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Chapter III: The Planes of Life2175
Chapter III: The Planes of Life
O
ne of the elementary ideas of the Yogi Philosophy most difficult for the
ordinary Western mind to grasp and assimilate is that of the “planes” of
life. This difficulty is most apparent when the Western student attempts to
grasp the Yogi teachings regarding “the other side.” The Western thought
insists upon the concept of the realm of the life of the disembodied soul as
a place, or places. The Western theology is responsible for this, to a great
extent, although there is also to be considered the tendency of the Western
mind to think in terms of objective existence, even when life apart from the
objective is being considered. The average Western religionist insists upon
thinking of “heaven” as a place situated somewhere in space, containing
beautiful mansions of precious stones, situated on streets paved with gold.
Even those who have outgrown this childish idea find it difficult to conceive
of their heaven as a state rather than a place. The Western mind finds it hard
to form the abstract concept, and naturally falls back on the old idea of a
heaven in space.
The Oriental mind, on the contrary, finds it quite easy to grasp the idea of
the several planes of existence. Centuries of familiar thought on the subject
has rendered the concept as clear and definite as that of place. We have
met Western thinkers who smilingly confessed that they could not divest