In a similar way his lower Principles, or vehicles, simply relate him to matter, clothe him with a "coat of skin," by means of which he is brought into sensuous contact with material things.

The Ego, then, must remain in Kama Loca until it is freed from sensuous desire, and fitted for the quiet bliss of dreaming Devachan. The actual states of consciousness immediately after death are thus described by Madame H. P. Blavatsky: *

"The Ego receives always according to its deserts. After the dissolution of the body, there commences for it either a period of full, clear consciousness, a state of chaotic dreams, or an utterly dreamless sleep indistinguishable from annihilation; and these are the three states of consciousness. Our physiologists find the cause of dreams and visions in an unconscious preparation for them in our waking hours; why cannot the same be admitted for our Postmortem dreams? I repeat it, death is sleep. After death there begins before the spiritual eyes of the soul a performance according to a programme learned and very often composed unconsciously by ourselves, the practical carrying out of correct belief or illusions which have been created by ourselves. A Methodist will be a Methodist, a Mussulman, a Mussulman, of course just for a time - in a perfect fool's paradise of each man's creation and making."

This is the key - note to these Post - mortem states as struck by a Teacher. We find no foolish nor impossible heaven nor hell described, but states analogous to and built upon our subjective life while in the body. Death is truly a sleep, wherein the dreams are pleasant or horrible according as we lay the foundation for them while in the physical form.

* Lucifer, Jan., '89.

But all Post-mortem states, or even all subjective life, must not be included with those which are analogous to sleep. The opposite poles of being have a common state for the Ego - that of being awake or vividly self-conscious; only at the material pole it is the personality or Kama - Manasic consciousness which is awake, while at the spiritual pole it is the individuality, or Reincarnating Ego, which is in this acutely self-conscious condition. To the consciousness at either extremity, that of the other seems, perhaps, like sleep as compared with its own. But the intervening Kama Loca and devachanic conditions are a true sleep, as compared to both poles; only in Kama Loca the dreams will be "chaotic," while in Devachan they will be as bright and as beautiful as the imagination of the Ego is able to construct out of the material stored up from the altruistic efforts, the spiritual aspirations, and the highest idealizations of its past life.

Passing, now, to the separate consideration of the consciousness in Devachan, it is evident that, being entirely subjective and self - created, in a manner exactly corresponding to dreaming creations while in the body, no two devachanic experiences can be the same The distinction of individuality remains as sharply drawn as while in the body. On attaining consciousness in Devachan we will take up our old life in our dream, without the faintest suspicion that its continuity has been interrupted. But how changed! Pain, suffering, hardships, and sorrow will all have disappeared, as before a magician's wand. Again, as pointed out by Madame Blavatsky: *

"Devachan is an absolute oblivion of all that gave pain or sorrow in the past incarnation, and even oblivion of the fact that such things as pain or sorrow exist at all. The Devachanee lives its intermediate cycle between two incarnations, surrounded by everything it had aspired to in vain, and in the companionship of every one it loved on earth. It has reached the fulfillment of all its soul yearnings. And thus it lives throughout long centuries an existence of unalloyed happiness which is the reward for its sufferings in earth- life. In short, it bathes in a sea of uninterrupted felicity, spanned only by events of still greater felicity in degree.

* Loc. Cit.

"It is with those whom it has lost in the material form, and far, far nearer to them now than when they were alive. And it is not only in the fancy of the Devachanee as some may imagine, but in reality. For pure, divine love is not merely the blossom of a human heart, but has its roots in eternity. Spiritual, holy love is immortal, and Karma brings sooner or later all those who loved each other with such a spiritual affection to incarnate once more in the same family group. Again we say, that love beyond the grave, illusion though you might call it, has a magic and divine potency which reacts on the living. A mother's Ego filled with love for the imaginary children it sees near itself, living a life of happiness, as real to it as when on earth - that love will always be felt by the children of the flesh. It will manifest in their dreams, and often in various events - in providential protections and escapes, for love is a strong shield, and is not limited by space or time."