The Three Bodies (Sthūla, Sūkṣma, Kāraṇa Śarīra)
Not one body but three nested layers — and the true self is none of them.
Advaita Vedānta analyzes what we call 'the body' into three nested layers. The gross body is the visible physical form, active in waking life. Within it is the subtle body — the mind, intellect, ego, senses, and vital energies — which operates in dream and carries on after death. Subtlest of all is the causal body, little more than the seed of ignorance from which the other two unfold, dominant in deep dreamless sleep. The point of the analysis is discriminative: the witnessing self is none of the three bodies, and recognizing this is a step toward freedom.
How it traveled
- VivekacūḍāmaṇiŚṛṅgeri (Sringeri) · 1400explains
Key passages(18)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)