Ayurvedaram.com

According to ayurvedic doctrine our body has 5 different layers.

The 5 layers of the human body

1. ANNA SHARIRA-The physical body

A fertilized egg is produced once fertilization of the sperm from the male and the ovum from the female has taken place. This is our physical body. During intra-uterine life, the maternal side takes care of it and after that nature and the world takes care of this. Whatever we eat becomes our physical body. The body is the only factory that changes bread into blood i.e. it converts the inorganic into the organic. The physical body is the result of seed from our ancestors through our parents.

Modern science only concentrates on this physical body and tries to find the cause of suffering through different methods. But according to Ayurveda this physical body is just a part of our being.

2. PRANA SHARIRA-The life forces

After birth, the first human action is to breathe. Not only the lungs breath but all cells and tissues in the body breathe. In Ayurveda, breathing is not only the exchange of O2 and CO2. All existence and the cosmos breathe through us. Breathing in is life and breathing out is death.

3. MANA SHARIRA -Body of thoughts and emotions

It is important to be aware of the fact that with every act of emotion, our patterns of breathing change. When we are happy our breathing becomes different to when we are angry when our breathing is fast, and in sexual intercourse breathing is different yet again.

MANA the body of thoughts and emotions influences our breathing. MANA reacts to physical body through breathing.

4. BUDDI SHARIRA - Seats of belief, religion and conditioning

Any thought in the mind will go to the body and the body will interpret the thought according to its conditioning and determine whether it is right or wrong. Only once the thought has gone through that process will the physical body react. During the first 10-15 years the child learns language, social relations, religion, etc. During these critical years he is conditioned according to his environment. Hence, any physical or emotional trauma during this period will impact his entire life.

5. ANAND SHARIRA - The Bliss body

This is the deepest layer of our body. In Ayurveda it is the seat of the soul, and the bliss of the body. It is a state of complete peace and self enjoyment. It is happiness without reason. We can have a glimpse of this bliss body during creativity like painting or dancing, mother feels blessed just after delivery; we can also feel it in deep love and peak of orgasm during sex. We can also feel it in deep meditations and prayers.

These glimpses are momentary. As per our ayurvedic science when we reach a stage when every act is blissful and there is no question, no answer, no happiness and no pain.

This stage we call Samadhi-our ultimate goal of our journey to this planet.

Briefly once we are born, our first job is to breathe. With the breath, Prana or life energy is created within the physical body and we can develop mentally, spiritually and physically.

During the first few years of our lives We learn to eat, touch, sense, and move; we also learn language, relationships, and religion. Our caretakers and society condition us according to our environment so that we may be comfortable in our society and our society may be comfortable with us. On a more subtle level, it is also during these years of social conditioning that the natural intellect and wisdom of our body and being (called Buddhi) is conditioned and polished. Any physical or emotional trauma experienced during our first fifteen years will reflect through life.

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