Astral Soul

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The Astral Soul, sometimes called the "inner man",[1] is a phrase used to denominate "the lower part of the dual Fifth Principle",[2] that is, the lower Manas, or Kama-Manas.[3] Thus, the astral soul is an intermediary Principle "between matter (body) and the highest intellect (its immortal spirit or nous)"[4] known as the Higher Ego.

It can be seen as a "double" of the physical person. Although sometimes the astral soul is explained in ways that resemble the linga sharira,[5] Mme. Blavatsky said that the two should not be confused.[6]

Being part of the transient personality, "no astral soul, even that of a pure, good, and virtuous man, is immortal in the strictest sense; 'from elements it was formed — to elements it must return'."[7] After death, when the higher consciousness enters Devachan, the astral soul is discarded and becomes the "shell".[8]

William Q. Judge equated it to the Kāmarūpa.[9]

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Notes

  1. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), 315.
  2. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. VI (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1989), 195.
  3. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 37.
  4. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled vol. II, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), 112.
  5. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. III (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1995), 282.
  6. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), 197.
  7. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), 432.
  8. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. IV (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1991), 121.
  9. William Quan Judge, Echoes from the Orient, vol. 3, (Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press, 2011), 44.