Atma Bodha - Post 19

SLOKA 12:

पंचीकृतमहाभूतसंभवं कर्मसंचितम् ।

शरीरं सुखदुःखानां भोगायतनमुच्यते ॥ १२॥

PANCHIKRITAM SAHAABHUUTA

SAMBHAVAAT KARMA SANCHITAM

SHARIRAM SUKHA DUKHANAAM

BHOGAAYATANAM UCHYATE

(Determined for each individual by his own past actions and made up of the Five elements – that have gone through the process of “five-fold self-division and mutual combination” (Pancheekarana) – are born the gross-body, the medium through which pleasure and pain are experienced, the tent-of-experiences.)

In the previous two slokas, we learnt that it is only due to illusory Upadhis that the ever free, untainted non-dual Self is mistaken as limited. Just like the water that acquires color and taste due to its association with impurities or like the space that seems to be limited due to the impurities, the Self due to its association with the limiting adjuncts seems limited and hence subjected to all misery.

Pancheekarana

Every creation is a manifestation of the gross from the prior subtle state and we all know that the cause precedes the effect.

In the theory of pancheekarana, it is very elaborately pointed out how 5 elements - Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth are evolved, how they intermingle and how from the subtle “TANMATRAS”, the gross elements are formed.

The five great elements, before their grossification, exist in the pure nature, each by themselves - and hence they are known as TANMATRAS, (literally means “THAT ALONE”)

Bhoga Aayatanam: – “Tenement” of Experience:

The example here is that of a business premises where, at the counter, various transactions take place; goods coming in and goods going out; payments in and payments out; customers in and out. There is a two-way interchange of transactions.

Some transactions bring a profit, some bring a loss. It is all part of a day’s work. This simile is meant to represent the gross body’s main function. It is the counter of experiences at which transactions of actions take place daily.

There are senses bringing in information from the outer world, and other senses take our responses out to the world.  Good deeds are performed, which earn merit or Punya. This merit is very helpful when accumulated and spent in the right direction to serve the purpose of this human birth.

On the other hand, impure actions are also carried out across the same counter, and these bring a loss or a demerit. It is a loss relative to the spiritual goal, even though it may actually involve a huge profit in material terms. Demerit is Paapa, and it also contributes to what kind of birth we will have when reborn.

This human body is the only birth in which Paapa and Punya can be earned. In all other births the existing storehouse of Karma has to be worked out with no opportunity for earning any merits. Hence, the example of a “tenement” or a “counter” for transactions is most appropriate to describe the function of the gross human body.

Thus the gross body which is acquired as a result of actions and thoughts arising out of ignorance of one’s true nature of Self is never permanent nor sentient and hence is only an adjunct of Self.

Love.