On the other side of life - the astral plane
Between heaven and earth
The inhabitants of the middle astral plane do not experience such suffering as the captives of the lower layers of the astral plane. But they are also, albeit to a lesser extent than outright sinners, far from the higher, more spiritual spheres of the Subtle World, which alone can open the shortest path to self-improvement for a person. Agni Yoga says about the inhabitants of the middle strata of the Subtle World: “It is noticed in the Astral World that those who have an average consciousness do not strive for heights. The middle state relieves them of torment, and at the same time does not impose the obligation of selfless work. " Such a state "between heaven and earth" is unfavorable for spiritual evolution, because it binds a person to the outer elegance of the astral.
To a person with an average level of consciousness, the astral world seems to be paradise - it does not contain injustice, difficulties and intense struggle for existence, which are often full of life on the earthly plane. It was not for nothing that Dr. Moody's patients who had survived clinical death described the other world, which opened to them in a state of clinical death, as something luminous, sparkling, overflowing with joyful bliss and enchanting music. Most of those who looked into another dimension, according to their recollections, did not want to leave this world, but successful reanimation "pulled" their astral plane into the physical body, and the visions of the Subtle World ceased.
The astral world is outwardly colorful and attractive (although in reality it is deceptive and illusory). If the higher spheres of this plane are in contact with the mental, more perfect world, then the middle spheres are something colorful, attractive, elegant, but … not far off in essence, devoid of creative fire and tension of the spirit, which is so necessary for a person for spiritual improvement.
The astral plane is primarily the world of desires and feelings. All desires and dreams of people during their life on Earth are reflected in the form of thought images in the astral world. And because the dreams of an ordinary person rarely extend beyond the boundaries of his personal life, then the thought images formed by this person in the astral plane represent all the same earthly desires, often not realized during physical life, but realized in plastic astral matter.
For example, a person dreams of acquiring some expensive thing during his earthly life, thinks about it, imagines it … and does not know that thanks to the energy of his thought this thing has long existed in the astral world. Human thought, penetrating into the plastic matter of the astral plane, instantly forms, as if sculpting from the matter of this world that thing or object that a person dreamed of while living on the earthly plane. And when he crosses the threshold of earthly existence, he finds many of his desires fulfilled in the plastic matter of the astral plane.
But the astral, with all its external brilliance, is illusory and deceiving. This can be explained primarily by the initial imperfection of this layer of space.
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The astral stage of being should not be long: it is given as a short-term rest, the processing of the karmic connections of the completed incarnation to go into the higher, spiritual spheres of the Cosmos. Ideally, (except in special cases), a person's soul should remain in the astral plane for 40 days. After this period, the astral body of a person can be thrown off, and his consciousness-soul can move into more perfect plans of the Subtle World. The astral body is not the most perfect thin-material shell of a person. But the majority of individuals, mediocre in their development, like the external radiance of the astral, and instead of 40 days they can stay there for a millennium, leisurely to new perfect worlds of the Cosmos or to new incarnations on the earthly plane, and thereby retarding their spiritual development with illusory comfort.
The Astral world is called by the Teachers of the East a heap precisely because it is a world of emotions, feelings and desires, and people's desires most often concern their personal well-being and comfort.
Other worlds noosphere
What awaits the disembodied soul in more perfect worlds? The higher spheres of the other world are spheres of true Light and knowledge. Leaving the astral body, the consciousness-soul of a person moves into the mental body and passes into the mental world. The change of subtle bodies is somewhat similar to earthly death, but it is carried out easier and faster for the consciousness of the individual. When changing subtle bodies, there is also a short moment of forgetfulness, unconsciousness, but it does not last as long as when the physical body is dropped.
Existence in the mental world is described by many spiritual and philosophical teachings as unearthly, heavenly bliss. And this bliss can be saturated with varied and active creativity. Freed from the need to take care of material means of subsistence, human consciousness in the higher spheres of the Cosmos can concentrate only on the issue of its further spiritual and intellectual creativity. All household items are here “at hand”: thin bodies create clothes for themselves, emitting luminiferous matter from their own energy cocoon or forming it from the surrounding plastic material.
Certain types of subtle energies serve as food for disembodied souls. As a result, neither the search for clothes, nor care for food burden the inhabitants of the Subtle World, and they can devote all their time to spiritual creativity. What exactly will it be? Basically, in the same thing that people did in the physical world - in science and art, in the ability to create new forms and images, new works of art and literature, to make new discoveries and inventions, the information content of which remains in the plastic matter of the Higher worlds.
Scientists who have left the material world, in their afterlife, will continue their studies of interest, composers and musicians will continue to compose their music and at the same time perceive the cosmic music of the spheres, because space is full of natural harmonic waves and vibrations perceived by human consciousness as music. Artists will continue to create their paintings there, in the higher spheres of the Subtle Plan. All information about the results of creativity of cultural figures located in the other world is stored in a thin space, sooner or later becoming the property of someone from the researchers living on Earth, whose consciousness is informationally “tuned to this wave”.
The discoveries and inventions of modern scientists are not theirs alone. It may well be that they were only "read" by the tense mind of a researcher from the thin-material layer of the Akash-noosphere, and the real author of these discoveries - who knows? - maybe he lived in the era of ancient civilizations of Atlantis or Lemuria … Of course, no one will deny the merits of "earthly" inventors and scientists: after all, in order to "find" an idea or invention in the giant information bank of the noosphere, hard work is needed - only thanks to to him, the scientist's thought “gets in touch” with the corresponding layer of the noosphere and “decodes” the energy-informational code left by the original author of the idea. But nevertheless, it is difficult to establish the true authors of this or that discovery, since creativity - both scientific and artistic - has a basis not so much personal as universal,space.
After staying in the mental world, only the rarest, selected representatives of the human race - the Arhats, who have the highest spiritual level of development, will be able to throw off the mental body and ascend to the Fiery World in their fiery body. A man of modern earthly civilization cannot throw off a fiery body: at our stage it is indestructible. After millions of years of further evolution, human beings will be able to throw off this body too and clothe themselves in the light-matter of the principles of Buddhi and Atma. But so far the overwhelming majority of people of our era do not even have a fully formed mental body, not to mention the ability to throw it off and clothe it in the finest matter of a fiery body … A person of average level of spiritual development in the afterlife does not even reach the mental plane. They spend the entire period of their stay between incarnations within the boundaries of the astral plane.
Being in the Fiery World is truly unearthly bliss, available only to those whose consciousness was able to rise to such a level of spirituality, which is necessary to form a luminous fiery body - a vessel that allows consciousness to live in the sea of cosmic fire. It was about this cosmic plan that Christ said that "the kingdom of God is taken by force." In the process of a person's spiritual evolution, it is extremely important that he be able to take advantage of the opportunities given to him by staying in the Subtle Worlds. The main thing is that his consciousness could creatively respond to all the wealth of the cosmic natural mind that surrounds him, and not regret the lost earthly pleasures. Not all people are capable of finding a way to further evolution in their afterlife - many consciousnesses run into a barrier created by their low level of development. The Subtle World is the world of consequences,and for the posthumous existence of a person to be not a sleepy numbness, but a creative breakthrough into infinity, it is necessary that a person create for himself the preconditions for spiritual creativity while still living on the earthly plane.
N. Kovaleva