Three types of Bodies: Sthula, Sukshma, and Karana
Every yoni in existence, from devatas and asuras to ants and humans, has all three bodies: Sthula, Sukshma, and Karana.
Sthula Body
The sthula body, as we know it, is the physical body that we inhabit inside this realm. Sthula body is the body composed of panch bhutas, or the five elements, which are air, earth, water, fire, and space, or ether. It’s the sthula body that also has the pancha karmendriyas and the pancha gyanendriyas.
Sukshma Body
Sukshma Body is different It’s composed of tanmatras, or the five senses, which are sound, touch, smell, taste, and form. The tanmatras, as I’ve explained earlier, are basically the essence of perception. The four anthakaranas are also present in this Sukshma body, and this is where Manas resides.
Karana Body
Karana Body is the accumulation of karmas produced by synchronization between sthula and sukshma sarira. The body and the sensory perception together with the mind become the vessel of actions; these actions produce accumulated karmas, which are stored inside; the karma and their phala stick to the creatures. This is the Karana body.
Four types of states
We know that there are three states of existential perception, which are jagrat (waking state), svapna (dream state), and susupti (deep sleep state). There’s a fourth stage called turiya, which is a state of pure consciousness. The reason behind naming these is to explain the functions of the three bodies better.
Waking State
A being is said to be in the waking stage when it is connected with the various external objects by means of the indriyas; this is possible only by means of the Sthula sarira, as this is what contains the indriyas.
Dream State
The next state of existence is svapna, or dream state, which is the state where the external senses are all withdrawn and the mind becomes the most active force and operates in a free manner without the restrictions of physical senses. This is where the mind makes the tanmatras and anthakaranas its vessel in order to have any perception. This is possible only by means of sukshma Sarira, which consists of the tanmatras and anthakaranas.
Deep Sleep State
The deep sleep state is the state of deep sleep where neither the mind nor the tanmatras nor the indriyas play any role. This is the state that’s comparatively blemishless, as the asuddha factors such as indriyas ityadi don’t work here, nor do Manas. Yet the karan sarir and the aatma exist in this state; however, it’s the karan sarir that plays the major role in this state, as karan sarir is the accumulation of karmas and the product of Sthula and sukshma. In their absence, it exists, yet it doesn’t have any function of its own within the realm of performing actions, and the aatma, being pure consciousness, doesn’t act upon anything in such a pure state. This makes karan sarir the one that is active in sushupti.
What is Soul?
Different from all this is the aatma, which is pure chaitanya and permanent; it’s the all-pervasive permanent cause present inside all beings. The aatma remains unaffected and never undergoes any modifications irrespective of the state in which the person is in.
Sthula, Sukshma, and Karana
The sthula is destroyed when aatma leaves the physical body. When it’s time comes after that, whether one does antyesthi or not, the mahabhutas are going to disintegrate due to the absence of the binding shakti of aatma and ultimately decay.
Sthula, Sukshma, and Karana
The sukshma body is lost at the time of change of yoni and lokas, the degree of tanmatras and anthakaranas present, the dominant and the dependent ones amongst the anthakaranas and the tanmatras, the role and way of working of mind—all these are different with respect to different yonis. Also, the sukshma sarir of bhautik pranis isn’t capable of handling the bliss of svarg and torments of narak; it would be destroyed in a second, thus the sukshma sarir is replaced with the ideal composition when one goes to a different realm.
Sthula, Sukshma, and Karana
The karan body is the seat of all karma and karmaphalas. One who has done all his karmas and undergone all the karmaphalas, or one who is free from the Pasha of punarjanma, are the ones free from the effects of karana sarira. The karan sarir is destroyed when the karmas are totally gone; this can happen when one becomes jivanmukta or obtains moksh, as in both cases the karmas of the person are destroyed. It’s due to the karan sarir one gets svarga and narak and a sukshma and Sthula sarir suitable to the state of the karan body.
The aatma, irrespective of any change in place, time, and circumstances, remains intact and unchanging; it doesn’t get destroyed ever and only changes bodies; it is the controller of Sthula sukshma and Karan sarir and free from their influence. On account of being suddh chaitanya and thus remaining unaffected by any external factors, it remains always pure.