The causes which send us to Devachan, an intermediate state between two earth-lives, into which the Ego enters after dedath, are, it would appear, four in number: (1) recompense for "undeserved" suffering; (2) assimilation of the spiritual experiences gained but not made part and parcel of oneself during life; (3) fulfilment of our longings; and (4) rest for the soul.
If, therefore, we wish to shorten or "escape" this period so that we may continue to work for humanity, four things are necessary: (1) we must not have any feeling that we suffer undeservedly; (2) we must assimilate life's experiences during incarnated existence; (3) we must not have longings of a personal nature; (4) we must perform such actions in our daily life as are pleasing to the soul and not merely to the personality.
We speak of Devachan as being a state of illusion. It would appear that it is really only the third of the above factors that causes this illusion. There can be nothing illusionary about the happiness experienced in Devachan to make up for the "undeserved" suffering in earth life, or about the rest needed by the soul, or about the assimilation by the soul of those experiences gained during life which were of its own nature. But if our longings during life have been day-dreams of a personal nature, then in Devachan we see ourselves, as also others, acting in terms of our wishful thinking and not in terms of reality.
Suppose, for example, a person has been "crossed in love," or a mother longs for the reformation of her son who is a drunkard; in Devachan, we are told, the former delights in the fulfilment of his love, and the mother in the belief that her son has become a sober and good man; yet both conditions are illusions. It has even been suggested that if we long to escape Devachan so that we may continue on earth with Masters' work, but have done nothing to create the causes that will produce the effect of cutting down our stay in that state, then we may spend ages there imagining all the time that we are working for the Masters in the world!
Therefore to be released from the illusion of Devachan we have to watch our personal longings. It should be remembered that the word "illusion" covers everything save the Spirit or Reality, but while on any plane everything on it is reality for us.
With regard to recompense for "undeserved" suffering, this is a harder matter to adjust, for it covers the whole field of one's Kama-Manasic attitude to life. We have so to understand Karma that even a fleeting thought of anything being unjust cannot be held. Automatically, our reaction to everything should be: "This is just what I in fact desired." All of us know how often we have to repeat things before they become automatic. We have to reach the attitude referred to in Light on the Path, where it is said that the eyes must be incapable of tears and the voice incapable of wounding. That is to say, everything has to be seen as just. If we pay more attention to the benefits we now enjoy as a result of the efforts we ourselves had made in prior lives, and less to the difficulties we are now encountering, we shall the more easily get the true balance, for both are but avenues of experience for the development of true virtue and capacities.
As for rest for the Ego after death, this would not be necessary if certain conditions were fulfilled now and here. If during life we do not cause "trouble" to the soul by wrong-doing, by refusing to act up to our conscience, thus crucifying the Christ within, then the soul will not need rest after death.
Assimilation of life's experiences can also be accomplished during life. If we look back, with the right attitude, at each day's activities—thoughts, feelings, words and deeds—and visualize the coming day, the soul will not only assimilate the good that has been experienced by will be in a condition where it is not crucified all the time.
Whether we spend long ages in Devachan or shorten our stay there or renounce it altogether, let us be content with trying to sow the right causes, for that is best for us.
