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174
Tattvarthasutra
[2. 37-49]
The karmic body is the root of all bodies because it is comprised of karma, and karma is the instrumental cause of all activities. The taijas body is not the cause of everything. It remains eternally associated with all beings, assisting in the digestion of consumed food, etc. 41-43.
The number of bodies that can simultaneously be possessed—taijas and karmic—these two bodies are certainly present for all worldly souls throughout their worldly existence, while the others, such as the audarika, change. In this way, they may decrease but never disappear. Therefore, the question arises: what is the minimum and maximum number of bodies each soul can have? The answer is provided in the present sutra. A worldly soul can have a minimum of two and a maximum of four bodies at the same time; five bodies are never possible. When there are two, they are taijas and karmic because both are temporal in the worldly sense. Such a condition exists only in the interval of movement, as no other body is present at that time. When there are three, they can be taijas, karmic, and audarika or taijas, karmic, and vaikriya. The first type is found in humans and tiryanchas, while the second type is observed in gods and hell-beings from birth until death. When four bodies are present, they can be taijas, karmic, audarika, and vaikriya or taijas, karmic, audarika, and aharaka. The first option is found among a few humans and tiryanchas when using vaikriya attainment, while the second option occurs only in the fourteen previous incarnate ascetics while using aharaka attainment. Five bodies simultaneously are not possible for anyone because vaikriya attainment and aharaka attainment cannot be used together.
Question—How can a single living being be simultaneously connected with two, three, or four bodies in the described manner?
Answer—Just as the light of a single lamp can simultaneously fall upon many objects, similarly, the states of one living being can be unbrokenly associated with multiple bodies.
Question—Is it possible for someone to have just one body?
Answer—No. The general principle is that the taijas and karmic bodies are never separate. Therefore, having only one body is never possible; however, an opinion of a certain Acharya is that the taijas body is not temporal like the karmic one.
1. This opinion is specified in the commentary.