Kāma-Rūpa

A compound Sanskrit word meaning “desire-body,” According to Theosophy, after the death of the physical body and the shedding of the Etheric Double, or “energy form,” the k€ma-r™pa is said to be the temporary vehicle for the remaining components of the individual; it is the after-death vehicle which is said to exist in KšMA-LOKA (the Desire-World) until the “second death” occurs, after which the individual enters DEVACHAN or the “State of Bliss.” Helena P. Blavatsky, in her The Secret Doctrine, lists k€ma-r™pa fourth in the Esoteric Buddhism classification of the septenary division of the human principles (Vol. I, p. 157). Blavatsky, in her postumously published Theosophical Glossary states that “K€ma-R™pa is the subjective form created through the mental and physical desires and thoughts in connection with things of matter.” She maintains that this “form” is created by all sentient beings and that it survives the death of their bodies. Blavatsky suggests that powerful desire or some practices of spiritualist mediums may draw the k€ma-r™pa back and that once it has learned the way back to living human bodies it may “feed” on their vitality and thus prolong its life beyond that which it would normally experience. In India these entities are called Pi€cas. Gottfried de PURUCKER presents a somewhat different picture. In his Occult Glossary he states that the k€ma-r™pa is that part of the human’s constitution in which dwell the various desires, affections, hates and loves — in short, the various mental and psychical energies. After physical death de Purucker suggests that the k€ma-r™pa is an exact duplicate in appearance and mannerisms of the person who died. Much terminological confusion arose when k€ma-r™pa was translated into English as “astral body” by later theosophical writers, because “astral body” was also used by Blavatsky to refer to the li¥ga-®arŸra or etheric double. Geoffrey A. Barborka in The Divine Plan wrote that k€ma-r™pa ought not to be confused with li‰ga-ar…ra, as both are sometimes translated as “astral body” depending upon who the writer is. Li‰ga-ar…ra is the “model body” which wastes away in a matter of days after the death of the physical, whereas k€ma-r™pa lingers for a longer time after the death of the physical body. See also ASTRAL BODY; HUMAN CONSTITUTION; SEPTENARY SYSTEM NOMENCLATURE, THE. P.S.H.