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      Five Bodies and Eight Vargnas  (F30)   01/19/93    5BODIES.A01
      Complied by Pravin K. Shah,  Jain Study Center of North Carolina


                       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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