Back in 2010, I remember wandering into my favourite spot—the Narmad Library. Fresh out of college and just getting into the work grind, I was already feeling the stress (classic!). I was that person who tried to control everything, and boy, was it exhausting! 🙄
Then, as I roamed through the aisles, I stumbled upon a book about stress management. Don’t ask me its name now; I don’t remember it.😣 At first, I thought it would just talk about breathing exercises or a yoga routine. But surprise! It introduced this whole idea that we’re not just our physical bodies. Like, what?! Apparently, we’ve got multiple bodies we carry around with us—astral, mental, cosmic, you name it. Who knew? 😂 I’d been living with all these extra “bodies” this whole time and had no idea!
The Seven Bodies: Meet Your Spiritual Squad Beyond Flesh and Bones!
So, after finding that gem of a book, I discovered that our physical body is just the starting point of who we really are. According to spiritual and metaphysical traditions, we’re basically walking around with a full team of different bodies, each with its own unique vibes. Let’s dive in and get to know each of these fascinating layers.
1. Physical Body
This one’s easy: muscles, bones, skin—everything you see in the mirror. It’s your physical, material body that handles all the basics: breathing, moving, and functioning in the world. Your physical body connects you to the world through your senses—sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing, etc. But hold on tight; this is just the tip of the iceberg!
From birth until around age seven, nature’s focus is almost entirely on building up the physical body, known as the Sthula Sharir. During these early years, the other six bodies are present only in “seed” form—dormant, with the potential for growth but not yet active. At this stage, there’s hardly any development of intellect, understanding, or emotions; it’s all about physical growth.
Sadly, some people remain at this level even as they get older, with their growth limited mainly to the physical. They stay in a state of simplicity, similar to animals, whose development focuses only on the physical body without activating the other layers.
2. Etheric Body (a.k.a. Emotional Body)
Think of this as your feelings’ playground. All your emotions, desires, and sensory experiences chill out in this body. It’s the bridge connecting you to how you feel and interact emotionally with the world.
Between the ages of seven and fourteen, the bhava sharir, or etheric body, starts to develop. This stage focuses on emotional growth and is when a person’s feelings and desires really begin to expand. It’s also when many of our basic emotional responses—like attraction and social connections—start to take shape, leading up to sexual maturity around age fourteen, which is one of the most powerful emotional changes a person experiences.
For some people, this is where their growth slows down. Their physical body keeps developing, but they stay mostly focused on life’s physical and emotional aspects. This means they don’t fully move into the next layers of growth, remaining centred on feelings, desires, and physical needs rather than progressing to other areas of awareness.
3. Astral Body (or Pranic Body)
Here’s where things get mystical! This body is all about energy flow—prana in yogic terms or qi in Chinese philosophy. Think of it as your personal “battery” that keeps you charged up. It’s also the go-between, linking your physical self to the astral world.
From around fourteen to twenty years of age, the Sukshma Sharir, or astral body, starts to develop. This stage is about building our ability to reason, think critically, and grow intellectually. By the time the astral body has matured, a person reaches adulthood in a basic sense. However, this is often adulthood centred mostly around physical and emotional maturity, especially tied to relationships and attraction.
Even at this stage, many people haven’t reached full maturity. The growth of the astral body—where our intellect, reasoning, and deeper thinking develop—is influenced by things like tradition, culture, education, and the people around us. Although nature generally takes seven years for each layer’s development, this timeline can vary as humans evolve.
For example, puberty is arriving earlier worldwide. Girls, who traditionally reached puberty around thirteen or fourteen, now often experience it as early as eleven. Similarly, adulthood milestones are happening sooner, as seen with the voting age lowered to eighteen, which reflects a quicker maturity in society’s view. In an ideal setting, twenty-one years is the full-time needed for the astral body to reach maturity. However, for most people, growth often stops here. Their journey of development levels out, with no significant progression into the higher layers for the rest of their lives.
4. Mental Body
Between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-eight, the Manas Sharir, or mental body, begins to develop. This fourth body opens the door to new kinds of experiences, especially in areas like intellect and creativity. For example, someone with a well-developed mental body may enjoy or excel in subjects like mathematics or art, just as Einstein did with physics or a musician does with music. Each layer of our being has its own unique abilities that emerge when it’s fully developed, offering us new possibilities for growth.
When a person’s development stops at the second body, the etheric, their interests may stay focused on basic needs and desires, often centring around physical pleasures. In societies where this happens, many aspects of culture—art, music, movies, even architecture—become focused on physical attraction or sexuality.
However, in cultures where the third body (astral body) is fully developed, people become more intellectually and spiritually driven. However, in societies where people move to the mental body stage, you see more focus on ideas, learning, and spiritual growth, similar to the cultural changes that happened in Buddha’s time, where many followed the path of higher wisdom.
When the mental body fully awakens, it can bring unique abilities, like telepathy (communicating without words) or even understanding others’ thoughts. Some people might experience out-of-body journeys or “astral projection,” where they feel their mind moving beyond the physical self. However, it’s a sensitive area—since the mental body deals with subtle energies, it’s easy to get caught up in illusions or misunderstandings.
In spiritual practices like yoga, the mental body relates to phenomena like kundalini, dream states, and siddhis (spiritual accomplishments). Awakening the kundalini, for instance, can change one’s lifestyle—those with an awakened mental body often avoid intoxicants, as substances like alcohol affect this body strongly. Women, who tend to have a more delicate mental body, may experience even stronger effects.
A simple way to check if the mental body is active is by observing your behaviour: if you still feel the need to suppress anger or violence, the kundalini energy might still be dormant. With a fully awakened mental body, qualities like nonviolence, honesty, self-restraint, and mindfulness become natural and effortless.
5. Causal Body (or Spiritual Body)
The fifth body, called the Atma Sharir, or spiritual body, is a powerful and profound part of our being. Ideally, this layer begins developing around age twenty-eight and reaches full growth by about age thirty-five. But since even the fourth body (mental body) is rarely fully developed in most people, the spiritual body remains a distant concept for many, often limited to discussions rather than direct experience.
To enter the fifth body, the kundalini energy needs to be fully awakened in the fourth body. Since most people haven’t accessed this stage, the spiritual body remains unknown to them. Only a few highly advanced spiritual seekers reach this level, experiencing the soul directly. For those who do, this discovery often feels like reaching the pinnacle of existence; they may feel that *atman* (soul) is all there is and that their journey is complete.
However, while the fifth body brings a deep sense of liberation and transcendence beyond the first four layers, it’s not the final destination. Just as someone focused on only the physical body may believe life ends with the body, those at the spiritual body stage might think nothing exists beyond the soul. But in truth, this is just another step on the path. The fifth body is where one experiences *moksha* (liberation), feeling free from the boundaries of the lower layers and understanding life in a much more expansive way.
6. Cosmic Body
The sixth body, called the Brahma Sharir, or cosmic body, naturally develops between ages 35 and 42. At this stage, the boundaries between self and universe dissolve, and there’s a deep sense of being one with all existence. It’s a state where personal identity expands, merging into the vastness of the cosmos. Describing this experience is challenging because it’s beyond regular language and thought—more of a feeling than something we can easily put into words.
7. Nirvanic Body
The seventh and final stage is the Nirvanic Sharir. This is a state of complete “bodilessness.” Here, everything dissolves—even the cosmic self. In nirvana, as Buddha described it, the “flame goes out.”
This stage is the end of all questions and desires. The self merges into pure emptiness. There is no “I,” no “God”—just infinite silence.
To reach nirvana, one must go beyond even the soul and the cosmic self. The fifth body opens the door to liberation. The sixth brings a sense of unity with all. But in Nirvana, there is only letting go. The final state is emptiness, a peaceful void.
And there you have it. I walked into that library back in 2010 just looking for some stress relief, but I walked out with this crazy new understanding of myself. I never thought I’d be carrying around so many layers—each one with its own story and purpose. It’s funny; sometimes I still catch myself stressing over the little stuff, but then I remember that there’s a whole hidden world within me. So, here’s to embracing all those unseen parts and knowing that we’re way more than meets the eye. Life feels a little more magical that way, doesn’t it? 🌌
Stay tuned for more discoveries on this journey!