The lower layers of the Astral world
Trapped in illusion
The dead (or - simply transferred to the Astral plane of existence) help us, the living, more often than we might think. At the same time, they sacrifice for some time their own spiritual advancement in the higher layers of the astral plane, where they could ascend after death, but they do not do so in order to be able to help those close to them who have remained on earth.
However, it also happens that the dead are tied to the physical world by much less noble motives than caring for their relatives. Sometimes the main reason for the attachment of a person who has passed into another world to the earth is … his physical body, buried in an inappropriate way. Oddly enough, but this very circumstance is sometimes the reason for the appearance of ghosts (that is, astral forms) of the dead in the world of the living. Nicholas Roerich's follower A. Haydock in his book "Rainbow of Miracles" describes the following case:
“Once geologists, passing through the dense taiga, came across an old abandoned barrack. As it turned out over time, in Stalin's times there was a prison camp in this place. Approaching the barracks, geologists saw an elderly man come out onto its porch, then a woman, followed by children, in a word, a whole family. But what surprised the geologists was that all members of this family were naked, without a single piece of clothing. When the people came very close to the barracks, the family turned and silently walked into the barracks. Determined to find out what was happening, the geologists followed the trail. The barrack was divided by partitions into several large rooms. Geologists passed one by one, following a strange family. But when they entered the last room, which ended in the barrack and which had no other way out - no one was there, the family disappeared …
A. Haydock comments on this case: “It's a pity that geologists did not think of breaking the floor in the room where this mysterious family disappeared. Under the floor, they probably would have found the corpses of members of this family who had died in custody. Its members, of course, were simple believers who were taught from childhood that every deceased should be buried in a proper way, otherwise it cannot be … and there is a true, immortal, thinking man. And if this consciousness decided that the physical body thrown off by it should be buried, say, in the Orthodox way (or in some other way), then it will be close to its corpse, trying to direct people to these remains in the hope that those they will bury them, so to speak, in proper form.
A similar example of a ghost who could not calm down until his remains were buried in a cemetery is given in the story of an American woman published in Faith magazine.
“I left the house to take off the drying clothes from the rope, and when I took it off, I involuntarily turned around… I almost fainted. Not far from me, in the rain, stood the ghostly figure of a man. His head was broken, this phantom, as if asking me for something. I rushed to the kitchen, to my mother. Glancing at me, she nodded and said, “I saw him too.
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A few days later, in the late evening, one of our horses started having colic, and dad was in the barn, trying to help him. About an hour later, the horse got to its feet and, as if nothing had happened, began to eat the hay. Father raised a lantern from the ground, about to leave, when suddenly a figure with a broken head appeared in front of him. As if urging his father to follow him, the ghost began to back away toward the exit. Approaching a van in the courtyard, the ghost raised his hands to his head and slowly fell through the ground.
Pale and shocked, my father hurried home. After he told us what happened, Mom thoughtfully said: “This is not a wandering spirit. He's here somewhere. His soul cannot calm down in any way and therefore cries for help. We need to dig a hole in the place where he disappeared, and if he lies there, we need to bury him in a Christian way.
We actually found the remains of a man at a depth of 1.5 meters. After he was buried in our cemetery, we never saw his ghost again."
In reality, the attachment of the minds of the dead to the earth due to the fact that their physical remains were not buried according to the accepted ritual, of course, is annoying. This is an unnecessary and unjustified waste of time on the path of a person's spiritual development - instead of going into the higher spheres and using the stay on the astral plane of being for knowledge and self-improvement, the human soul remains chained by prejudices, like a chain, to its physical remains, which it will never again will not be needed and will not in the least affect its further development.
Purgatory in itself
How does the deceased's consciousness enter this or that sphere of the Subtle World? It is carried out in the course of a special process, the struggle between the higher and lower principles in a person. The lower principle - the person's personality - is formed by his four lower principles: physical, etheric, astral and mental bodies. The personality of man is mortal, since all the lower bodies at some time are thrown off and dissolve in the matter of the planes corresponding to them. The highest principle of man is his immortal, indestructible Individuality.
Each beginning of the individual manifests itself accordingly during his life on the physical plane. Habitual thoughts and feelings of a person lay the corresponding energy channels in space. After death, the subtle body rushes through these channels into the astral spheres, in tune with its prevailing thoughts and feelings. If throughout life a person cared about satisfying the needs of only the lower, animal nature of his being, if, moreover, he was selfish and dishonest, then the energy of his thoughts and the subtle structure of his body "pull" his astral body into the corresponding lower layer of space. If during his lifetime the individual was spiritually developed or simply a good, decent person, then the high and light layers of the Subtle World will become the sphere of his posthumous stay.
The "distribution" of souls among the layers of the Subtle World usually occurs in a state of sleep, or unconsciousness. On this score, the “Facets of Agni Yoga” says: “Two focuses of attraction are constantly operating in a person - to Light and darkness. One or the other prevails. Light and impure thoughts are allowed, as well as feelings. This is how a person goes through his whole life, inclining and gravitating alternately to one, then to the other pole and always having before him the possibility of free and conscious choice. If such a state remained unchanged even after death, then, of course, ordinary consciousness would choose the path to Light and a happy stay in the Supermundane World, discarding all earthly accumulations. But the posthumous state is very fair.
Consciousness dies out, and an unconscious struggle is waged, but even more acute and even deadly between opposite energies accumulated by the spirit during earthly life. Two forces stand against one another, challenging the primacy for the possession of the center of attraction. The judgment is carried out not by consciousness, but automatically, and that pole wins, the forces of which are prevailing in this duel. And the desire of a person to go up or down at this moment cannot even be revealed, since the struggle takes place between the crystallized deposits of higher and lower fires, which at one time were generated by the same will, but at the moment it can no longer manifest itself consciously due to the fact that consciousness is absent.
Something similar happens sometimes in a dream, when free will seems to be paralyzed and a person is forced to experience what he does not want. During this struggle, the formula “what you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven” is in effect, that is, after liberation from the body. From the inner world of a person, everything that has accumulated there - both good and bad - rises to affirmation for his right to further existence, and the one whose energies prevail over those opposite to them wins. Of course, spiritual energies are incomparably stronger than material ones, and even a spark of Light dispels darkness, and faith the size of a mustard seed works wonders in its power. But it must nevertheless be, because without it it is almost impossible to pull the spirit out of the tenacious embrace of lower energies. The attraction of the lower strata is awful if they are hurt."
Who will help the prisoners of hell?
The subtle world is a world of consequences, and it is practically impossible to change character traits in it. It remains only to reap the benefits of the moral level of their development. For people with a consciousness burdened with vices, these fruits are extremely bitter. The condition of the inhabitants of the lower astral is reflected in the Gospel, which says that the lot of sinners will be "groaning, weeping and gnashing of teeth." High spirits sometimes have to penetrate these satanic layers.
The question arises - why should high spirits penetrate into these layers, which are real karmic dungeons? The answer is very simple - to cleanse them. The purification of the most terrible layers of the lower astral plane gives a chance of enlightenment not only to those who are there, fettered by the hardest karma, but to the entire astral plane. After all, each layer of the Subtle World influences the neighboring layer, and the physical plane as well. Naturally, the influence of the lower spheres of the astral plane on its neighboring regions and on the earthly plane is extremely unfavorable. This also caused the need for the Teachers to descend into the lower astral spheres and purify them as much as possible.
Even in hell there is a path to enlightenment. But there is one essential detail: the prisoners of hell themselves cannot ascend to the higher layers of the astral plane without outside help. They need another force - light and powerful, which from the outside would give an impulse for liberation, change the state of their consciousness, even in the slightest measure. Such power is possessed by the employees of the Hierarchy of Light, and it is they who help the disembodied consciousnesses of the captives of hell.
All the messengers of the Higher Forces, all the founders of world religions and outstanding spiritual and philosophical teachings brought to mankind the same ethical commandments, living by which a person would ensure a harmonious and perfect being both in earthly and in overground life. If people followed the Highest Knowledge, hell would not exist in the astral world at all. The law of karma is simple and fair: the one who has caused suffering to others will certainly experience it on himself.
So that the afterlife does not become for us a world of retribution or a world of suffering - is it not better to heed the advice of ancient wisdom and not create karmic chains for ourselves during our life on Earth?
N. Kovaleva