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Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism174
passed out of the body, and are sorely perplexed. Their lot would be most
unhappy for a few days, until the sleep overtook them were it not for the
Astral Helpers, who are souls from the higher states of existence, who gather
around them and gently break to them the news of their real condition—
offer them words of comfort and advice, and “take care” of them until they
sink into the soul-slumber just as a tired child sinks to sleep at night. These
helpers never fail in their duty, and no one who passes out suddenly is
neglected, be he or she “good” or “bad,” for these Helpers know that all
are God’s children and their own brothers and sisters. Men of high spiritual
development and powers have been known to pass out of their physical
bodies temporarily (by means of their Astral Bodies) for the purpose of
giving aid and advice in times of great catastrophes, or after a great battle,
when immediate assistance and advice are needed. At such times, also,
some of the higher intelligences in the scale of spiritual evolution descend
from their lofty states and appearing as men give words of encouragement
and the benefit of their wisdom. This not only in civilized countries but in all
parts of the world, for all are akin. Many who have reached the high stages of
spiritual development, and who have advanced far beyond the rest of the
particular race-group to which they belong, and who have earned a longer
stay in the higher states, awaiting the progress of their brothers, devote
themselves to this and similar tasks, voluntarily relinquishing their earned
rest and happiness for the good of their less fortunate brethren. Persons
dying in the way of which we have spoken, of course, gradually fall into
the slumber of the soul, and the process of the casting off of the confining
sheaths goes on just as in cases of those dying a “natural” death.
When the soul has cast off the confining sheaths, and has reached the
state for which it is prepared by its earth-lives, including that gained by
development in the last earth-life, it passes immediately to the plane in
the Astral World for which it is fitted, and to which it is drawn by the Law
of Attraction. Now the Astral World, in all of its stages and planes, is not a
“place” but a state, as we have before stated. These planes interpenetrate