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    "num": 3,
    "slug": "02-chapter-ii",
    "title": "CHAPTER II.",
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    "words": 6755,
    "text": "## CHAPTER II.\n\nTHE ASTRAL PLANE.\n\nThe astral plane is the region of the universe next\nto the physical, if the word \" next\" may be permitted\nin such a connection. Life there is more active\nthan on the physical plane, and form is more plas-\ntic. The spirit-matter of that plane is more highly\nvitalized and finer than any grade of spirit-matter in\nthe physical world. For, as we have seen, the ulti-\nmate physical atom, the constituent of the rarest\nphysical ether, has for its sphere-wall innumerable\naggregations of the coarsest astral matter. The\nword ** next\" is, however, inappropriate, as suggest-\ning the idea that the planes of the universe are ar-\nranged as concentric circles, one ending where the\nnext begins. Rather are they concentric interpene-\ntrating spheres, not separated from each other by\ndistance but by difference of constitution. As air\npermeates water, as ether permeates the densest\nsolid, so does astral matter permeate all physical.\nThe astral world is above us, below us, on every\nside of us, through us ; we live and move in it, but\nit is intangible, invisible, inaudible, imperceptible,\nbecause the prison of the physical body shuts us\n\n58 iHE ANCmUT W15D0U.\n\naway from it, the physical particles being too gross\nto be set in vibration by astral matter.\n\nIn this chapter we shall study the plane in its\ngenera! aspects, leaving on one side for separate\nconsideration those special conditions of life on the\nastral plane surrounding the human entities who are\npassing through it on their way from earth to\nheaven. *\n\nThe spirit-matter of the astral plane exists in\nseven subdivisions, as we have seen in the spirit-\nmatter of the physical. There, as here, there are\nnumberless combinations, forming the astral solids,\nliquids, gases, and ethers. But most material forms\nthere have a brightness, a translucency, as compared\nto forms here, which have caused the epithet astral,\nor starry, to be applied to them— an epithet which\nis, on the whole, misleading, but is too firmly estab-\nlished by use to be changed. As there are no spe-\ncific names for the subdivisions of astral spirit-mat-\nter, we may use the terrestrial designations. The\nmain idea to be grasped is that astral objects are\ncombinations of astral matter, as physical objects are\ncombinations of physical matter, and that the astral\nworld scenery much resembles that of earth in con-\nsequence of its being largely made up of the astral\nduplicates of physical objects. One peculiarity,\nhowever, arrests and confuses the untrained ob-\nserver: partly because of the translucency of astral\n\n\"DevachaD, tlie happy or bright state, is the Theosophical\nname for heaven. KS.n:ialoka. the place of desire, is the Dame\ngiven to tbeconditioDsof intermediate life on the astral plane.\n\nASTRAL VISION. 59\n\nobjects, and partly because of the nature of astral\nvision — consciousness being less hampered by the\nfiner astral matter than when encased in the terres-\ntrial — everything is transparent, its back is as visible\nas its front, its inside as its outside. Some experi-\nence is needed, therefore, ere objects are correctly\nseen, and a person who has developed astral vision,\nbut has not yet had much experience in its use, is\napt to receive the most topsy-turvy impressions\nand to fall into the most astounding blunders.\n\nAnother striking and at first bewildering charac-\nteristic of the astral world is the swiftness with\nwhich forms — especially when unconnected with\nany terrestrial matrix — change their outlines.\n\nAn astral entity will change his whole appearance\nwith the most startling rapidity, for astral matter\ntakes form under every impulse of thought, the life\nswiftly remoulding the form to give itself new ex-\npression. As the great life-wave of the evolution\nof form passed downwards through the astral plane,\nand constituted on that plane the third elemental\nkingdom, the Monad drew round itself combinations\nof astral matter, giving to these combinations — en-\ntitled elemental essence — a peculiar vitality and the\ncharacteristic of responding to, and instantly taking\nshape under, the impulse of thought vibrations.\nThis elemental essence exists in hundreds of varie-\nties on every subdivision of the astral plane, as\nthough the air became visible here — as indeed it\nmay be seen in quivering waves under great heat —\nand were in constant undulatory motion with chang-\n\n6o\n\n:IENT WISDOM.\n\ning colors like mother-of-pearl. TJiis vast atmos-\nphere of elemental essence is ever answering to vi-\nbrations caused by thoughts, feelings, and desires,\nand is thrown into commotion by a rush of any of\nthese like bubbles in boiling water.* The duration\nof the form depends on the strength of the impulse\nto which it owes its birth ; the clearness of its out-\nline depends on the precision of the thinking, and\nthe color depends on the quality — intellectual, devo-\ntional, passional^of the thought.\n\nThe vague loose thoughts which are so largely\nproduced by undeveloped minds gather round them-\nselves loose clouds of elemental essence when they\narrive in the astral world, and drift about, attracted\nhither and thither to other clouds of similar nature,\nclinging round the astral bodies of persons whose\nmagnetism attracts them — either good or evil— and\nafter a while disintegrating, to again form part of\nthe general atmosphere of elemental essence. While\nthey maintain a separate existence they are living\nentities, with bodies of elemental essence and\nthoughts as the ensouling lives, and they are then\ncalled artificial elementals, or thought- forms.\n\nClear, precise thoughts have each their own defi-\nnite shapes, with sharp clean outlines, and show an\nendless variety of designs. They are shaped by vi-\nbrations set up by thought, just as on the physical\nplane we find figures which are shaped by vibrations\nset np by sound. \" Voice -figures\" offer a very fair\nanalogy for \"thought-figures,\" for nature, with all\n»C. W. Leadbeater, Atital Plane, p. 52,\n\nARTIFICIAL ELEMENT ALS. 6 1\n\nher infinite variety, is very conservative of prin*\nciples, and reproduces the same methods of working\non plane after plane in her realms. These clearly\ndefined artificial elementals have a longer and much\nmore active life than their cloudy brethren, exercis-\ning a far stronger influence on the astral bodies (and\nthrough them on the minds) of those to whom they\nare attracted. They set up in them vibrations simi-\nlar to their own, and thus thoughts spread from\nmind to mind without terrestrial expression. More\nthan this: they can be directed by the thinker tow-\nards any person he desires to reach, their potency\ndepending on the strength of his will and the inten-\nsity of his mental power.\n\nAmong average, people the artificial elementals\ncreated by feeling or desire are more vigorous and\nmore definite than those created by thought. Thus\nan outburst of anger will cause a very definitely out-\nlined and powerful flash of red, and sustained anger\nwill make a dangerous elemental, red in color, and\npointed, barbed, or otherwise qualified to injure.\nLove, according to its quality, will set up forms\nmore or less beautiful in color and design, all shades\nof crimson to the most exquisite and soft hues of\nrose, like the palest blushes of the sunset or the\ndawn, clouds or tenderly strong protective shapes.\nMany a mother's loving prayers go to hover round\nher son as angel-forms, turning aside from him evil\ninfluences that perchance his own thoughts are\nattracting.\n\nIt is ch^racteristiQ of these artificial elementals^\n\n62 THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\nwhen Ihey are directed by the will towards any par-\nticular person, that they are animated by the one\nimpulse of carrying out the will of their creator. A\nprotective elemental will hover round its object,\nseeking any opportunity of warding off evil or at-\ntracting good — not consciously, but by a blind im-\npulse, as finding there the line of least resistance.\nSo, also, an elenientai ensouled by a malignant\nthought will hover round its victim seeking oppor-\ntunity to injure. But neitber the one nor the other\ncan make any impression unless there be in the as-\ntral body of the object something akin to themselves,\nsomething that can answer accordantly to their\nvibrations, and thus enable them to attach them-\nselves. If there be nothing in him of matter cog-\nnate to their own, then by a law of their nature they\nrebound from him along the path they pursued in\ngoing to him — the magnetic trace they have left^\nand rush to their creator with a force proportionate\nto that of their projection. Thus a thought of\ndeadly hatred, failing to strike the object at which,\nit was darted, has been known to slay its sender,\nwhile good thoughts sent to the unworthy return as\nblessings to him that poured them forth.\n\nA very slight understanding of the astral world\nwill thus act as a most powerful stimulus to right\nthinking, and \\vi!l render heavy the sense of respon-\n■^ibllity in regard to the thoughts, feelings, and de-\nsires that we let loose into this astral realm. Rav-\nening beasts of prey, rending and devoiiring, are too\nmany of the thoughts with which men people the as-\n\nTHOUGHTS ANGELS OR DEVIT.S. 63\n\ntral plane. But they err from ignorance they know\nnot what they do. One of the objects of theosophi*\ncal teaching, partly lifting up the veil of the unseen\nworld, is to give men a sounder basis for conduct, a\nmore rational appreciation of the causes of which\nthe effects only are seen in the terrestrial world.\nAnd few of its doctrines are more important in their\nethical bearing than this of the creation and direc-\ntion of thought-forms, or artificial elementals, for\nthrough it man learns that his mind does not con-\ncern himself alone, that his thoughts do not affect\nhimself alone, but that he is ever sending out angels\nand devils into the world of men, for whose creation\nhe is responsible, and for whose influence he is held\naccountable. Let men, then, know the law, and\nguide their thoughts thereby.\n\nIf, instead of taking artificial elementals sepa-\nrately, we take them in the mass, it is easy to realize\nthe tremendous eflEect they have in producing\nnational and race feelings, and thus in biassing\nand prejudicing the mind. We all grow up sur-\nrounded by an atmosphere crowded with elementals\nembodying certain ideas; national prejudices, na-\ntional ways of looking at all questions, national\ntypes of feelings and thoughts, all these play on us\nfrom our birth, ay, and before. We see everything\nthrough this atmosphere, every thought is more or\nless refracted by it, and our own astral bodies are\nvibrating in accord with it. Hence the same idea\nwill look quite different to a Hindu, an Englishman,\na Spaniard, and a Russian; some conceptions easy to\n\n64 THE ANCIENl WISDOM.\n\nthe one will be almost impossible to the other, cus-\ntoms instinctively attractive to the one are instinc-\ntively odious to the other. We are all dominated by\nour national atmosphere, i.e,^ by that portion of the\nastral world immediately surrounding us. The\nthoughts of others, cast much in the same mould,\nplay upon us and call out from us synchronous vi-\nbrations; they intensify the points in which we ac-\ncord with our surroundings and flatten away the\ndifferences, and this ceaseless action upon us through\nthe astral body impresses on us the national hall-\nmark and traces channels for mental energies inta\nwhich they readily flow. Sleeping and waking, these\ncurrents play upon us, and our very unconsciousness\nof their action makes it the more effective. As most\n( people are receptive rather than initiative in their\n1 nature, they act almost as automatic reproducers\niof the thoughts which reach them, and thus the\nnational atmosphere is continually intensified.\n\" When a person is beginning to be sensitive to as-\ntral influences, he will occasionally find himself sud-\ndenly overpowered or assailed by a quite inexplica-\nble and seemingly irrational dread, which swoops\ndown upon him with even paralyzing force. Fight\nagainst it as he may, he yet feels it, and perhaps re-\nsents it. Probably there are few who have not ex-\nperienced this fear to some extent, the uneasy dread\nof an invisible something, the feeling of a presence,\nof \" not being alone. \" This arises partly from a cer-\ntain hostility which animates the natural elemental\nworld against the human, on apcount of the various\n\nDREAD OF THE INVISIBLE. 6$\n\ndestructive agencies devised by mankind on the\nphysical plane and reacting on the astral, but is also\nlargely due to the presence of so many artificial\nelementals of an unfriendly kind, bred by human\nminds. Thoughts of hatred, jealousy, revenge, bit-\nterness, suspicion, discontent, go out by millions\ncrowding the astral plane with artificial elementalQ\nwhose whole life is made of these feelings. How\nmuch also is there of vague distrust and suspicion\npoured out by the ignorant against all whose ways\nand appearance are alien and unfamiliar. The blind\ndistrust of all foreigners, the surly contempt, extend-\ning in many districts even towards inhabitants of\nanother county — these things also contribute evil\ninfluences to the astral world. There being so much\nof these things among us, we create a blindly hostile\narmy on the astral plane, and this is answered in our\nown astral bodies by a feeling of dread, set up by\nthe antagonistic vibrations that are sensed, but not\nunderstood.\n\nOutside the class of artificial elementals, the astral\nworld is thickly populated, even excluding, as we do\nfor the present, all the human entities who have lost\ntheir physical bodies by death. There are great\nhosts of natural elementals, or nature-spirits, divided\ninto five main classes — the elementals of the ether,\nthe fire, the air, the water, and the earth; the last\nfour groups have been termed, in mediaeval occult-\nism, the Salamanders, Sylphs, Undines, and Gnomes\n(needless to say there are two other classes, com-\npletinj?^ the seven, not concerning us here, as they are\n\n66 THE ANCTENT WISDOM,\n\nstilt unn.anifestcd). These are the true elenieiitals,\nor creatures of the elements, earth, water, air, fire,\nand ether, and they are severally concerned in the\ncarrying on of the activities connected with their\nown element; they are the channels through which\nwork the divine energies in these several fields, the\nliving expressions of the law in each. At the head\nof each division is a great Being, the captain of a\nmighty host,* the directing and guiding intelligence\nof the whole department of nature which is adminis-\ntered and energized by the class of elementals under\nhis control. Thus Agni, the fire-God, is a great spir-\nitual entity concerned with the manifestation of lire\non all the planes of the universe, and carries on his\nadministration through the hosts of fire-elementals.\nBy understanding the nature of these, or knowing\nthe methods of their control, the so-called miracles\nor magical feats are worked, which from lime to\ntime are recorded in the public press, whether they\nare avowedly the results of magical arts, or are done\nby the aid of \" spirits\" — as in the case of the late Mr.\nHome, who could unconcernedly pick a red-hot coal\nout of a blazing fire with his fingers and hold it in\nhis hand unhurt. Levitation (the suspension of a\nheavy body in the air without visible support) and\nwalking on the water have been done by the aid re-\n\n* Called a Dev*. or God. by the Hindus. The student m&y\nlike to have the Sanskrit names of the five Gods of the mani-\nfested elements : ludra. lord of the Akdshn. or «ther of space ;\nAgni, lord of fire; Pavana, lord of air; Varuoa, lord of water;\nKshiti. lord of oartli.\n\nNATURE SPIRITS. 6/\n\nspectively of the elementals of the air and the water,\nalthough another method is more often employed.\n\nAs the elements enter into the human body, one\nor another predominating according to the nature of\nthe person, each human being has relations with\nthese elementals, the most friendly to him being\nthose whose element is preponderant in him. The\neffects of this fact are often noted, and are popularly\nascribed to \"luck.\" A person has \"a lucky hand\"\nin making plants gfrow, in lighting fires, in finding\nundergfround water, etc., etc. Nature is ever jost-\nling us with her occult forces, but we are slow to\ntake her hints. Tradition sometimes hides a truth\nin a proverb or a fable, but we have grown beyond\nall such \"superstitions.\"\n\nWe find also on the astral plane, nature-spirits— ^\nless accurately termed elementals — who are con-\ncerned with the building of forms in the mineral,\nvegetable, animal, and human kingdoms. There are\nnature-spirits who build up minerals, who guide the\nvital energies in plants, and who molecule by mole-\ncule form the bodies of the animal kingdom ; they\nare concerned with the making of the astral bodies\nof minerals, plants, and animals, as well as with that\nof the physical. These are the fairies and elves of\nlegends, the \"little people\" who play so large a part\nin the folk-lore of every nation, the charming irre-\nsponsible children of nature, whom science has cold-\nly relegated to the nursery, but who will be replaced\nin their own grade of natural order by the wiser sci-\nentists of a later day. Only poets and occultists b^-\n\n68 THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\nlieve in them just now, poets by the intuition of their\ngenius, occiiltists by the vision of their trained inner\nsenses. The multitude laugh at both, most of all at\nthe occultists; but it matters not — wisdom shall be\njustified of her children.\n\nThe play of the life-currents in the etheric doubles\nof the forms in the mineral, vegetable, and animal\nkingdoms, awoke out o£ latency the astral matter in-\nvolved in the structure of their atomic and molecular\nconstituents. It began to thriil in a very limited\nway in the minerals, and the Monad of form, exer-\ncising his organizing power, drew in materials from\nthe astral world, and these were built by the nature-\nspirits into a loosely constituted mass, the mineral\nastral body. In the vegetable world the astral bod-\nies are a little more organized, and their special\ncharacteristic of \"feeling\" begins to appear. Dull\nand diffused sensations of well-being and discomfort\nare observable in most plants as the results of the\nincreasing activity of the astral body. They dimly\nenjoy the air, the rain, and the sunshine, and grop-\ningly seek them, while they shrink from noxious\nconditions. Some seek the light and some seek the\ndarkness; they answer to stimuli, and adapt them-\nselves to external conditions, some showing plainly\na sense of touch. In the animal kingdom the astral\nbody is more developed, reaching in the higher\nmembers of that kingdom a sufficiently definite or-\nganization to cohere for some time after the death of\nthe physical body, and to lead an independent exist-\nepge on the astral plan^.\n\nThe nature-spirits concerned with the building oi\nthe animal and human astral bodies have been given\nthe s];>ecial name of desire-elementals,* because they\nare strongly animated by desires of all kinds, and\nconstantly build themselves into the astral bodies of\nanimals and men. They also use the varieties of\nelemental essence similar to that of which their own\nbodies are composed to construct the astral bodies of\nanimals, those bodies thus acquiring, as interwoven\nparts, the centres of sensation and of the various\npassional activities. 'X^hese centres are stimulated\ninto functioning by impulses received by the dense\nphysical organs, and transmitted by the etheric phys-\nical organs to the astral body. Not until the astral\ncentre is reached does the animal feel pleasure or\npain. A stone may be struck, but it will feel no\npain; it has dense and etheric physical molecules,\nbut its astral body is unorganized ; the animal feels\npain from a blow because he possesses the astral\ncentres of sensation, and the desire-elementals have\nwoven into him their own nature.\n\nAs a new consideration enters into the work of\nthese elementals with the human astral body, we will\nfinish our survey of the inhabitants of the astral\nplane ere studying this more complicated astral\nform.\n\nThe desire-bodies, f or astral bodies, of animals\nare found, as has just been stated, to lead an inde-\n\n'K&madevas, they are caUed, \"desire-gods.\"\nf Kftmardpa is the technical name for the astral body, from\nkftma, desire, and rf^pa, form.\n\nf6 ^tiE ANCIENT WISDOM,\n\npendent though fleeting existence on the astral pla\nafter death has destroyed their physical counter-\nparts. In \"civilized\" countries these animal astral\nbodies add much to the general feeling of hostility\nwhich was spoken of above, for the organized\nbutchery of animals in slaughter-houses and by sport\nsends millions upon millions of these annually into\nthe astral world, full of horror, terror, and shrinking\nfrom men. The comparatively few creatures that\nare allowed to die in peace and quietness are lost in\nthe vast hordes of the murdered, and from the cur-\nrents set up by these there rain down influencea\nfrom the astral world on the human and animal\nraces which drive them yet farther apart and en-\ngender \"instinctive\" distrust and fear on the one\nside and lust of inflicting; cruelty on the other.\n\nThese feelings have been much intensified of late\nyears by the coldly devised methods of the scientific\ntorture called vivisection, the unmentionable bar-\nbarities of which have introduced new horrors into\nthe astral world by their reaction on the culprits,*\nas well as having increased the gulf between man and\nhis \"poor relations.\"\n\nApart from what we may call the normal popula-\ntion of the astral world, there are passing travellers\nin it, led there by their work, whom we cannot leave\nentirely without mention. Some of these come from\nour own terrestrial world, while others are visitors\nfrom loftier regions.\n\nOf the former, many are Initiates of various\n\"See Cliaplor III., on \"Kamaloka.\"\n\nAstral World visitors. ft\n\ngrades, some belonging to the Great White Lodge —\nthe Himalayan or Tibetian Brotherhood, as it is\noften called * — ^while others are members of different\noccult lodges throughout the world, ranging from\nwhite through all shades of gray to black, f All\nthese are men living in physical bodies, who have\nlearned to leave the physical encasement at will, and\nto function in full consciousness in the astral body.\nThey are of all grades of knowledge and virtue,\nbeneficent and maleficent, strong and weak, gentle\nand ferocious. There are also many younger aspi-\nrants, still uninitiated, who are learning to use the\nastral vehicle, and who are employed in works of\nbenevolence or malevolence according to the path\nthey are seeking to tread.\n\nAfter these, we have psychics of varying degrees\nof development, some fairly alert, others dreamy and\nconfused, wandering about while their physical\n\n* It is to some members of this Lodge that the Theosophical\nSociety owes its inception.\n\nf Occultists who are tmsolfish and wholly devoted to the\ncarrying out of the Divine Will, or who are aiming to attain\nthese virtues* are called \" white. \" Those who are selfish and\nare working against the Divine purpose in the universe are\ncalled '* black. \" Expanding selflessness, love, and devotion are\nthe marks of the one class; contracting selfishness, hatred,\nand harsh arrogance are the sigpis of the other. Between these\nare the classes whose motives are mixed, and who have not\nyet realized that they must evolve towards the One Self or\ntowards the separated selves ; these I ha/e culled gray. Their\nmembers gradually drift into, or deliberately join, one of the\ntwo great groups with clearly marked aims.\n\n7^ THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\nbodies are asleep or entranced. Unconscious of\ntheir external surroundings, wrapped in their own\nthoughts, drawn as it were within their astral shell,\narc millions of drifting astral bodies inhabited by\nconscious entities, whose physical frames are sunk\nin sleep. As we shall see presently, the conscious-\nness in its astral vehicle escapes when the body sinks\ninto sleep, and passes on to the astral plane ; but it\nis not conscious of its surroundings until the astral\nbody is sufficiently developed to function indepen-\ndently of the physical.\n\nOccasionally is seen on this plane a disciple * who\nhas passed through death and is awaiting an almost\nimmediate reincarnation under the direction of his\nMaster. He is, of course, in the enjoyment of full\nconsciousness, and is working like other disciples\nwho have merely slipped off their bodies in sleep.\nAt a certain stage f a disciple is allowed to reincar-\nnate very quickly after death, and under these cir-\ncumstances he has to await on the astral plane a\nsuitable opportunity for rebirth.\n\nPassing through the astral plane also are the hu-\nman beings who are on their way to reincarnation;\nthey will again be mentioned later on, J and they\nconcern themselves in no way with the general life\nof the astral world. The desire-elementals, how-\never, who have affinity with them from their past\npassional and sensational activities, gather round\n\n* A chel&, the accepted pupil of an Adept\nfSee Chapter XL, on \"Man's Ascent.\"\njSee Chapter VII., on \" Reincarnation.\"\n\ntHE ASTRAL BODY. jTj\n\nthem, assisting in the building of the new astral body\nfor the coming earth-life.\n\nWe must now turn to the consideration of the hu-\nman astral body during the period of existence in\nthis world, and study its nature and constitution as\nwell as its relations with the astral realm. We will\ntake the astral body of (a) an undeveloped man, (b)\nan average man, and (c) a spiritually developed man.\n\n{a) An undeveloped man's astral body is a cloudy,\nloosely organized, vaguely outlined mass of astral\nspirit-matter, containing materials — both astral mat-\nter and elemental essence — drawn from all the sub-\ndivisions of the astral plane, but with a great pre-\ndominance of substances from the lower, so that it is\ndense and coarse in texture, fit to respond to all the\nstimuli connected with the passions and appetites.\nThe colors caused by the rates of vibration are dull,\nmuddy, and dusky — browns, dull reds, dirty greens,\nare the predominant hues. There is no play of light\nor quickly changing flashing of colors through this\nastral body, but the various passions show themselves\nas heavy surges, or, when violent, as flashes; thus\nsexual passion will send a wave of muddy crimson,\nrage a flash of lurid red.\n\nThe astral body is larger than the physical, extend-\ning round it in ail directions ten or twelve inches in\nsuch a case as we are considering. The centres of\nthe organs of sense are definitely marked, and are\nactive when worked on from without; but in quies-\ncence the life-streams are sluggish, and the astral\nbody, stimulated neither from the physical nor men-\n\n74 THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\ntal worlds, is drowsy and indifferent* It is a. con-\nstant characteristic of the undeveloped state that\nactivity is prompted from without rather than from\nthe inner consciousness. A stone to be moved must\nbe pushed ; a plant moves under the attractions of\nlight and moisture ; an animal becomes active wben\nstirred by hunger ; a poorly developed man needs to\nbe prompted in similar ways. Not till the mind is\npartly grown does it begin to initiate action. The\ncentres of higher activities, | related to the indepen-\ndent functioning of the astral senses, are scarcely\nvisible. A man at this stage requires for his evolu-\ntion violent sensations of every kind, to arouse the\nnature and stimiilate it into activity. Heavy blows\nfrom the outer world, both of pleasure and pain, are\nwanted to awaken and spur to action. The more\nnumerous and violent the sensations, the more he\ncan be made to feel, the better for his growth. At\nthis stage quality matters little, quantity and vigor\nare the main requisites. The beginnings of this\nman's morality will be in his passions; a slight im-\npulse of unselfishness in his relations to wife or\nchild or friend, will be the first step upwards, by\ncausing vibrations in the finer matter of his astral\nbody and attracting into it more elemental «\nof an appropriate kind. The astral body i\n\n•The student will recogaiw) here the predomiuance of the\ntfLmasic guiia, the quality uf darkness or inertness ~\n\nt The seven chakras, or wheels, so named from the whirling\nappearance they present, like wheels of living; fire wbru\nactivity.\n\nfitJiLDlNG THE BODY. J^$\n\nstantly changing its materials under this play of the\npassions, appetites, desires, and emotions. All good\nones strengthen the finer parts of the body, shake\nout some of the coarser constituents, draw into it\nthe subtler materials, and attract round it elemen-\ntal of a beneficent kind who aid in the renovating\nprocess. All evil ones have diametrically opposite\neflEects, strengthening the coarser, expelling the\nfiner, drawing in more of the former, and attracting\nelementals who help in the deteriorating process.\nThe man's moral and intellectual powers are so em-\nbryonic in the case we are considering that most of\nthe building and changing of his astral body may\nbe said to be done for him rather than by him. It\ndepends more on his external circumstances than on\nhis own will, for, as just said, it is characteristic of /\na low stage of development that a man is moved\nfrom without and through the body much more than ;\nfrom within and by the mind. It is a sign of con-\nsiderable advance when a man begins to be moyed\nby the will, by his own energy, self-determined, iur\nstead of being moved by desire, i.e,^ by a response\nto an external attraction or repulsion.\n\nIn sleep, the astral body, enveloping the con-\nsciousness, slips out of the physical vehicle, leaving\nthe dense and etheric bodies to slumber. At this\nstage, however, the consciousness is not awake in\nthe astral body, lacking the strong contacts that\nspur it while in the physical frame, and the only\nthings that affect the astral body may be elementals\nof the coarser kinds, that may set up therein vibra-\n\nf6 THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\ntions which are reflected to the etheric and dense\nbrains, and induce dreams of animal pleasures. The\nastral body floats just over the physical, held by\nits strong- attraction, and cannot go far away\nfrom it. I\n\n(d) In the average moral and intellectual man ths\nastral body shows an immense advance on that just\ndescribed. It is larger in size, its materials are\nmore balanced in quality, the presence of the rarer\nkinds giving a certain luminous quality to the whole^\nwhile the expression of the higher emotions sends\nplaying through it beautiful ripples of color. It3\noutline is clear and definite, instead of vague and\nshifting, as in the former case, and it assumes the\nlikeness of its owner. It is obviously becoming a\nvehicle for the inner man, with definite organization\nand stability, a body fit and ready to function, and\nable to maintain itself, apart from the physical.\nWhile retaining great plasticity, it yet has a normal\nform, to which it continually recurs when any pres-\nsure is removed that may have caused it to change\nits outline. Its activity is constant, and hence it is\nin perpetual vibration, showing endless varieties o&\nchanging hues; also the \" wheels\" are clearly visible\nthough not yet functioning.* It responds quickly\nto all the contacts coming to it through the physicak>\nbody, and is stirred by the influences rained on it\nfrom the conscious entity within, memory and im-*\nagination stimulating it to action, and causing it to.\n• Here the stndent will note the predominance of the r&jastr'\nguna, the quality of activity in nature. I\n\nSELF-DIRECTED GROWTH. If\n\nbecome the prompter of the body to activity instead\nof only being moved by it. Its purification pro-\nceeds along the same lines as in the former case —\nthe expulsion of lower constituents by setting up\nvibrations antagonistic to them and the drawing in\nof finer materials in their place. But now the in-\ncreased moral and intellectual development of the\nman puts the building almost entirely under his own\ncontrol, for he is no longer driven hither and thither\nby stimuli from external nature, but reasons, judges,\nand resists or yields as he thinks well. By the\nexercise of well-directed thought he can rapidly\naffect the astral body, and hence its improvement\ncan proceed apace. Nor is it necessary that he\nshould understand the modus operandi in order\nto bring about the effect, any more than that a\nman should imderstand the laws of light in order\nto see.\n\nIn sleep, this well-developed astral body slips, as\nusual, from its physical encasement, but is by no\nmeans held captive by it, as in the former case. It\nroams about in the astral world, drifted hither and\nthither by the astral currents, while the conscious-\nness within it, not yet able to direct its movements,\nis awake, engaged in the enjoyment of its own men-\ntal images and mental activities, and able also to re-\nceive impressions through its astral covering, and to\nchange them into mental pictures. In this way a\nman may gain knowledge when out of the body,\nand may subsequently impress it on the brain as\n^ vivid dream or vision, o;* without this link of\n\n78 THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\nmemory it may filter through into the brain-con*\n\n(c) The astral body of a spiritually developed man\nis composed of the finest particles of each subdivi-\nsion of astral matter, the higher kinds largely pre-\ndominating in araomit. It is therefore a beautiful\nobject in luminosity and color, hues not known on\nearth showing themselves under the impulses thrown\ninto it by the purified mind. The wheels of fire are\nnow seen to deserve their names, and their whirling\nmotion denotes the activity of the higher senses.\nSuch a body is, in the full sense of the words, a\nvehicle of consciousness, for in the course of evoln.\ntion it has been vivified in every organ and brought\nunder the complete control of its owner. When in\nit he leaves the physical body there is no break of\nconsciousness ; he merely shakes off his heavier ves*\nture, and finds himself unencumbered by its weight\nHe can move anywhere within the astral sphere\nwith immense rapidity, and is no longer bound by\nthe narrow terrestrial conditions. His body an*\nswers to his will, reflects and obeys his thought.\nHis opportunities for serving humanity are thua\nenormously increased, and his powers are directed\nby his vu^tue and his beneficence. The absence of\ngross particles in his astral body renders it incapable\nof responding to the promptings of lower objects of\ndesire, and they turn away from him as beyond their\nattraction. The whole body vibrates only in answer\nlo the higher emotions, his love has grown into de^\nvotion, his energy is curbed by patience. Gentle,\n\nTHE BRIDGE FROM EARTH TO SOUL. 79\n\ncalm, serene, full of power, but with no trace of\nrestlessness, such a man \" all the Siddhis stand ready\nto serve. \" *\n\nThe astral body forms the bridge over the gulf\nwhich separates consciousness from the physical\nbrain. Impacts received by the sense-organs and\ntransmitted, as we have seen, to the dense and ethe-\nric centres, pass thence to the corresponding astral\ncentres; here they arejvorked on by the elemental\nessence and are transmuted into feelings, and are\nthen presented to the inner man as objects of con-\nsciousness, the astral vibrations awakening corre-\nsponding vibrations in the materials of the mental\nbody, f By these successive gradations in fineness\nof spirit-matter the heavy impacts of terrestrial ob-\njects can be transmitted to the conscious entity ; and,\nin turn, the vibrations set up by his thoughts can\npass along the same bridge to the physical brain and\nthere induce physical vibrations corresponding to\nthe mental. This is the regular normal way in\nwhich consciousness receives impressions from with-\nout, and in turn sends impressions outwards. By\nthis constant passage of vibrations to and fro the\nastral body is chiefly developed ; this current plays\nupon it from within and from without, evolves its\norganization, and subserves its general growth. By\nthis it becomes larger, finer in texture, more defi-\nnitely outlined, and more organized interiorly.\n\n* Here the s&ttvic guna. the quality of bliss and purity in\nnature, is predominant. Siddhis are superphysical powers,\nI See Chapter IV., on \"The Mental Plan^/*\n\n80 THE AXCIEXT WISDOM.\n\nTrained thus to respond to consciousness, it gradu-\nally becomes fit to function as its separate vehicle,\nand to transmit to it clearly the vibrations received\ndirectly from the astral world. Most readers will\nhave had some little experience of impressions com-\ning into consciousness from without, that do not\narise from any physical impact, and that are very\nquickly verified by some external occurrence. These\nare frequently impressions that reach the astral body\ndirectly, and are transmitted by it to the conscious-\nness, and such impressions are often of the nature\nof previsions which very quickly prove themselves\nto be true. When the man is far progressed, though\nthe stage varies much according to other circum-\nstances, links are set up between the physical and\nthe astral, the astral and the mental, so that con-\nsciousness works imbrokenly from, one state to the\nother, memory having in it none of the lapses which\nin the ordinary man interpose a period of uncon-\nsciousness in passing from one plane to another.\nThe man can then also freely exercise the astral\nsenses while the consciousness is working in the\nphysical body, so that these enlarged avenues of\nknowledge become an appanage of his waking con-\nsciousness. Objects which were before matters of\nfaith become matters of knowledge, and he can per-\nsonally verify the accuracy of much of the theo-\nsophical teaching as to the lower regions of the\ninvisible world.\n\nWhen man is analyzed into \"principles,\" /.^., into\n\nTHE ONE SELF MANIFESTING. 8 1\n\nmodes of manifesting life, his four lower principles,\ntermed the \"Lower Quaternary,\" are said to func-\ntion on the astral and physical planes. The fourth\nprinciple is Kama, desire, and it is the life manifest-\ning in the astral body and conditioned by it ; it is\ncharacterized by the attribute of feeling, whether in\nthe rudimentary form of sensation, or in the com-\nplex form of emotion, or in any of the grades that\nlie between. This is summed up as desire, that\nwhich is attracted or repelled by objects, according\nas they give pleasure or pain to the personal self.\nThe third principle is Prana, the life specialized for\nthe support of the physical organism. The second\nprinciple is the etheric double, and the first is the\ndense body. These three function on the physical\nplane. In H. P. Blavatsky's later classifications she\nremoved both Prina and the dense physical body\nfrom the rank of principles, Prana as being univer-\nsal life, and the dense physical body as being the\nmere counterpart of the etheric, and made of con-\nstantly changing materials built into the etheric\nmatrix. Taking this view, we have the grand phil-\nosophic conception of the One Life, the One Self,\nmanifesting as man, and presenting varying and\ntransitory diflEerences according to the conditions\nimposed on it by the bodies which it vivifies ; itself\nremaining the same in the centre, but showing dif-\nferent aspects when looked at from outside, accord-\ning to the kinds of matter in one body or another.\nIn the physical body it is Prana, energizing, con-\ntrolling, co-ordinating. In the astral body it i?\n\n82 THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\nKama, feeling, enjoying, suflPering. We shall find\nit in yet other aspects, as we pass to higher planes,\nbut the fundamental idea is the same throughout,\nand it is another of those root-ideas of Theosophy,\nwhich, firmly grasped, serve as guiding clues in this\nmost tangled world.",
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