Question: In SB 4.29.74, Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport that the “subtle body of the living entity, consisting of the mind, the sense objects, the five senses that acquire knowledge and the five senses for acting in the material condition, becomes possible.” However, in another purport SB 4.29.61, Srila Prabhupada writes that “The conclusion is that the subtle body-mind, intelligence, and ego”. These two purports appear to be conflicting with each other on the subtle body definition, does the subtle body consist of senses?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
The two purports by Srila Prabhupada that you have quoted in your question are not conflicting with each other.
According to Vedic scriptures, the vital force maintains the workings of the body through five kinds of air that move within the body. We have five major praṇas and five minor praṇas and if these don’t function, our body does not function properly. At the same time, these praṇas go with the subtle body when the soul leaves the body; they also go to another body.
Prior to the formation of a gross body with gross instruments of sense, the senses are also actually subtle, and they leave the body also when the body dies. This may sound strange.
This can also be understood from the allegorical story of king Puranjana; not only does the soul leaves the body at the time of death, but the ten senses also leave the body.
At the time of creation, when Maha Vishnu glances over Pradhana, the ten senses are manifest along with the subtle features of the five elements – even before the cosmic manifestation is brought into being! These subtle elements are distinct from the five gross elements (namely, the ether, air, fire, water, and earth of the realm we are aware of) which combine together to manifest our sense organs – which we know as our eyes, our ears, etc. Therefore, we actually have 2 sets of senses, the gross senses that we usually think of as our senses and then we have our subtle senses.
So, when the soul leaves the body, the senses also go along with the soul, and therefore one can have experiences with those senses, even if one does not have the gross body.
The mind is also a subtle sense. The mind and intelligence are considered to be subtle elements among the 24 elements of creation.
