Swami Brahm Bodhi

Revered Gurudev, pranam 🙏🙏

What are the gross body, the subtle body, and the causal body?
And what is the relationship of the soul with these bodies?

Kindly provide a detailed explanation of this. 🙏🙏

Answer (Brahm Bodhi)

Translation

The gross body is the body in which the hands, feet, heart, lungs, brain, and other organs exist in a tangible form. In ordinary language, this alone is called the ‘body’. It can be seen and touched, and it is this body that undergoes death.

The subtle body exists within this gross body. After the death of the gross body, it remains for some time without any gross body. In the ordinary sense, this subtle body does not ‘die’. When, ultimately, the subtle body too is destroyed, the Self attains liberation (moksha).

The final fruit of all spiritual practice is the destruction of the subtle body, so that the Self may attain liberation.

In Vedanta it is called the subtle body, whereas in Sankhya philosophy the same is termed the “linga body.”

The causal body is not mentioned in Sankhya philosophy, but it is described in Vedanta. Even so, the general view is that it is not appropriate to call it a ‘body’. It is usually referred to as ignorance or “avidya” which is the cause of the bondage (because of which it is called the “causal body”.) Put simply, it is the ‘glue’ that keeps the Self attached to the subtle body, and through it, to the gross body. In other words, this ignorance or avidya is the cause that binds the Self to the world.

The day this glue is destroyed, on that very day the Self’s connection with the subtle body (and the gross body) is severed. Then the Self attains liberation and the supreme state, becomes forever free from the world, is released from the cycle of rebirth, and attains nirvana.

The subtle body or linga body is said to be composed of seventeen, and sometimes eighteen, elements. These include the mind, intellect, and ego; the five organs of knowledge and the five organs of action in their subtle forms; and the five tanmatras.

The Five Tanmatras

In Indian philosophy, especially Sankhya and Yoga, the five tanmatras are the subtle principles from which the gross material world later arises. In brief, tanmatras are the subtle seeds of the qualities experienced by the senses.

1. Sound tanmatra
   – The subtle cause of sound
   – Related to hearing (the ear)
   – From this arises the element of space (ākāśa)
2. Touch tanmatra
   – The subtle cause of touch
   – Related to the skin
   – From this arises the element of air (vāyu)
3. Form tanmatra
   – The subtle cause of visible form
   – Related to the eyes
   – From this arises the element of fire (agni or tejas)
4. Taste tanmatra
   – The subtle cause of taste
   – Related to the tongue
   – From this arises the element of water (jala)
5. Smell tanmatra
   – The subtle cause of smell
   – Related to the nose
   – From this arises the element of earth (pṛthvī)

This sequence may be understood as follows:

Prakriti → Tanmatras → Five Great Elements → Gross World

That is, at the root of everything we experience through the senses are first the tanmatras, then the five great elements, and finally this visible world.

Seen a little more closely, all impressions, memories, and dispositions from previous births are stored in the subtle body. This subtle body is our real worldly identity. After the death of the gross body, it is this subtle body that enters a new gross body, and thus birth after birth continues.

When true knowledge of reality, Self-realization, or realization of the Self occurs, ignorance is destroyed. That glue which had kept the Self attached to the subtle body is dissolved. As a result, the Self becomes free from the cycle of birth and death and attains liberation.

Thus, among the various levels or coverings of the Self that are discussed, we have understood the gross body and the subtle body, while the causal body has been understood not as a ‘body’ but as ignorance or avidya.

However, in the Āgama texts, another kind of body—the bhuvanaja body—is also mentioned. When the subtle body leaves the gross body and goes to heaven, hell, the realm of Shiva, or Vaikuntha, it receives a specific bhuvanaja body appropriate to each realm.

Mahopadhyaya Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj, one of the great scholars of Āgamic literature, writes that the bhuvanaja body obtained in each realm differs according to the nature of that realm. A detailed discussion is not necessary here. The bhuvanaja body obtained in hell is called the body of torment. It is such a body that can be repeatedly damaged and then re-created, so that the being may experience suffering again and again. For example, if the body is burned as part of a punishment, the same body is reconstructed to inflict the next torment. The Ramcharitmanas also mentions this body of torment (yatana shareer).

Some scriptures also describe the size of the subtle body. According to one account, if the tip of a hair is divided into a thousand parts, and then one of those parts is further divided into a hundred parts, the subtle body is said to be equal in size to that hundredth part.

In the Gita, either directly or implicitly, there is mention of the gross and subtle bodies, of the Self’s continued attachment to them due to ignorance, and of the principle that by destroying ignorance one becomes free from both bodies and attains liberation.