Text 25] The Perfect Society: Four Spiritual Classes
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one's self or one's own. One should gradually merge the material body into the five elements [earth, water, fire, air and sky].
PURPORT
The body is an effect of a cause, namely the five material elements (earth, water, fire, air and sky). In other words, one should know perfectly well that the material body is nothing but a combination of the five elements. This knowledge constitutes merging of the material body and the five material elements. Merging into Brahman in perfect knowledge means understanding perfectly that one is not the body but a spiritual soul.
TEXT 25
से खानिवायौ निश्वासांस्तेजः मूष्माणमात्मवान् । अस्वमृक्ष्लेष्मपूरानि क्षितौ शेषं यथोद्धवम् ॥२५॥
khe khāni vāyau niśvāsāṁs tejaḥsūṣmāṇam ātmavān apsv asṛk-śleṣma-pūyāni kṣitau śeṣaṁ yathodbhavam
khe —in the sky;  khāni —all the holes of the body;  vāyau —in the air;  niśvāsān —all the different airs moving within the body ( prāṇa, apāṇa, etc. );  tejaḥsu —in fire;  uṣmāṇam —the heat of the body;  ātma-vān —a person who knows the self;  apsu —in water;  asṛk —blood;  śleṣma —mucus;  pūyāni —and urine;  kṣitau —in the earth;  śeṣam —the remaining (namely skin, bones and the other hard things in the body);  yathā-udbhavam —wherefrom all of them grew.
TRANSLATION
A sober, self-realized person who has full knowledge should merge the various parts of the body in their original sources. The holes in the body are caused by the sky, the process of breathing is caused by the air, the heat of the body is caused by fire, and semen, blood and mucus are caused by water. The hard substances, like skin, muscle and bone, are caused by earth. In this way all the