Subtle Body as the Self

Which is the self?

Is it the physical body or the subtle one?

Or is it something else or is it nothing at all besides the mock-up ideation of a cultural identity assigned by society?

Some agree that the self is real, while others say that the self is an illusion, something made up by the identity-defining and identity-craving flim-flam world.

One example of evidence that the self is unreal is the one about a man who stood on the bank of a river. He looked and observed what was there. He left and then came back on the following day and looked again. He was satisfied that it was the same river and that he stood looking at the same water.

However it was a fast flowing river. Thus he could not have seen the same body of water. In fact even the bank on which he stood had altered since the previous day. Microbes in the soil had shifted or died since the previous day.

The evidence was hard set against the man’s satisfaction that he saw the same water and stood on the same river bank on the following day.

Is the same type of adjustment being made to the self or the supposed self, where in one moment what it seems to be is not what it is at the next moment? Is the boy the same person who is now the old man? Is the elderly man merely a summary consisting of the boy plus so many experiences which he endured through the years?

To solve this problem about the self, I propose that we begin with a premise that the self has an indivisible core, around which cultural trappings are added or deducted to make the cultural or functional self which we know as that person in either a physical or astral (purely psychic) society.

I cannot provide evidence of this core because it is subjective. Something subjective will not allow itself to be present for an objective scientific analysis. Hence bear with me while I use this premise.

From the practical angle, one begins the life of the body with an embryo as the self. Once it is born, this embryo grows and matures through eating food. Food alone is the single item which it required for growth. This describes a physical system which is an objective principle.

For the purpose of yoga, this physical self must at some stage realize itself as other than itself, as other than what it knows itself to be which is a physical body. This other than feature is its psychological materials. Collectively these are terms as a subtle body or psyche.

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First the yogi admits itself as a physical body. Then it admits itself as a physical system with an additional subtle body. The yogi discovers this subtle body to be independently operational during astral projections and in objective dream states.

While the physical body sleeps the yogi experiences other realities while being the subtle body. He realizes that he is the physical system and he is also the subtle body as well. He is simultaneously each of the two forms.

While the physical one is awake, he is that and the subtle one in an inexplicable combination. While the physical sleeps, he sometimes discovers himself as only the subtle one. This means definitely that no matter what the self is or is not, it is functionally a material body which is perishable and it is simultaneously a subtle system which is flexible for the time being and which can exist as something distinctly separate from the physical system.

Yoga concerns more of the subtle system than the physical, but in doing asanas and in doing yama restrictive behaviors and niyama suggested conducts, the yogi may focus on the wellbeing of the physical system. Even though it is obviously a temporary set-up the physical system allows targeting the subtle one and hence the physical system is not neglected entirely.

The yogi has the special task of shifting the concerns for existence more and more to the subtle. Nature has those concerns given to the physical body but the yogi even though he begins with that as a gift of nature, should gradually over time shift the interested to the subtle. The concerns about existence should be more and more, day after day, about the existence and welfare of the subtle body, the psyche.

Many people who do yoga and/or meditation, where yoga means asana postures, are found to have lifestyles which are materialistic which focus on the comforts and privileges of the physical body. These persons proclaim spirituality but their common behaviors are material body focused, even though they camouflage that with symbols and trends which tout yoga, spirituality and meditation.

When doing breath infusion, one may have an opportunity to switch the attention to the subtle body. During astral projections one automatically does the same. During some meditations one may discover the self to be something other than the physical system.

The recommendation I give is that one should shift the attention from the physical body to the subtle one. One should also take note of the resistance in the psyche for doing this. There is a hesitation and a reluctance in the psyche for this switch where the psyche prefers to identify itself as the physical body. A yogi should wear away this resistance day by day.

Suppose that before death of the physical body, you completely shifted your attention or at least say ninety percent (90%) of it to the subtle system. That would be to your advantage because no matter what your spiritual aspirations are, at least you would be moving from the physical reality with your attention already transferred to the subtle side which is what you will be left with once your physical body is no longer available to you, is permanently unresponsive to you.

There is ample opportunity to practice this shift to the subtle body if one does breathe infusion (pranayama). This happens because in breath infusion, the subtle body (and the physical one) is charged with subtle energy which can cause it to shift in frequency away from its synchronization with the physical one. When the yogi experiences these shifts, it may be only with one part of the subtle body which shifted out of the physical one. For instance an arm of the subtle body may move out from the physical arm. When the yogi notices that he can either pull back the subtle one into synchronization with the physical or allow the subtle body to act independently. For this practice, he would allow the subtle one to act independently and would shift his interest from the physical arm into the subtle one.

This type of experience happens frequency when doing breath infusion but most yogis have no idea of how to make this beneficial in terms of elevating consciousness. They observe it and do nothing about it. Or they do not observe it or take note of it because of not knowing if it has value or should be observed in the first place.

Eventually when the physical body dies, one will be left aside from it as a subtle body. For anyone who does not like this idea and who feels that he or she will be liberated in this or that way, even though those people it is reasonable for them to practice this, because after all why be so confident that you will be liberated merely because your physical body dies if you are not experiencing that liberation while that body is alive.

Since you experience that subtle body distinctly on occasion, it makes sense to focus on it, to transfer your existential interest to it as the primary form.