Text 25] The Perfect Society: Four Spiritual Classes 79
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 per-
fectly 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
& arial FrarateneOTTT |
TRATES A LI ft PITMATT URI
khe khani vayau nisvdsarns
tejahsiismanam atmavan
apsv asrk-slesma-piiyani
ksitau sesarh yathodbhavam

khe—in the sky; khani—all the holes of the body; v@yau—in the air;
nisvdsan —all the different airs moving within the body (prana, apana,
etc.); tejahsu—in fire; usménam—the heat of the body; dtma-van—a
person who knows the self; apsu—in water; asrk—blood; slesma—
mucus; piyani—and urine; ksitau—in the earth; sesam—the remain-
ing (namely skin, bones and the other hard things in the body); yatha-
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
