On this matter William Judge in his book "The Ocean of Theosophy" wrote the following:
« The Ego remains as said in Devachan
for a time exactly proportioned to the psychic impulses generated during life.
Now this being a matter which deals with the mathematics of the soul, no one
but a Master can tell what the time would be for the average man of this
century in every land.
Hence we have to depend on the
Masters of wisdom for that average, as it must be based upon a calculation.
They have said, as is well put by Mr. A. P. Sinnett in his Esoteric Buddhism, that
the period is fifteen hundred years in general. From a reading of his book,
which was made up from letters from the Masters, it is to be inferred he
desires it to be understood that the devachanic period is in each and every
case fifteen centuries; but to do away with that misapprehension his informants
wrote at a later date that that is the average period and not a fixed one. »
(Chapter 13)
Later, when a person asked:
Since the time spent in physical life is the time of actual progress and
the time spent in Devachan is merely a time of rest, or, at most, digestion,
why should the law of evolution require such a vast disproportion of time to be
wasted in Devachan — a disproportion of some thing like eight thousand years of
rest to less than one hundred years of work?
William Judge replied:
« The general
proportion as I have always known of it between earth-life and Devachan is that
between 70 years of life and 1,500 years in Devachan. Further it is known that
many persons emerge from the Devachanic state very soon after entering it.
A reflection on the fact that the
years of our life are full of thoughts attached in vast numbers to every single
act will show why Devachan is so much longer than earth-life. The disproportion
between the act done and the thoughts intimately belonging to it is enormous,
and, compared with Devachan as related to earth-life, it is vast.
In Devachan these thoughts, which
could never find but the very smallest fraction of expression in this life,
must exhaust and can be exhausted nowhere else. This is what is required, not
by evolution, but by thought itself. And those who have but little aspiration
here, who indulge in act more than thought, lay but little basis for Devachan,
and hence emerge from it sooner than others. »
(Echoes of the Orient II, p.311)
And when a reader questioned him about the apparent contradiction
between what the different theosophical instructors said, William Judge
answered the following:
« A correspondent
writes to say that there seems to be some confusion or contradiction in
theosophical literature and among theosophical writers in respect to the length
of time a person stays in Devachan, and cites the statement by Mr. Sinnett that
the number of years is 1500, while I am quoted as giving a shorter time.
Two things should be always
remembered. First, that Mr. Sinnett in writing on Devachan in Esoteric Buddhism was
repeating his own understanding of what Mme. Blavatsky's teachers had
communicated through her to him — a copy of each letter being kept and now
accessible, and he might very easily make an error in a subject with which he
was not at all familiar; second, that only the Adepts who gave out the
information could possibly know the exact number of years for which any course
of life would compel one to remain in the Devachanic state; and as those Adepts
have spoken in other places on this subject, the views of Mr. Sinnett must be
read in connection with those superior utterances.
There is in reality no confusion
save in the way different students have taken the theory, and always the
mistakes that have arisen flow from hastiness as well as inaccuracy in dealing
with the matter as a theory which involves a knowledge of the laws of mental
action.
In Key to Theosophy (p.143, 158), H.P. Blavatsky
says, "The stay in Devachan depends on the degree of spirituality and the
merit or demerit of the last incarnation. The average time is from 1000 to 1500
years". . . "Whether that interval lasts one year or a million."
Here the average time means
"the time for the average person who has any devachanic tendencies,"
for many "average persons" have no such tendencies; and the remark on
p. 158 gives a possible difference of 500 years. This is exactly in accord with
the theory, because in a matter which depends on the subtle action of mind
solely it would be very difficult — and for most of us impossible — to lay down
exact figures.
But the Adept K.H., who wrote
most of the letters on which Mr. Sinnett's treatment of Devachan was based,
wrote other letters, two of which were published in The
Path, in Vol. 5 in 1890, without signature. The authorship of those Notes on Devachan is now
divulged. They were attributed to "X." He says:
"The 'dream of Devachan'
lasts until Karma is satisfied in that
direction. In Devachan there is a gradual exhaustion of force.
"The stay in Devachan is proportionate to the unexhausted
psychic impulses originating in earth life. Those whose attractions
were preponderatingly material will
be sooner brought back into rebirth by the force of Tanha."
Very clearly in this, as was
always taught, it is stated that the going into Devachan depends upon psychic
(which here means spiritual and of the nature of soul) thoughts of earth life. So
he who has not originated many such impulses will have but little basis or
force in him to throw his higher principles into the Devachanic state.
And the second paragraph of his
letter shows that the materialistic thinker, having laid down no spiritual or
psychic basis of thought, is "sooner brought back to rebirth by the force
of Tanha," which means the pulling or magnetic force of the thirst for
life inherent in all beings and fixed in the depths of their essential nature.
In such a case the average rule
has no application, since the whole effect either way is due to a balancing of
forces and is the outcome of action and reaction. And this sort of a
materialistic thinker might emerge to rebirth out of the Devachanic state in
about a month, because we have to allow for the expending of certain psychic
impulses generated in childhood before materialism obtained full sway.
But as every one varies in his
force and in respect to the impulses he may generate, some of this class might
stay in the Devachanic state one, five, ten, twenty years, and so on, in
accordance with the power of the forces generated in earth life.
For these reasons, and having had
H.P.B.'s views ever since 1875 on the subject, I wrote in Path,
V. 5, 1890, p. 190, "In the first place I have never believed that the
period given by Mr. Sinnett in Esoteric
Buddhism of 1500 years for the stay in that state was a fixed fact
in nature. It might be fifteen minutes as well as 1500 years. But it is quite
likely that for the majority of those who so constantly wish for a release and
for an enjoyment of heaven, the period would be more than 1500 years."
This contradicts nothing unless
Mr. Sinnett shall be shown as saying positively that every man and woman is
bound by an arbitrary inflexible rule to stay 1500 years — no more nor less —
in the Devachanic state; and this it is quite unlikely he could say, since it
would involve a contradiction of the whole philosophy of man's nature in which
he has faith. And what was said in vol. 5 of Path
accords with the views of those Adepts who have written on the subject, as well
as with the very ancient teachings thereupon in the Bhagavad-Gita and elsewhere.
In everyday life many
illustrations can be found of the operation upon living men of the same force
which puts disembodied man into Devachan. The artist, poet, musician, and day-dreamer
constantly show it. When rapt in melody, composition, color arrangement, and
even foolish fancy, they are in a sort of living Devachanic state wherein they
often lose consciousness of time and sense impressions.
Their stay in that condition
depends, as we well know, on the impulses toward it which they have amassed. If
they were not subject to the body and its forces they might remain years in
their "dream." The same laws, applied to the man divested of a body,
will give us exactly the results for Devachan.
But no one save a trained
mathematical Adept could sum up the forces and give us the total number of
years or minutes which might measure Devachan. On the Adepts, therefore, we
have to depend for a specific time-statement, and they have declared 1000 to
1500 years to be a good general average.
This will therefore result in
giving us what may be known as the general Cycle
of Reincarnation for the average mass of units in any civilization.
By means of this a very good approximation may be made toward forecasting the
probable development of national thought, if we work back century by century,
or by decades of this century, for fifteen hundred years in history. »
(The Path, March 1893, p.369-372,
Echoes of the Orient I, p.336-339)
OBSERVATIONS
Currently, the world life
expectancy on Earth is around 72 years, but that figure is only an average that
encompasses great differences, because there are those who die within a few
days, and there are those who die having more than one hundred years. And also
in the different regions of the planet the average varies a lot because while
in developed countries, it is getting closer and closer to 80 years, however in
Africa it is only 55 years.
And all these differences also
have to be considered in the average Life in the Devachan. The Masters told Blavatsky
that the average was 1000 to 1500 years (1500 years for moderately spiritual
people, and 1000 years for moderately materialistic people). But this
corresponded to how humanity was at the end of the 19th century.
And since then the world life
expectancy has increased, education has become more widespread, and access to
spiritual and esoteric teachings has become widespread. I suspect that this
average has now become longer.
However, to say that it is
usually about 1500 years seems to be still adequate, but always keep in mind
that it is only an average, which includes large differences.
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