10.2 Subtle Body (Sookshma Shareera)

The causes of knowing-doing activities of the gross body are the five great elements. But they engage these activities by the subtle body made of their tanmaatraas alone.
 
This subtle body is the cause of the existence, sustenance and dissolution of the gross body. Desires, forces, doership-enjoyership, arrogation and the cause of all of these, ignorance, stay in this subtle body. It alone is also the cause of rebirth and transmigration.
 
Bhagavaan Shree Shankaraachaarya has named the subtle body as "linga shareera" and "puryashtaka" also. Per him, there are 8 limbs of the subtle body and a total of 22 elements:
 
1. Five organs of sense 2. Five organs of action 3. Five vital forces 4. Four-fold internal organ 5. Five tanmaatraas 6. Ignorance 7. Desire and 8. Action.
 
All these have been described in the section of discrimination of Purusha and Prakriti. The subtle body is made of the undifferentiated (apancheekrita) five elements, and is the instrument of all of the Purusha's transactions. Ignorance, desire and action are the intelligent cause behind the construction of this subtle body.
 
I hear, I touch, I see, I taste, I smell - these are activities of knowledge. I speak, I give and take, I come and go, I use the restroom - these are activities of action. All known and unknown activities of the body, doubts and fancies of the mind, decisions and indecisions of the intellect, recollections of the memory, all kinds of identifications of the ego, knowledge of speech and other sense objects, attraction-aversion towards them, desire towards them and ignorance of one's brahman-nature - all these are characteristics of the subtle body.
 
We should investigate whether, just like the gross body, the limbs of the subtle body are also seen, known and I am their seer and knower. Therefore I am different from the subtle body and am the knowledge-nature witness. Its characteristics are not my characteristics, they belong to the three gunaas of Prakriti and the five great elements. Now there are characteristics of the individual soul created from the ignorance of one's brahman nature such as "I am sinner-saint, I am happy-sad, I travel from one realm to another, I am in this body" and so on. Since they too are created out of ignorance and the help of the senses or the internal organ, they are the characteristics of the internal organ, not of me, the pure witness self. The sattvic, raajasic and taamasic transformations of sattva, rajas and tamas are also the characteristics of the subtle body, not of the witness self. Therefore I the witness was never in the bondage of the gunaas and will never be free from them since I am ever free to being with.
 
Doership, enjoyership, disconnectedness and worldliness are adjuncted upon the witness, they are not its inherent nature. Doership comes from the adjunct of the organs of action, knowership from the adjunct of the organs of sense, enjoyership from the adjunct of the mind, worldliness from the adjunct of the subtle body. Disconnectedness comes from the ignorance of the identity between the substratum of the subtle and gross body, with the witness. The witness, in its inherent nature, is ever free.
 
This subtle body pervades the entire gross body - this is the methodology of Vedanta scripture. Therefore, the individual soul accepts the form of the subtle body as similar to the gross body. After death, this subtle body bears the result of the sinful and meritorious deeds performed by the prior gross body. After that, it identifies with whichever gross body is obtained by its prior actions.
 
The access point of the subtle body is the dream state. At that time, the gross body is lying on a bed and the individual soul creates an entire world of dreams resembling the waking state world purely on the basis of this subtle body. At the time, even its enjoyments or bhogaas are subtle. The identifier of the waking state, the Vishva, does not remain present here. The identifier of the dream state is "Taijasa". Since everything is knowledge-oriented in dream, his power is that of sattva guna. But the witness of the waking state is the witness of the dream state. There cannot be two witnesses.
 
Now you think this : Do you really do anything? Enjoy anything? Know anything? Take pride in anything? No. Everything is happening by itself! The gunaas are playing with each other. The gunaas of prakriti are doing everything. The adhidaiva is pushing the adhyaatma towards the adhibhoota. Breathing is going on. Food is being digested. The body is being sustained. Waking, dream and deep sleep states come after each other. The identifications with joy and sorrow are waking and sleeping in your sense of "I". And so it goes. You just keep watching what happens in the body because you are the witness. The only job of the witness is to neutrally illumine only. He does not take part in any incident.