The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Lecture Eleven

[ 1 ] What is commonly referred to as “Devachan” in Sanskrit is the long period of time that elapses between a person's death and a new birth. After death, the soul first learns on the astral plane to wean itself from the instincts bound to its body. It then passes into Devachan, where it spends a long life between two incarnations. Like the astral world, the world of Devachan is not a place, but a state. It surrounds us even in this present life, but we are unaware of it. To gain a comparative understanding of the Devachan state, as well as the effects of Devachan on earthly life and the life of the cosmos, it will be best to once again take the state of sleep as our starting point.

[ 2 ] For the vast majority of people, sleep is a mysterious state. During sleep, the human etheric body remains connected to the sleeping physical body and continues its vegetative and regenerative work. But the astral body and the individual’s “I” detach themselves from the sleeping physical body in order to lead an independent life.

[ 3 ] During the day, our entire conscious life consumes the physical body. From morning until evening, a person expends their energy; the astral body transmits sensations and impressions to the physical body, which wear it down and exhaust it. At night, however, the astral body functions in an entirely different way. It no longer transmits impressions from the outside, but rather processes these impressions and creates order and harmony where the life of the day had created disorder and disharmony through the chaos of perceptions. During the day, therefore, the astral body behaves passively; it acts as a receiver and transmitter. At night, its role is active—namely, organizing and rebuilding—in order to replenish the depleted forces.

[ 4 ] The nature of human beings in their present state means that their astral bodies cannot simultaneously carry out this nightly work of reconstruction and perceive what is happening around them in the astral world. How can one relieve the astral body of its work in order to free it for life in the astral world?

[ 5 ] The adept’s method for liberating his astral body consists in cultivating those feelings and thoughts that, by their very nature, possess a specific rhythm that can be communicated to the physical body, and, on the other hand, in avoiding all those feelings and thoughts that bring disorder and disruption into it. He refrains from indulging in extreme feelings of joy or pain and sets an example of complete emotional balance.

[ 6 ] A supreme law governs nature, and that is rhythm. Once a person has developed the twelve-petaled lotus flower—which represents his astral and spiritual organs of perception—he can control his body and give it a new rhythm that eliminates the symptoms of fatigue within him. Thanks to this rhythm and this restoration of harmony, the astral body no longer needs to carry out its regenerative work while the physical body sleeps—work without which the physical body would decay.

[ 7 ] Our entire daily life consists, from start to finish, of the disruption of our physical body. All illnesses have their origin in the excesses of the astral body. For example, those who eat to excess awaken in their astral body cravings for pleasures that have a destructive effect on their physical body. They ruin their body in order to obtain chaotic pleasures. This is the reason why certain religions prescribe fasting. Through fasting, the astral body is less burdened; it becomes calmer and partially detaches itself from the physical body. Its vibrations are soothed and provide the etheric body with a regular rhythm. Fasting thus enables the etheric body to maintain its rhythm. It brings life—namely, the etheric body and the form, that is, the physical body—into harmony, thereby simultaneously establishing harmony between the world and the human being.

[ 8 ] Now let us see what role the astral body plays during sleep. Where is a person’s “I” located during this time? Strictly speaking, in Devachan. But during sleep, we have no consciousness whatsoever. It is important to distinguish between dream-filled sleep and deep sleep. Dream-filled sleep corresponds to astral consciousness. Dreamless deep sleep, which sets in after the first dreams, corresponds to the state of Devachan. We do not remember this because this state is not perceived by the ordinary physical brain. The initiate possesses continuity of consciousness during the waking state, dream sleep, and dreamless sleep. He unites these three states within the entirety of his existence.

[ 9 ] Let us now examine the situation of the human being after death in Devachan. After a certain time, the etheric body dissolves into the currents of the life ether. What, then, is the task of the astral body and consciousness? For the “I” and the astral body, the task is to build a new etheric body for the next earthly existence. The stay in Devachan is partly devoted to acquiring these abilities. In fact, the substance of the etheric body, like that of the physical body, is not permanent. The substance of the physical body is constantly changing, such that it is completely renewed over the course of seven years. Likewise, the etheric substance renews itself, although its form and structure remain uniform under the care of the higher Self. At death, this substance returns completely to the etheric world, and just as with the physical body, nothing of it is retained from one incarnation to the next. Successive incarnations thus take place each time with completely new etheric bodies, and this is the reason why physiognomy and body shape change so much from one incarnation to the next. They do not depend on the will of the individual, but on his karma, his emotional life, and his unconscious volitional impulses.

[ 10 ] The situation is quite different for a spiritual student undergoing an initiation. He develops his etheric body already here on Earth in such a way that it becomes permanent and enables him to enter Devachan after death. He is sufficiently advanced to awaken, even here on Earth within the bosom of his etheric forces, the life spirit, which constitutes one of his three imperishable elements of being. This etheric body, transformed into the life spirit, is called budhi in Sanskrit. Once the student has attained this life spirit, he no longer needs to completely transform his etheric body between two incarnations. He then spends a considerably shorter time in Devachan. Consequently, from one incarnation to the next, he exhibits the same fundamental disposition, the same temperament, and the same basic character. When the occult master has enabled him to consciously direct not only his etheric body but also his physical body, a spiritual element of the being likewise arises, which is called Atma in Sanskrit—that is, the spiritual human. Having reached this stage, the initiate retains the features of his physical appearance in every incarnation on Earth. He preserves his total consciousness during the transition from earthly life to heavenly life and from one incarnation to the next. This is the origin of the legend of the initiates who live for a thousand or two thousand years. This means that for them there is neither a Kamaloka nor a Devachan, but rather a continuous consciousness beyond death and birth.

[ 11 ] The following objection is sometimes raised regarding reincarnation: If a person has fulfilled their mission on Earth, then they know it; why, then, must they return? — The objection would be valid if the person were to return to the same Earth. But since they generally return only after two thousand years have passed, they find a new nature, a new Earth, and a new humanity—for these have evolved—and so they can learn something new each time and fulfill a new mission.

[ 12 ] These periods of the Earth’s renewal, which determine the cycle of reincarnations, are themselves determined by the Sun’s passage through the signs of the zodiac. Eight centuries before Christ, the Sun’s vernal equinox was in the sign of Aries. We see a reflection of this in the legend of the Golden Fleece and in the designation “Lamb of God” for Christ. 2,160 years earlier, the vernal equinox was in the sign of Taurus. This had an influence on various cults, such as the cult of the Apis bull in Egypt or the cult of Mithras in Persia. Another 2,160 years earlier, the vernal equinox was in Gemini, which is reflected in the cosmogony of ancient Persia and in the opposing figures of Ormuzd and Ahriman. As the Atlantean civilization comes to an end and the age of the Vedas dawns, the Sun’s vernal equinox lies in Cancer, whose symbol is written as follows: 77=%. This marks the end of one period and the beginning of a new one.

[ 13 ] People have always been aware of the importance of the connections they share with the celestial bodies. Indeed, the great periods of human history are subject to the influence of celestial cycles—the Earth’s orbit in relation to the Sun and the stars.

[ 14 ] This fact explains the difference between the epochs and gives new meaning to the incarnations that take place in each of these epochs. For 2,160 years constitute the period of time required for one male and one female incarnation—that is, for the two aspects through which human beings acquire the full wealth of experience of an epoch.

[ 15 ] What is it that brings forth a new flora and a new fauna on Earth? It is the Devas and the beings of Devachan.

[ 16 ] Darwin seeks to explain the evolution of the Earth through the struggle for existence, which in reality explains nothing. For the occultist, it is the formative influences from the Devachan that transform flora and fauna. The more advanced a person is, the more they can participate in this work. The greater a person’s developed consciousness, the greater the influence their activity has on the forms of nature. The initiate can work in the world where new plants originate. For the Devachan is the realm where vegetation takes shape. In the Kamaloka, the astral world, human beings work on the development of the animal kingdom. The Kamaloka is located in the lunar sphere, while the Devachan is associated with the Sun.

[ 17 ] Thus, human beings are connected to all the kingdoms of nature. Plato speaks of the symbol of the cross, saying that the world soul is affixed to the body of the world in the shape of a cross. What does this cross signify? It is the soul that passes through all the kingdoms of nature. In fact, unlike human beings, the plant has its root—or, if you will, its head, the bearer of nourishing forces—at the bottom, and in contrast, it turns its reproductive organs chastely upward, toward the sun. The animal occupies a middle position, usually in a horizontal orientation. Humans and plants are oriented vertically and, together with the horizontally oriented animal, form a cross—the World Cross.

[ 18 ] In the future, humans who dwell in the higher worlds after death will consciously participate in the development of the lower realms. Consciousness will direct these relationships in such a way that a new flora will always correspond to a new human culture. The divine mission of the spirit is to forge the future. There will then be neither miracles nor chance. Flora and fauna will freely express the transformed human soul.

[ 19 ] The work on Earth is carried out from two sides: by the devas, the gods, and by human beings.

[ 20 ] When we build a cathedral, we work with stone. The mountains on either side of the Nile are the work of the gods; the temples on its banks are the work of humans. And both have the same goal: the transformation of the earth.

[ 21 ] Later, humankind will learn to shape all the kingdoms of nature with the same consciousness with which it now shapes the mineral kingdom. It will shape living beings and take upon itself the work of the gods. In this way, it will transform the Earth into Devachan.