The Astral Plane | Page 8

"summerland" of which we hear so much at spiritualistic séances, and
the entities who descend from and describe it are probably often
speaking the truth as far as their knowledge extends. It is on these
planes that "spirits" call into temporary existence their houses, schools,
and cities, for these objects are often real enough for the time, though to
a clearer sight they may sometimes be pitiably unlike what their
delighted creators suppose them to be. Nevertheless, many of the
imaginations that take form there are of real though temporary beauty,
and a visitor who knew of nothing higher might wander contentedly
enough there among forests and mountains, lovely lakes and pleasant
flower-gardens, or might even construct such surroundings to suit his
own fancies.

It may be said in passing that communication is limited on the astral
plane by the knowledge of the entity, just as it is here. While a person
able to function freely on that plane can communicate with any of the
human entities there present more readily and rapidly than on earth, by
means of mental impressions, the inhabitants themselves do not usually
seem able to exercise this power, but appear to be restricted by
limitations similar to those that prevail on earth, though perhaps less
rigid. The result of this is that they are found associating, there as here
in groups drawn together by common sympathies, beliefs, and
language.
An account of the scenery of the astral plane would be incomplete
without mention of what are commonly called the Records of the Astral
Light, the photographic representation of all that has ever happened.
These records are really and permanently impressed upon that higher
medium called the Âkâsha, and are only reflected in a more or less
spasmodic manner in the astral light, so that one whose power of vision
does not rise above this plane will be likely to obtain only occasional
and disconnected pictures of the past instead of a coherent narrative.
But nevertheless pictures of all kinds of past events are constantly
being reproduced on the astral plane, and form an important part of the
surroundings of the investigator there.

INHABITANTS.
Having sketched in, however slightly, the background of our picture,
we must now attempt to fill in the figures--to describe the inhabitants of
the astral plane. The immense variety of these entities makes it
exceedingly difficult to arrange and tabulate them. Perhaps the most
convenient method will be to divide them into three great classes, the
human, the non-human, and the artificial.
I. HUMAN.
The human denizens of Kâmaloka fall naturally into two groups, the
living and the dead, or, to speak more accurately, those who have still a

physical body, and those who have not.
1. LIVING.
The entities which manifest on the astral plane during physical life may
be subdivided into four classes:
1. The Adept or Chela in the Mâyâvirûpa. This body is the artificial
vehicle used on the four lower or rûpa divisions of the devachanic
plane by those capable of functioning there during earth-life, and is
formed out of the substance of the mind-body. The pupil is at first
unable to construct this for himself, and has therefore to be content
with his ordinary astral body composed of the less refined matter of the
kâmic aura; but at a certain stage of his progress the Master Himself
forms his Mâyâvirûpa for him for the first time, and afterwards
instructs and assists him until he can make it for himself easily and
expeditiously. When this facility is attained this vehicle is habitually
used in place of the grosser astral body, since it permits of instant
passage from the astral to the devachanic plane and back again at will,
and allows of the use at all times of the higher powers belonging to its
own plane. It must be noted, however, that a person travelling in the
Mâyâvirûpa is not perceptible to merely astral vision unless he chooses
to make himself so by gathering around him particles of astral matter
and so creating for himself a temporary body suitable to that plane,
though such a temporary creation would resemble the ordinary astral
body only as a materialization resembles the physical body; in each
case it is a manifestation of a higher entity on a lower plane in order to
make himself visible to those whose senses cannot yet transcend that
plane. But whether he be in the Mâyâvirûpa or the astral body, the
pupil who is introduced to the astral plane under the guidance of a
competent teacher has always the fullest possible consciousness there,
and is in fact himself, exactly as his friends know him on earth, minus
only the four lower principles in the former case and the three lower in
the latter, and plus the additional powers