Hazrat Inayat Khan now begins an explanation of the unveiling of the soul as it passes from plane to plane. The previous post is here.

There is a process to be seen both in the soul coming to earth and in its return. When coming to earth it adorns itself with the veils of the particular planes through which it passes; and on its return it unveils itself from the bodies it has adopted for its convenience in experiencing that particular plane. In this way there is a process of covering and uncovering. The soul, so to speak, throws off its garment on the same plane from which it borrowed it, when it has no more use for it. Then what becomes of these bodies? Earthly bodies are composed of physical atoms, and so all that has been composed decomposes and returns to its own element; breath to air, heat to fire, liquid to water, and matter to earth. In spite of all the diverse ways in which the body may apparently be absorbed – various insects may eat it, birds may share it in their food, wild animals may devour it, or it may be swallowed by a fish, in time it may turn into the soil, or it may be used to nourish a plant or a tree – in every case the first rule remains.

As the physical body composes and decomposes, so does the mental or spiritual body. This body has an incomparably longer life than the physical body has on the earth. Its end is similar to the end of the physical body. When the soul unveils itself of its mental garb this garb falls flat, as did the body of the earth, in that plane to which it belongs; for it is not the body which has strength to stand; the strength of standing belongs to the soul. It is therefore that man, in whom the soul manifests in the most pronounced form, stands upright; all other animals bow or bend in their natural form.

The decomposing of the spirit body is used in making the bodies of the spirit world, but not in such a crude way as happens with the earthly body – in a much finer way, for this is a finer body. There is joy in the composing or decomposing of this body, as there is even some pleasure in the composing and decomposing of the physical body. What does the body that the soul wears on the spirit-plane look like? Exactly the same as it looked on the earth. Why must it be so? Because of man’s love for his body. Does this change? Yes, if it wishes to change; if the soul wishes, it can be changed according to its own ideal. It can be made as young and as beautiful as possible, but it must be remembered that by nature the soul becomes so attached to its form that it clings to it, and as a rule it does not like to become different.

The condition of the next world is very like the condition of the dream world. In dreams one does not see oneself as very different from what one appears, except in some cases and at some times, and for that there are reasons. Nevertheless, the power that the soul has in the next world is much greater than that which it has in this world of limitations. The soul in the other world, so to speak, matures, and finds within itself the power of which it was ignorant during its life on earth, the power of creating and producing all that it wishes. And its movements being not so much hindered by time and space, it is capable of accomplishing and doing for itself things which are difficult for the soul to do and accomplish on the earth-plane.

To be continued…

To be continued…