Expressed more technically during physical life the higher mental principles had purified desire with which they were inter-woven, so that after death all that is left of the desire element is a mere residue, easily shaken off by the withdrawing ego. Such an individual, therefore, would have little consciousness on the astral plane. There is a point known as the critical point between every pair of sub-states of matter. Ice may be raised to a point at which the least increment in temperature will change it into liquid. Similarly, each sub-state of astral matter may be carried to a point of fineness at which any additional refinement would transform it into the next higher sub-state. If a person has done this for every sub-state of matter in one’s astral body, so that it is purified to the highest possible degree, then the first touch of disintegrating force shatters its cohesion and resolves it into its original condition leaving the individual free at once to pass on to the next sub-plane. One’s passage through the astral plane will thus be of inconceivable rapidity, and one will flash through the plane practically instantaneously to the higher state of the heaven or mental world. Every individual after death has to pass through all the sub-planes of the astral plane, on one’s way to the mental plane, but whether or not one is conscious on any or all of them depends upon the factors enumerated. For these reasons, it is clear that the amount of time one may spend on the astral plane before one passes to the mental plane may vary within very wide limits. There are some who pass only a few hours or days on the astral plane, others remain there for many years, or even centuries.
Thus so far it has been observed that (1) the time spent, and (2) the amount of consciousness experienced, on each level of the astral plane depend very largely upon the kind of life the individual has lead in the physical world. Another factor of great importance is one’s attitude of mind after physical death. The astral life may be directed by the will, just as the physical life may be. An individual with little will power or initiative is, in the astral as in the physical world, very much dependent on the surroundings which one has made for oneself. On the other hand a determined individual, can always make the best of the conditions, and live his own life. One, therefore, does not rid oneself of evil tendencies in the astral world, unless one definitely works towards that end.
The article has been taken from the book Life Beyond Death by Anil Sharma