Transmigration Of The Subtle Body

As long as we do not attain liberation, we are covered by the gross body. At death the subtle body, composed of the mind, intelligence and ego, shuffles off the mortal coil composed of the grosser elements and carries impressions and proclivities into another gross body. "The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life, as the air carries aromas. Thus does he take one kind of body, and again quit it to take another." (Bg. 15.8) Therefore this rebirth is like a change of dress. Consciously the subtle body may forget its previous life in that it may forget particular actions, but nonetheless these actions determine the next body that is being assumed. Actually the impressions are always there, and in some rare cases, by the will and grace of the Divine, one can remember certain actions of his previous life, and the desires experienced in that life are carried over from body to body by the mind, intelligence and ego.

All of us have practical experience of how the subtle body extends and travels beyond the gross body. When we are sleeping, the subtle body can travel to places far distant and to times past or future, and when we are awake we may think of a friend or place and their images appear. How often does the schoolboy frolic at the seashore while sitting at his desk! Such daydreams are examples of the ability of the subtle body to travel beyond the gross body. In recent years millions of Americans have been enjoying traveling in their subtle bodies through the use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs. These serve as a catalyst to sever the subtle body from the gross body. They are enjoyable for one who takes them because the experiences encountered by the liberated subtle body while traveling are much more vivid and bizarre than daydreams. In such states one can experience the mental bliss of freedom and can soar to great heights of intellectual exhilaration. But these states are temporary. Although they seem to be eternal while one is in them, the subtle body comes down and returns to its original abode of pain.