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Functions of these are : — erructations produced by ndga, kurwa opens the eye, dhanan/aya assimilates food, devadatta causes yawning, and krikara produces appetite — this is said by those versed in Yoga. The presiding powers of the five channels of knowledge and the others are dik (akas'a) and the rest. Dik, vdta (air), arka (sun), prachetd (water), Aswini, bahni (fire), Indra, Upendra, Mrityu (death), Chandra (moon), Brahma, Rudra, and Kshet- rajnesvara* which is the great Creator and cause of every thing. These are the presiding powers of ear, and the others in the order in which they occur. All these taken together form the linga sarira.'f It is also said in the Sastras : — The five vital airs, manas, buddhi, and the ten organs form the subtile body, which arises from the subtile elements, un- differentiated into the five gross ones, and which is the means of the perception of pleasure and pain. Q. What is the Kdrana sarira ? J A. It is ignorance (avidyd), which is the cause of the other * For an explanation of this term See S'ankara's commentaries on the Brahma Sittras. — Tr. t Linga means that which conveys meaning, characteristic mark. £ Mr. Subba Row understands it in exactly the same way. See Theo- sophist, Vol. IV, 10, 249. See also in this connection an editorial note in the same number of that journal, p. 255, running thus : — "This Karana s'arlra is often mistaken by the uninitiated for Linga s'arlra (e. g. Sridhara Swami in his commentaries on the Bkagvat Gttd — Tr.) and since it is described as the inner rudimentary or latent embryo of the body — confounded with it." 1 am under the impression that I follow the best authorities in regarding Kdrana s'arlra as surviving in devachan, and when the proper time comes, furnishing the monad with the other two bodies, of which it embodiea the causal germs. — Tr. ( 42 ) two bodies, and which is without beginning,* ineffable, reflec tion [of Brahma] and productive of the concept of non-identity between self and Brahma. It is also said : — " Without a beginning, ineffable avidyd, is called the upddhi (vehicle) — kdrana (cause). Know the Spirit to be truly differ ent from the three upddhis i. e., bodies. Q. What is Not-Spirit ? A, It is the three bodies [described above], which are im permanent, inanimate (jada), essentially painful and subject to congregation and segregation. Q. What is impermanent ? A. That which does not exist in one and the same state in the three divisions of time [namely, present, past and future.] Q. What is inanimate (jada)? A. That which cannot distinguish between the objects of its own cognition and the objects of the cognition of others. * * * # Q. What are the three states [mentioned above as those of which the Spirit is witness] ? A. Wakefulness (jdgrata), dreaming (svapna), and the state of dreamless slumber, (sushupti). Q. What is the state of icakefulness ? A. That in which objects are known through the avenue of [physical] senses. Q. Of dreaming ? A. That in which objects are perceived by reason of desires resulting from impressions produced during wakefulness. Q. What is the state of dreamless slumber ? A. That in which there is an utter absence of the percep tion of objects. * It must not be supposed that avidyd is here confounded with prakriti. What is meant by avidyd being without beginning, is that it forms no link in the Karmic chain leading to succession of births and deaths, it is evolved by a law embodied in prakriti itself.— Tr. ( 43 ) 'The in-dwelling of the notion of"!" in the gross body during wakefulness is visva (world of objects),* in subtle body •during dreaming is taijas (magnetic fire), and in the causal body during dreamless slumber is prdjna (One life.) Q. What are the five sheaths ? A, Annamaya, Prdnamaya, Manomaya, Vijndnamaya, and jinandamaya.'f Annamaya is the transformation of anna J (food), prdnamaya of prdna (life), Manomaya of manas, Vijndnamaya of vijndna (finite perception), Anandamaya of ananda (illusive bliss). Q. What is the Annamaya sheath ? A. The gross body. Q. Why ? A. The food eaten by father and mother is transformed into semen and blood, the combination of which is transformed into the shape of a body. It wraps up like a sheath and hence so called. It is the transformation of food and wraps up the spirit like a sheath — it shows the spirit which is infinite as finite, which is without the six changes beginning with birth aa subject to those changes which is without the three kinds of painll as liable to them. It conceals the spirit as the sheath conceals the sword, the husk the grain, or the womb the foetus. Q. What is the next sheath ? A. The combination of the five organs of action, and the five vital airs form the Prdnamaya sheath. * That is to say, by mistaking the gross body for self, the consciousness of •external objects is produced. — Tr. t This subject is also treated of by the author in the Atmafoodha and has been admirably expounded in this journal for July last, p. 255, q. v. — 7V. I This word also means the earth in Sanskrit. — Tr. H The three kinds of pain are : — Adhibhautika, i. e., from external objects, e. g.t from thieves, wild animals, &c. Adhidaivika, e. ., from elements, e. g., thunder, &c. Adhyatmika, i, e., from within one's self, e. g. head-ache, &c. See Sdnkhya Kdrikd, Gaudapada's commentary to the opening Slok&. — Tr. ( 44 ) By the manifestation of prdna, the spirit which is speechless appears as if the speaker, which never gives as the giver, which never moves as if in motion, which is devoid of hunger and thirst as if hungry and thirsty. Q. What is the third sheath ? A. It is the five (subtile) organs of sense (jndnendriya) and manas. By the manifestation of this sheath (vikdra) the spirit which is devoid of doubt appears as doubting, devoid of grief and delusion as if grieved and deluded, devoid of sight as if seeing, Q. What is the Vijndnmaya sheath ? A. [The essence of] tho five organs of sense form this sheath in combination with luddhi. Q. Why is this sheath so called the jiva (personal ego), which by reason of its thinking itself the actor, enjoyer, &c., goes to the other loka and comes back to this ?* A. It wraps up and shows the spirit which never acts as the actor, which never cognises as conscious which has no concept of certainty as being certain, which is as never evil or inanimate as being both. Q. What is the Anandamaya sheath ? A. It is the antahkarana, wherein ignorance predominates and which produces gratification, enjoyment etc. It wraps up and shows the spirit, which is void of desire, enjoyment and fruition as having them, which has no condition ed happiness as being possessed thereof. Q. Why is the spirit said to be different from the three bodies ? A. That which is truth cannot be untruth, consciousness inanimate, bliss misery, or vice versa. Q. Why is it called the witness of the three states ? A. Being the master of the three states, it is the knowledge of the three states, as existing in the present, past and future.-f * That is to say, first from birth to birth.— Tr t It is the stable basis upon which the three states arise and disappear, —Tr. ( 45 ) Q. How is the spirit different from the five sheaths ? A. This is being illustrated by an example : — " This is my cow," " this is my calf," " this is my son or daughter," " this is my wife," " this is my dnandamai/a sheath," and so on* — the spirit can never be connected with these concepts ; it is different from and witness of them all. For it is said in the Upanishat : — [The spirit is] " naught of sound, of touch, of form, or colour of taste, or of smell ; it is everlasting, having no beginning or end, superior [in order of involution] to frdkritift whoever correctly understands it as such attains mulct i (liberation.)" The spirit has been called [above] sat, chit and dnanda. Q. What is meant by its being sat (existence) ? A. Existing unchanged in the three divisions of time and uninfluenced by anything else. Q. What by being chit (consciousness) ? A. Manifesting itself without depending upon anything else and containing the germ of everything in itself. Q. What by being dnanda (bliss) ? A. The ne plus ultra of bliss.