WHAT HAPPENS AFTER TO DIE?

In this article, I am going to summarize the explanation given by the Masters of Wisdom about what happens after death. But for better understand it, you must first know:

Why do humans come to Earth?

And the answer given by the Masters is because humans are in a process of cosmic evolution that will allow them to become divine beings.

(This is detailed in: The evolution of man on Earth)

At the beginning, humans are like “seeds”, with all the potential to become divine beings but with nothing yet developed in them.

And at the end of that cycle of evolution, humans will become fully developed divine beings, and then they will take over a part of the Creation.

But to be able to realize this evolution, humans are going to have to be alternating their development between two worlds:

• The first world, you already know it: it is the Terrestrial World. 
• But there is also a Divine World that for the moment is beyond our ability to perceive, Christians call it “the Paradise” (and the Theosophists call it “the Devachan”). 
• And there is also an intermediate zone that serves as a bridge between those two worlds, and this zone, the Christians call it “the Purgatory” (and the Theosophists call it “the Kama-Loka”).

The physical plane is only the visible part of the Terrestrial World. But as the matter is “condensed energy”, the matter needs a mold that condenses that energy, a mold that gives shape to that energy (and that sustains that form). And therefore, in order for the physical plane to exist, it also needs a subtle counterpart to play that molding role and that is the function of the astral plane.

And at the same time, the physical plane also needs another subtle counterpart that brings life to it. Because otherwise, the matter would only remain inert. And that function of vitalizing the matter is carried out by the energetic (or etheric) plane.

Therefore, we see that the Terrestrial World is composed of three planes of existence:

1. A physical plane
2. An astral plane that is the matrix of that physical plane and
3. An energetic plane that brings life to that physical plane

And the Divine World is also composed of three higher planes of existence:

1. A mental plane that is where most humans remain when they are in the Divine World.
2. But those who have transcended concrete desires and who, for example, no longer love only one person in particular, but love all the humanity, these humans already ascend to the buddhic plane.
3. And the most evolved spiritually ascend even to the atmic plane, which is the most divine plane of existence in which “normal” humans can be.

Therefore, we can divide those two worlds where humans interact in seven planes of existence:

   A) A higher Triad that corresponds to the Divine World.

   B) A lower Triad that corresponds to the Terrestrial World.

   C) And an intermediate zone that serves as a bridge between the two worlds.

AND THE SAME STRUCTURE IS IN THE HUMAN

Because the law of correspondence that says "as it is above, it is below". So humans are constituted under the same septenary structure.

The imperishable part of your being is composed of the three superior components which are:

-      Atma, which is your divine nature

-      Buddhi which is your spiritual nature and

-      Manas which is your human nature.

But in order for the higher Triad to function in the Terrestrial World, he needs a “vehicle” and this is formed by the three inferior components, which are:

-      The physical body

-      The astral body that serves to give form to the physical body and

-      The energetic body that serves to keep the physical body alive.

And in the middle of these two triads (the higher Triad and the lower Triad) there is an intermediate component (Kama) that serves as a connection between the imperishable part of the human and its terrestrial vehicle.

(Here I put the names in Sanskrit that uses the Original Theosophy with its equivalent in English)

Usually Manas is called “the mental body” and Kama is called “the emotional body” or “the body of desires.” But these denominations do not please me because they make people believe that Manas only thinks and that Kama only feels and desires. But that is incorrect. And that is why I prefer to call Manas as the emotional and mental principle that humans identify as “I” and Kama as their animal nature in the human.

Therefore a more accurate illustration would be to imagine:

• Manas as the person you identify with. 
• Buddhi as the spiritual part of your being that seeks to meke you evolve and to do what is right and good. 
• And Kama as the bestial part of your being that seeks to satisfy your desires in a selfish way and is dominated by his low instincts.

At the beginning, humans mainly develop their animal principle (Kama) and it is thus that men at the beginning behave in a bestial way, acting in a selfish and rude way without caring about the consequences that their actions have on others. And it is an unpleasant stage, but as you can see, necessary in the evolutionary process so that your higher principles can connect more and more with your earthly vehicle.

At a greater evolution, humans will develop especially their human principle (Manas) and that is where most of humanity is currently. And it is at this stage that men begin to think and discern before acting by simple impulse.

Then to further evolution, humans will develop mainly their spiritual principle (Buddhi) and then reach a high degree of enlightenment as great masters such as Jesus or Buddha have achieved.

And finally in its last stage of evolution, humans will develop particularly their divine principle (Atma) and that is when they will become fully developed divine beings.

AND WHY DO HUMANS NEED TO DESCEND ON EARTH?

People may wonder that if all this process of evolution is so that in the end humans live as divine beings in the Divine World, then it would be better to evolve directly in the Divine World and not to complicate so much in descending to evolve on Earth.

But the reason of that is because the physical plane is where the divine power is more concentrated, and humans need to descend to the matter to take a portion of this divine power that will allow humans to shine as “radiant suns” and have great power throughout their lives as divine beings.

And this is one of the misconceptions that people have: they believe that the divine power is “up” when in reality the divine power is mostly “down”.

And that is because the largest amount of energy is condensed into the matter. But this energy is “asleep.” and that is the reason why people do not realize all the power that the matter contains, but physics has already shown that huge amounts of energy can be generated when atoms disintegrate and return to their original essence.

And that is why humans have to descend on Earth, to take their portion of matter, and then learn to control it, and finally transform it into energy, which will serve as “fuel” throughout their existence as divine beings.

But that process is not easy to carry out because when you descend to the matter, your consciousness atrophies, your consciousness fall asleep and temporarily darkens. And consequently, is required an entire evolutionary process to reawaken and elevate your consciousness to the Divine World. And that process is done through the cycle of reincarnations.

THE PROCESS OF REINCARNATION

As we saw, the awakening of consciousness is done from down to up. This implies that the higher principles of humans are still in the process of development.

Which brings us to the second misconception that people have to believe that humans are already as awake and active in the Divine World as they are currently on Earth.

And that is false because in reality the Masters explain that the vast majority of humans are currently in the Divine World as babies in the process of being born.

But the higher Triad is “very light,” which prevents it from descending on Earth. The most that the higher Triad can do is project a ray of Manas. And this ray is going to enthrone with Kama in order to control his terrestrial vehicle.

Usually that ray of Manas is called “the lower mind” and the part of Manas that remains in the Divine World is called “the higher mind.” But personally I do not like those names because they make people believe that they are two different entities: “the lower self” that descends on Earth and “the higher self” that remains sleeping in the Divine World. When in fact THEY ARE THE SAME BEING.

Therefore, it would be more appropriate to compare the “lower mind” as the hand of your body that you descend through a hole (because you cannot pass your whole body through that hole) to reach what is in the background.

And here  ask you:

Are you going to say that your hand is an entity different from your body?

NO

Your hand is an integral part of you. But because the hand (in our example) is going to be more active, is also the hand that is going to develop more of your whole being. And that is why today, the part that humans have most developed and activated are their Kama and Manas principles (that is, their animal and human nature).

Let us summarize all this

The human is a consciousness that has seven principles which are:

    -  Atma, which is his divine nature

    -  Bhuddi which is his spiritual nature

    -  Manas which is his human nature

    -  Kama which is his animal nature

    -  His energy body

    -  His astral body and

    -  His physical body

The three superior principles are permanent, while the lower four are mortal and therefore it is necessary to reconstruct them with each new reincarnation. And as the higher Triad cannot descend to the Terrestrial World, Manas projects a ray of its essence, which is going to enthrone with the lower Quaternary.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DYING?

Well, in broad strokes, the inverse process of the reincarnation will take place.

And this reverse process can be divided into four periods:

   A) The period on the Astral Plane

   B) The period on the Kama-Loka

   C) The period on the Divine World and

   D) The process for a new reincarnation

A) THE PERIOD ON THE ASTRAL PLANE

Here is the third misconception that people have to believe that when humans die, they remain awake and active on the astral plane. But that is not true and the Masters are very categorical on that point: most humans lose their consciousness after death and spend sleeping during their stay in the astral plane.

In this regard Master Kuthumi says:

« Every human recently disembodied, whether he died in a calm or violent death, whether he died in a natural death or accident death, whether he was mentally sane or crazy, young or old, good or bad, etc. Every person at the instant of death loses all memory, he is mentally annihilated [falls into unconsciousness], and he sleeps his Akasic sleep [first on the astral plane and then] on the Kama-Loka.

This state lasts for a few hours (rarely less), days, weeks, months and sometimes for several years. All this according to every human, at his mind level at the time of death, to the character of his death, etc.

And the remembrance of his life [conscious memory of the life he had on Earth] will return slowly and gradually towards the end of the gestational stage at the moment of his entrance into the Devachan [the Divine World]. »

(Mahatma Letter 24B, p186-187)

But the Masters also point out that every rule has its exceptions and the humans who remain awake (or semi awake) on the astral plane after dying can regroup in two categories:

1) Humans who, by having acquired a more advanced development, are able to remain awake and conscious after their dead. And among them are the adepts, the black magicians, the shamans and their respective advanced disciples.

2) And common humans that for various reasons they cannot fall into akasic sleep. And some of these reasons are:

-      Because they have a great addiction to a drug (cigar, alcohol, cocaine, etc.) which prevents them from being able to rest and continuously those disembodied souls are looking for living people through whom they can satisfy their addiction.

-      There are also people who are obsessed with some activity (lust, perversion, etc.) and also they search for living people through whom they can be satisfied.

-      There are also people who die very brutally (murder, traffic or air accident, etc.) and this trauma prevents them from being able to rest.

-      There are also suicides whose their deep depression prevents them from being able to find rest in their sleep.

-      Etc.

How long do people remain in the astral after they die?

They remain on the astral plane the time their life would normally have lasted on Earth. That is, for example, if a person was destined to live ninety years on Earth, but by an accident she died at fifty. Then that person will still be forty years in the astral plane.

Why?

Because Manas is very light. So in order to descend on Earth, you have to tie yourself to your terrestrial vehicle through Kama. But remember that the terrestrial vehicle is composed of three elements. And when the physical body dies, its subtle counterpart (the astral body and the energy body) still exists. And they will continue to exist until the useful life of the energy body is over.

And the astral body and the energetic body are also subject to the law of gravity, and that's the reason why until those subtle bodies do not also die, the person cannot ascend to the Kama-Loka.

B) THE PERIOD ON THE KAMA-LOKA

The Kama-Loka is like a sort of garbage dump where the whole lower part of the person who cannot ascend to the Divine World remains. And this is because the vibration of the Divine World is so high that in this zone can only vibrate the most noble and sublime vibrations of existence.

In other words, in the Divine World there is only place for all that is good. There cannot be low thoughts or low emotions. And that is why all those low vibrations are left in the Kama-Loka.

What implies therefore, that during his stay in the Kama-Loka, the person will be divided in two:

• All the qualities that she developed, all the knowledge that she acquired and all the good vibrations that she generated during his stay on Earth, will ascend to the Divine World. 
• While everything bad in that person: all her faults, all her vices, etc. All this will remain as a waste on the Kama-Loka, where it will gradually disintegrate.

To this waste, the Theosophists call it "an elementary" and you can imagine that the more evil a person was, the more the elementary will keep most of the personality and only a small part of their being will ascend to the Divine World.

And conversely, the more the person has been good or elevated, the more her whole being will enter fully into the Divine World, leaving only a tiny portion in the Kama-Loka.

The elementary usually remain unconscious, but can be revitalized by the energy flow generated by Spiritist circles when invoking them. And once awakened, they will do everything possible to try not to disappear and therefore they will seek to energetically vampirize the humans that are in the physical plane.

How long is this separation process on the Kama-Loka?

Master Kuthumi mentioned: "from a few hours to several years."  Everything depends on each person. And in the Kama-Loka, only humans who have reached a high degree of occult initiation (adepts or black magicians) can remain conscious and awake (and temporarily the elementaries that have been revitalized).

C) THE PERIOD IN THE DIVINE WORLD

The good part of the person returns to reintegrate into the “cosmic baby” and during his stay in the Devachan, he will assimilate all the experiences he brought with him and acquired during his stay on Earth.

And at the same time he will also enjoy a period of immense happiness where the person will experience everything that makes her happier.

The detail is that he will experience it in his dreams because, as we saw, the vast majority of people still do not have enough development to be awake in the Divine World. However, that dream will be experienced in such an intense and detailed form, that people will feel it more real than if they lived it on Earth. And without anything negative that can disturb them.

And when I explain this to people, the question they usually ask me is:

Then we will not be able to be together with our loved ones?

And the answer is that they will be there, since the souls are grouped according to their similarities, only that they will be sleeping. And when dreams resemble each other, they tune into each other. So it would be more accurate to say that they will be dreaming together.

The stay in the Devachan is a period of immense bliss that also serves as a restful repose, since if humans had to continually be reincarnated without rest, quickly they finish exhausted.

And the Masters say that currently the average duration of humans in the Divine World is 1’500 years. Although obviously there are big differences: from those who stay only for a short time, until those who live for many millennia. Everything depends on the degree of development that the person has acquired, the positive karma that she has generated and the experiences she has obtained during her stay on Earth.

D) THE PROCESS FOR A NEW REINCARNATION

When all these mental and psychic forces that kept the Ego on the Divine World have been exhausted. Manas prepares to send a new ray of its essence to Earth to live a new reincarnation and therefore a new period of development.

And so the cycle repeats itself.

And by this way the human is developing more and more with each new reincarnation that he makes. Until one day “the cosmic baby” becomes a fully developed cosmic being.

Then that highly evolved human will sublimate its four lower bodies and transform them into energy. And no need to reincarnate more (since all the development that could bring Earth, has already obtained). This human is going to begin his cosmic life in the Divine World.

But (and this is another misconception that people have), the Divine World is NOT a region where everyone lives in the same place.

The three planes that I mentioned you (the mental plane, the buddhic plane and the atmic plane) are only a small part of the whole Divine World.

Because in fact the Divine World is constituted by numerous other planes of existence and as humans evolve (but this time at a cosmic level and not only at a planetary level), those very advanced humans will go accessing at planes of existence more and more superior until reaching the Divine Consciousness that directs the whole Creation.

However, they will not do this as humans, because although their existence as “divine humans” is huge (the Masters speak of millions of years), this divine existence also has an end. And then they will have to regenerate again in a new evolutionary cycle.

But this new evolutionary cycle, they will do that in a higher realm than the human kingdom. Catholics call them the angelic Hierarchy and the Theosophists call them the Hierarchy of the Dhyani-Chohans (who are the higher intelligences charged with supervising the Universe).

Observations:

Humans are going to be able to be aware and conscious in increasingly higher planes of existence as they evolve.

And here I summarized the explanation given by the Transhimalayan Masters, but you can read the articles where I detail this subject in the theme “Death and the Afterlife.”  (link)

RECAPITULATION

And having explained all above, now I do a summary of the stages through which humans pass between life and death to make it clearer. And this process, I divided into five stages:

    1.  Stay in the Physical Plane

    2.  Physical Death

    3.  Stay in the Astral Plane

    4.  Stay at the Kama-Loka

    5.  Stay in the Divine World

    6.  Return to Earth

1) Stay in the Physical Plane

When humans are incarnated on Earth, all his seven principles are present.

But his higher Triad (composed of his divine spirit, his spiritual soul and his superior human nature) remains in the Divine World. While it is only his lower Quaternary (composed of his reincarnated human nature, his animal nature, his energetic body, his astral body and his physical body) that is found in the Terrestrial World.

The higher Triad and the lower Quaternary remain connected by an energy loop known as the Antahkarana. And currently, the higher Triad in most humans is still very unconscious and in the process of formation. While his lower Quaternary is more developed, but he is still in the process to become in a true and civilized human being, from the bestial man he is initially.

2) Physical Death

At the moment that the person is dying, she sees her whole life in her mind because her dying brain is projecting all her conscious and unconscious memories into her inner being.

And when that process ends the person loses consciousness.

However, just before losing consciousness, humans have a moment of deep lucidity where they perceive the karmic and evolutionary causes that led them to have that life on Earth, and they also perceive the aspects that still need to be developed and the defects that still need to be controlled.

And that moment in which the human is detached from physical life is very important for esotericists and Buddhists because it is a time where you could achieve great evolutionary and initiatory leaps. And that is why Master Pasteur recommends to perform a technique at the moment of your passing away (see link) [later I will put] and also certain Buddhist Schools teach a procedure that must be done at the moment when the human is dying.

3) Stay in the Astral Plane

The physical body having died, disembodied persons enter the astral plane.

The vast majority of humans will remain asleep in what Master Kuthumi calls “the Akasic sleep”  Those who were good persons are going to have sweet dreams, those who were bad persons are going to have nightmares and those who are materialistic, they will not dream but they will simply remain sleeping unconsciously.

And on the other hand, a small percentage of humans and for various reasons will wake up. And usually this is because:

-      they have already reached enough development to be able to remain awake in the astral,

-      or because there is something in them that allows them to remain asleep.

For example: a very strong anxiety towards some vice (cigar, alcohol, etc.), or because they were extremely attached to someone or something they left on Earth, or because at the time of death, they were suffering from a deep depression, or because they died in a terrible accident that left them very shocked, etc.

And in some cases (and when conditions allow) you can get the human to resurrect again as I explain in this chapter (see link). [Later I will put]

Humans will remain in the astral until their energy body is exhausted the energy with which it was created, and this usually corresponds to the period of life that the person destined had to live during her incarnation on Earth.

And so, for example, if the person was destined to live: one hundred years, but unfortunately an accident happened that killed her when she was thirty years old. That means that he will still remain on the astral plane for seventy years.

And when the “stack” of the energy body is finished, the astral body quickly begins to disintegrate and what remains of the lower Quaternary (which is Kama and lower Manas) ascends to the Kama-Loka.

4) Stay at the Kama-Loka

There, the disembodied person will be divided into two:

Everything good that composes this person (and also everything good that she has developed during her stay on Earth) will ascend to the Divine World.

While the bad part of her being will remain in the Kama-Loka as a waste that will progressively disintegrate, unless it is revitalized by the Spiritist sessions, in which case it will become an entity that will seek vampirize humans to not disappear.

And it should be noted that some magicians having attained sufficient knowledge and development, they manage to anchor either in the astral or in the Kama-Loka. But this causes them to separate themselves from their higher Triad, and since they no longer have the energy that the Antahkarana provided them with, nor the energy that their energy body procured for them, those disembodied magicians will be able to exist only as long as they can vampirize the energy of the humans that remain on Earth.

Most of these magicians are from the dark side and they anchored on the astral plane to avoid being (temporally) destroyed, but there are also some magicians who did that mistake simply out of ignorance, and the oldest magicians are anchored on the astral plane since the time of Atlantis.

Note: the period in the Kama-Loka can last from a few hours to several years, it all depends on the spiritual development that the person has, as well as their earthly attachments. And this is one of the reasons why incineration is recommended: because fire purifies the subtle bodies and helps a lot to free souls from all those attachments.

5) Stay in the Divine World

The vast majority of humans are not yet enough developing to stay awake in the Divine World; hence they will enter in the “devachanic dream” where they will spend dreaming of everything that makes them happier.  And although it will only be a dream, the person will experience it in such a real, intense and profound way that it will be completely true for her.

But the stay in the Divine World is not only a period of reward to humans for all the good and beneficial things they did on Earth. But it also allows them to recover, because if humans were reincarnating and reincarnating without being able to pause, they would quickly end up exhausted and could no longer move forward.

And it is also a period in which the Higher Triad will integrate all the learning and development achieved by the lower Quaternary during his stay on Earth. And during that period, lower Manas and higher Manas rejoin and return to be one.

The Masters say that humans currently remain in the Divine World an average of 1’500 years, although obviously there are great differences: from those who remain only a few months, to those who remain many millennia. Everything depends on the Karma and development that the person has achieved during her earthly stay.

6) Return to Earth

When the psychic, mental and emotional energies that the person brought with her, have been integrated, and that positive karma has been compensated in the Divine World (and still need to be compensated in the Terrestrial World), and if there are on the planet the appropriate conditions for a new evolutionary stage.

Then Manas returns to project a ray of his essence towards on Earth and a new lower Quaternary is going to form again to restart a new reincarnation.

And Blavatsky points out that in that process, for a short moment, humans again have a moment of profound lucidity, where they perceive in broad strokes the new life they are going to have and the reasons why they were destined for that life.

And it should be noted that during the post-mortem process, the negative karma stop temporarily and this will have to be settled mainly during the stays in the physical plane, with the exception of those that really were very, very bad, and these individuals instead of having a period of happiness (Devachan) they will have a period of suffering (Avitchi) during their post-mortem journey.

And it should also be noted that as humans evolve further, the separation between the higher Triad and the lower Quaternary will diminish until the human is able to be conscious in the different planes of existence.

And this is what the Masters achieve (even being incarnated on Earth) since having developed in a very advanced way their seven principles; they can travel to any of those planes consciously. Which means that for the Masters death is a simple change of the “physical vehicle” (as if it were a change of clothing) because they remain conscious throughout the post-mortem process (except for a small period at the time of dying).

While for ordinary humans, death remains a reversal because we lose all our consciousness and did not recover her until the next reincarnation and into a complete amnesia with about what happened.