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Five Bodies and Eight Vargnas

A liberated soul does not have a material
body, mind, speech, and does not breathe. The soul is totally free from
all karmas. It merely exists in Moksha in the permanent blissful state.
As far as a worldly soul is concerned it
possesses a material body along with some other types of bodies. These
bodies are made up from different types of varganas (matters). Jainism
explains that eight types of vargana exist in the universe. Every space in
the universe is filled with these vargana. When five of the eight vargana
when attach to the worldly soul they create five different bodies. The
remaining three vargana provide three different functions to the material
body.
The eight Vargnas (matters) are:
- Audaric vargana - creates the physical
body of the living being
- Tejas vargana - creates the Tejas body
to the living being which provides heat and digestion power to the
audaric body.
- Karman vargana - creates Karmic or
Causal body
- Aharac vargana - creates Aharac body,
which is very small in size and is possessed by some unique soul
- Vaikriya vargana - creates Vaikriya
body, which can be converted into very small or large in size
- Breathing vargana- provides breathing
- Mind vargana - provides mind for
thinking
- Speech vargana - provides speech
The five bodies are:
- Audaric body -The body that we see
from the outside (Bahya Sthula Sharira) is called Audaric body. It is
made up of Audaric vargna. A person can not be liberated without the
help of this body. Hence it is the most important body of the human
being. At the time of death, the soul leaves this body behind.
- Tejas body - This body is made up of
Tejas vargna. This body is responsible for digestion, heat, etc. in the
Audaric body. At the time of death, it accompanies the soul and helps to
create a new Audaric body for the soul.
- Karmic/Causal Body (Karmana Sharira)
The karmic matter that covers the soul is called karmic body. It changes
every moment because new karma is continuously attached to the soul due
to activities of body, mind, and speech. At the time of death, the soul
is accompanied by this body for the next birth. It leaves the present
physical (Audaric) body behind. The karmic body along with tejas body
forms the basis of the other newly produced audaric body. It also
provides the fruits of living being's past action when due.
- Aharac body - This body is possessed
by some special souls. Aharac body is very small in size. These souls
put on this body to travel far distant places. Sometimes monks who
possess this body can travel to the other part of the universe (ex.
Mahavideha Kshetra) to visit a Tirthankara to remove their doubts about
soul, karma etc.
It is said that Achaurya Shri Kunda
Kunda possessed Aharac body. With this body he visited Shri Srimandhar
Swami, the present Tirthankara of the Mahavideha Kshetra. He removed his
doubt about soul and matter substances.
- Vaikriya body - This body can be
obtained by human being by practicing yoga, meditation, etc. With this
body one can transform his body into a very small or a large size. The
heavenly beings and hellish beings possess this body by birth.
All worldly souls possess three bodies (Audaric,
Tejas, and Karmic) and some unique soul may possess additional one or two
bodies.
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