न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूय: | अजो नित्य: शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे || 20|| |
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“This Self is never born nor does it ever perish; nor having come into existence will it again cease to exist. It cannot be slain, it is birth-less, eternal, changeless, ever-same (unaffected by the usual processes associated with time) and ever-new bliss”
Commentary
In yoga, human body is made of sixteen essential physical elements, with inner astral body made of nineteen elements – five gnyanendriyas or sensory elements, five karmendriyas or activity-based elements, five pranic currents; and a causal body – combination of thirty-five idea-elements.
Sixteen essential elements that make up physical body are O: Oxygen, C: Carbon, H: Hydrogen, N: Nitrogen, Ca: Calcium, P: Phosphorus, K: Potassium, S: Sulfur, Na: Sodium, Mg: Magnesium, Cl: Chlorine, Fe: Iron, Zn: Zinc, Cu: Copper, Mn: Manganese, I: Iodine. Other trace elements of less than 0.01% also exist. The inner astral body which animates this inert physical body has 19 necessary functions or powers – mind (manas), intelligent discrimination (buddhi), ego (ahamkāra), feelings (chitha); Five Sensory currents (sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch) and Five Activity-currents (hands, legs, speech, excretion, procreation). The last five are major Prānic currents (prāna, apāna udāna, samāna, vyāna) that govern intake or inhalation, elimination or outward movement, assimilation or digestion, growth and circulating movement respectively. Astral and causal powers can exist without the body and are subdivided again in yoga. There are deeper aspects of this subject for a seeker.
The total of thirty-five elements that includes astral and physical elements, were first conceived and projected as ideas from the vibration-less sphere by God as Spirit or Paramātma into a causal being which is the 3rd ‘idea body’. When you pull yourself up by pranayama and exit from all three bodies consciously – knowing in experience that you are not the body, neither the powers behind the body, nor the idea of a body itself, then self-realization occurs. The soul (jivātma) as the reflection of the Spirit (Paramātma) continues in numerous cycles of birth and death in a physical body until realization is achieved. The treasure that a yogi seeks is permanent bliss that is untouched by phenomenal changes and removes all suffering forever.