body whose previous tenant has no further use for it, but
naturally it is not often that a suitable body is available. Far more
frequently he has to wait on the astral plane, as mentioned before,
until the opportunity of a fitting birth presents itself. In the
meantime, however, he is losing no time, for he is just as fully
himself as ever he was, and is able to go on with the work given him
by his Master even more quickly and efficiently than when in the
physical body, since he is no longer hampered by the possibility of
fatigue. His consciousness is of course quite complete, and he roams
at will through all the divisions of the Kamaloka with equal facility.
The chela awaiting reincarnation is by no means one of the common
objects of the astral plane, but still he may be met with
occasionally, and therefore he forms one of our classes. No doubt as
the evolution of humanity proceeds, and an ever-increasing proportion
enter upon the Path of Holiness, this class will become more numerous.

3. _The Ordinary Person after death._

Needless to say, this class is millions of times larger than those of
which we have spoken, and the character and condition of its members
vary within extremely wide limits. Within similarly wide limits may
vary also the length of their lives upon the astral plane, for while
there are those who pass only a few days or hours there, others remain
upon this level for many years and even centuries. A man who has led a
good and pure life, whose strongest feelings and aspirations have been
unselfish and spiritual, will have no attraction to this plane, and
will, if entirely left alone, find little to keep him upon it, or to
awaken him into activity even during the comparatively short period of
his stay. For it must be understood that after death the true man is
withdrawing into himself, and just as at the first step of that
process he casts off the physical body, and almost directly afterwards
the etheric double and the Prana, so it is intended that he should as
soon as possible cast off also the astral or kamic body, and pass
into the devachanic condition, where alone his spiritual aspirations
can find their full fruition. The noble and pure-minded man will be
able to do this, for he has subdued all earthly passions during life;
the force of his will has been directed into higher channels, and
there is therefore but little energy of lower desire to be worked out
in Kamaloka. His stay there will conse