The highest system of evolution connected with this earth, so far as
we know, is that of the beings whom Hindus call the Devas, and who
have elsewhere been spoken of as angels, sons of God, etc. They may,
in fact, be regarded as a kingdom lying next above humanity, in the
same way as humanity in turn lies next above the animal kingdom, but
with this important difference, that while for an animal there is no
possibility of evolution through any kingdom but the human, man, when
he attains a certain high level, finds various paths of advancement
opening before him, of which this great Deva evolution is only one. In
comparison with the sublime renunciation of the Nirmânakâya, the
acceptance of this line of evolution is sometimes spoken of in the
books as "yielding to the temptation to become a god," but it must not
be inferred from this expression that any shadow of blame attaches to
the man who makes this choice. The path he selects is not the
shortest, but it is nevertheless a very noble one, and if his
developed intuition impels him towards it, it is probably the one best
suited for his capacities. We must never forget that in spiritual as
in physical climbing it is not every one who can bear the strain of
the steeper path; there may be many for whom what seems the slower way
is the only one possible, and we should indeed be unworthy followers
of the great Teachers if we allowed our ignorance to betray us into
the slightest thought of despisal towards those whose choice differs
from our own. However confident that ignorance of the difficulties of
the future may allow us to feel now, it is impossible for us to tell
at this stage what we shall find ourselves able to do when, after many
lives of patient striving, we have earned the right to choose our own
future; and indeed, even those who "yield to the temptation to become
gods," have a sufficiently glorious career before them, as will
presently be seen. To avoid possible misunderstanding it may be
mentioned _par parenthèse_ that there is another and entirely evil
sense sometimes attached in the books to this phrase of "becoming a
god," but in that form it certainly could never be any kind of
"temptation" to the developed man, and in any case it is altogether
foreign to our present subject.
In oriental literature this word "Deva" is frequently used vaguely to
mean almost any kind of non-human entity, so that it would often
include DHYÂN CHOHANS on the one hand and nature-spirits and
artificial elementals on the other. Here, however, its use will be
restricted to the magnificent evolution which we are now considering.
Though connected with this earth, the Devas are by no means confined
to it, for the whole of our present chain of seven worlds is as one
world to them, their evolution being through a grand system of seven
chains. Their hosts have hitherto been recruited chiefly from other
humanities in the solar system, some lower and some higher than ours,
since but a very small portion of our own has as yet reached the level
at which for us it is possible to join them; but it seems certain that
some of their very numerous classes have not passed in their upward
progress through any humanity at all comparable to ours. It is not
possible for us at present to understand very much about them, but it
is clear that what may be described as the aim of their evolution is
considerably higher than ours; that is to say, while the object of our
human evolution is to raise the successful portion of humanity to a
certain degree of occult development by the end of the seventh round,
the object of the Deva evolution is to raise their foremost rank to a
very much higher level in the corresponding period. For them, as for
us, a steeper but shorter path to still more sublime heights lies open
to earnest endeavour; but what those heights may be in their case we
can only conjecture.
It is of course only the lower fringe of this august body that need be
mentioned in connection with our subject of the astral plane. Their
three lower great divisions (beginning from the bottom) are generally
called Kâmadevas, Rûpadevas, and Arûpadevas respectively. Just as our
ordinary body here--the lowest body possible for us--is the physical,
so the ordinary body of a Kâmadeva is the astral; so that he stands in
somewhat the same position as humanity will do when it reaches planet
F, and he, living ordinarily in an astral body, would go out of it to
higher spheres in a Mâyâvirûpa just as we might in an astral body,
while to enter the Kârana Sharîra would be to him (when sufficiently
developed) no greater effort than to form a Mâyâvirûpa is to us. In
the same way the Rûpadeva's ordinary body would be the Mâyâvirûpa,
since his habitat is on the four lower or rûpa levels of that
spiritual state which we usually call Devachan: while the Arûpadeva
belongs to the three higher levels of that plane, and owns no nearer
approach to a body than the Kârana Sharîra. But for Rûpa and
Arûpadevas to manifest on the astral plane is an occurrence at least
as rare as it is for astral entities to materialize on this physical
plane, so we need do no more than mention them now. As regards the
lowest division--the Kâmadevas--it would be quite a mistake to think
of all of them as immeasurably superior to ourselves, since some have
entered their ranks from a humanity in some respects less advanced
than our own; of course the general average among them is much higher
than among us, for all that is actively or wilfully evil has long been
weeded out from their ranks; but they differ widely in disposition,
and a really noble, unselfish, spiritually-minded man may well stand
higher in the scale of evolution than some of them. Their attention
can be attracted by certain magical evocations, but the only human
will which can dominate theirs is that of a certain high class of
Adepts. As a rule they seem scarcely conscious of us on our physical
plane, but it does now and then happen that one of them becomes aware
of some human difficulty which excites his pity, and he perhaps
renders some assistance, just as any of us would try to help an animal
that we saw in trouble. But it is well understood among them that any
interference in human affairs at the present stage is likely to do far
more harm than good. Above the Arûpadevas there are four other great
divisions, and again, above and beyond the Deva kingdom altogether,
stand the great hosts of the DHYÂN CHOHANS, but the consideration of
such glorified Beings would be out of place in an essay on the astral
plane.
Though we cannot claim them as belonging exactly to any of our
classes, this is perhaps the best place in which to mention those
wonderful and important Beings, the four Devarâjahs. In this name the
word Deva must not, however, be taken in the sense in which we have
been using it, for it is not over the Deva kingdom but over the four
"elements" of earth, water, air, and fire, with their indwelling
nature-spirits and essences, that these four Kings rule. What the
evolution has been through which they rose to their present height of
power and wisdom we cannot tell, save only that it has certainly not
passed through anything corresponding to our own humanity. They are
often spoken of as the Regents of the Earth, or Angels of the four
cardinal points, and the Hindu books call them the Chatur Mahârâjahs,
giving their names as Dhritarashtra, Virudhaka, Virupaksha,
and Vaishravana. In the same books their hosts are called
Gandharvas, Kumbhandas, Nâgas, and Yakshas respectively, the points of
the compass appropriated to each being in corresponding order east,
south, west, and north, and their symbolical colours white, blue, red,
and gold. They are mentioned in _The Secret Doctrine_ as "winged
globes and fiery wheels"; and in the Christian bible Ezekiel makes a
very remarkable attempt at a description of them in which very similar
words are used. References to them are to be found in the symbology of
every religion, and they have always been held in the highest
reverence as the protectors of mankind. It is they who are the agents
of man's Karma during his life on earth, and they thus play an
extremely important part in human destiny. The LIPIKA the great karmic
deities of the Kosmos, weigh the deeds of each personality when the
final separation of its principles takes place in Kâmaloka and give as
it were the mould of an etheric double exactly suitable to its Karma
for the man's next birth; but it is the Devarâjahs who, having command
of the "elements" of which that etheric double must be composed,
arrange their proportion so as to fulfil accurately the intention of
the LIPIKA. It is they also who constantly watch all through life to
counterbalance the changes perpetually being introduced into man's
condition by his own free will and that of those around him, so that
no injustice may be done, and Karma may be accurately worked out, if
not in one way then in another. A learned dissertation upon these
marvellous beings will be found in _The Secret Doctrine_, vol. i., pp.
122-126. They are able to take human material forms at will, and
several cases are recorded when they have done so. All the higher
nature-spirits and hosts of artificial elementals act as their agents
in the stupendous work they carry out, yet all the threads are in
their hands, and the whole responsibility rests upon them alone. It is
not often that they manifest upon the astral plane, but when they do
they are certainly the most remarkable of its non-human inhabitants.
A student of occultism will not need to be told that as there are
seven great classes both of nature-spirits and elemental essence there
must really be seven and not four Devarâjahs but outside the circle of
initiation little is known and less may be said of the higher three.