The following figure shows why a “baby” or a “grown adult” is the COMBINATION of the mental body (gandhabba) and the physical body.
- A human gandhabba may live for many thousand of years. During that time, it can be born with many different physical bodies.
- The gandhabba is fully shielded from the outside world by the physical body. That way, gandhabba‘s experience is limited to only those sensory inputs that can come via the physical body. Being trapped in a physical body is a consequence of one’s craving to enjoy “close contact” like tastes, smells, and touch (sex.) But that limits the capabilities for seeing and hearing.
- A gandhabba can see and hear at long distances if it comes out of the physical body; it can also travel far by merely thinking about where to go.
