all living creatures
there are heat, wind, earth, space and water, what, then, are the
indications of living agent? Tell me these, O sinless one! I desire to
know the nature of the life that is in the bodies of living
beings,--bodies made up of the five primal elements, engaged in the five
acts, endued with the five senses and possessed of animation. Upon the
dissolution of the body which is a union of flesh and blood, and a mass
of fat, sinews and bones, that which is the living agent cannot be seen.
If this body, composed of the five elements, be destitute of what is
called life, who or what then is that which feels misery upon the
appearance of either bodily or mental pain? The living agent hears what
is said, with the aid of the ears. It, however, happens again, O great
Rishi, that the same agent hears not when the Mind is otherwise engaged.
It seems, therefore, that that which is called the living agent serves no
purpose. The whole scene that the living agent sees with eyes acting in
concert with the mind, the eye beholds not, even when lying before it, if
the mind be otherwise engaged. Then again, when it is under the influence
of sleep, that agent neither sees nor smells, nor hears, nor speaks, nor
experiences the perceptions of touch and taste. Who or what then is that
which feels joy, becomes angry, gives way to sorrow, and experiences
tribulation? What is that which wishes, thinks, feels aversion, and
utters words?'

"'"Bhrigu said, 'The mind also is made of the five elements in common with
the body. For this reason it is of no consequence with respect to the
acts mentioned by thee. Only the one internal Soul sustaineth the body.
It is he that perceives smell, taste, sound, touch and form and other
properties (that exist in external nature). That Soul, pervading all the
limbs, is the witness (of the acts) of the mind endued with five
attributes and residing within the body composed of the five elements. It
is he who feels pleasure and pain, and when separated from him the body
no longer experiences them. When there is no longer any perception of
form or of touch, when there is no heat in the fire that resides within
the body,--indeed, when that animal heat becomes extinguished,--the body,
in consequence of its abandonment by the Soul, meets with destruction.
The whole universe is composed of water. Water is the form of all
embodied creatures. In that water is the Soul which is displayed in the
mind. That Soul