The Three Bodies

Man is engaged in ceaseless search for happiness; but, he is incapable of defining what exactly is the essential component of happiness. So, he flits from one objective gain to another, ever discontented with himself, ever bothered by disappointment. He tries to possess, to accumulate, to acquire more and more of external junk, which clouds his vision and dulls his appetite for gains of lasting value. When can a man say, I am fully happy; I need no more? What is the nature of joy or comfort that external objects can give? Man does not pause to inquire. He is unaware that he himself is the embodiment of the highest and the most lasting happiness or bliss or Ananda. That flaw has led him into disaster and disease.

There are three stages of wisdom correlated to those three bodies: Jnana, Su?Jnana and Vijnana. Knowledge that is gained by the analysis?of the objective world and the similarities of the behaviour of its components is Jnana. When this knowledge is further studied and practised to subserve the best interests of the individual and society, it becomes Su-Jnana, or beneficial wisdom. The intentions and urges that arise from the purified consciousness saturated with the Divine qualities emanating from the sage is Vijnana, the Highest Wisdom. It is to be noted that the word Vijnana is often misused to indicate mere jnana, or co-ordinated information, analysed information about sense perceptions arising out of contact with the material objective world. Bharatiya Culture uses the word for the Supreme Wisdom, which denotes the seer, the saint.

Once the intelligence is purified and dedicated to spiritual effort, there should be no slipping back, whatever the obstacle, whatever the temptation. Hanuman, charged with the mission of discovering the place where Ravana had confined Sita, decided that he should take a leap over the sea towards Lanka to search for her in that island fortress. While he was propelled across the miles by the Name of Ram that he carried in his heart and on his tongue, a mountain immersed at the bottom of the sea felt a strong urge to do him some little service, for, he was the Instrument of God, and engaged in an exhausting adventure! Its name was Mynaka. It rose above the waters and called upon Hanuman to rest awhile on its crest, and refresh himself with the fruits upon the trees that grew thereon. Hanuman declined to delay his landing in Lanka; he was engaged in a Divine Mission, which brooked no rest, no delay, no dallying. He turned a deaf ear to the requests of Mynaka, and sped forward to fulfill the command of the Lord.

The whole duty of man is to engage himself in good acts with the gross body, scatter good thoughts and good influences around him with his subtle body, and earn self?realisation and Bliss through his causal body.