SEVEN ENERGY LAYERS OF THE BODY🔗

The first (outermost) energy layer is your physical body, made out of flesh and blood. The second layer (within the first layer) is made up of the prana movements inside your body. Prana is sometimes translated as breath, but it is actually the life energy which you take in when you breathe. The air you breathe is only the medium that carries prana into your body. The third layer is the mana shareera or the mental body. This is a subtle layer, composed of your ‘inner chatter’, the words and thoughts that are continuously bubbling up in your system. The fourth layer is the emotion layer. I can say that intense inner chattering which does not respond to your logical analysis is what we call ‘emotions’! That is the fourth energy layer or etheric body. The fifth or causal body is the layer which you experience in deep sleep. The sixth layer or cosmic layer you experience only rarely, maybe when you have a joyous spiritual experience during meditation. The seventh or bliss layer is the space of pure enlightened consciousness.

If all these seven layers fall in tune with one another, you will see that all samskaras will leave your system. And likewise, when your system is cleansed of samskaras, you will see that all these seven layers fall in tune with one another. Living with an inner space free of samskaras is what I call Living Enlightenment.

When are you are living without samskaras, a beautiful balancing, reconnecting, reuniting starts happening within your being. This inner uniting is what is called yoga.

The ancient Master Patanjali beautifully describes yoga: Yogaha chitta vritti nirodhaha, (Yoga is living without samskaras). Only when you are living without samskaras can you enter into the state of thoughtless awareness.

Suppose you are flipping through a magazine. You come across an advertisement for a beach resort, with the picture of someone relaxing on a deck chair by the water. The moment you see the picture, what starts happening inside you? You wish that you could also be relaxing like that, doing nothing! A deep desire for rest is awakened inside you. That is what I call intense craving for tamas or lethargy.

Chronic fatigue or lethargy is the desire to continuously be in a state of inertia or rest.

It is the most powerful samskara or engram stored in the physical body. That is why, when you try to do some physical exercise - a workout, or even a simple walk - the first thing the body will bring out is tiredness! If you start walking, in a few minutes, your mind will start suggesting to you, 'I am tired! Enough for today. Let us stop now...' But if you don't bother about these first level samskaras which are rising and just go ahead, in a few minutes you will see that the same action brings energy to you!

Usually, we are not conscious of this samskara operating in our physical layer. We think that it is a positive sign, a desire for peace and quiet. No! Understand, if you really find that same beach, that same chair and lie down in it, you will not have that same peace that you imagined! Actually, till you exhaust the tamas engrams that you carry in the physical layer, you cannot really rest. Because once you start resting, in a few minutes, this samskara will settle down and the next layer samskara will start! Even the decision to rest, if it is based on a samskara, will not let you rest.

Chronic fatigue is deeply related to the intense craving for rest. Please understand, this intense craving for rest brings diseases which will put you in bed.

There is a very beautiful story in the Upanishad: A disciple went to the Master and asks, ‘Master, please give me a technique for enlightenment.’ The Master gave him 400 cows from his own farm and said, ‘Take these 400 cows with you and breed them. When they have multiplied and become 1000 cows, come back.’ The modern-day disciple would have said, ‘What! You are making 600 cows out of my enlightenment! You are trying to make money out of my seeking.’ But the disciple was a really sincere disciple. He did not bother, he just took the cows and did as his Master said. A few years passed. And the story says, when he finally came back with the thousand cows, the Master said to him, ‘Now we have a thousand and one cows’.

In the Vedic tradition, cows are highly respected as sacred animals. So, the Master raises the disciple also to that level of sanctity.

When you continuously work with animals, they will not let you rest. They don't know that you are working 24 hours a day! They don't know there is nobody else to replace you. They don't know that any particular day is a holiday. They don't know that one person can work only in an eight-hour shift! They don't care about all your problems. They will constantly demand your attention. Because of working continuously with the cows, the deep desire for rest had completely disappeared in the disciple. The tamas engrams had been totally wiped out. Without even knowing it, he had crossed the first and most difficult layer of samskaras.

Be very alert about this samskara – it is your biggest hurdle. I can say that if this chronic fatigue, the deep desire for rest, leaves your system, 90 percent of your spiritual journey is over!

The next layer is the prana or breath layer. The samskaras related to desire are stored in the prana or breath. That is why, whenever your desires are changing, suddenly you will see that your breathing pattern is also changing! Whenever you are caught in a powerful desire like lust or anger, your breathing pattern becomes chaotic.

The third layer is the mental layer. In the pranic layer, you store your desires, or thoughts about how your life should be in the future.

In the mental layer, you store your engrams about how your life shouldn't have been – your guilt! If your energy is flowing continuously towards the future, it is desire. If it is flowing continuously towards the past, it is guilt.

The fourth layer is the emotional layer. Your most powerful emotion is pain. So in this layer, you store all your engrams related to pain.

Understand, the fourth layer is a very powerful layer. In the fourth layer, you don't need any action or information to strengthen the engrams. In the first two layers, you need to do some action to strengthen your engrams. For example, in the case of the desire for vacation, the more you give in to the desire for vacation, the more the desire will be strengthened. In the same way, for the other desires also, the more you enter into action based on those desires, the more the engrams will become strong.

In the case of the third layer, related to guilt and its related engrams, you don't need to do the same action. Just the information or remembrance about that action will strengthen the engram. For example, if you have seen the same place, or if you are seeing the same person, if you are seeing the same situation, immediately those engrams will become strong and they will be awakened.

In the case of the fourth layer, the pain layer, neither do you need action nor do you need information related to pain. So, you don't have to have the same pain again and again. You don't even need to receive information related to that pain. Just the engrams are enough, they can multiply. They can simply expand and multiply.

The fifth layer is the layer you experience in deep sleep. Understand, even though there are engrams in this layer, you cannot do anything about them, because in the deep sleep, your mind cannot do anything!

It is an unconscious layer. But when you reduce the depth of the engrams in the first four layers, the fifth layer will be cleansed naturally. If you are getting into the deep sleep layer more easily, it means the first four layers are clean. If the first four layers are not clean, then you suffer more in the fifth layer. That is why, when you have more stress and load, a lot of disturbances related to sleep start happening in your life.

Sleep has become a big problem. Now, especially in the developed countries, I am seeing, they are able to get beds but not sleep! Their infrastructure has created the facility to have beds and different temperatures, different comforts and so many other things, but not sleep, because there is too much stress.

Not only that, if the engrams in the first four layers are too many, in the fifth layer, the relationship between you and your body gets disconnected. Reducing the engrams in the first four layers is making friends with your body.

We don't realize how we are abusing the body. Understand, if you are overweight, it is directly connected to some of these engrams. When you feel emptiness inside, lonely, you start filling it. You start filling it with food or by drinking.

Q. Swamiji, whatever the external situation, I am in depression 24 hours a day. Is this also a samskara? What is wrong with me?

A. Nothing is wrong with you, ma! You are very fortunate, that is the Truth! Causeless depression is nothing but the call of your Self. We are all living very very far away from our Self! Most of us are living life at the level of intellect, some are living from the heart, and a very few are living at the being-level. When you travel too far away from your true Self, it calls out to you, 'Please, please don't move far away from me!' This plea from the Self is what reaches you in the form of depression.

If you want to catch the attention of a mischievous child, what do you do? Grab a few candies and throw it at him. Naturally his attention will turn towards you! In the same way, your Self is throwing this depression at you, so that you will turn and look inward. We only look inward when depression hits us. Understand, nothing else has such power to plunge you inwards as depression has! Happiness doesn't have the power to take you so deep.

Happiness is the arrow aimed at you by Kamadeva (the deity of wish-fulfilment). Depression is the arrow aimed at you by the Divine Himself!

As long as your mind is turned towards wish-fulfillment in the outer world, you can never turn towards the Divine. When you realize that no matter what the external world offers you, there is no peace inside, you have taken the first step on the spiritual path. Depression for a reason is the voice of the ego. If you change the external situation, if the desire is fulfilled or the fear is removed, this kind of depression will go away.

For instance, if you are depressed because you don't have a job, this depression will go away once you get a job. Depression for no reason is the call of the Self. Nothing but spirituality can fulfil you now. Causeless depression is the auspicious beginning of your spiritual journey.

So understand, you are very lucky! If you are in depression 24 hours, it means that the Divine is sending you signals 24 hours! The Divine is calling you continuously. Your Self is calling you continuously. All you need to do is respond!

Q. Is some amount of suffering unavoidable on the spiritual path?

A. Suffering is suffering if you call it suffering! Suffering is nothing but a name you give to the experiences that life is continuously bringing before you. Whatever you welcome is seen as happiness, whatever you resist is seen as suffering. Understand, I am not talking morality! I am speaking the Truth, the Existential Truth. All experiences come to you only to enrich you and take you deeper inside. There is no such thing as material life and spiritual life. Everybody is on the path inwards, whether they are aware of it or not. Whether they are staying in ashrams or not, whether they are doing spiritual practices or not, everybody is on the path. If you are aware of this, you call the suffering as sadhana or tapas (spiritual penance). If you are not aware, you call it suffering, that's all! If you are aware, you can use any experience to move inwards.

All external situations bring out your inner potential. For instance, your beloved is only a reason to bring out the huge resources of love that lies hidden inside you. Until we fall in love, we never really realize that we too can love, that we too can sacrifice our life for another! Your beloved makes you aware of your own tremendous capacity to love. In the same way, suffering brings out the great spiritual strength hidden inside you. Your beloved is the one who brings out the love hidden inside you. Suffering is the one who brings out the strength hidden inside you! All suffering comes to you only to enrich you.

What you call suffering is nothing but a hard hug from Life!

A slightly hard hug, that is all! When you face any suffering with this understanding, it will be a joy, not suffering. It will be one more wonderful chance to turn inwards.

Q. Do all samskaras have to disappear before we can get enlightened?

A. Understand, having samskaras is not a problem by itself. Samskaras become a problem when you get attached to them and allow them to take over your life. As long as you are in the body, you cannot live without samskaras – even after enlightenment. The basic samskaras needed to maintain the body, like eating and breathing, will still remain. But they will not cause any disturbance in your inner space. Not only these samskaras, any samskaras which can stay in your inner space without causing any conflict, are not a problem.

Patanjali, the father of Yoga, says beautifully, ‘Virama pratyayaabhyasa purvaan samskarasheso’nyaha’ (May you experience the samadhi where the cessation of all the thoughts happens.) What he means is, when you experience Samadhi, all your unnecessary mental functions, all your clutching at thoughts, simply ceases. Only the samskaras that do not cause any disturbance in the inner space remain.

Understand, you don’t have to exhaust all your samskaras before experiencing samadhi. If you can live without being disturbed by samskaras, you are already in samadhi.

People are afraid even to enter into Samadhi, because they think that it will put an end to all their samskaras. They are afraid that everything will be taken away from them! A question that I’m asked again and again is, ‘If I reach samadhi, will I become a Swami (renunciate), leave everything and go away? What will happen to my business, what will happen to my family? What will happen to my kids?’ It’s a big fear! Samadhi is supposed to bring you out of fear, but we are afraid of samadhi!

In some parts of India, there is a tradition of using mustard seeds to drive ghosts away. If somebody is believed to be possessed by ghosts, mustard seeds are thrown on him to drive the ghosts away.

The enlightened Master Sri Ramakrishna , who is the architect of modern-day Hindusim, says beautifully about this tradition, ‘If the ghost enters you, mustard seeds can be used to drive it away. But if ghosts enter the mustard seed also, with what can you be saved?’ In the same way, samadhi is the way to drive away all fears, but if the fear about samadhi enters you, what can be done?

Please understand, if you experience samadhi, you will not become a Swami, you will not lose your business, you will not lose all your material comforts. No! Only one thing will be taken away from you. The samskaras, the engrams, which create disturbance in your inner space will be destroyed. That’s all. Whatever engrams do not disturb you your inner space can remain. It’s not as if you will become completely dead or empty. No. But people have such weird ideas! They come and tell me, ‘Swamiji, after enlightenment everything is forgotten. Will I forget everything if I experience samadhi?’ Understand, samadhi doesn’t make you lose your memory! It’s not that you will forget everything. Only your emotional attachment to your memories, the fear or greed which you feel when particular engrams are awakened, that will disappear. That will disappear. That is the essence of samadhi. But we are Masters in creating imaginary problems for ourselves! We know how to make a worry out of anything.

Here is a story: An elderly patient went to the doctor. ‘I need your help, Doctor. Do you remember those voices in my head about which I have been complaining for years?’ Doctor: ‘Yes, yes.’ Patient: ‘Well, they suddenly stopped.’ Doctor: ‘That is good! So what is the problem?’ Patient: ‘No, I think I am going deaf.’

You can make a problem out of anything!

When you live with a conflict-free inner space, nothing will be a problem. If you have wealth, wonderful, you will live happily with it. If it goes away the next day, you won't even think about it. You will simply move on. Whether the experience is positive or negative, you will just go through it and move on. There will be no hangover. Living without hangovers about people, place, objects - that's the ultimate freedom. Living without hangover is what I call living enlightenment.

When you are completely open in the present moment, you will enjoy completely. When you live something totally, you can leave it also totally. For example, when you are with someone, you never open up completely. You never open up totally to the other, because you are afraid of rejection. So you have your shield. You are half/half! Half of you is with them, half you are protecting for yourself. When you are physically with someone, you are not completely present. So naturally, when you are physically away from them, you cannot be completely away. There will be a hangover in the form of attachment or aversion.

When you experience enlightenment, you can enjoy more, without hangover! In fact, only when you don't have the fear of attachment can you really enjoy something. When you are with that person you are total, you will respond, you will not be afraid to open up. You will be completely with that person. And when the person is not there, you will remain blissfully by yourself!

People ask me, 'Unless the samsakras of fear and guilt are there in us, how can society run? Will we not fall into immorality?'

Understand, when you live without samskaras, your moral standard will be naturally high. Nobody needs to teach you morality. Your morality will be there just because of your overflowing fulfillment. You will be living based on consciousness, not on conscience.

One experience of samadhi in childhood or youth is enough to turn around your whole life. Be very clear: enlightenment is not something you can postpone to the end of your life! Enlightenment is the wonderful key to live your life in a joyful, creative, conflict-free way. As of now, we live our entire life by trial and error. We don’t have the clarity to meet life directly. Like a bird on the tree, we just keep hopping from branch to branch, tasting the same sweet and bitter fruits again and again. The grass always looks greener on the other side! We are never satisfied, never relaxed. We live in continuous inner conflict. When you live without samskaras, even your disturbance cannot disturb you! Even your anger or your lust cannot disturb you. You will either experience and relax, or you will witness and relax.