Yogic Science: Treha Deha, the 3 Body Anatomy

Anatomy is a science of the structure of the body. Per Biological sciences, the body is made up of different systems including the skeletal system, muscular system, digestive system, and circulatory system. You breathe; you stretch muscles, your heartbeats. These are physical, visible ways of knowing that your body is working, however, various spiritual, religious, and alternative medicinal practices (Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese medicine, Japanese Shiatsu, and Reiki among others) have conceptualized additional body — the subtle body — which is ontologically (philosophically) energetic and invisible. We will delve further into the Vedantic teachings of the 3 body doctrine that states that a human being is constituted by three superposed bodies that are in constant interaction with each other. The three bodies are:

1. The Gross body (Sthula Sharira)
2. The Subtle body (Sukshma Sharira)
3. The Causal body (Karana Sharira)

To understand each of the 3 bodies, we will focus on the components of each of the body, what are its characteristics, and the functions it performs.

The Gross Body or Sthula Sharira

This is the physical body that we can perceive/see. It is made up of 5 gross elements: earth, fire, air, water, and space.

Characteristics of the Gross body:

1. The gross body can be perceived by the 5 senses, both inside and outside, by ourselves and others.
2. This body is sustained by food and vital energy.
3. This body changes with time. It ages with time and when it dies, it disintegrates back into the 5 elements.
4. This body is not the “I”, the knower, or the observer. It is not the true self.

The function of the Gross Body

1. This physical body is the temporary residence of the pure self or the Jiva (individual atman).
2. This body is used as equipment (instrument) using which one performs the Karma and thereby realizes the true self. So, it should be kept fit and taken care of without getting attached to it or falsely identifying oneself with it.

The Subtle Body or Sukshma Sharira

Pervading the entire physical body is the light, bright, subtle body (like an aura of energy). It is called subtle, as it cannot be perceived by our senses. It is made up of 5 subtle elements.

Characteristics of the Subtle body

1. The subtle body is not visible to the 5 senses.
2. It is only evident to myself, not others. Only I know my thoughts and feelings.
3. The subtle body also changes with time. Memory fades, the intellect gets sharper or dull, eyes become weak, etc.
4. Subtle body doesn’t die with the physical body, it continues into future lives as well.
5. The subtle body has 19 components:

• 1. Five organs of perception or knowledge- ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and skin. These organs enable us to experience the entire world of sense objects namely sound, forms, smell, taste, and feel. Most of our knowledge is based on the perceptions gained through these senses. Note: these are not the 5 physical organs that we can see/touch that are part of the physical body. These are the subtle organs that physical organs interact with.
• 2. Five organs of actions — speech, hands, legs, anus, and genitals. These organs enable one to speak, grasp things, move, excrete, and procreate. The body responds to external stimuli through these organs of action.
• 3. Five Pranas — These are the 5 life forces that control the physiological functions of the body and are responsible to keep the body healthy. The 5 pranas are vital to life, they work silently all the time even when we are asleep. They connect the subtle body to the gross body and energizes both. If they malfunction, the body gets sick. They function involuntarily but it is said that yogis can control them through the mind. These 5 pranas are PAVSU (Prana, Apana, Vyana, Samana, and Udana):

• a. Prana: Breathing is governed by Prana.
• b. Apana: Responsible for all waste removal from the body.
• c. Vyana: Responsible for the circulation of blood and nourishment to every cell of the body.
• d. Samana: Responsible for digestion and assimilation of food.
• e. Udana: All reactions or reverse processes during emergencies e.g. vomiting, burping, shedding tears, sneezing. It also provides the energy to eject the subtle body from the gross body at the time of death.
• 4. Mind (Manas): Mind is the emotional faculty in the Subtle Body. It generates feelings and emotions like anger, jealously, love, compassion, etc. The senses send the perceptions to the mind and the mind perceives the objects of the world.
• 5. Intellect (Buddhi): Intellect is the judging, analysis, and reasoning faculty of the Subtle body. The intellect gathers knowledge, analyzes, discriminates between good or bad, right or wrong, real or unreal. To question, recognize, discover, imagine, observe, conclude, rationalize all intellectual abilities. Intellect is considered the most important aspect of the subtle body as it allows a person to get rid of ignorance.
• 6. Memory (Chitt): Chitt is the memory bank of the subtle body. It receives, stores, and retrieves our experiences and the knowledge gained. Sometimes memories from previous lives can also be remembered by mind e.g. a musical prodigy may feel they know a music piece even though he/she may hear for the 1st time, what we many times say “natural-born” or “born-with”.
• 7. Ego or Identity (Ahamkara): is the sense of “I am” or “my identity”. Whatever you identify yourself as — whether rich or poor, intelligent or smart, weak or strong, by profession or by name, — it is superficial covering or ignorance of the person that he/she identifies himself/herself in terms of this Ahamkara.

Functions of the Subtle Body

The function of the subtle body is to interact and transact with the world using these 19 components.

The diagram shows how the subtle body functions:

1. The organs of knowledge/perception take the data received from physical organs (Gross body) like visuals, smell, taste, sound, and touch to the mind.
2. The mind processes the received data and passes them to the Intellect
3. The intellect analyzes the data received from the mind. To analyze, it needs memory and knowledge stored in the memory bank (Chitt).
4. The intellect retrieves the memory from Chitt and then makes the decision or comes to a solution. This is passed back to mind. These decisions are also stored back in the memory bank (Chitt).
5. The mind then sends instructions to 5 organs of action to react
6. The Ego creates the “I” sense e.g. when the stimuli come in (via sense organs), Ego makes us think that it is happening to “me” and when the body takes action, it makes us think, “I” am doing it.

The Ego cannot be killed as it is part of the subtle body. An enlightened person doesn’t identify “I” with himself. Swami Paramarthananda says that we need to convert our “identification” with Ego to an “association”. Because I can observe the Ego, I am “associated” with it, but since I am not the Ego, I should not be “identified” with it.

The Causal body or Karana body

The subtlest and the most pervasive of the body is the Causal body or the Karana sharira. It is the cause of the other two bodies. Before creation, the subtle and the gross body are present in a seed form in the causal body and they manifest themselves during creation, just like a tree grows from seed when planted.

Characteristics and function of the Causal body

1. The gross body is visible to everybody, the Subtle body is only evident to me, but the Causal body is not evident even to myself.
2. The causal body continues into the next birth.
3. The causal body is the source of the subtle and the gross body.
4. The causal body carries the sanskaras/impressions from earlier births and carries the soul from one birth to another. When the sanskaras or impressions are released and detached from the causal body, the person is liberated and attains moksha (Self merges with Brahma).

The 3 body doctrine answers a lot of questions for novice seekers. It allows conceptualizing or answering the very fundamental truth of Vedanta i.e. “Who am I”? Am I the physical body that I relate myself to? or am I the intellect/mind? Where do the Atman reside in this body and how is it carried from one life to another?

The Soul (Atman) is different from the three bodies. It is the experiencer, observer, and therefore it is eternal. Atman resides in this Treha body but is not the body. It lives beyond the body as part of Brahama (universal soul). Realizing the truth of Atman and the three-body working enables a seeker to logically/structurally think about how his/her behaviors can be controlled and thereby, make progress on the path of spirituality.