Our Visible and Invisible Bodies

This video is the fifth part of my attempt to unravel life's mysteries with the help of Vedas, the world acclaimed ancient texts of Classical Ancient India which are the vast reservoir of complete knowledge, which includes knowledge belonging to the physical world as well as a robust philosophy of the non-physical or spiritual world.

The video is an attempt to provide a complete understanding of the nature of our true self through a detailed self-inquiry undertaken by the Vedas. The eventual outcome is that we are basically our soul which is wrapped in the five sheaths of physical body, energy, mind, intellect and bliss. Of these only the first sheath is visible, the rest four are invisible. This sheath is our first body which we are aware of. First three invisible sheaths of energy, mind and intellect constitute our invisible astral body. The fourth invisible sheath is the sheath of bliss which encloses our soul. It is made of energy. It is the covering of Maya around the soul. It constitutes our third invisible called our Causal body. This causal body is enclosed by our invisible astral body,which, in turn, is enclosed by our physical body.

The video then describes the journey of our soul after death. Our astral body, encasing the soul contained in the causal body, leaves the physical body to get into the womb of a pregnant mother for the next birth. Thus the cycle of birth and death goes on. It ends only when through spiritual practices our ignorance or Avidya is destroyed, which, in turn destroys our ego residing in the sheath of intellect, which leads to dissolution of the mind. This causes the disintegration of the sheaths of energy, mind and intellect. Our expanded consciousness recognizes that the bliss derived from worldly pleasure is not real and the sheath of bliss disintegrates too. Our consciousness then becomes at par with the Cosmic Consciousness and merges with it, thus getting liberated from the cycle of life and death.

The video then describes the five sheaths and three bodies in detail from Vedic perspective. It then describes how the soul makes the body interact with the external world through the middle instrument of mind, from the three-body point of view. It then presents another approach to liberation by clearing the mind of impurities, making it still and removing the covering of Avidya through spiritual practices so that it reflects pure consciousness of the soul which destroys all the three bodies and the bonded consciousness merges with it, thus liberating the soul.