What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

Is the mind the same as the body? What is consciousness? Can machines have it?

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dattaswami
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What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

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What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

[Ms. Thrylokya asked:- What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul? And what is the difference between a human being and a human incarnation in this context? Please enlighten us. At Your Divine Lotus Feet, Thrylokya]


Swami replied: The four types of the external bodies are:-

(1) Gross body or sthuula shariira, containing matter (with some energy also),

(2) Subtle body or sukshma shariira, made of inert energy,

(3) Causal body or karana shariira, made of desires, which may be selfish or divine (if the desires are selfish, such body is called the body of ignorance or the body of rajas and tamas or the body of avidyaa and if the desires are divine, such body is called the body of knowledge or the body of sattvam or the body of vidyaa) and

(4) The root causal body or mahaa kaarana shariira that is based on the root will of God for entertainment and this root cause is the divine power of God, called as maayaa or mahaa maayaa. The avidyaa or ignorance is also roughly called as maayaa and correspondingly, the avidyaa maayaa and vidyaa maayaa are attributed to the body of ignorance and the body of knowledge respectively. All these four types of bodies cover the soul in any human being. In the case of an energetic being, all the three bodies except the gross body cover the inner soul. In the case of the incarnation, God plus the human being is the human incarnation and God plus the energetic being is the energetic incarnation.
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Sculptor
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Re: What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

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No to it all.

This is Philosophy not mysticism
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Harbal
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Re: What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

Post by Harbal »

dattaswami wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:18 am Ms. Thrylokya asked:- What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul? And what is the difference between a human being and a human incarnation in this context? Please enlighten us. At Your Divine Lotus Feet, Thrylokya
Dear Ms. Thrylokya, the four kinds of bodies are fat bodies, thin bodies, tall bodies and short bodies. The shape and size of the soul is constant, so, for example, a fat soul must always reincarnate into a fat body. The difference between a human being and a human incarnation is that the former is a being, while the latter is an incarnation. I hope you find this answer enlightening. Should you have any further stupid questions, please keep them to yourself.

Yours Sincerely, Divine Lotus Foot
Belinda
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Re: What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

Post by Belinda »

dattaswami wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:18 am What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

[Ms. Thrylokya asked:- What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul? And what is the difference between a human being and a human incarnation in this context? Please enlighten us. At Your Divine Lotus Feet, Thrylokya]


Swami replied: The four types of the external bodies are:-

(1) Gross body or sthuula shariira, containing matter (with some energy also),

(2) Subtle body or sukshma shariira, made of inert energy,

(3) Causal body or karana shariira, made of desires, which may be selfish or divine (if the desires are selfish, such body is called the body of ignorance or the body of rajas and tamas or the body of avidyaa and if the desires are divine, such body is called the body of knowledge or the body of sattvam or the body of vidyaa) and

(4) The root causal body or mahaa kaarana shariira that is based on the root will of God for entertainment and this root cause is the divine power of God, called as maayaa or mahaa maayaa. The avidyaa or ignorance is also roughly called as maayaa and correspondingly, the avidyaa maayaa and vidyaa maayaa are attributed to the body of ignorance and the body of knowledge respectively. All these four types of bodies cover the soul in any human being. In the case of an energetic being, all the three bodies except the gross body cover the inner soul. In the case of the incarnation, God plus the human being is the human incarnation and God plus the energetic being is the energetic incarnation.
Dattaswami, you need to use less mystical language in order to be understood in this forum. You item(4) is the least comprehensible, and even European philosophers who are clever communicators are pushed to explain a causal deity.
Belinda
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Re: What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

Post by Belinda »

Harbal wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 1:04 pm
dattaswami wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:18 am Ms. Thrylokya asked:- What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul? And what is the difference between a human being and a human incarnation in this context? Please enlighten us. At Your Divine Lotus Feet, Thrylokya
Dear Ms. Thrylokya, the four kinds of bodies are fat bodies, thin bodies, tall bodies and short bodies. The shape and size of the soul is constant, so, for example, a fat soul must always reincarnate into a fat body. The difference between a human being and a human incarnation is that the former is a being, while the latter is an incarnation. I hope you find this answer enlightening. Should you have any further stupid questions, please keep them to yourself.

Yours Sincerely, Divine Lotus Foot
Harbal, Good idea! I had not understood that Dattaswami is a theist disguised as an Oriental sage.
Dimebag
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Re: What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

Post by Dimebag »

What is being taught here is Vedic spiritual teaching. It doesn’t make sense because you don’t understand the vocabulary.

Much of what is needed to understand those four bodies is introspection, and to build this ontology in your own mind so as to identify the different categories being described.

It is in some ways far beyond western philosophy, and in some ways, encoded in such a way so as to be approached by people in lower levels of understanding. There is many parts of the teachings that are metaphor, many of the gods etc actually relate to the parts of the self.

But it takes someone with an open mind to learn this. To the average westerner who has not had an awakening, or experienced changes in their identity or who they take themselves to be on a fundamental level, so much of this will sound like nonsense.

If it doesn’t interest you now, it’s probably best not to dwell on it, and maybe come back to it at a later stage in your life if you experience strange changes in your identity, or spiritual experiences. If you are at a late stage in life but feel you are missing something, it can be a good place to start, but the sheer breadth and height of teachings is so vast you can easily become lost.

A good place I would suggest, is a teaching called, “drg drsya vikeka”, which translates as “differentiating between the seer and the seen”.

It is an advaita Vedanta teaching, so It is actually not starting at the start, but at the beginning of the end, and the problem can be that you just don’t have the requirements to make use of the teaching, but it is worth trying.

You have to understand that the purpose of the vedas is not a literal description of reality, there is so much metaphor.
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Harbal
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Re: What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

Post by Harbal »

Dimebag wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 12:18 pm What is being taught here is Vedic spiritual teaching. It doesn’t make sense because you don’t understand the vocabulary.
Why should I listen to someone who can't even be bothered to speak to me in vicabulary I can ynderstand?
so much of this will sound like nonsense.
Yes, I agree. :?
If it doesn’t interest you now, it’s probably best not to dwell on it,
Again, I agree.
You have to understand that the purpose of the vedas is not a literal description of reality
No, I don't have to understand.
Walker
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Re: What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

Post by Walker »

Dimebag wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 12:18 pm...
This is a pleasure to read, although I confess to no fact checking.

I need to pay more attention to this Dimebag who so concisely takes it higher.

Without bothering to constantly whine about distractions that disturb my ignorance, like some people, :roll: ,and I think they know who they are, I have the method. Scan for names, not topics. Everyone does it anyway. This one yes, that one no, with a few maybes. The Yesus (Yeses?) consistently shine, and content agreement is not required.
Walker
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Re: What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

Post by Walker »

Sculptor wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 12:10 pm No to it all.

This is Philosophy not mysticism
Interesting. If in fact the totality of the forum rather than preferential particulars is the backing for the velcro label to stick, then this perception must include the Data of Dattaswami, an apprehension within this realm's totality which is the natural effect of minimalist moderation. And I tell you this because deep in your bones, you know it is true, despite often pleading a cough of confusion that sounds like bollocks, the b sound a result of trying to suppress the cough, so that it sounds more like an expulsion than a word. Great word, when sound conveys the meaning.

It's like the Sanskrit language, where the vibrational qualities from throat energy resonating throughout the form that co-arises with consciousness, produces the same effects as the intellectual meanings of the words. Double whammy.

Dattaswami could fill you in, but could you hear?
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Sculptor
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Re: What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

Post by Sculptor »

Walker wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 5:55 pm
Sculptor wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 12:10 pm No to it all.

This is Philosophy not mysticism
Interesting. If in fact the totality of the forum rather than preferential particulars is the backing for the velcro label to stick, then this perception must include the Data of Dattaswami, an apprehension within this realm's totality which is the natural effect of minimalist moderation. And I tell you this because deep in your bones, you know it is true, despite often pleading a cough of confusion that sounds like bollocks, the b sound a result of trying to suppress the cough, so that it sounds more like an expulsion than a word. Great word, when sound conveys the meaning.

It's like the Sanskrit language, where the vibrational qualities from throat energy resonating throughout the form that co-arises with consciousness, produces the same effects as the intellectual meanings of the words. Double whammy.

Dattaswami could fill you in, but could you hear?
Been there, done that, wrote the book,grew up
Walker
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Re: What are the four kinds of bodies covering the soul?

Post by Walker »

Sculptor wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 6:14 pm
Been there, done that, wrote the book,grew up
I suspected that. You sometimes let things slip.

- Allow all who must speak, the right to speak. For we are Free. Yes, we are free.
- For those who must speak, the Speaking is the need.
- Hearing is not the need.
- Those who need to hear, hear what they need to hear.
- Never-the-less, some are heard, and the heard hearing is a boon for the herd.
- This is evident in Dattaswami’s reticence to step over the ad hominem threshold, which can become such a well-worn and threadbare path that it becomes a crutch for comprehension of which way to go.
- The person that we try to create in Dattaswami, is actually a transparent vehicle for a message being Broadcast.
- This is because at the gist, by his own admission his postings address the roles within relationships, and not the personalities perceived.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bQnxlHZsjY
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