The Subtle Body & Devatas
Imagine it’s a hot summer’s day, you flick the switch on the wall, look up and see the fan beginning to spin above your head. Due to the presence of WHAT, is the fan moving? Electricity. How do you know electricity is present in the fan? Did you see the electricity? No. Then how do you know there is electricity if you didn’t perceive it directly? Because you see the fan moving, therefore electricity must be there. Without electricity, the fan could not move. Hence we can validly ‘infer’ the presence of electricity in the fan, from perceiving the fan’s movement, without having the need to directly see the electricity. Someone may argue: “you never saw the electricity with your own eyes, so it doesn’t exist! Clearly this is a childish argument, you do not need to see the electricity to know it exists in the fan. I see the effect (movement) therefore I infer its cause (electricity). Just like when you see a tree (effect), you can infer it must have come from a….seed (cause). Even if you never saw that seed. This is called knowledge by inference (anumana pramana). In this example, the fan is physical (Sthula) and the electricity in the fan is ‘subtle’. Subtle (Sukshma) = that which cannot be perceived by your eyes/ears/nose/tongue/skin, BUT does exist. Like electricity. Inference supports this.
Right. Let’s extend the above logic: if your physical body is merely made out of matter, which is inherently dead/inert, then due to the presence of WHAT is your body alive? Due to presence of WHAT does your physical body walk, talk and interact with the world? It cannot just be that the body itself is alive, because then why is dead body dead? Why doesn’t a table walk and talk? Both a dead body & a table are also made of matter like your living body, so what’s the difference between a dead body and living body?
Vedanta answers: A physical body is alive due to the presence of something called a ‘Subtle Body’. A Sukshma Sharira. Just like electricity, you cannot perceive this subtle body with your eyes/ears/etc, but you can infer its presence from observing life in someone’s body. When the subtle body leaves the physical body, the physical body ‘dies’. This is Vedanta’s definition of death. Just like when electricity is no longer in the fan, the fan stops moving. So Vedanta teaches that we all have a subtle body, in addition to our physical body.
So what is this subtle body? Tattvabodha explains that the subtle body is made up of 17 parts:
17 parts of Subtle Body = (5 organs of knowledge) + (5 organs of action) + (5 Physiological functions) + (Mind) + (Intellect).
Remember, all of these are ‘subtle’ and by the previously given definition, subtle = that which cannot be perceived by your eyes, etc. Just like your mind and thoughts – do you see your thoughts with your physical eyes? No. But you still obviously know your thoughts in your mind. So thoughts do exist, but they are not physical, they are ‘subtle’. Similarly none of the above 17 parts are physical (Sthula) things, they are all subtle (Sukshma).
Going through these 17 one by one, firstly, what are the 5 organs of knowledge (Jnana Indriya)?
Ears (shrotram), Skin, Eyes, Tongue, Nose. The first thing to note, is that these are not referring to the physical ears, etc. These are referring to the subtle power behind the physical organ, that allows it to function. For example, the subtle power that is located in the physical ear (golaka), which enables the ear to hear, is referred to above as ‘shrotram’. This is why it is possible for someone to have a physical ear, but still be deaf. Deafness may not be due to the physical ear being absent, but rather due to the absence of the subtle power of hearing (Shrotram) in the ear. Similarly blindness may be due to the absence of the subtle power of seeing in the eye…assuming the physical organ is not medically defective of course. So this proves there is a subtle power behind each organ, part of the ‘5 organs of knowledge’.
Now, for each individual subtle power behind an organ, we can infer this small power must be derived from a larger source of power. Just like a policeman’s limited power must be derived from a higher source of power i.e. the government’s justice department. So the Justice department has much more power than an individual policeman, and delegates a small part of its power to him, to use for a purpose (the power to arrest, the power to stop and search, power to use force, etc.). Hence the point ‘A’ here is – any individual small power is part of a corresponding total larger power. Point ‘B’ – Any power is always held by a powerful person. Power does not exist on its own, a person must be there to wield/implement it. E.g. who holds the power of the justice department? The Justice Minister. Who holds/wields your power of seeing? You – the individual person!
So applying Point ‘A’ – your individual power of hearing (Shrotram), must correspond to larger total power of hearing, which governs anything that can hear in the entire universe.
Applying Point ‘B’ – the total universal power of hearing must be held by a person. Who is that person who holds the total subtle power of hearing across the universe? That ‘person’ is called a ‘Devata’ or Presiding Deity. This brilliant concept of Devata is unique within Vedic teachings. A Devata is subtle, not physical. All the devatas for the 5 senses are named in tattvabodha (Dik, Vayu, Surya, Varuna, ashvini kumaaris). These devatas have power over particular functions/laws which govern the universe. Just like the justice minister has power over all legal matters, so if you have a major legal issue you can appeal to the justice minister for help. So to, if you have a problem with your eyes, you can appeal to the ‘minister for eyes’ i.e. Surya Devata – the Sun. This is why the Shastra prescribes specific prayers to Surya Devata to help solve eye problems e.g. Chant Aditya Hrdayam, perform Surya Namaskaara, etc. So you have a minister (devata) for each law/function in the universe. But who is the Prime Minister in-charge of all the ministers? The Prime Minister is the one who holds all the power of the entire range of ministers. Who is this person in charge of all devatas with all that power? Ishvara. Bhagavan.
Om,
Aditya.
