Is being in the Earthly Plane just a state of limbo?
You’re not YOU, yet. Find out why?
Death is going to come for us. For ordinariness like you and me, and it's going to look like a ‘scary, dilapidated dead-end’. The weird feature of a dead-end is such that there’s always something beyond it, you’d simply need extra powers to find a path through the illusion of a wall. For humans, dead ends (both literally and metaphorically connected to death) are a waste of time, but for anything more intelligent than that, it’s a realization.
Most humans are terrorized by death, they try to justify it, run from it, and mourn over it. They barely pay attention to the life-force (prana, chi, etc,.) that radiates from under the darkness. Yet, all we know about our death is the fear of hell and heaven, ideas of an after-party, and the chances of rebirth.
Processing all this jazz, I have just one question for you: Could this over-glamorized life on earth just be a transition? Just one tiny, naive piece of the puzzle? Just the easy-breezy levels of an intense video game? Just like cluelessly existing in a state of limbo?
Yes, yes, I am aware, ‘limbo’ is a concept of the Roman Catholic Theology, a soul awaiting the decision of heaven and hell, and was recently omitted from Catechism in 1992. Again, my idea of limbo is different. Limbo to me is a state of transition/confusion/dilemma, the inability to let go of the attachments of your previous life, a sense of disarray, stagnation, being stuck in time until you move on. It’s procrastination but in a very awfully serious way, one that’s difficult to tackle. I also believe we’re in limbo, because in every literal sense, WE’RE NOT MOVING ON, just focusing on the minutiae of unreality.
Why did I throw us all in Limbo?
On a serious, intellectual note, the reason I called life on earth as a phase of limbo, is because most classical, esoteric, and contemporary spiritual theories believe that the human body is just one of the encasings of the human soul. The human soul is immortal, pure, bound by karma, and rarely looked upon because we’re too busy being up in our heads. And yet this intangible fragment of the universe is clothed in 3 different bodies. The physical/gross body (the outermost layer), the astral/subtle body (the emotional and mental vehicle), and finally the causal body/the idea. This concept has been propagated in different forms with different explanations at different points in human history but to sum it up, the ‘Three Bodies’ Doctrine is a Hindu (Sarira Traya), Buddhist (Trikaya) philosophy, also propagated by the Indian Yoga Philosophy, part of the Taittiriya Upanishad, explained in Neo Theosophy, contemporary Vedanta, New Age philosophy, and some channelled communications. In modern times, the three bodies are a major part of Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory and have been spoken of by Sri. Paramhansa Yogananda in his Autobiography.
Sri Paramahansa Yogananda quoted his Master in the book, ‘The Autobiography of a Yogi’ saying:
"You have read in the scriptures," Master went on, "that God encased the human soul successively in three bodies— the idea, or causal, body; the subtle astral body, seat of man's mental and emotional natures; and the gross physical body. On earth a man is equipped with his physical senses. An astral being works with his consciousness and feelings and a body made of Lifetrons.* A causal-bodied being remains in the blissful realm of ideas.
In extremely digestible pieces, this entails that living through evolution, in more spiritual terms, from amoeba to human is not standalone. We will have to go through two more evolutions that will lead our souls to freedom from karmic bondage, life cycles, whatever that possibly means. Once we are successfully done with the earthly plane, we will go through the lives/levels of the astral plane and consequently the lives/levels of the causal plane.
In a nutshell, astral beings are all about consciousness, they communicate via telepathy, and face tougher struggles than us on the earthly plane. The concept of time in the astral world is vastly different than ours, their concept of beauty is not an outward appearance but rather a spiritual quality. They are no longer subjected to physical pain but rather mental agony for their faults. Astral beings live an entire life cycle from eating meals to going at war, just in a more advanced, cosmic way. Everything is driven by cosmic energy and every being is driven by cosmic will. It is believed that getting rid of karmic bondage in the astral world is much more laborious and slow than on Earth.
In the causal plane, causal beings exist merely as ideas, textures of cosmic dreams. It’s no cake-walk to understand the causal world but let’s simply say that becoming a causal being involves the ability to materialize every colossal imagination instantly as if it’s a mind game. As one perceives, so it exists. Causal beings can create universes at a hat’s drop just like our Creator, a kind of a limitless manifestation Causal beings are considered to be the tiniest particles of God-thought. To be a causal being means to realise your full potential as well as to be a single ray of pure bliss. When the soul gets rid of the causal body, this single ray of bliss merges with the cosmic powerhouse of ecstasy. That’s where the life cycle of the soul fragment is complete. Isn’t it intriguing to imagine two other phenomenal life cycles and the final product of it all: YOU.
Why did I talk about all this jazz?
FYI: All this jazz is just one of many spiritual theories that seems to have been proven true (if not universally but in personal experience) by channels, spiritual masters, yogis,
enlightened higher beings. However, you and I do not know what lies out there. The long and short of this is that people have gotten spirituality mixed up with religion, tradition, and culture. Religion is a toy meant only for the physical/gross mind. It's like knowing an equation but rewriting the wrong digits from the problem question. The other factor is that spirituality is also not God, of course depending on your definition of the Good ol’ Man. For humans, God, religion, and a sense of superiority are all twisted concepts. Spirituality is neither a religion nor a God. I am not enlightened, but deep within this is the definition of spirituality I find fit. Spirituality is the innate awareness and acceptance of a higher purpose, a larger existence of yourself, a truth of the soul's origin, a journey, and a determination to seek it. It all sounds preachy but it is not. Spirituality is a science, a way of life, and perhaps the only one that can help us get rid of this gloom-ridden era. You can have a completely different definition as long as we meet at the end of the road and that’s the essence of spirituality, it’s nothing but the practice of frequenting your soul, of exploring that hell of a Mariana Trench inside, of knowing your magnificence as a fragment of the cosmos.
So, again, ask your true self: Is the earthly plane just a state of limbo where I cannot wake up from the dream of dollar bills, my head in others’ business, and make-believe opinion battles? Spirituality = no equivocating. Root yourself in the humility of the journey you know nothing about and in the might of your real identity. Seek spirituality by yourself. It may get lonely but humorously, the best way to move on is alone! Detach from your past perceptions because when death burns you dry, you have to wake up and live again.
Disclaimer: The moral of this article is to show you the vastness and variety of life, interest you in your own spiritual nature, and not to bore or confuse you. Therefore, simplicity has been focused upon. Hence, I would recommend more reading on part of all you readers, if topics like these interest you. As for me, this article is my stance layered with research. I must not be held responsible if you reach the astral plane and it’s not how I described because who knows? That’s just my human tendency, but spiritually I embrace you all!