical death a being loses his consciousness of flesh and becomes aware of his subtle body in the astral world. Experiencing astral death in due time, a being thus passes from the consciousness of astral birth and death to that of physical birth and death. These recurrent cycles of astral and physical encasement are the ineluctable destiny of all unenlightened beings. …The causal cosmos and causal body are different from the astral cosmos and astral body; the physical cosmos and physical body are likewise characteristically at variance with the other forms of creation. …When man’s desire to live is severely shaken by disease or other causes, death arrives; the heavy overcoat of the flesh is temporarily shed. The soul, however, remains encased in the astral and causal bodies. The adhesive force by which all three bodies are held together is desire. The power of unfulfilled desires is the root of all man’s slavery. Physical desires are rooted in egotism and sense pleasures. …Causal beings realize that the physical cosmos is not primarily constructed of electrons, nor is the astral cosmos basically composed of lifetrons- both in reality are created from the minutest particles of God-thought. …Many beings remain for thousands of years in the causal cosmos. By deeper ecstasies the freed soul then withdraws itself from the little causal body and puts on the vastness of the causal cosmos. …When a soul finally gets out of the three jars of bodily delusions… it becomes one with the Infinite without any loss of individuality. Christ had won this final freedom even before he was born as Jesus. …The undeveloped man must undergo countless earthly and astral and causal incarnations in order to emerge from his three bodies. A master who achieves this final freedom may elect to return to earth as a prophet to bring other human beings back to God, or like myself he may choose to reside in the astral cosmos. There a savior assumes some of the burden of the inhabitant’s karma and thus helps them to terminate their cycle of reincarnation in the astral cosmos and go on permanently to the causal spheres. Or a freed soul may enter the causal world to aid its beings to shorten their span in the causal body. …The physical karma or desires of man must be completely worked out before his permanent stay in astral worlds becomes possible,” my guru elucidated in his thrilling voice. “Two kinds of beings live in the astral spheres. Those who still have earthly karma to dispose of and who must therefore reinhabit a gross physical body in order to pay their karmic debts could be classified, after physical death, as temporary visitors to the astral world rather than as permanent residents. Beings with unredeemed earthly karma are not permitted after astral death to go to the high causal sphere. …After each loss of his physical body… an undeveloped being from the earth remains for the most part in the deep stupor of the death-sleep and is hardly conscious of the beautiful astral sphere. After the astral rest, such a man returns to the material plane for further lessons. …Normal or long-established residents of the astral universe, on the other hand, are those who, freed forever from all material longings, need return no more to the gross vibrations of earth. Such beings have only astral and causal karma to work out. At astral death these beings pass to the infinitely finer and more delicate causal world. …A man identifies himself about sixteen hours daily with his physical vehicle. Then he sleeps; if he dreams, he remains in his astral body. …If man’s sleep be deep and dreamless, for several hours he is able to transfer his consciousness… to the causal body; such sleep is revivifying. A dreamer is contacting his astral and not his causal body; his sleep is not fully refreshing.”

“Angelic guru,” I said, “your body looks exactly as it did when last I wept over it in the Puri ashram.”

“O yes, my new body is a perfect copy of the old one. I materialize or dematerialize this form any time at will. …By quick dematerialization, I now travel instantly by light express from planet to planet or, indeed, from astral to causal or to physical cosmos. …I have now told you, Yogananda, the truths of my life, death, and resurrection. Grieve not for me; rather broadcast everywhere the story of my resurrection from the God-dreamed earth of men to another God-dreamed planet of astrally garbed souls!” (Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda Chapter 43)