Thursday, 22 May 2008 09:01

These are prerequisites for my future post of more challenging exercises. We will learn a lot more about our Spiritual Anatomy of our body. Show some more enthusiasm by reading this boring theory before you go to the next stages.

In Samkhya (one of the Veda philosophy ism) classify the human body into 3 sheaths:

1. Sthula Sarira, the physical body
2. Linga Sarira, the subtle body
3. Karana Sarira, the causal body

But I prefer the more detail classification written in Taittriya Uphanishad that break it into 5 sheaths that so called Panca Kosa:

1. Annamaya Kosa, the first sheath of existence: the physical body which is the complex system composed by flesh, bones, muscles, nerves, blood, etc. The improper food habit and lack of physical exercises will affect this sheath badly.
2. Pranamaya Kosa, from the Sanskrit word prana means breath, is the vital energy that drives the physical body.
3. Manomaya Kosa, from the Sanskrit word manas means mind or thought, is the mental body that manifest into the personality of the physical body
4. Vijnamaya Kosa, the spiritual knowledge or wisdom
5. Anandamaya Kosa, the transcendental blissfulness which is the state when we are so close with The Divine.

I won't compare it with other approaches cause there are some other way of classification that classify the body into 4 layers, 7 layers, or else. I just explain what I have learned from my background as a Hindu, but this knowledge doesn’t require you to become a Hindu. This is universal knowledge. Everyone can learn it heedless of their religion.

Most people interact with the world only through a few of their layers of body. One may be primarily physical/mental or perhaps physical/spiritual. To achieve better lifes in this birth or the next (do you believe in reincarnation?), we must work with different layers of body or level of consciousness.

That disciplined man with joy and light within,
Becomes one with God and reaches the freedom that is God's.
(BhagavadGita 5.24)

Alternative Medicine, whether Chinese, Tibetan, Reiki, likewise works on the level of the Etheric or Subtle Body. Etheric body is the repository of the life force or vitality energy (variously called Chi, Ki, Prana, Vayu, Pneuma, Orgone, Libido, etc) for the entire psycho-physical organism. This vitality energy flows through the various etheric channels or Nadis or meridians, and is processed in the energy vortexes named Chakras.

This short writing don't expect you to accept this theory directly, the truth can only be found through self investigation alone, use this as your leap stone to the higher knowledge from your own experiences, that would be great.