48
Aptavani-8
that which evaporates away, has a subtle (sookshma) form. In
the same way, the body has a gross (sthool) form which you
can see, but the other subtle (sookshma) form is one you cannot
see. But the subtle body (sookshma sharira) is very much like
this one, there is nothing different in it. The subtle body means
the electrical body itself!
Questioner: But at the time when the soul (jiva) leaves,
how does the causal body (karan sharira), and the electrical
body (tejas sharira) go with it? Why does anything else not
leave with it?
Dadashri: If you boil water, the hydrogen and oxygen in
the water, will evaporate together! And later, even they separate.
But when they evaporate, they evaporate together. They separate
and then come back together. That is an account (hisaab). It is
because of the karmic account that the electrical body stays
bound to the Atma. That is why there is no other mixing. That
electrical body remains the same, life after life, throughout its
existence, and nothing on the outside can touch it. Just as this
physical body does not allow another physical body to fuse with
it, the same is true for the subtle body (sookshma sharira). The
only difference is that the gross and tangible (sthool) body is
visible to the eyes; whereas the subtle body is not. There is even
a form to it, and everything else, except you can see the physical
body and you cannot see the subtle body; that is all. So there
is no mixing of any kind. The subtle body does not mix with
anything else. There is the ‘my-ness’ (mamata) in this physical
body and there is the ‘my-ness’ in the subtle body as well.
It is like this: as long as there is the state of worldly life
(sansar avastha), the subtle body stays with it. The state of
worldly life (sansar avastha) means the state of illusion
(bhranti). It is there, as long as the subtle body is there.
Questioner: So within the subtle body, is the Atma
separate, or is it bound?