Man is the immortal soul surrounded by seven aspects. The first aspect the physical body, the second, the vital health body, the third, the astral body. Astral matter is of the subconscious mind at the level of the memory and reason chakras and vibrates at a higher more refined rate than physical matter. The astral world vibrates just inside the physical world and is an exact duplicate of everything that exists materially.

Master Course Trilogy, Merging with Siva, Chapter 32.

Unedited Transcript:

Good morning every one, Happy New Year, Happy homa.

We are in the middle of our series which is a multiple use series; we won't run out of topics for quite a while here. Going through the lessons of "Merging with Siva" in chronological order in that according to the dates they were given. And we're up to 1960 so we have a ways to go here. This is a new chapter, Chapter 32, "The Astral Body" and it's part of a larger topic called: "Man, His Seven Aspects" which was published in the 1960 and 1967 Master Course.

"Your Astral Counterpart"

text:

"You will recall from last week the first aspect of man, the physical body, and the second aspect, the vital health body. The third aspect is the astral body.

"The astral body is almost an exact duplicate of the physical body. However, changes that appear upon the physical body, such as aging, first occur within the structure of the astral body. The astral body is of the subconscious mind, at the level of the memory and reason chakras. It can be easily disturbed and is sometimes called the emotional body. It is made of odic prana and kept intact by the general life flow of actinic prana bursting forth constantly from its atomic structure. Being the exact counterpart of the physical body, the astral body appears like the physical body in size, shape, in every sense except weight. It differs in weight because it is composed of astral odic matter. This matter vibrates at a higher rate of vibration than what we might call physical matter.

"Try to picture for yourself the fact that the physical body and astral body are of different vibrations and fit one inside the other, connected by the energy factor, which is the odic pranic energy of the vital health body. The astral world vibrates just inside the physical world that we see through our physical eyes and feel with our physical hands. Therefore, it is an exact duplication of everything that exists materially to our physical senses. This is logical to us, knowing and having identified the states of mind, for each state of mind is a form of vibration working together with all the others. The 'one mind' is in different forms of vibration, all working together, one aspect within the other.

"As we can walk and talk using our conscious mind and our physical body as a vehicle during our waking hours, so can we walk and talk using the duplicate of the physical body, our astral body of the subconscious mind, during the hours we are asleep. When we are in the astral body in the subconscious world, other people are also in that world, and forms of communication take place, as in the physical world.

"There is a cord of odic and actinic force which connects the two bodies. It is called the silver cord. Should someone travel too far from his physical body astrally, or have an intense astral experience, an extra supply of energy would be drawn from the vital health body and the physical body, and he would be tired on awakening.

"The inner study of you can be complicated, for you are a most complex being of many dimensions. As we embark on this week's study of the inner you, it may be helpful to have a list which you can refer to now and then to put together the pieces in the right order. The age-old teachings which are captured in this book boldly claim 'man' to be more than is usually understood, that being a mortal body with an intellect, small or large. Man, as the mystics understand him, is the immortal soul surrounded by seven aspects. Here follows a summary of the 'seven aspects of man' established around the actinic causal body of the soul, anandamaya kosha, 'sheath of bliss:'

(So this is starting from the most gross to the most subtle):

"1) the physical body, annamaya kosha, 'food-made sheath;' 2) the vital health body, pranic sheath, pranamaya kosha; 3) the astral body, instinctive aspect of manomaya kosha; 4) the human aura and instinctive mind, prabhamandala and manas chitta; 5) the intellect, odic causal sheath, buddhi chitta; 6) the subtle nerve system, nadis and chakras; 7) the intuitive mind, actinodic causal sheath, vijnanamaya kosha, 'sheath of cognition.'

"Just as we have school, entertainment, discussions and meetings with friends in the conscious mind on the physical plane, so do we go to school, enjoy entertainment, discuss problems and meet and talk with friends on the astral plane. And as the subconscious mind receives impressions from the conscious mind during our waking hours, so does the conscious mind receive impressions from the subconscious mind as we go through experience during our sleeping hours.

"In the same way, people have seen with the eyes of their astral body, while simultaneously conscious through their physical eyes, people on the astral plane. Similarly, those who are traveling on the astral plane can see people on the physical plane, as they look out through the odic astral force field into the gross conscious-mind world. Travel is much faster on the astral plane, as it is done through desire, and the astral body is a much more refined rate of vibration than is the physical body, which functions close to the time sequence as we know it."

And we get a great story from "Guru Chronicles" this is Gurudeva speaking:

"My second catalyst (whose name was Hilda Charlton) was also well acquainted with various forms of mysticism, occultism and meditation. She taught me exactly how one leaves the physical body after putting the body to sleep. I learned of the astral body and how to work with and develop the experience of leaving the physical body in the astral body, while totally aware of the happening, turn around, look back at the physical body, see the silver cord which connects it to the astral body, and to travel astrally."

Very good. So, that's enough for this morning.

Have a wonderful day.