1. What is body?
Those which melt/decay due to rise of specific physique making Karma (Nama Karma), are bodies or the concourse of infinite times infinite matter-substances, is body.
2. How many bodies are there?
Bodies are of five types -
(1) Audarik Sharir (The gross body) - The body of human-being & Tiryancha which is decayed and melted, is Audarik body. This body remains Ural i.e. gross. The Hindi word Ural and Sthool, are synonym.
(2) Vaikriyak Sharir (Transformable body) - To make the body infinitesimal (small) - huge, light-heavy, etc. of many different kinds, is Vikriya, and the purpose of which body, is precisely Vikriya, is Vaikriyaka body.
(3) Aharak Sharir (Projectable / translocational body) - One effigy of one hand height originates from the top of the head of a saint of the sixth stage of spiritual development (of sixth Gunasthan) who is inquisitive for ascertaining the nature of a minute element (reality) or to resolve a doubt that effigy goes to the place where some omniscient or great ascetic well-versed in scriptural knowledge is seated and returns back after getting solution, is called Aharak body. The Aharak body is possessed by the Muni of the sixth stage of spiritual development (Pramattvirat Gunasthan) who is of male-psychic libido (Purush Bhava vedi). The Upsam Samyagdarshan, Knowledge of others thought-form (i.e. Manahparyaya Gyāna) and Parihar Vishuddhi Samyama are prohibited with it.
(4) Taijas Sharir (luminous body) - That body which grants brilliance / lusture to Audarika, Vaikriyaka and Aharak bodies, is called Taijas body. It is of two types -
(i) Anissarnatmak Taijas - That which always remains with worldly beings.
(ii) Nissarnatmak Taijas - That which remain with the saints alone ,endowed with supernatural powers. It is two types - (a) Auspicious Taijas - The Mahamuni (great saints) having moved with compassion / pity being pained seeing the diseases, famine ,etc. suffering of the world, one white coloured effigy of placid-shape emerges from his right shoulder and comes back after removing the famine, diseases, etc. sufferings spreaded in 12 Yojan around, is auspicious luminous body.
(b) Inauspicious Taijas - When some Muni is filled with intense anger then one inauspicious effigy of vermilion like red colour and tom-cat like shape emerges from his left shoulder and burning the pre-thought hostile object up to 12 Yojan, burns that restraintful Muni as well. Its height remains 12 Yojan, breath 9 Yojan and extends measuring numerablth part of a Suchyangula (i.e. a large quantity as a unit of area measurement). Or remains of loud-speaker shape.
(5) Karman Sharir (Karmic body) - The group of knowledge-obscuring, etc. eight Karmas, is called Karman body.
3. Well, the Audarika body remains gross then what type of other bodies remain ?
The bodies ahead of Audarika body are gradually subtle in succession. The Vaikriyaka body remains relatively subtle of the Audarika body, the Aharak body is finer than its predecessor, the Vaikriyaka. The luminous body is still finer than the Aharak one (projectable or translocational body) and the Karmic body is still finer than the luminous body.
4. The bodies ahead are more and more subtle successively then whether their spacepoints are also less and less in succession ?
No. The transformable body has innumerable times space-points-particles of the gross one. The translocational body has innumerable times space-particles of the transformable body. The luminous body has infinite-fold space-particles of the translocational body and Karman body possesses infinite-fold space-particles of the luminous body (Tattvarth Sutra, 2/3839). For example there are Indian round-sweet-balls of roasted maze grains, of great millet parched grains, of sweet-droplets (Boondi), of roasted Rajgir and of gram-flour. The sweetballs of maze-grains onward are fine/subtle in sequence but the number of space-points (grains) are more in number successively, similarly the space-points are more but the bodies are subtle.
5. How many maximum number of bodies one Jeeva can have ?
A Jeeva can have two to four types of body. Who possesses two body, he has luminous and Karmic body. In case he possesses three, then he has luminous, Karmic and Audarika body or luminous, Karmic & transformable body and if of four body, then he possesses luminous, Karman, gross and transformable body. (Shri Dhavla, book 14/131/237-238) or luminous, Karman, gross and translocational bodies. One can not possess all the five bodies simultaneously because the supernatural power of transformation and of translocation do not co-exist.
6. The master of which body are the Jeeva of which life-course?
7. Which of the bodies are attached to the Jeeva from beginningless time ?
Just as the Rahu and Ketu (Mythical monsters who swallow up the Sun & Moon) remain attached beneath the Sun & Moon, similarly luminous & Karman bodies are attached to each and every Jeeva ab-aeterno.
8. Which of the bodies we can see with sense organ of vision ?
We can see only gross body with the sense organ of vision, we can not see transformable body but the celestial beings, if they wish so, can cause us to see the transformable body. We can also not see the translocational body and the luminous and Karman body are still very fine.
*(1. Attainment of supernatural power by some special austerity.)
9. Which of the bodies are not obstructed (Pratighat) by any one ?
The luminous and Karman body are not obstructed by any one. The word Pratighat denotes the obstruction caused by tangible matter to other tangible matters.
10. Which of the bodies are enjoyable ?
Those which are with senses. Through which the Jeeva enjoys sensual pleasures (or endure pains), such three bodies are enjoyable-gross, transformable and translocational, the rest two bodies (luminous & Karman) are not enjoyable.
11. Whether the body is the cause of sufferings ?
Yes. oh soul, the sufferings which the Jeeva have to endure they all are due to assuming the
body. There is no suffering at all after release from the body.
12. For whom the body is beneficial ?
Who has engaged this body in observing religion being detached from worldly attains, for him this human body is beneficial.
