In this article, we would be exploring the most subtle & intricate dimensions of life, which in our normal day to day lives we are not even aware of. We would later be talking about the subjective dimension or we also call it ‘Self-Awareness/Subjective Consciousness’. We would also know the importance of paying attention to everything we do. But before we go to subjective experiences of our life, Its very important to understand the ‘Design of Life’ starting from the physical to the nonphysical or in another way grosser to subtle. Let’s just understand these five dimensions which were propounded in yogic science thousands of years ago. These are the Food Body, Mental body, Energy body, Transitory body & Cosmic body.

When we say Food body, we are here referring to the physical body which you inherited from your parents when you were born and then you gathered it over a period of time. What you call as your body is nothing but the heap of food which you have accumulated. In simple terms, the combination of flesh and bones & all the anatomical systems compose your physical body. Mental body refers to as your Mind. The mind is nothing but the act of processing the information which you gather using the five senses. Your mind is not just present all over your body but it is in tune with the cosmic mind. But this process is so subtle that our sense perceptions are unable to capture it. As I have already mentioned that the nature of the 5 senses is such that it does not give us the access to the reality, but these are the necessary equipment for our survival. The survival process has nothing to do with the reality. Hence mind is nothing but recycling the data or the information which you have already gathered.

Then next comes the ‘Energy body‘. Today scientifically we know that the whole creation is nothing but one single energy. Similarly, we are also the individual energy forms. Only because we have an energy body, the food body or the physical body can exist. Our physical body has today evolved in a particular way only because of the reason that our energy body is continuously tracking the cycles of the Sun and Moon. The solar system is working like a Potter’s wheel to design this human mechanism in a particular way. Our physical body is the scaffolding around our energy body. for e.g Like earth has a liquid core inside and then ‘Crust’ is the physical boundary around that core, Similarly, we can say our energy body is the core and our physical body is the outer layer of the energy body.

Now the important thing to be understood here is that all these forms of the body (food, mental & energy) are essentially ‘Physical’ in nature. No doubt from food to energy body they become more and more subtle, but still, they are physical in nature. Why these are physical is, because we can measure it scientifically. Let’s take an example of an electric bulb. We all know that bulb is physical, so it’s like our food body. Now the electricity coming to the bulb is also physical because we can measure it using ‘Ammeter’ (Ammeter is an instrument to measure the electric current). It’s like our mental body. Now the light which a bulb is throwing is also physical because we can measure it using various equipment and we can compare it to our energy body.

The fourth level or dimension of the body is ‘Transitory body’. The reason why we call it the transitory body is because it is neither physical nor non-physical. Its the intermediate stage of physical and non-physical. If you know something about ‘Quantum Physics’ (Quantum physics is the most intriguing and most bizarre field of physics. Like we have the Newtonian physics which governs the physical laws of the nature like the law of gravity, cyclical movement of the planet, stars, solar system & galaxies etc. Similarly, quantum physics deal with the laws of the universe that works at the Subatomic level. That is whatever is happening at the subatomic level in this universe is explained successfully by quantum mechanics). Today the ‘Quantum Physicists’ say scientifically that every cell in our body is in a constant transaction with every other particle in this whole universe at the subatomic level. Further down they say our bodies are appearing & disappearing millions of times per second at the subatomic level. It’s like switching a light bulb on and off 1 million times per second. Which means the thing which we refer to as our body is just a mere illusion. Our 5 senses are so limited that they are unable to experience this process of on and off. Its hard to believe, but physicists have proved it scientifically. 

Hence what it literally means is that the very body which we experience as the physical form is constantly bombarding & synchronizing itself with every single atom in the creation and we are in a constant eternal transaction with the cosmos. Even scientists further say today that if our body stops to respond to the universe, we will immediately fall, and similarly not just our body, but everything in this universe is in a constant transaction with everything else in this universe. We are literally living in each other and half of our lungs are hanging out there in the trees. What they exhale you inhale and what you exhale they inhale. It would not be wrong to say that we are actually exchanging our bodies at the subatomic level.

If this transaction stops to happen even for 1 millionth of a second, the whole ‘Creation’ which we have seen using all the possible scientific equipment or which we have yet not seen will all cease. The physicists are yet to fathom the scale of this transaction and also why this transaction is so perfect. “Fine tuning’ of the universe is the biggest mysteries of science in the field of physics. You would be surprised to know that if the physical laws of nature were wrong to 0.000000000000000000001 percent of the way they are functioning right now, this whole universe would have never existed. Even modern science is unable to understand and reason this highly complex but self-organizing nature of existence.

The last and the most subtle dimension of the life is the ‘Cosmic Body’.  This is the non-physical dimension of life. As I earlier mentioned that today modern science is telling us that whole existence is the one single form of energy, similarly the ‘Cosmic body’ is also a single universal phenomenon happening within every piece of creation.

There is a saying in yogic sciences ‘Yat Pindde Tat Brahmande’. Which means whatever is there in the ‘Microcosm’ is also there in the ‘Macrocosm’. The way macrocosm work is exactly the way microcosm works. There is another mahavakya (Grand Pronouncement) in yogic science which says ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ (Tatvamaasi), which means ‘You are the Universe’. So in a way you are that, that you are and that’s all there is. The great Sufi poet & philosopher Rumi said ‘Either you can consider yourself as the drop in the ocean or the ocean in the drop’, it’s essentially the same thing.

Lets further explore what Rumi said, When we say Sea, it can be considered as the whole universe, and the little waves of the sea are nothing but all forms of life forces existing within this universe. Hence you can not separate the waves from the sea and the sea from the waves because they are inseparable & incomplete without one another.

Ultimately at the universal level, there exists a cosmic body & the same cosmic body lies within each and every piece of life. I know its very hard to get this subject in the first instance. Whether you accept it or not, It doesn’t make a difference but the very fact of life is that it is a one single entity or we can say the universal domain for all the events which have happened in the past, all the events which are happening right now & all the events will ever happen in future.

So with all the above explanation, let’s understand the very significance of it. You need to realize that this whole universe is one single happening and all the life forms are not only interconnected but inseparable. When you know this thing, would you ever do harm to other lives? When you know that we are literally living in each other, would you ever try to kill any life?  When you are aware that the environment is just like half of your body, would you ever harm the environment? The straightforward answer is ‘No’. Right now why all the insensitive things are happening in this world is only because of the fact that you are not aware of your existential reality. You have made a boundary for you and you don’t go beyond it. But it’s not your existential boundary, it a psychological boundary which keeps on stuffing you with the wrong ideas about life. You remotely don’t have any idea about how life functions. People have false ideas about this is me and this is not me. Let me ask you; when you are constantly aware that this whole universe is like your own self; would you ever harm this universe or the life forces which exists in this universe? No Isn’t it, because if you harm the universe, it’s like harming your own body which is the signal of stupidity & insanity.

This is what is, unfortunately, happening all over the world. The people are actually killing themselves by harming other life forces. Have you ever noticed that by harming the planet we have made a hell out of ourselves? Do you think the depleting natural resources will bring well-being or it will bring misery? In the short term it may bring ‘Physiological comforts’, but in the long term, it’s a disaster we are heading to. All the environmental problem, depleting green cover, global warming, increasing crimes, a strong sense of ego within people, terrorism, depleting fossil fuels are the outcomes of the wrong ideas which people have about life. When I say this whole universe is your body, it is scientifically true. You are a product of not just your parents, but you are a product of 13.8 billion years of evolution, i.e from the very beginning of Big Bang. The quantum physicists today say that the carbon and nitrogen which your body contains could have come not just from different planets but from different galaxies. Hence your parents were essentially the medium to deliver you, but you are actually the product of this whole creation & evolution which is still going on.

Recently I was reading in the news that ‘World Economic Forum’ has decided to put ‘Inclusiveness’ as one of their top priorities for 2016 agenda. They are saying now that if the world has to grow, it should be an ‘Inclusive Growth’ which will take care of the social, economic & other aspects of all the countries equally. It is uncanny that the global economic leaders have realized it so late. Yogic sciences have been telling us the same thing for thousands of years. Yoga is nothing but ‘Union’ which means ‘Inclusiveness’ & ‘Oneness’ of every life in this universe.

Hence when you are in yoga, you are constantly aware of your existential reality and once it happens the infinite love & compassion blossoms within you. Have you ever realized that if you transform yourself, then the whole world can be transformed because what you call as the world is essentially nothing but a collective mind of each one of you? I want every reader of this article to be aware of this reality which has the ability to bring about a significant evolutionary change in this world which will lead to the eternal well-being of people. You don’t need to put any special effort to bring about the change, you just need to pay attention to yourself & experience that you are a unique piece of life and you are interconnected & inseparable from this whole universe, that’s it. The universe will itself change.

PS: This is one of my favorite & most interesting subject. You may study more about it online from Google, Scientific Journals or from Youtube. I have tried to put it in the simplest way with scientific examples of our day to day life.

In my next article I would be talking about ‘Pranayama & Dhyana’; so stay tuned. You may also subscribe to this blog so that you keep on getting email notifications whenever there is a new article being published here.

Happy Reading 🙂