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CHAPTER VIII
THE CONSTRUCTIN AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE COSMOS
Nevertheless, as the Gross Body is destroyed after death, it is quite clear that
this union cannot continue to be with Matter composed of the
five gross primordial elements. But it is not that Matter-
consists only of the five gross primordial elements. There are
in all twenty-three elements which arise out of Matter, and the
five gross primordial elements are the last five out of them.
When these last five elements (the five primordial elements) are
subtracted from the twenty-three, eighteen elements remain,
It, therefore, follows as a natural conclusion that though a
man, who dies without having acquired Self-Realisation
escapes from the Gross Body made up of the five gross primordial
elements, that is to say, from the last five elements, yet, his
death does not absolve him from his union with the remaining
eighteen elements arising out of Matter. Reason (Mahan) Indi-
viduation, Mind, the ten organs, and the five Fine Elements are
these eighteen elements. (See the Geneological tree of the Cosmos
given at page 243). All these elements are subtle. Therefore,
that Body which is formed as a result of the continued union
of Spirit ( purusa ) with them is called the 'Subtle Body', or the
'Linga-sarira' as the opposite of the Gross Body or 'Sthula-
sarira'[1]. If any person dies without having
acquired Self -Realisation, this his Subtle Body, made up of the
eighteen elements of Matter, leaves his Gross Body on his
death along with the Atman, and compels him to take birth
after birth. To this, an objection is raised by some persons to-
the following effect : when a man dies, one can actually see
that the activities of Reason, Individuation, Mind, and the ten
organs come to an end in his Gross Body along with life ;
therefore, these thirteen elements may rightly be included in the
Subtle Body ; but there is no reason for including the five Fine
Elements in the Subtle Body along with these thirteen elements.
To this the reply of the Samkhya philosophers is, that the
thirteen elements, pure Reason, pure Individuation, the Mind
and the ten organs are only qualities of Matter, and in the
same way as a shadow requires the support of some substance
or other, or as a picture requires the support of the wall or of
paper, so also must these thirteen elements, which are only
qualities, have the support of some substance in order that they
should stick together. Out of these, the Atman (purusa),
being itself qualityless and inactive, cannot by itself become
the support for any quality. When the man is alive, the five
gross primordial elements in his body form the support for
these thirteen elements. But after his death, that is, after the
destruction of the Gross Body, this support in the shape of the
five primordial elements ceases to exist.
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