(Sūkṣma-śarīra) A Sanskrit term which means “subtle body.” It is composed of manas and vijñana (emotions and lower mind or kama-manas in early theosophical terminology). It is one of four such bodies identified in Hindu literature, the others being the sthūla-śarīra (“gross” or “dense,” i.e., physical, body), linga-śarīra (matrix body, also called pranamaya-kośa, body composed of the vital energy called prana; the etheric double in theosophical terminology), and karaŠa-ar…ra (lit. “causal body,” the reincarnating soul or ego in theosophical terminology, also identified as the higher mind).

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