It will be readily understood that a man who is torn from physical
life hurriedly while in full health and strength, whether by accident
or suicide, finds himself upon the astral plane under conditions
differing considerably from those which surround one who dies either
from old age or from disease. In the latter case the hold of earthly
desires upon the entity is more or less weakened, and probably the
very grossest particles are already got rid of, so that the Kâmarûpa
will most likely form itself on the sixth or fifth subdivision of the
Kâmaloka, or perhaps even higher; the principles have been gradually
prepared for separation, and the shock is therefore not so great. In
the case of the accidental death or suicide none of these preparations
have taken place, and the withdrawal of the principles from their
physical encasement has been very aptly compared to the tearing of the
stone out of an unripe fruit; a great deal of the grossest kind of
astral matter still clings around the personality, which is
consequently held in the seventh or lowest subdivision of the
Kâmaloka. This has already been described as anything but a pleasant
abiding-place, yet it is by no means the same for all those who are
compelled for a time to inhabit it. Those victims of sudden death
whose earth-lives have been pure and noble have no affinity for this
plane, and the time of their sojourn upon it is passed, to quote from
an early Letter on this subject, either "in happy ignorance and full
oblivion, or in a state of quiet slumber, a sleep full of rosy dreams
". But on the other hand, if their earth-lives have been low and
brutal, selfish and sensual, they will, like the suicides, be
conscious to the fullest extent in this undesirable region; and they
are liable to develop into terribly evil entities. Inflamed with all
kinds of horrible appetites which they can no longer satisfy directly
now they are without a physical body, they gratify their loathsome
passions vicariously through a medium or any sensitive person whom
they can obsess; and they take a devilish delight in using all the
arts of delusion which the astral plane puts in their power in order
to lead others into the same excesses which have proved so fatal to
themselves. Quoting again from the same letter:--"These are the
Pisâchas the _incubi_ and _succubæ_ of mediæval writers--demons of
thirst and gluttony, of lust and avarice, of intensified craft,
wickedness and cruelty, provoking their victims to horrible crimes,
and revelling in their commission". From this class and the last are
drawn the tempters--the devils of ecclesiastical literature; but their
power fails utterly before purity of mind and purpose; they can do
nothing with a man unless he has first encouraged in himself the vices
into which they seek to draw him.
One whose psychic sight has been opened will often see crowds of these
unfortunate creatures hanging round butchers' shops, public-houses, or
other even more disreputable places--wherever the gross influences in
which they delight are to be found, and where they encounter men and
women still in the flesh who are like-minded with themselves. For such
an entity as one of these to meet with a medium with whom he is in
affinity is indeed a terrible misfortune; not only does it enable him
to prolong enormously his dreadful life in Kâmaloka but it renews for
perhaps an indefinite period his power to generate evil Karma, and so
prepare for himself a future incarnation of the most degraded
character, besides running the risk of losing a large portion or even
the whole of the lower Manas. On this lowest level of the astral plane
he must stay at least as long as his earthly life would have lasted if
it had not been prematurely cut short; and if he is fortunate enough
_not_ to meet with a sensitive through whom his passions can be
vicariously gratified, the unfulfilled desires will gradually burn
themselves out, and the suffering caused in the process will probably
go far towards working off the evil Karma of the past life.
The position of the suicide is further complicated by the fact that
his rash act has enormously diminished the power of the higher Ego to
withdraw its lower portion into itself, and therefore has exposed him
to manifold and great additional dangers: but it must be remembered
that the guilt of suicide differs considerably according to its
circumstances, from the morally blameless act of Seneca or Socrates
through all degrees down to the heinous crime of the wretch who takes
his own life in order to escape from the entanglements into which his
villainy has brought him, and of course the position after death
varies accordingly.
It should be noted that this class, as well as the shades and the
vitalized shells, are all what may be called minor vampires; that is
to say, whenever they have the opportunity they prolong their
existence by draining away the vitality from human beings whom they
find themselves able to influence. This is why both medium and sitters
are often so weak and exhausted after a physical _séance_. A student
of occultism is taught how to guard himself from their attempts, but
without that knowledge it is difficult for one who puts himself in
their way to avoid being more or less laid under contribution by them.