Chapter 125 - Love

The Subtle Body has 19 instruments of experience: 

(a)  The 5 Sense Organs Of Knowledge: 

There are 5 sense organs of knowledge: eyes, ears, nose, tongue & skin. By sense organs, I do not mean physical organs which belong to the physical body. I'm referring to the subtle power of perception. 

The subtle body is the instrumen

The eyes may be open but the visual data received from the eyes will have no meaning if the mind is daydreaming or occupied elsewhere.

This explains why ghosts and spirits have desires. They have these sutle senses and curvings but don't have gross bodies to satiate them. 

(b)The 5 Organs Of Action:

Where the first 5 organs of knowledge are meant to perceive the world, the next 5 instruments are organs of action meant to respond to the world. 

These 5 organs of action are speech, hands, legs, anus & genitals.

(c) The 5 Pranas: 

The next 5 instruments are called the five-fold Prana (Life force). Prana controls the activities of the 10 organs of knowledge & action. Prana is also responsible for the health & vitality of the body. The 5 Pranas are:

1. Prana – The respiratory system.

2. Apana – Responsible for any sort of waste removal from the body.

3. Vyana – Responsible for circulating oxygen & nutrition throughout the body.

4. Samana – Responsible for converting food into nutrition.

5. Udana – Operates the reversing system at the time of death when all processes of the body are reversed because it is time for the body to die. It also ejects the Subtle Body from the Gross Body at the time of death. Udana also handles the reversal function at the time of emergencies. For e.g., if we ingest a toxic substance it is thrown out of the body.

(d) The 4 Internal Organs:

The last 4 instruments are the 4 internal organs of the Subtle Body. These are the Mind, Intellect, Memory & Ego. These 4 internal organs can also be collectively called the Mind, or Antahkaranam in Sanskrit. 

1. Mind (Manas) – Mind stands for the emotional faculty in the Subtle Body, the feeling function, or what we call the "heart". The mind also integrates the various sense perceptions received from the organs of knowledge and passes them on to the intellect. It also relays instruction from the intellect to the organs of action. 

Another function of the mind is to act as the doubting faculty. For e.g. "Should I do this, or should I do that?"

2. Intellect (Buddhi) – We can call the intellect as the rational faculty or the judging faculty or the knowing faculty or the reasoning faculty. 

The intellect gathers knowledge, remembers, analyses inquires into problems and discriminates. From the enlightenment, perspective intellect is the most important aspect of the subtle body since liberation is nothing but the removal of ignorance from the intellect.

3. Memory (Chittam) – The function of memory is to receive and record our experiences. The sense data received from all 5 organs of knowledge are stored in the memory. 

Sometimes even memories from past lives can be remembered by the mind. For e.g. a musical prodigy feels that she knows the music even though she is hearing it for the first time or a spiritual prodigy feels that he has learnt the scriptures before.

4. Ego (Ahamkara) – When awareness seemingly forgets its limitless nature and identifies with the Subtle and Gross Body, and creates a secondary and limited identity which it calls "I". This "I" is called the Ego. It is because of this ego you feel isolated from others.  Once this ego dies, you see yourself everywhere. 

When through inquiry, self-knowledge arises in the intellect, it destroys this "I", freeing the ever-free awareness from its apparent limitations.

Nature of Subtle body:

The Subtle Body has a longer life compared to the Gross Body. The Gross Body exists for only one birth, whereas the Subtle Body continues into future lives as well. Bodies after bodies are changed but the Subtle Body continues. That is why we are able to sometimes remember past life events. The Karma from past lives is also carried forward because of the continuity of the Subtle Body. The Subtle Body continues until the dissolution of the Universe (Pralaya) where it gets dismantled.

The Subtle Body is only evident to myself, not others. Only I can know my thoughts and feelings, not others. Because it is only available to me and not others, it's called the Subtle Body.

Onish's subtle body got damaged.  This is what he is suffering from. 

Causal Body: 

The Causal Body is made out of causal matter, which is the subtlest form of matter. Technically it's called Avidya. Normally Avidya stands for ignorance but in this context it is different. Sometimes the words Prakriti or Maya is also used.

Components:

The components of Causal Body are nothing but the Subtle and Gross Body in potential form. Before creation, the Subtle and Gross Bodies exist as seed forms in the Causal Body, and during creation they manifest. 

It is similar to a tree sprouting from within a seed, where it existed in potential or un-manifest form.

Matter can never be produced or destroyed. Matter always exists. So before creation too the Subtle and Gross Bodies must have existed in potential form. That potential form is called the Causal Body.

So the Causal Body evolves into the Subtle and Gross Body, just as a seed evolves into a tree.

Functions:

The Causal Body serves as the source from which the Subtle and Gross Body arises, and into which eventually the two bodies dissolve back. During creation (Shristi), the Subtle and Gross Bodies arise from the Causal Body, and during dissolution (Pralaya), they go back into the Causal Body.

Nature:

The Causal Body has got the longest life compared to the other two bodies. Even the Subtle Body gets dismantled during dissolution (Pralaya), but the Causal Body continues even after the dissolution of the universe. 

Also, the Gross Body is visible to everyone, the Subtle Body is known only to me, but the Causal Body is not evident even to myself. Since the Causal Body is more subtle than the mind, it is not known even to me.

Further classification on Ego: 

Vedanta has 3 basic concepts regarding the Ego:

The first is "Jiva". Any being with the 3 Bodies (Gross, Subtle and Causal) is a Jiva. All plants, animals and human beings are Jivas. Rocks, cars and computers are not Jivas.

Ahamkara (ego) is not an independent volitional entity; it is simply the notion that I am a separate individual entity and the consequent belief that I am a doer and an enjoyer/experiencer.

It is the one who claims responsibility for all the decisions the intellect makes, and all the actions the mind and the body take.

In more specific terms, Ahamkara is the plethora of ideas the apparent individual has about himself or herself such as "I am a male or female; I am black or white; I am fat, skinny, healthy, sick, artistic, business-minded, pragmatic, neat, messy."

The third is Abhimanam. We can say that Abhimanam is an extension of Ahamkara. It is the sense of ownership; the idea "This is mine. This belongs to me." 

It is the definition of the ego that is closest in meaning to the common Western definition of ego as "self-importance" or "conceit".

A note on Vasanas: a component of the causal body.

Vasanas.

When we act from a feeling of lack (fear) and the desire that springs from it, the action leaves a subtle trace. The unseen result is called a Vasana. The literal meaning of Vasana in Sanskrit is a fragrance. Like the fragrance emitted by a flower, the actions taken by us carry on unbeknownst to us.

For e.g. a certain experience gives you pleasure. When the experience is over physically, it is still no over. You may go about your business and seemingly forget about the experience, but a Vasana for that experience has been created in your mind. When you find yourself in a situation to have that same experience, you want it once more. The desire for objects that lie hidden in us and spring out from time to time are our Vasanas.

Everything that moves in the world is driven by Vasanas. Vasanas are not inherently good or bad. They are the seeds (knowledge) that drive creation. A Vasana is a momentum from a past action, the tendency to repeat it.

Enlightened people also have Vasanas. If you're alive, you have Vasanas. Like Shri Ramkrishna Paramhansa, the guru of Swami Vivekananda was said to have an unusual liking for Gulab jamun ( an Indian sweet). 

When a Vasana is constantly repeated, the behaviour associated with it becomes binding. The Vasana-driven habit becomes an obsession or a compulsion that finally morphs into an addiction. These are called "binding" Vasanas.

So an enlightened person does not need to get rid of all his Vasanas; he just needs to make all his binding Vasanas non-binding, so that the Vasanas no longer dictate his actions.

Location Of Vasanas In The Jiva:

Vasanas can be said to be directly located in the Subtle Body, but are indirectly located in the Causal Body because the Subtle Body itself exists in un-manifest or seed form in the Causal Body.

Sorry...

A long lecture... 

But it was needed to understand our villain and Mc.

Now we are ready for the story ....