Consciousness and Experience in Kama Loka

“Just beyond the threshold of human life there is a place of separation wherein the better part of man is divided from his lower and brute elements, . . . consider what is the state after death of the real being, the immortal who travels from life to life. Struggling out of the body the entire man goes into kama loka, to purgatory, where he again struggles and loosens himself from the lower skandhas; this period of birth over, the higher principles, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, begin to think in a manner different from that which the body and brain permitted in life. This is the state of Devachan, . . .”
(William Q. Judge, “The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 109)

Many students of the Esoteric Philosophy imagine that one’s time spent in Kama Loka (literally, the “place of desire,” “world of desire,” or “desire realm”) during the first stage of the after-death processes is passed consciously, or at least with some degree of consciousness of what is going on. Many also seem to think that the period of Kama Loka is one of conscious suffering. The writings on this subject by William Q. Judge and Robert Crosbie lend some support for this, or at least for the first point.

Many tend to be surprised, therefore, when realising that H. P. Blavatsky and the Masters of the Trans-Himalayan Esoteric School repeatedly emphasise that for the vast majority of people, Kama Loka is passed through entirely unconsciously. Kama Loka, the “second death” that occurs therein, and the Gestation State which follows it, are all gone through in complete unconsciousness, with very few exceptions, say HPB and her Adept-Teachers.

Let us see their exact statements about this:

“The spirit is dazed after death and falls very soon into what we call “pre-devachanic unconsciousness.“” (H. P. Blavatsky, “The Key to Theosophy” p. 151)

“According to the Eastern teaching the state of the deceased in Kama-loka is not what we, living men, would recognise as “conscious.” It is rather that of a person stunned and dazed by a violent blow, who has momentarily “lost his senses.” Hence in Kama-loka there is as a rule (apart from vicarious life and consciousness awakened through contact with mediums) no recognition of friends or relatives, . . .

“The process of stripping off the lower, the fourth and part of the fifth, principles is an unconscious one in all normal human beings. It is only in very exceptional cases that there is a slight return to consciousness in Kama-loka: and this is the case of very materialistic unspiritual personalities, who, devoid of the conditions requisite, cannot enter the state of absolute Rest and Bliss [i.e. who will not have a Devachanic state].” (HPB, “Some Old Questions Answered”)

“Reviving consciousness begins after the struggle in Kama-loka at the door of Devachan, and only after the “gestation period.”” (Master K.H., “The Mahatma Letters” p. 199-200)

“In Kama Loka those who retain their remembrance, will not enjoy it at the supreme hour of recollection. — Those who know they are dead in their physical body — can only be either adepts or — sorcerers; and these two are the exceptions to the general rule. Both having been “co-workers with nature,” the former for good, the latter — for bad, in her work of creation and in that of destruction, they are the only ones who may be called immortal — in the Kabalistic and the esoteric sense of course. Complete or true immortality, — which means an unlimited sentient existence, can have no breaks and stoppages, no arrest of Self consciousness. And even the shells of those good men whose page will not be found missing in the great Book of Lives at the threshold of the Great Nirvāna, even they will regain their remembrance and an appearance of Self consciousness, only after the sixth and seventh principles with the essence of the 5th (the latter having to furnish the material for even that partial recollection of personality which is necessary for the object in Deva Chan) — have gone to their gestation period, not before. Even in the case of suicides, and those who have perished by violent death, even in their case, consciousness requires a certain time to establish its new centre of gravity, and evolve, as Sir W. Hamilton would have it — its “perception proper” . . . Thus, when man dies, his “Soul” (fifth prin.) becomes unconscious and loses all remembrance of things internal as well as external. Whether his stay in Kama Loka has to last but a few moments, hours, days, weeks, months or years; whether he died a natural or a violent death; whether it occurred in his young or old age, and, whether the Ego was good, bad or indifferent — his consciousness leaves him as suddenly as the flame leaves the wick, when blown out. When life has retired from the last particle in the brain matter, his perceptive faculties become extinct forever, his spiritual powers of cogitation and volition . . . — for the time being.” (Master K.H., “The Mahatma Letters” p. 128)

Another reason why some find these statements surprising is that Theosophy maintains that no being, as no form of life, is ever or can ever be truly and fully unconscious. Instead, it is a fundamental teaching that we are Consciousness itself and that we are always conscious on at least some level of our being. Even a rock is said to have its own type of consciousness and perception, unconscious though it may seem to us.

The question then arises of what exactly HPB and the Masters of Wisdom mean when saying that “the process of stripping off [in Kama Loka] is an unconscious one in all normal human beings,” “It is only in very exceptional cases that there is a slight return to consciousness in Kama-loka,” and other such statements.

We would propose – and this is merely a hypothesis, to which no special authority should be attached – that the quoted excerpts may actually be primarily referring to lucidity under the term “consciousness.” We will see shortly that there is a parallel between Earth life — Kama Loka — Devachan and the three basic states of consciousness which we all pass through every day: Waking — Dreaming — Deep, Dreamless Sleep.

If this is so, our familiar experience of the dream state may help to shed some light on the condition within Kama Loka.

Are we conscious in our dreams? Yes and no. There is a certain type of illusory perception taking place in them but there is no lucidity, or clarity of conscious awareness and understanding. This is evidenced by the fact that our dreams frequently include absurdities, impossibilities, wild inaccuracies, anachronisms (such as persons who died decades ago still being alive, or ourselves still being children, etc.) without us even realising it. We are so absorbed in and consumed by the dream that we could well be said to be temporarily “lost” in it. The events in the dream also occur almost entirely automatically, so that it is more like a peculiar video or performance – typically fuelled by our waking thoughts, desires, feelings, emotions, anxieties, fears, and memories – unfolding and playing out before us, rather than something in which we are consciously and cognitively taking part.

It is usually only when we reawaken on this physical, earthly plane that we reassume lucidity. We then almost instantly realise and comprehend that we had been caught up unwittingly in somnolent reveries and delusions.

The exception to this is those occasions – only experienced by a few – where one becomes conscious within a dream and realises that it is a dream. This is quite aptly termed “lucid dreaming.” It has also been called “conscious dreaming,” for the usual type of dreaming involves a certain type of perception but is in reality unconscious, paradoxical though that may sound. When lucid dreaming kicks in – or if one enters into a dream with lucidity – one finds oneself able to think, speak, act, function, and use one’s will therein in just the same way as one does here on this plane in waking life. The contrast shows us that in ordinary dreams, none of that is possible.

It is probably the case that for the majority of the deceased in Kama Loka, there is even less coherence, sense, and order than in our often-confused dreams. But just as the dreamer does not know or even consider that there is any other reality than that of their current dream, the one in Kama Loka will likely not know anything other than the jumbled, chaotic, and typically degraded contents of their own desires and passional nature.

At least when we are dreaming, the physical brain still plays a part and has a role, whereas after death the link with the brain and everything else physical has been permanently severed, until the next incarnation when a brand new brain and body will be karmically manufactured.

Of course, this may not actually be what HPB and the Mahatmas meant by unconsciousness supervening between the life review at the moment of departure and the entry into the self-created, heavenly, blissful state called Devachan. But, if one views William Judge and Robert Crosbie as esoteric authorities who knew fairly well what they were talking about – and we have HPB’s direct attestation that “Judge – KNOWS.” – the quotes which follow may be seen to back up and support what we have proposed. They may also help to bring a clearer, deeper, and more practical understanding of this intriguing and universally relevant subject of the purgatorial intermediate stage than one might otherwise have. A few other aspects of the after-death states are touched upon in this compilation too.

It needs to always be remembered, as all the Theosophical sources stipulate, that whilst one explanation may apply to the majority of human beings, there is no “one size fits all” explanation, definition, or description. There are always exceptions to every general rule, for no two individuals’ Karma is exactly identical, and for some it is extremely different indeed.

If you are new or newish to Theosophy, you will probably find it more helpful to first read Death and The Afterlife, followed by When We Die, and to try to meditatively form for yourself a mental “picture” or imagination – hazy and imperfect as that will inevitably be for all of us – of what is being described. This is beneficial to do with all the Theosophical teachings, for unless we comprehend and assimilate them at a deeper level than the mere words on a page (or screen) we cannot hope to ever truly grasp or appreciate them.

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“Kamaloka (Sk.). The semi-material plane, to us subjective and invisible, where the disembodied “personalities”, the astral forms, called Kamarupa remain, until they fade out from it by the complete exhaustion of the effects of the mental impulses that created these eidolons of human and animal passions and desires; (See “Kamarupa”.) It is the Hades of the ancient Greeks and the Amenti of the Egyptians, the land of Silent Shadows; a division of the first group of the Trailôkya. (See “Kamadhâtu”.)” (H. P. Blavatsky, “The Theosophical Glossary” p. 171-172)

“Kama loka — or the place of desire — is the astral region penetrating and surrounding the earth. As a place it is on and in and about the earth. Its extent is to a measurable distance from the earth, but the ordinary laws obtaining here do not obtain there, and entities therein are not under the same conditions as to space and time as we are. As a state it is metaphysical, though that metaphysic relates to the astral plane. It is called the plane of desire because it relates to the fourth principle, and in it the ruling force is desire devoid of and divorced from intelligence. It is an astral sphere intermediate between earthly and heavenly life. Beyond any doubt it is the origin of the Christian theory of purgatory, . . .

“The soul may be detained in kama loka by the enormous force of some unsatisfied desire, and cannot get rid of the astral and kamic clothing until that desire is satisfied by some one on earth or by the soul itself. But if the person was pure minded and of high aspirations, the separation of the principles on that plane is soon completed, permitting the higher triad to go into Devachan. Being the purely astral sphere, it partakes of the nature of the astral matter which is essentially earthly and devilish, and in it all the forces work undirected by soul or conscience.

“It is the slag-pit, as it were, of the great furnace of life, where nature provides for the sloughing off of elements which have no place in Devachan, and for that reason it must have many degrees, every one of which was noted by the ancients. . . . Human life is very varied as to character and other potentialities, and for each of these the appropriate place after death is provided, thus making kama loka an infinitely varied sphere. . . . in kama loka all the hidden desires and passions are let loose in consequence of the absence of body, and for that reason the state is vastly more diversified than the life plane. Not only is it necessary to provide for the natural varieties and differences, but also for those caused by the manner of death, about which something shall be said.

“And all these various divisions are but the natural result of the life thoughts and last thoughts of the persons who die on earth. It is beyond the scope of this work to go into a description of all these degrees, inasmuch as volumes would be needed to describe them, and then but few would understand.” (William Q. Judge, “The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 100-101)

“Kama-loka means the plane or place of Desire. Doubt and Desire seem to go together; for wanting a thing implies the doubt of getting it, and intensity of doubt is expressed in fear. So Desire, Doubt, and Fear are the characteristics of the Kama-lokic state. I think we may have these about anything in life, and in accordance with our intensity attract similar energies from the Kama-lokic state, whether emanating from living or dead personalities. Lengthy periods of doubt and fear are more intensive than shorter ones in their drawing power and subsequent effects. We enter that current and receive from that plane so long as we hold on to it. But there is the other side — we can desire nothing for ourselves and determine to accept what comes. Events and conditions come and go, and no amount of desiring will prevent their coming or hinder their going. Taking this attitude, we live in the Eternal and watch the wheel of Progress called change with neither desire, fear nor doubt to assail us.

“When we desire anything, the thing itself is not what we want, but the feeling that the thing gives us; if the thing gave us no “feeling,” we would not desire it. To do service is also “feeling,” but how different in its effects — beneficial instead of harmful reactions.

“What will we do when we hear and see what is in Kama-loka? I think that when we arrive at that stage, we shall know we are looking at a condition, and will not be identified with it, unless we should choose to plunge into it in order to “feel” the state. Those in it know nothing but the desires and passions which animate them, think of nothing else; to them there is no other state.” (Robert Crosbie, “The Friendly Philosopher” p. 51-52)

“When one is said to be asleep, the Manas or mind is no longer receiving nor transmitting impressions through the body; he passes into the dreamless state, where he functions as a spiritually self-conscious being until the cycle of return comes to function through the body again.

“Now if we regard death as a more complete sleep, a final one for that body, the Ego would simply cease forever to function through that body; the linga sarira or “form” astral would immediately begin to disintegrate, remaining with the body until its last particle, except the skeleton, is dissipated. [Note: Likewise, the condition of the Linga Sharira during sleep, says HPB, “is to sleep with its body, . . . In dreams it plays no active part, but on the contrary is entirely passive, being the involuntarily half-sleepy witness of the experiences through which the higher principles are passing.” (“Transactions of The Blavatsky Lodge” p. 76)]

“The Ego, however, is no more tied to the one than to the other; the Kama Rupa, or desire form, aggregates itself from the skandhas or tendencies of the lower nature clothed in astral matter (not the linga sarira), and the Ego ascends to Devachan clothed in his highest essence. The Kama Rupa quickly or slowly fades out, according to the grossness of the nature of the man in life, but its “seeds” remain, awaiting the return of the Ego from Devachan.

“As the Ego while inhabiting a body, and during the sleep of the body, may ascend to Devachanic regions without hindrance by the fact of the existence of that body or the desires pertaining to it, so, after the death of the body, the Ego is not held by the disintegrating process of his lower principles, but may quickly pass through the kama-lokic (dreaming) to the Devachanic state.

“The kama-rupa is but the mass of desires and passions, abandoned by the real person who has fled to “heaven.” Yet, as some dream more than others and in different ways, there is a period of greater or less extent before the segregation of the kama-rupa is complete, before the Triad is entirely free [i.e. to move beyond the astral realm to the spiritual state of Devachanic bliss].” (Robert Crosbie, “The Friendly Philosopher” p. 143-144)

“The Kama Rupa is only formed after death, and is, as the name implies, the “body of desire”, . . . just as we died out of the physical body in which we created the tendencies of the Kama Rupa, so we in time die out of the Kama Rupa [i.e. the “second death”] and ascend to the Devachanic state or condition.

“Neither in Kama-loka, nor in Devachan, have we the power to throw off the tendencies we have created during our lifetime in the body; in one, we experience the evil effects, and in the other the good effects of “the life last lived”. The only time we have in which to establish good causes is during life-time in the body.

“Q. Does dying out of the Kama-Rupa end those desires?

“A. It does not. If we have not corrected or eliminated those “desires” during our life-time, we will have the tendency to do as we did before, when we once more enter a new physical body. These “desires” are not caused by the physical body, the astral body or Kama Rupa, but by ourselves as conscious beings while occupying a body. There is no salvation after death.” (Robert Crosbie, “Answers To Questions on The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 83-84)

“The harvest was sown during the earth life last past; during the life time there was a reaping all the time of causes sown in a previous life, and during the life being lived; at death, the sum total of all the thoughts, feelings, desires and tendencies held during life remain as the basis or cause for the subjective kama-lokic and devachanic states; the effects of these are then worked out subjectively, these “effects” of the earth-life becoming then the “cause” of the “effects” experienced subjectively in the after-death states. Sowing and reaping in the field of objective existence provides the “seed” for the subjective after-death states, karma operating continuously in all states.” (Robert Crosbie, “Answers To Questions on The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 115)

“As the after-death states of Kama-Loka and Devachan are the effects of the life last lived, and are both personal in experience, they cannot properly be called higher planes. Kama-Loka and Devachan represent respectively the “low” and the “high” subjective states of the life last lived as a person.” (Robert Crosbie, “Answers To Questions on The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 117)

“There is no positive or definite rule which applies invariably to every being after death. Consequently there are many different kinds of states in “Kama-Loka.” Some people are aware that they left the earth, others are unaware of it; some are able to see those they have left behind, others not; and certainly everybody in Kama-Loka is able to see all that pertains to the particular division of that state in which he may be at the time. . . . But one thing may be asserted as positively so, or else the whole system is at fault, and that is that the being in Kama-Loka sees whatever pertains to the state in which he is, as it is all a question of state.”(William Q. Judge, “Forum Answers” p. 79)

“It should be understood that the after-death states of Kama-Loka and Devachan are wholly personal in their nature. The sloughing off of the purely terrestrial desires and passions is Kama-Loka; the assimilation and enjoyment of all that was best in the life last lived, is the Devachanic condition. Both states are Subjective, that is — the being in both states is occupied with his own thoughts, desires and feelings; is not aware of the presence of other beings, nor in contact with them. The world he lives in is peopled by his own creations, which are as real to him as were the physical beings he moved among during his bodily existence. Having had his varied experience in the physical world, he leaves the body which served him as the means of contact with physical beings and lives in the desires, feelings and thoughts which his contact with the physical plane had engendered. At death — of which the being is not aware, being still his conscious thinking self — the thoughts prevailing are those that sprung from his relations with others in bodies and necessarily relate to his desires — this is Kama-Loka, the place or state of Desire. As his purely physical desires are not reinforced or stimulated by contact with other beings, they gradually die out, and his higher ideals and attributes remain as the basis for the Devachanic state, a state where no thought of sin, sorrow, suffering or death can enter, or even that such things exist. In both states he feels himself to be the same person, obtains his compensation for the sorrows of life in Devachan and assimilates in that state the best of his life last lived, adding the result to his inner egoic nature. Then a new birth based upon the unexpended causes generated during previous lives.” (Robert Crosbie, “Answers To Questions on The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 120-121)

“In the after-death states . . . They fluctuate between the best and the worst of the lives they have lived. Devachan means the best and finest of the life last lived; Kama-Loka, the worst: both are personal. Life in the body is the cause in these two states.” (Robert Crosbie, “Answers To Questions on The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 245)

“Kama Loka being a state and not a place, there is no “passage” through it. No doubt in some cases, if two beings are in the Kama Loka state at the same time, and for similar reasons, and with the same magnetic currents, they may recognize each other. But as Kama Loka is the state in which the Soul is freeing itself from the astral body and the passions and desires, it cannot with ease be concerned with any other process than that one; and hence, in the sense of the question as put, there is no recognition, although the being has what it may suppose to be a recognition of friends and enemies. In Kama Loka all its old thoughts take shape, and torment the soul if the life has been evil, or merely temporarily detain it if the opposite has been the case.” (William Q. Judge, “Forum Answers” p. 51)

“But the degrees of kama loka provide for the many varieties of [unnatural and premature deaths]. Some pass the period in great suffering, others in a dreamy sort of sleep, each according to the moral responsibility. But executed criminals are in general thrown out of life full of hate and revenge, smarting under a penalty they do not admit the justice of. They are ever rehearsing in kama loka their crime, their trial, their execution, and their revenge. And whenever they can gain touch with a sensitive living person, medium or not, they attempt to inject thoughts of murder and other crime into the brain of such unfortunate. And that they succeed in such attempts the deeper students of Theosophy full well know.

“We have now approached devachan. After a certain time in kama loka the being falls into a state of unconsciousness [i.e. the “gestation state” or “gestation period”] which precedes the change into the next state. It is like the birth into life, preluded by a term of darkness and heavy sleep. It then wakes to the joys of devachan.” (William Q. Judge, “The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 108)

“Q. Then the Kama lokic plane is the astral plane?

“A. It is. We don’t go to any particular locality to reach it, any more than we go anywhere in our dreaming state. Simply, we are in that state. And Kama loka is like the dreaming state, in that it is temporary; when the energy that caused the dreams, whether good or bad, is used up, the man goes into his own nature as a person. . . .

“We are, or may be in Kama loka right now as we feel, but we are not Kama rupas. A man plunged into a state of gloom is in Kama loka just as much as though he had disposed of his body. . . . Let us remember all the time that we, as Consciousness, are working in and upon substance; we are not to mistake the forms produced by Consciousness for the Consciousness itself.

“Q. How soon does the Real Man leave the Kama lokic state?

“A. The Real Man is for only a short time after the death of the body connected with the Kama rupa; during that time, he is tied to it much as he may be to the physical body at the present time; but he almost immediately lets go of this Kamic body, just as he has let go of the physical. The Real Man, in ordinary cases, goes practically at once into the Devachanic state. The Kama rupa begins to disintegrate immediately, and continues to disintegrate very quickly, if it is not reinforced by mediumistic and other practices.

“Q. Could there not be some cases in which the Real Man would be detained in. Kama loka?

“A. The higher principles of an absolute materialist, or of one who has taken the first steps toward black magic, are still actually connected with the Kama rupa, but, otherwise, only some sort of an internal desire for something, strongly held, could detain the Ego. This would not generally be the case, for when the body dies, the seats of the desires, that is, the organs, lose their power of excitation. The memory of every cell and every organ fades out, when they are no longer part of an organic being, and so no further desire arises. There might be a period of only five minutes, fifteen minutes, or a year, when our desires would run along the lines that we had held during life, but they cannot renew themselves very well, since there is no seat for their operation. Only some very strong unsatisfied desire holds a Kama rupa in being for a long time, and the desire body may be renewed only by some extraneous pressure. Even if a Kama rupa existed as a coherent mass of tendencies for hundreds of years, it would not mean that the Ego was connected with it. . . .

“Q. Does the Kamic body exist then as an entity separate and apart from the man who left it?

“A. . . . When the [physical] body is occupied, the man is there — the controlling power. When he drops the body, the body remains what it was. When he drops his astral body in Kama loka, it remains just as he left it. He is not himself detained in Kamaloka [i.e. after the “second death” occurs], but his remains are there, as are here his remains on the physical plane, for a longer or shorter time or duration. The remains are not conscious in any way; they are useless to the man and uncontrollable by him. . . . in fact, he is not there at all.

“Q. Is there any suffering in Kama loka?

“A. Not for the Ego. The desires and passions that make up the Kama rupa go back to their own natures rendered all the happier for the change. They belong to the animal or Kamic world, not to astral matter. . . .

“Q. Would you say that the Kama lokic condition is merely a continuance of the physical existence, in the sense that so many of our dreams are?

“A. In the majority of cases, one who dies a natural death has a Kama lokic existence analogous in time to the dreaming state which precedes deep sleep, but feelings and desires, along the lines of envy, revenge, anger, lust, are left there as forces, which keep on operating after the man has no further touch with them. He meets the results of these operations when he returns.” (Robert Crosbie, “Answers To Questions on The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 163-166)

“Every night we go, as well as into our real being, through the intermediate states of kama loka and devachan, in an intensified degree. It is an intermission for the Ego from earthly perceptions, but nevertheless the Ego is still connected with earth-life and the physical body. The effort during physical life is that of the Ego. The progress gained is the harvest of the Ego. It is in earth-life he establishes his chain of causes. The personality is merely the field in which the Ego works [Note: Remember the 13th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, on the distinction between “the field” or kshetra and “the knower of the field” or kshetrajna.].

“During life, there is an intermittent coming and going through the states of sleep for the Ego, but on the death of the body, there is a long period which represents a general cleaning up, so to say, of all the personal states of the life last lived, and a limitation to effect states.

“The personal thoughts have to be worked out, and not until devachan is exhausted does the Ego again enter into its own state and know what is to come from what has been. In life, every night he enters that spiritual state, his own true nature. Connection between Lower and Higher Manas must be made during life in a body; it can not be made at any other time. After death, it is only the effects naturally ensuing from the life last lived that must be worked out to their residuum, and in these the Ego is detained from his own true nature, which, however, before returning to earth life, he resumes for a time.” (Robert Crosbie, “Answers To Questions on The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 175)

In this latter quote, Crosbie’s reference to one’s Higher Ego “again entering into its own state” or “resuming his own true nature for a time” between the Devachanic period and rebirth into this world is based on p. 162-163 of “The Key to Theosophy,” where H. P. Blavatsky explains: “As the man at the moment of death has a retrospective insight into the life he has led, so, at the moment he is reborn on earth, the Ego, awaking from the state of Devachan, has a prospective vision of the life which awaits him, and realizes all the causes that have led to it. He realizes them and sees futurity, because it is between Devachan and re-birth that the Ego regains his full manasic consciousness, and rebecomes for a short time the god he was, before, in compliance with Karmic law, he first descended into matter and incarnated in the first man of flesh.”

“Q. Can there be any connection between a dreamer and an entity in “Kama Loka”?

“A. The dreamer of an entity in Kama Loka would probably bring upon himself a nightmare, or would run the risk of becoming “possessed” by the “spook” so attracted, if he happened to be a medium, or one who had made himself so passive during his waking hours that even his higher Self is now unable to protect him. This is why the mediumistic state of passivity is so dangerous, and in time renders the Higher Self entirely helpless to aid or even warn the sleeping or entranced person. Passivity paralyzes the connection between the lower and higher principles. It is very rare to find instances of mediums who, while remaining passive at will, for the purpose of communicating with some higher Intelligence, some exterraneous spirit (not disembodied), will yet preserve sufficiently their personal will so as not to break off all connection with the higher Self.

“Q. Can a dreamer be “en rapport” with an entity in Devachan?

“A. The only possible means of communicating with Devachanees is during sleep by a dream or vision, or in trance state. No Devachanee can descend into our plane; it is for us — or rather our inner Self — to ascend to his.” (H. P. Blavatsky, “Transactions of The Blavatsky Lodge” p. 76)

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This article may have raised more questions about various things. Please make use of the site search function (the magnifying glass symbol at the top of the page) and visit the Articles page to see the complete list of over 400 articles covering all aspects of Theosophy and the Theosophical Movement. Some which relate closely to this one include:

Death and The Afterlife, When We Die, What Happens To People Who Commit Suicide?, Your Whole Life Will Flash Before Your Eyes, The Skandhas, The Unseen Effects of Capital Punishment, The Theosophical Explanation of Ghosts, Is Karma Merciful and Compassionate?, A Right Understanding of Reincarnation, Understanding Our Seven Principles, and The Question of The Etheric Body, Astral Body, and Other Bodies.