Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism | Page 4

and may be separated from it
under certain circumstances. Ordinarily, conscious separation is a matter of considerable
difficulty, but in persons of a certain degree of psychical development the astral body
may be detached and often goes on journeys. To the clairvoyant vision the astral body is
seen looking exactly like its counterpart, the physical body, and united to it by a slender
silken cord.
The astral body exists some time after the death of the person to whom it belongs, and
under certain circumstances it is visible to living persons, and is called a "ghost." There
are other means whereby the spirits of those who have passed on may become manifest,
and the astral shell which is sometimes seen after it has been sloughed off by the soul
which has passed on is in such cases nothing more than a corpse of finer matter than its
physical counterpart. In such cases it is possessed of no life or intelligence, and is nothing
more than a cloud seen in the sky bearing a resemblance to a human form. It is a shell,
nothing more. The astral body of a dying person is sometimes projected by an earnest
desire, and is at such times seen by friends and relatives with whom he is in sympathy.
There are many cases of this kind on record, and the student probably is aware of
occurrences of this kind.
We will have more to say about the astral body and astral shells in other lessons in this
course. We will have occasion to go into further detail when we reach the subject of the
astral plane, and, in fact, the astral body will form a part of several lessons.
The astral body is invisible to the ordinary eye, but is readily perceived by those having
clairvoyant power of a certain degree. Under certain circumstances the astral body of a
living person may be seen by friends and others, the mental condition of the persons and
the observer having much to do with the matter. Of course, the trained and developed
occultist is able to project his astral body consciously, and may make it appear at will; but

such powers are rare and are acquired only after a certain stage of development is
reached.
The adept sees the astral body rising from the physical body as the hour of death
approaches. It is seen hovering over the physical body, to which it is bound by a slender
thread. When the thread snaps the person is dead, and the soul passes on carrying with it
the astral body, which in turn is discarded as the physical body has been before. It must
be remembered that the astral body is merely a finer grade of matter, and that it is merely
a vehicle for the soul, just as is the physical, and that both are discarded at the proper time.
The astral body, like the physical, disintegrates after the death of the person, and persons
of a psychic nature sometimes see the dissolving fragments around cemeteries, in the
shape of violet light.
We are merely calling attention to the different vehicles of the soul of man, his seven
principles, and we must hasten on to the next principle.
We would like to speak to you of the interesting phenomenon of the ego leaving the
physical body in the astral body while one is "asleep." We would like to tell you just what
occurs during, sleep, and how one may give orders to his astral self to gain certain
information or to work out certain problems while he is, wrapped in sleep, but that
belongs to another phase of our subject, and we must pass on after merely whetting your
appetite. We wish you to get these seven principles well fixed in your mind, so that you
may be able to understand the terms when we use them later on.
3. Prana, or Vital Force.
We have said something of Prana in our little book, "The Science of Breath," which
many of you have read. As we said in that book, Prana is universal energy, but in our
consideration of it we will confine ourselves to that manifestation of Prana which we call
vital force. This vital force is found in all forms of life - from the amoeba to man - from
the most elementary form of plant life to the highest form of animal life. Prana is
all-pervading. It is found in all things having life, and as the occult philosophy teaches
that life is in all things - in every atom - the apparent lifelessness of some things being
only a lesser degree of manifestation, we may understand that Prana is everywhere, in
everything. Prana is not the Ego, but is merely a form of energy used