Body

Avidya is a form of Prakriti that obscures the spiritual powers of the individual soul, forming a veil that hides the Supreme from the individual's vision.

Know the Self as the rider in the chariot and the body as the chariot. Know the intellect as the charioteer and the mind as the reins.

The Blessed Lord said: This body, O son of Kunti, is called the field; the one who knows this is called the knower of the field — so say those who know the truth.

You may believe in a God with form or a formless God, but your faith must be genuine and complete. It is through faith alone that one achieves everything.

'Maghavan, this body is indeed mortal, held in the grip of death; yet it is the dwelling place of that immortal, bodiless Self. The embodied one is gripped by pleasure and pain — indeed, for one who is embodied there is no escape from pleasure and pain. But pleasure and pain do not touch one who is bodiless.'

The first quarter is Vaishvanara, whose sphere is the waking state, whose consciousness is directed outward, who has seven limbs and nineteen mouths, and who experiences gross objects.

Whatever action a person undertakes through body, speech, or mind — whether rightful or the opposite — these five are its causes.

As the wind carries fragrances away from their source, so the lord of the body, taking up these senses, departs from one body and moves on to another.

The hardship is greater for those whose minds cling to the Unmanifest, for the path of the Unmanifest is very difficult for embodied beings to attain.

Your true nature is pure existence, consciousness, and bliss. The physical body is just an illusion.

Kabir would say, 'The God with form is my Mother, and the formless God is my Father. Who should I blame or worship? Both sides of the scale are equal.'

Prajapati said to them: 'Adorn yourselves well, put on fine clothes, groom yourselves, and look again into the dish of water.' They adorned themselves well, put on fine clothes, groomed themselves, and looked into the dish of water. Prajapati asked them: 'What do you see?'

'For the mind, dear boy, consists of food, the breath consists of water, and speech consists of fire.' 'Venerable sir, instruct me still further.' 'So be it, dear boy,' he said.

'When water is drunk, dear boy, its subtle part rises upward; that becomes the breath.'

'In just the same way, dear boy, when food is eaten its subtle part rises upward; that becomes the mind.'

'For the mind, dear boy, consists of food, the breath consists of water, and speech consists of fire.' 'Venerable sir, instruct me still further.' 'So be it, dear boy,' he said.

'Water, when drunk, is divided three ways: its grossest part becomes urine, its middling part becomes blood, and its subtlest part becomes the breath.'

'Food, when eaten, is divided three ways: its grossest part becomes faeces, its middling part becomes flesh, and its subtlest part becomes mind.'

He who knows the eldest and the best himself becomes the eldest and the best. The prana (vital breath) is indeed the eldest and the best.

"Now with reference to the self: breath, truly, is the absorber. When one sleeps, speech passes into breath, the eye into breath, the ear into breath, the mind into breath; for breath alone absorbs them all."