Physical World Escapism
The physical world does function as an escape from the dream world, the subtle existence. An example of this is when one wakes up on this side of existence during or after having a bad dream on the astral side.
Such a dream may be enacted by the imaginative powers of the mind. Or it may be an astral dream in a real astral world just as physically there are events in the real physical world which are not based merely on the person’s imagination.
In either case, it may become necessary to escape from the real astral world or from the mental/emotional mockup which is created within astral energy which is responsive to the creativity of the dreamer’s mind. This is experienced now that we have physical forms but it will be maximized when we become deceased as departed spirits who spend fulltime on the astral planes.
At least now that there is a physical address in the form of a living physical body. One can domicile there if one finds the self to be traumatized by astral incidences which are mental concoctions or real astral world occurrences, or a combination of both.
Even though many spiritualists speak about astral projection in glowing terms, and some speak about a spiritual world achievement hereafter as their ultimate destination, still right now, these very same people, take refuge in physical existence as an escape from what is abstract to the physical senses and which defies their willpower and cherished desires.
It is said that a bad guy who has a good time, should pray so as not to die. A good guy who sees hell at the moment, may pray for death. If the bad guy dies, he may face hell hereafter. If the good guy passes on he may be transferred to a heavenly location.
There is a story in the fourth part of the Srimad Bhagavatam, where Narad tells King Barhi that as soon as the king would pass away from his body, there would be a gruesome scene of horned animals goring the king in the astral realms. This was because the king did many Vedic sacrifices in which animals were sacrificed. Even though the king was regarded as a good guy for the most part, still those sacrificed animals held resentments for being deprived of their physical lives. The guarantee issued to the king by Vedic priests who quoted scriptures about the good destination reached by the sacrificial animals, was invalid. The king would be repeatedly wounded by the killed animals which waited in the astral world for the king’s demise when the king would no longer have a physical body address to escape to.
When I consider the people I see night after night in the astral world, when I consider their demands for this and for that. I wonder what will happen hereafter when I would have no physical form to wake up as, and thus no escape to the physical reality.
