Trailõkya

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Trailokya, or Trilokya (Sk.). Lit., the "three regions" or worlds; the complementary triad to the Brahmanical quaternary of worlds named Bhuvanatraya. A Buddhist profane layman will mention only three divisions of every world, while a non-initiated Brahman will maintain that there are four. The four divisions of the latter are purely physical and sensuous, the Trailokya of the Buddhist are purely spiritual and ethical. The Brahmanical division may be found fully described under the heading of Vyahritis, the difference being for the present sufficiently shown in the following parallel: --

Brahmanical Division of the Worlds. -- Buddhist Division of the Regions.

Bhur, earth. -- 1. World of desire, Kamadhatu or Kamaloka.
Bhuvah, heaven, firmament. -- 2. World of form, Rupadhatu.
Swar, atmosphere, the sky. -- 3. The formless world, Arupadhatu.
Mahar, eternal luminous essence. -- [See 3 above]

All these are the worlds of post-mortem states. For instance, Kamaloka or Kamadhatu, the region of Mara, is that which mediaeval and modern Kabalists call the world of astral light, and the "world of shells". Kamaloka has, like every other region, its seven divisions, the lowest of which begins on earth or invisibly in its atmosphere; the six others ascend gradually, the highest being the abode of those who have died owing to accident, or suicide in a fit of temporary insanity, or were otherwise victims of external forces. It is a place where all those who have died before the end of the term allotted to them, and whose higher principles do not, therefore, go at once into Devachanic state -- sleep a dreamless sweet sleep of oblivion, at the termination of which they are either reborn immediately, or pass gradually into the Devachanic state. Rupadhatu is the celestial world of form, or what we call Devachan. With the uninitiated Brahmans, Chinese and other Buddhists, the Rupadhatu is divided into eighteen Brahma or Devalokas; the life of a soul therein lasts from half a Yuga up to 16,000 Yugas or Kalpas, and the height of the "Shades" is from half a Yojana up to 16,000 Yojanas (a Yojana measuring from five and a half to ten miles!!), and such-like theological twaddle evolved from priestly brains. But the Esoteric Philosophy teaches that though for the Egos for the time being, everything or everyone preserves its form (as in a dream), yet as Rupadhatu is a purely mental region, and a state, the Egos themselves have no form outside their own consciousness. Esotericism divides this "region" into seven Dhyanas, "regions", or states of contemplation, which are not localities but mental representations of these. Arupadhatu: this "region" is again divided into seven Dhyanas, still more abstract and formless, for this "World" is without any form or desire whatever. It is the highest region of the post mortem Trailokya; and as it is the abode of those who are almost ready for Nirvana, and is, in fact, the very threshold of the Nirvanic state, it stands to reason that in Anupadhatu (or Arupavachara) there can be neither form nor sensation, nor any feeling connected with our three dimensional Universe. (Theosophical Glossary, 1892)