This is an extremely large class, yet it does not occupy a
particularly important position on the astral plane, since its members
usually stay there but a very short time. The vast majority of animals
have not as yet acquired permanent individualization, and when one of
them dies the monadic essence which has been manifesting through it
flows back again into the particular stratum whence it came, bearing
with it such advancement or experience as has been attained during
that life. It is not, however, able to do this quite immediately; the
kâmic aura of the animal forms itself into a Kâmarûpa, just as in
man's case, and the animal has a real existence on the astral plane,
the length of which, though never great, varies according to the
intelligence which it has developed. In most cases it does not seem to
be more than dreamily conscious, but appears perfectly happy. The
comparatively few domestic animals who have already attained
individuality, and will therefore be reborn no more as animals in this
world, have a much longer and much more vivid life in Kâmaloka than
their less advanced fellows, and at the end of it sink gradually into
a subjective condition, which is likely to last for a very
considerable period. One interesting subdivision of this class
consists of the Kâmarûpas of those anthropoid apes mentioned in _The
Secret Doctrine_ (vol. i, p. 184) who are already individualized, and
will be ready to take human incarnation in the next round, or perhaps
some of them even sooner.