388. “I am black and lovely.” It is written, “Educate the boy according to his way; even when he grows old, he will not stray form it.” When the Creator created the man, He created him in an upper form; his bones and his organs were all in the upper one. He lowered him to the earth, into the lower Garden of Eden, which the Creator created in the earth in a concealed and covered place, in a shape and depiction of the upper Garden of Eden, as it is written, “And the Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to guard it.”
He placed him in the Garden of Eden. It did not interpret if it is the upper Garden of Eden or the lower Garden of Eden, since it is all one, and the lower Garden of Eden is completely equal to the upper Garden of Eden, and there must not be a division between them.
The Garden of Eden is for the pleasure of the souls. There are two Gardens of Eden: a lower Garden of Eden and an upper Garden of Eden, Bina and Malchut. However, the lower Garden of Eden, too, Malchut, is Bina of Malchut, and it was established to have the form of the upper Garden of Eden completely.
After their demise, the souls of the righteous should have risen to the upper Garden of Eden, since they are from the light of Bina. However, because she was clothed in a body in this world, the lower Garden of Eden has been prepared for them, which is essentially Malchut, which has a relation with the body. The soul sits there for some time until she is purified from the impression of the body, and then she ascends to the upper Garden of Eden.
When Adam HaRishon was created, he was created in a high form, the form of Bina, and he did not have anything from this world. For this reason, the Creator placed him in the lower Garden of Eden, which is also in a high form, the form of the upper Garden of Eden, Bina.
389. Twelve boundaries shine in the upper Garden of Eden, and several walls separate from several camps of holy angels, and spirits of holy righteous ones all around the Garden of Eden, since all the souls stand there before they come to this world, and here in that lower Garden of Eden, it does not have these boundaries.
Because the Garden of Eden is in a high form, He established and prepared it for several spirits and souls of the righteous, to be corrected here after their passing from this world. Hence, can it be that before there were righteous in this world, the Garden of Eden did not have to be in a high form, since there was no need for it to be established in a high form before the righteous in this world needed it?
390. Rather, of course the lower Garden of Eden is in a high form, like the upper Garden of Eden, since the day the world was created. Before the man was created, there were several walls and boundaries in it from the upper angels that surrounded Him, as in the upper Garden of Eden, since he was not without guarding because in all the halls there, there are rulers who guard them. Before the spirits were incorporated so as to come into this world, and all the spirits and souls that were destined to come into this world were all there before the man was created.
391. Until that day, before they come into this world, all the spirits that are destined to be given in this world were there. These spirits and souls were ascending and descending, coming out from the upper Garden of Eden and descending to the lower Garden of Eden, and clothing there in garments similar to the bodies of this world, from the phase of Malchut that is sweetened in Bina.
392. They engage there in Torah in order to know and to behold, through the garment, the glory of their master. Each one attains there as he is destined to be in this world, as the future operates there like the past, and all that one is destined to be rewarded with through his good deeds in this world, he is already rewarded with attaining there.
393. The one whose correction is well and good in that garment, if his exertion in Torah and good deeds in this world is as it should be, is elevated before the holy king, in that garment such as in this world, and he stands before Him, and the Creator delights in him, as it is written, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stood,” before I came to this world.
394. There are garments with which the spirits are dressed, that are like the body in this world. This is applied in the lower Garden of Eden. If that body, in which the spirit is destined to clothe in this world, is destined to leave the holy spirit and follow an evil spirit, that spirit in the Garden of Eden flees from that clothing of his, and the clothing is drawn outside the Garden of Eden.
395. Because every Monday and every Wednesday, the evil spirit of the woman of harlotry walks around the Garden of Eden, and there are garments that follow that evil spirit, and the passion of that evil spirit is for these garments, when the holy spirit descends from the upper Garden of Eden and dresses in that garment, he does not settle in it since it follows the evil spirit, so he flees from him and rises up to the upper Garden of Eden.
396. After the holy spirit has fled from it, that garment follows the evil spirit and is taken out from the Garden of Eden and dwells there. When that person comes, the body in this world, after his passing from this world, for his bad deeds caused the garment in the Garden of Eden to follow the evil spirit, since the future operates there like the past, and dresses in it, he is lowered to Hell and sentenced in it each day.
397. That holy spirit that fled from that garment rises up and enters a treasure, and dwells there until a righteous son or seed comes out from that wicked one, and brings down the holy spirit into this world, and he will be properly completed with it. Afterwards, that wicked one will have rest, and he tweets and rises from Hell, and dresses in another clothing.
398. He stands at the door to the Garden of Eden and sees the holy spirit he had left, that it is in dignity and in several illuminations, and he desires it. Also, he sees the glory of the rest of the righteous and is ashamed and cries over his actions.