In Kariyani Vachanamrut 12, Maharaj mentioned that our body is composed of three layers, one containing the other: Physical body, Subtle body, and Causal body.
Physical body is the body composed of five basic elements: Earth (bones, skin, etc.,), Water (blood and other fluids), Fire (digestive system), Air (oxygen), and Space (for internal movements).
Subtle body is composed of five knowledge acquiring senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and touch), five working senses (voice, legs, hands, the anus and the genitals), and four consciences (false-ego, mind, consciousness, and intelligence).
At the time of death, the physical body remains while the subtle body gets off the body with each sense leaving one by one. Like eye sight goes off first, and then hearing, and taste, etc., Then goes the vital-air (pran), and then the soul.
After listening to Srimad-Bhagavat Katha from Shukdevji, Parikshit Maharaj attained Brahmrup state and left the physical body. Then, the venomous snake Takshak reached his dead physical body and burnt it to ashes as per the curse. At the time of death, the subtle body along with the soul leaves the physical body.
For the righteous soul, the soul comes out of the senses in the upper part of the body. The physical body becomes very soft and loose.
For the sinful soul, it comes out of the bottom senses. For the extremely sinful souls, Yamraj comes to pick up the soul, and the soul becomes so bewildered that the physical becomes extremely hard to bend.
Physical and Subtle bodies are made up of matter while the Causal body is not made of matter. Causal body is more subtle than subtle body. It is the composed of the emotions that we have for different things: the extreme desire, extreme love, extreme faith we have for them. It is so attached to the soul like that of cement and iron. It is extremely difficult to remove the causal body (the feelings towards other things other than God).
Let us say we went to a party, and there was a particular sweet that we loved so much. We ate it to the fullest. After 15 days or a month, we remember that the sweet tasted so good. Even after a year we would remember that. That is the causal body. Extreme love on things or people, extreme faith, and extreme desire to get them are part of Causal body.
Desires like – “I should be so rich” … “I should enjoy all those objects” … are driving forces that emanate from Causal body.
Unless Causal body goes off, the soul remains in the cycle of birth and death to fulfill the causal body and can’t go to Akshardham. Bharatji had an emotional attachment to the deer at the time of death, and that was the cause of his next life as a she-deer. We remember all the emotional attachments at the time of death, and it decides our next life. The causal body is attached to the soul like the shell of a tamarind seed. Or like the attachment of coconut to its shell.
To weaken the causal body, Maharaj mentioned three simple techniques:
1.Constant Meditation on Maharaj
2.Strictly following the orders of Maharaj and His Saints
3.Contemplating Maharaj’s and His Saints spiritual discourses
Maharaj said that if you practice these three thoroughly, the Causal body becomes weak, and could easily get off the soul like how a boiled tamarind seed gets off its shell.
Once the Causal body gets off the soul, Maharaj comes to take his devotees to Akshardham wherever the devotee might be.
References:
14th July 2017: San Diego, CA
Vachanamrut Kariyani 12