Bondage

A person can discard as many gross bodies in which he takes temporary residence, as the number of times he pares his nails. But, the subtle body cannot be changed; it lasts and persists. This is the most secret doctrine of Bharathiya spiritual thought. Going further along this line of discovery, it can be revealed that man means: a complex of the gross body, the subtle body and the Jivi (the Individual). The Vedantic philosophy would declare that the Jivi shares the quality of Eternal unchanging Everlastingness (Nithya). Prakrithi or the objective World is also eternal, but, with a difference, It undergoes perpetual change; it is never the same; but, it persists for ever. The basis for the objective world, namely, Prana (the life force) and Akasa (Space or ether) are eternal, but, they act and interact without rest and manifest variously and manifoldly.

The Individual Atma (the Jivatma) did not have its origin in either Akasha or Prana; it is not material in nature. So, it is eternal, without any change. It did not happen through the impact of Prana on Akasa, or Akasa on Prana. Things brought together will disintegrate. But things that are 'themselves' ab initio cannot so come apart. For, disintegration means 'resuming the original nature', 'becoming what it originally was', 'reducing itself to its native substance'. The gross body is the result of the combination of Prana and Akasa and so, it dissolves itself into its components. The subtle body too dissolves but, only after a long long time. The Jivi is not brought together, so, it cannot fall apart. It has no birth. It cannot be born. A unitive part-less being can have no moment of origin.