Nearly all esoteric systems believe that a person, beside a physical body, has the so-called «fine» bodies: seven bodies, four of which are the brightest, while the others remain so fine that it is hard to notice them in our everyday life.
Etheric body (Sanskrit: Prana Kosha, sheath made of prana) in other schools also called vital body, which defines the structure of human health. If you have a cut or a scratch, ultimately your skin heals–regeneration program is defined by our etheric body. The stronger it is, the healthier you are, and the weaker, the more valetudinarian you are. The etheric body has the form of our physical body. There is also an etheric field. It’s our etheric energy, not structured in the etheric body and surrounding us as a bag of 0.4–1 m (for the healthy person). Etheric field stands in a dynamic balance with the etheric body. Our etheric body rarely changes its form, normally when we become seriously ill. When we have a lot of energy: we ate a lot, energetically nibbled someone (it also happens), stayed in some places with a lot of etheric energy, all the extra energy goes to the etheric field, making it bigger. In special cases etheric field can widen up to 1,5–2 meters, it can be very big, but not for a long time. If someone has a lot of etheric field energy, ultimately he’ll be «eaten around», because one cannot carry along a lot of energy. When we speak about human aura and the size of its field, we mean etheric field.
Only living objects, including minerals, have an etheric field. By definition it’s a non-physical field, so any attempts to measure it by physical devices are insensate. It can only be measured by devices using living objects: germs, plants, animals, people and their reaction on the energy. The most common way of measuring etheric field is biolocation. The etheric field as well as the etheric body can be seen on the homogeneous background, but it is more rarefied.
Astral body (Sanskrit: Koma Kosha — sheath of desires) defines the structure of our etheric body. If etheric body destabilises, the as- tral body gives a regeneration program. Astral body repeats the out- line of our etheric and physical bodies and is situated outside the etheric body. It also can be seen on the homogeneous background.
Astral body defines our emotional state. Astral field is a volume of the astral energy, which is in dynamic balance with the astral body. If we say: «What a charismatic person!» we react on an astral field. A person with a strong astral field can influence other peoples’ emo- tions. Sociology and psychology call it charisma. Being close to such a person it’s easy to get involved in his emotional state.
To feel astral energies one needs no special skills. In the society you feel that the ambience is distressing, at this point you»ve switched to the feeling of astral energies of this company. If you feel that the atmosphere is joyful and you have fun, you’re feeling these energies this way. The capacity to switch to surrounding astral energies and getting these states on the conscious level is the «exiting to astral».
Of course astral fields cannot be measured by physical instruments either.
Mental body (Sanskrit: Mana Kosha — sheath of mind, manasa) is ideas, thoughts, knowledge, and senses.
Discussion of higher planes and fields is above the theme of this book.