Three bodies continued....
Subtle Body or Astral Body or Linga Sharira
This Subtle or Astral body or the Linga Sharira
surrounds around the physical body or the Sthula Sharira, as an Energy of Aura.
It is the reflection of the "Physical Body".
Before the "Physical Body", it comes into existence. But later it
builds around the physical body. The copy of the "Physical Body"
parts are present in the "Astral Body". They are known as
"Astral Senses".
Five organs of actions (karma indriyas), five
organs of perception (jnana indriyas), 5 pranas, 5 elements, totaling to 20 and
the discriminative intellect, ignorance, desire and action - all these together
constitute the subtle body.
The discriminative intellect includes antah
karana or the inner instruments - Manas, Buddhi, Chitta and Ahankara. This has
been explained in several posts under the theme MBCA in the blog and hence, we
won't get into detail on this.
Subtle body is also known as linga sharira.
Linga refers to something that has not been revealed.
When a person dies, the soul cannot quit the
body without a medium or vehicle. So, this "Linga Sharira" acts as a
vehicle for soul to come out of the body.
This body, completely fades out, when the
physical body decomposes and vanishes. That is why "Cremation" of the
"Physical Body" is done when a person dies.
Love.
