This is Nirvanic bliss, and no Theosophist could describe in plainer though esoteric language the mental joys of Devachan, where every man has his paradise around him, erected by his consciousness. But you must beware of the general error into which too many even of our Theosophists fall. Do not imagine that because man is called septenary, then _quintuple_ and a triad, he is a compound of seven, five, or three _entities_; or, as well expressed by a Theosophical writer, of skins to be peeled off like the skins of an onion. The “principles,” as already said, save the body, the life, and the astral _eidolon_, all of which disperse at death, are simply _aspects_ and _states of consciousness_. There is but one _real_ man, enduring through the cycle of life and immortal in essence, if not in form, and this is _Manas_, the Mind-man or embodied Consciousness. The objection made by the materialists, who deny the possibility of mind and consciousness acting without matter is worthless in our case. We do not deny the soundness of their argument; but we simply ask our opponents, “Are you acquainted _with all the states of matter_, you who knew hitherto but of three? And how do you know whether that which we refer to as ABSOLUTE CONSCIOUSNESS or Deity for ever invisible and unknowable, be not that which, though it eludes for ever our human _finite_ conception, is still universal Spirit-matter or matter-Spirit _in its absolute infinitude_?” It is then one of the lowest, and in its manvantaric manifestations _fractioned_-aspects of this Spirit-matter, which is the conscious _Ego_ that creates its own paradise, a fool’s paradise, it may be, still a state of bliss. ENQ. But what is _Devachan_? THEO. The “land of gods” literally; a condition, a state of mental bliss. Philosophically a mental condition analogous to, but far more vivid and real than, the most vivid dream. It is the state after death of most mortals. FOOTNOTES: [19] In Mr. Sinnett’s “Esoteric Buddhism” _d_, _e_, and _f_, are respectively called the Animal, the Human, and the Spiritual Souls, which answers as well. Though the principles in _Esoteric Buddhism_ are numbered, this is, strictly speaking, useless. The dual _Monad_ alone (_Atma-Buddhi_) is susceptible of being thought of as the two highest numbers (the 6th and 7th). As to all others, since _that_ “principle” only which is predominant in man has to be considered as the first and foremost, no numeration is possible as a general rule. In some men it is the higher Intelligence (Manas or the 5th) which dominates the rest; in others the Animal Soul (Kama-rupa) that reigns supreme, exhibiting the most bestial instincts, etc.