The upanishads teach us that we are made up of five layers of body. In this Page, I have touched on the role of the Body of Breath. If you want to know more about the five layers, read this Page.
The two body layers that are part of this material realm are the Physical Body which eats and procreates, and the Mental Body which perceives and processes information from the exterior and instructs the physical body on how to respond.
The two body layers that are from another realm are the Bliss Body which is the innermost experiential layer and which is enveloped in an Awareness Body, in Sanskrit called vignjana. Since we are unable to discern between these two layers, human language has a single common term for this body - the spirit, or soul or Astral Body.
The Physical Body starts as a single cell which splits and multiplies, growing until it is able to survive without taking sustenance from the mother. Then it is born as a baby and, if viable, continues to grow into adulthood, old age and finally dies. As the foetus grows, a brain forms which collects information from the body senses and enables the development of the Mind Body.
The Astral or Spirit Body, we know little about apart from what we can read in materials revealed by seers. This awareness, that existed before the physical body was born, will survive when the physical body perishes. This awareness, which is called the citta, joins with the Mind Body and forms the fourth layer of what we usually refer to as the mind. You can read more about those four layers here.
While the baby is growing in the womb, the astral body can associate with it but cannot really attach to it. Attachment can only happen when the body becomes independently viable. After the baby is born, it needs to draw breath. From a scientific point of view, it needs the oxygen. But the breath is much more than that. The sanskrit word is prana. This Chinese call it chi, written as qi in hanyu pinyin. The Arabic word nafs probably means the same thing. In the Bible, it is referred to as the Breath of Life.
All living things share an energy called prana which surrounds us. Whatever their mechanism of breathing, they draw in prana with every indrawn breath and release it with every exhalation. So long as they are able to get a share of prana, they remain alive. Prana is a common heritage of all living beings in this world.
The taittiriya upanishad teaches about the pancamaya kosha - the five sheaths of body that our core is wearing. The middle layer is the pranamaya kosha, the Breath Body. This body is a temporary sheath which envelopes us and enables us to partake of the prana that surrounds us. It is a dynamic body that waxes and wanes as we breathe. There are yogic practices called pranayama which are breathing exercises geared to calm and rebalance our body energies.
The pranamaya kosha is what enables the Astral Body to attach to the Physical Body. This is why the spirit joins with the body only after successful drawing in of the first breath. That is when the pranamaya kosha is established and the baby becomes independently viable. And the spirit and flesh remain attached until the body breathes out for the last time. Then the pranamaya kosha dissolves and the spirit can no longer connect with the flesh. And the flesh begins to decay.
Knowing that we are all partaking of the same prana should in fact bring us all together. Unfortunately we are separated by ignorance and driven by our ego to pursue selfish goals. This is where our education, both formal and informal, has failed us.
Humankind needs to recover its lost wisdom.
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