Where have we got to so far? We have looked at the casual world in general and its lowest subplane. From the densely populated Fifth Heaven, we now move into a less crowded world, as if leaving a bustling city for a peaceful countryside. Currently, only a small minority of individuals have reached this higher level, where even the least advanced are self-conscious and aware of their surroundings.
This monad is capable, to some extent, of reviewing the past that it has experienced and is aware of the purpose and method of evolution. The monad knows it is involved in self-development and recognises the stages of physical and post-mortem life through which it passes in its lower vehicles.
The individual sees the personality it is associated with as a part of itself. It uses its past experiences to form clear and unchanging principles of behaviour, guiding and directing the lower mind with these principles.
During the earlier part of a soul’s life on this level, it might struggle to logically explain the basis of the principles it wants to convey to its lower mind. However, despite this, it manages to make an impression so that abstract concepts like truth, justice, and honour become unquestioned and dominant ideas in its lower mental life. The principles are so deeply embedded in the soul’s being that, regardless of the circumstances or temptations, going against them is impossible. These principles are the essence of the soul.
As the soul successfully guides its lower vehicle, its knowledge of that vehicle and its actions is often imprecise and unclear. It has a vague understanding of the lower planes, knowing their principles rather than their specifics. Part of its development on this subplane involves increasingly and consciously connecting with the personality, which imperfectly represents it below.
Only those intentionally seeking spiritual growth reside on this sub-plane, and as a result, they have become highly receptive to influences from the planes above them. Communication expands and intensifies, allowing a more abundant flow of influence. As a result of this influence, thoughts become remarkably clear and penetrating, even in less developed people. This manifests in the lower mind as a tendency towards philosophical and abstract thinking.
In the more highly evolved, the vision is far-reaching: it ranges with clear insight over the past, recognising the causes set up, their working out, and what remains of their effects have still to be exhausted.
Souls living on this plane have great growth opportunities when freed from the physical body. Here, they can receive guidance from more advanced entities and connect directly with their teachers. Thoughts are communicated not through mental images but through a radiant luminosity that is difficult to describe. The essence of an idea travels from one soul to another like a shining star, with its connections appearing as light waves emanating from a central source and requiring no separate explanation. A thought here is like a light in a room: it illuminates everything around it without needing words to describe it.
In the Sixth Heaven, a person can see the immense treasures of the Divine Mind in creative action and can study the original patterns of all the forms gradually taking shape in the lower worlds. They can untangle the issues related to the manifestation of those patterns, as well as understand how what may appear as partial good to those limited by physical existence can be perceived as evil. With a broader perspective at this level, natural phenomena take on their appropriate relative significance, and an individual can comprehend the reasons behind the divine methods as they pertain to the development of the lower worlds.
We now move onto the last and highest subplane of the mental envelope, the seventh heaven. This highest level of the heavenly realm has only a few inhabitants from our humanity, as it is inhabited exclusively by the Masters of Wisdom and Compassion, along with their initiated disciples.
In a letter from a Master, it was mentioned that understanding the state of the First and Second Elemental Kingdoms, which are on the causal and lower mental planes, is impossible for anyone but an Initiate. Therefore, we cannot expect to successfully describe them on the physical plane. The beauty of form, colour, and sound on the causal plane is indescribable in mortal language, as there are no words to express the radiant splendours.
When we reach the seventh heaven, we encounter a level that is cosmic in its scope. This level, the atomic part of our mental plane, is the lowest sub-plane of the mental envelope of the Planetary Logos. On this level, we may encounter many entities that cannot be adequately described by human language. For our current purposes, we will set aside the vast array of beings that exist on a cosmic scale and focus solely on the inhabitants specific to the mental plane of our Chain of Worlds.
Those on this sub-plane have achieved mental evolution, allowing their higher aspect to shine through the lower aspect. They have lifted the veil of illusion created by their personalities and understand that their lower nature does not define them but rather use it as a vehicle for experience.
In the less evolved individuals, they may still have the power to hinder and restrain, but they can never make the mistake of confusing the body with the true self within. They are saved from this mistake because they carry their consciousness not only from day to day but from one lifetime to another, so past lives are not just memories but are always present in their consciousness. They feel these past lives as one continuous life rather than separate lives. On this sub-plane, the soul is conscious of the lower heaven-world, as well as their own. If they have any manifestations there, such as a thought form in the heaven-life of their friends, they can make full use of them.
On the third sub-plane, and even in the lower part of the second, the soul’s consciousness of the sub-planes below it was still dim, and its action in the thought form was largely instinctive and automatic. But as soon as it got well into the second sub-plane, its vision rapidly became clearer, and it recognised the thought forms with pleasure as vehicles through which it was able to express more of itself in certain ways than it could do through its personality.
Now that the soul is functioning within the causal envelope amidst the magnificent light and splendour of the highest heaven, its consciousness is instantaneously and perfectly active at any point in the lower divisions to which it wills to direct it. Therefore, it can intentionally project additional energy into such a thought form when it wishes to use it for the purpose of teaching. From this highest level of the mental plane come most of the influences poured out by the Masters of Wisdom as they work for the evolution of the human race. They act directly on the souls of humanity, shedding upon them the inspiring energies that stimulate spiritual growth, enlighten the intellect, and purify emotions.
Genius receives its illumination from here, where all upward efforts find their guidance. Just as the sun’s rays fall everywhere from one centre and each recipient uses them according to its nature, so the Elder Monads of the race bestow light and life upon all humanity, fulfilling their function. Each individual uses as much as they can assimilate, thereby growing and evolving. As everywhere else, the highest glory of the heavenly realm lies in the glory of service. Those who have completed mental evolution are the sources from which strength flows to those still climbing.
On the three higher levels of the mental plane, one can find the hosts of formless devas, known as arupa devas, who do not possess any envelope denser than the causal. Describing the nature of their life in physical words seems impossible as their existence appears to be fundamentally different from ours. Arupa devas are connected with guiding the worlds, races, and nations.
There is also a very limited group of people who, on the higher levels of the mental plane, have been “sorcerers” in the past. Their higher intellect has been awakened, and they now understand the concept of unity. They recognise that they have been on the wrong path and that it is impossible to hold back the world from progressing on the upward arc. Due to their past karma, they are still bound to work on the side of disintegration. However, their motive has changed, and they now strive to use their forces against those who need to struggle against resistance in their spiritual life. Marie Corelli, in her book “The Sorrows of Satan”, seems to have perceived this truth. The Satan described in the book is always glad when he is defeated and rejoices when a person proves themselves spiritual enough to resist.
In the Hindu Puranas, it is acknowledged that individuals may reach a high level of knowledge and then reincarnate to atone for past deeds by taking on the role of an adversary of good, as seen with Ravana. They are driven by past karma to embody the negative forces of the world in order to ultimately vanquish them. Ravana’s story in the Ramayana is not just a tale of good versus evil but also explores themes of power, ambition, and the consequences of one’s actions, reflecting the complex nature of human ethics and morality. Similar concepts can be found in other religions as well.
In the next presentation, we will examine Trishna, the cause of reincarnation.