The other seven bodies
Ani: a question has been on my mind for some time. I was hoping to get some answers to this question tonight.
Guardian: looks like you haven’t noticed that I’m learning things here myself. You can’t expect me to have all the answers. How can a blind person lead another one?
Ani: you have read many books in spirituality and metaphysics and you might be able to help me.
Guardian: the border between what we can sense and what we can’t is called metaphysics. Anything that we‘re able to realize with our five senses will no longer be a mystery or metaphysics.
When you say that I’ve read books, it’s still a long way from truly understanding the knowledge within those books. If the individual’s knowledge is not higher than the material of the book he’s reading, he won’t be able to verify its authenticity.
Of course, I’m only talking about matters not understood or observed by our five external senses, otherwise other kinds if knowledge is transferable.
There is a huge difference between reading something and understanding something which leads to application of that knowledge in life. Once a person achieves a high level of academic success he becomes an expert in that one or two areas of specialty and it would be difficult for him to venture outside his area of expertise.
Ani: it seems you forgot my question; give me one reason why someone with high academic education might not understand certain materials.
Hossein: don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean any disrespect to the educated class. I’m not talking about discussions on science or mathematics or medicine. I’m talking about an area outside of these sciences, something beyond nature. You can call it metaphysics if you want.
When someone sees and smells and touches a red rose, he’s able to share his experience with people who have never seen a flower before. However, can someone have the same original experience by just reading the descriptions of red rose? He’s not even able to add anything to the original account by merely playing with words.
You see where I’m getting at; when mystics like Rumi describe something metaphysical or beyond our understanding, they are left with no choice but to use simple words and comparisons so that we can grasp the concept.
When they feel a sense of joy or elation from something divine or spiritual, they liken it to intoxication or being drunk so that we can fathom the depth.
Of course, when their descriptions are against the norms of society or seem strange to people, they call them crazy or prosecute them and sometimes, even kill them.
We have had many such persecutions in our history, Socrates who drank the cup of hemlock, Galileo in Rome and in the Middle East bright scholars and mystics such as Sohrevardy, Hallaj and Einolghozate Hamedani who were all murdered in horrific manners.
Ani: alright, looks like this topic is more interesting than mine; tell me something that is hard to comprehend for the educated, secular.
Guardian: fine, I quote a few lines from the famous poet, Rumi.
Five external senses are his medium
Five internal senses are his appointee
There are ten senses and seven bodies
Imagine what is not expressible by words
So, what do you think he means by seven bodies? Or why does he say ‘not expressible by words’?
Ani: I’m waiting.
Guardian: he means that human being has seven bodies and he simply states that and then he says it’s hard to imagine such a thing and it’s not easy to be expressed by words.
On the other hand, many analyze and interpret this poetry without actually experiencing the original account and insist that their version is the truth, the one that Rumi says ‘not expressible by words’.
Thus when something is beyond believe or seems strange, we come up with many forms of denial or explanation. Because if we believe that the human body has seven bodies, then it will create many changes in our beliefs and ways of looking at life.
Ani: stop right here, could you explain about the events of that night where both of us were taken to cold region while sleeping in two different locations.
Guardian: I think you got your answer already. The thing that was on the bus that night was my physical body and the same goes for you. It was your physical body at our home sleeping. The two people that were actually us in that cold place were the other bodies of us. We had left our physical bodies.
Ani: do the other bodies look exactly the same as our physical body?
Guardian: yes, the other bodies of a human being are exactly the same as physical body. It has hands and feet, it eats and talks, feels fear and joy and behaves exactly the same as the physical body and has the same characteristics.
The only difference is that the particles which form the second, third and…bodies are made up of substances unknown to us; they are not seen or felt by our physical eyes and other external senses. Some believe that these seven bodies are continuing their purification in seventh planes or levels of heavens.
Ani: can you bring an example for these other six bodies so that I can understand it better?
Guardian: yes, when you’re dreaming in your sleep, you see and feel yourself as a real human being; with all the wants and needs of a human. Your bodies are very similar to each other up to a point where you cannot distinguish that you are in another one of your body and not the physical one.
When you’re dreaming, it’s very unlikely that you can distinguish the body that you’re in and you believe that it’s you. As you know, there are human beings who leave their physical bodies by their own will power and traverse the universe.
Sometimes upon leaving my physical body, I had a hard time recognizing which body I was in; thus I had to carry out an experiment to find out.
All I can say is that these bodies are so similar and this causes confusion. For example, if somebody slaps me real hard while I’m sleeping, I would feel the pain fully and I couldn’t say for sure which body’s face I was slapped on, the physical body or the second body. Sometimes, in my dream I can see blood and its color is also red or that I’m looking for my shoes.
I mean to say that clothes, food, cars, buildings and everything else exist in the other universe just like our physical world.
The thing that I have not been able to understand is the material or substances that make these universes; they are made up of substances that we’ve yet to discover and explore.
Ani: when you say ‘explore the unknown’ I remember Hallaj as he was always exploring the unknown.
Guardian: yes, he is one of the great martyrs of mysticism and he was always piercing through the unknown. He told me ‘pierce through the unknown’ personally himself.
Now, let me tell you about a famous proverb which says
‘The camel dreams of cottonseed in his sleep; at times he eats with his mouth full and other times, he eats them one by one’.
Ani: it’s good that you brought this up; what is the material of the cottonseed the camel is eating in his dream?
Guardian: the cottonseed that is eaten by the camel is exactly from the other universe or the second body. This is why the camel’s appetite is not satisfied after eating so much and when he gets up, he’s still hungry.
This cottonseed is not from the physical body and it’s not made up of earth; so naturally not digestible by the camel’s internal organs. Of course, such a body needs such a cottonseed.
As a famous folk story says ‘such beet requires such a pot’.
Ani: tell me the story.
Guardian: once upon a time a man from Esfahan and someone from Azerbaijan became roommates since they worked together. So, every night after work they sat together and told each other about the most distinguished places and characteristics of their hometown.
After sometime they ran out of things to say and started to exaggerate. The man from Esfahan said ‘in our city we began the production of the largest pot in the world, it’s so huge that one hundred worker had to work inside the pot and one hundred worker outside the pot. After it was finished, it was placed in the main square of the city’.
When he finished his story, the man from Azerbaijan gave him a dirty smile and began his story; he said ‘our agriculture is the best in the region. We’re so good at this that our products and crops are the largest in the world. I remember once we had to employ two hundred workers to dig out a huge beet using trucks and special ropes’.
The first man protested ‘come on! How could this be true? Furthermore, how could anyone cook such a huge beet? Where can you do such a thing?
The Azerbaijani smiled and replied ‘such beet require such a pot’.
Then they both laughed and quit the exaggeration.
Now, my dear wife, do you get the point of the story. Such body requires the appropriate universe; this means the body must match the forming substances of the universe.
Alright, looks like we have to go to a meeting in the time net room.
Ani: I’m ready.