When the man dies, his three lower principles leave him for ever; i.e., body, life, and the vehicle of the latter, the etheric body, or the double of the living man.  And then his four principles—­the central or middle principle (the animal soul or Kama Rupa, with what it has assimilated from the lower Manas) and the higher Triad—­find themselves in Kamaloka.[20]

This desire body undergoes a marked change soon after death.  The different densities of the astral matter of which it is composed arrange themselves in a series of shells or envelopes, the densest being outside, shutting the consciousness away from all but very limited contact and expression.  The consciousness turns in on itself, if left undisturbed, and prepares itself for the next step onwards, while the desire body gradually disintegrates, shell after shell.

Up to the point of this re-arrangement of the matter of the desire body, the post-mortem experience of all is much the same; it is a “dreamy, peaceful semi-consciousness,” as before said, and this, in the happiest cases, passes without vivid awakening into the deeper “pre-devachanic unconsciousness” which ends with the blissful wakening in Devachan, for the period of repose that intervenes between two incarnations.  But as, at this point, different possibilities arise, let us trace a normal uninterrupted progression in Kamaloka, up to the threshold of Devachan, and then we can return to consider other classes of circumstances.

If a person has led a pure life, and has steadfastly striven to rise and to identify himself with the higher rather than the lower parts of his nature, after shaking off the dense body and the etheric double, and after Prana has re-mingled with the ocean of Life, and he is clothed only with the Kama Rupa, the passional elements in him, being but weak and accustomed to comparatively little activity, will not be able to assert themselves strongly in Kamaloka.  Now during earth-life Kama and the Lower Manas are strongly united and interwoven with each other; in the case we are considering Kama is weak, and the Lower Manas has purified Kama to a great extent.  The mind, woven with the passions, emotions, and desires, has purified them, and has assimilated their pure part, absorbed it into itself, so that all that is left of Kama is a mere residue, easily to be gotten rid of, from which the Immortal Triad can readily free itself.  Slowly this Immortal Triad, the true Man, draws in all his forces; he draws into himself the memories of the earth-life just ended, its loves, its hopes, its aspirations, and prepares to pass out of Kamaloka into the blissful rest of Devachan, the “abode of the Gods”, or as some say, “the land of bliss”.  Kamaloka