The Sanskrit word ‘divyasharira’ is sometimes translated as ‘divine body’, but the phrase hardly conveys the full scope of the original term. The seemingly physical form assumed by the Avatar when He descends to the human frequency is called a divyasharira. Though appearing similar to the human form, the physiology is far from that of the average human being in areas of crucial significance. While several great masters and saints are known to have attained divyasharira while leaving the body, like Sant Jnaneshwar, Ramalinga Vallalar, Tirujnanasambandar, and more recently, Paramahamsa Yogananda, it is rare to find an Avatar who exhibits so visibly the qualities of the divyasharira while living and moving freely in the human frequency.

Ancient yoga texts like Hatha Yoga Pradipika and Gheranda Samhita prescribe a series of asanas, pranayama and bandhas that act as primary steps towards the attainment of a divyasharira. Although in theory, it is possible to attain a divyasharira through intense yogic practices alone, sustained over several janmas (births), a mere glimpse of the attributes and powers of the divyasharira reveal that it is not actually a human body that has been perfected though yogic disciplines, but rather the pure manifestation of the Supreme Consciousness itself, uncorrupted and incorruptible by its descent into the frequency of matter. Two of these altered states of physiology have already been discussed with reference to the attributes of Ardhanarishwara and Susadha. There are other several significant differences which differentiate the divyasharira from the normal body.

QEEG recordings of Paramahamsa Nithyananda’s brain have demonstrated Entrainment and the ability to control the brain waves at will, unlike in His normal counterparts (this attribute has been discussed in detail in later chapters). Moreover, there is an intense sensitivity to smell, sound and touch. Physicians who examined Paramahamsa Nithyananda have repeatedly noticed the increased sensitivity to touch, which in normal human beings also means a high level of sensitivity to pain (as both are similar neural phenomena). But in the case of Paramahamsa Nithyananda, the heightened touch-sensitivity is simultaneously associated with the absence of the cognition of pain.

Surabhi: A simple and innocent attribute of the Avatar’s divyasharira is the maintenance of the human form in a pure state, allowing for a fragrant smell to emanate from the body. Small children always smell nice, and with age and maturation, changes occur in human physiology to produce a combination of noxious odors and pheromones. An Avatar like Paramahamsa Nithyananda, while having attained physical maturity, lives in the physiological and psychological childlike state of innocence, thereby producing a divine fragrance similar to the jasmine flower or pure sandalwood.

Another interpretation of the term ‘divyasharira’ is: a body of ight and sound.

The concept of the creation of the universe from Light (Shiva) and Sound (Shakti) was expressed in the Vedic sciences thousands of years prior to the evolution of modern science. Traditional science looks at wave and particle as a duality. Today we agree that all elementary particles exist simultaneously as both particle and wave, and matter too is nothing but energy with form. The Vedic term ‘Light’ stands for the particle phenomenon, and ‘Sound’ for the wave phenomenon – hence the eternal dance and romance of the inseparable Shiva-Shakti described by the Vedic seers, or ‘saint-ists’, as Paramahamsa Nithyananda chooses to call them.

The primordial sound described in Vedic science is the ‘unstruck sound’ (anahata dhvani). The word ‘anahata’ itself means ‘that without a cause’ – which, in other words, is nothing but the Primary Cause itself, as only the Cause itself can be causeless; everything else is an effect of the Cause. The Primary Cause being Shiva, the Primary Sound too is nothing but Shiva Himself, or Shiva-Shakti, which is particle and wave at the same time. Thus, in a single superb stroke, Vedic science condenses the theories of western particle physics, eastern cosmogony and universal spirituality into one poetic word. The divyasharira, being the very fabric of space-time, is nothing but the simultaneous and non-dual existence of wave and particle.

courtesy Avatara Shastra