by Sean M.Clarke

Created on: March 19, 2009

What are humans comprised of

Introduction

In this article we explain the composition of the human body and its various subtle bodies. Modern science has gone in some depth into understanding the physical body. However its understanding of the other aspects of human existence is still very limited. For example the understanding of the human psyche and intellect is still more or less limited to their physical aspects. However spiritual science has studied the entire human existence in great detail.

What are human beings comprised of as per spiritual science?

A living person is made up of the following bodies:

1. The Physical Body

This is the body that is best known to modern science. It comprises of the skeletal framework, muscles, tissues, organs, blood, 5 sense organs, etc.

2. The Vital Energy Body

This is the body also known as the Praandeha. This body provides the vital, life-sustaining energy for all the functions of the physical as well as the mental body. There are five types of vital energies or praana:

Praana: Energy for the activity of inhalation.

Udaana: Energy for the activity of exhalation and speech.

Samaana: Energy for the activity of the stomach and intestines.

Vyaana: Energy for voluntary and involuntary movements of the body.

Apaana: Energy for urination, excretion, ejaculation, childbirth, etc.

3. The Mental Body or the Mind

The Mental Body (Manodeha) or the Mind is the seat of our feelings, emotions and desires. It carries in it countless number of impressions from this life and previous lives. It is made up of three parts:

The conscious mind: It is that part of our thoughts and feelings that we are aware of.

The sub-conscious mind: It contains all the impressions required to complete our destiny (praarabdha) in our current lifetime.

The unconscious mind: This is the aspect of our mind that we are completely unaware of. This contains all the impressions that are associated with our accumulated account.

Sometimes we also refer to an aspect of the Mental Body as the Desires Body or Vaasanaadeha. This is the aspect of the mind that contains all the impressions of desires. The physical organ associated with the Mental Body is the brain.

4. The Intellect

The Causal Body (Kaaranadeha) or the Intellect Body is the body which deals with the decision making process and reasoning ability. The physical organ associated with the Intellect Body is the brain.

5. The Subtle Ego

The Subtle Ego or the Supracausal Body (Mahaakaaranadeha) is the final vestige of the nescience and

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