This Body, Just a Hollow Drum

Isn’t the body just a source of misery and grief

In the 18th sarga of Vairagya prakarana of Yoga Vashishta lord rama is narrating to Sage Viswamitra why he is disillusioned with so many of these things.

He calls the body a container with two bag fulls of stool and urine and another bag full of blood at the chest. And with perpetual presence of death in it. Anytime it can die. This is what we adore so much. Write poems about.

Is there anything good about this body. Give it something, a little bit to eat, a little bit to drink. Like a dog it will become happy and wag its tail. Expose it to a little bit of heat, a little bit of cold, it will start crying. This is the real nature of the body. The real status of the body. And we give it so much importance.

If the life goes away, it is just a dead body. Which most of us abhor. We won’t even touch a body. In a few hours after the life goes. It starts stinking. But still, till that moment, we are so much attached to this. We think everything is this body only. Give it a name, give it clothes, apply this and that all over the body. People spend hours in front of the mirror grooming this body. Which can anytime turn into a stinking dead body. And our whole relationship with the world is based on this body.

This body is like a tree, where the bird called jeeva, soul comes and rests for some time. Does the tree belong to the bird? No, it is only there for some time. The bird doesn’t even know whether the tree was there before it came. Or it just sprang up the moment it came. The bird doesn’t know for sure. The bird doesn’t know whether the tree will remain after it flies away.

But should the bird be really bothered? As long as it gets a place to rest for some time should the bird really be bothered about the biography of the tree.

The torso is the trunk of this tree. The hands are the branches of this tree. The head is the fruit of this tree. The eyes are cavities, hollows on this tree. The ears are holes that birds have made with their sharp beaks. The smiles are like flowers, which come and go as per seasons. The bird which is going to be here for some time, should it become friends with this tree? It need not consider the tree its enemy also. But don’t give over importance to it.

The earlier negative remarks about the body is to get us out of the habit of glorifying the body. Giving undeserving importance to the body. Its beauty and all.

What is the real use of this body? It is a boat with which you can get across the ocean called samsara, the complex worldly life, the complexities of worldly life. You go to a place, you have to cross a river, there is a boat. Do you fall in love with that boat. It just serves a purpose. That’s it. If you fall in love with that boat, isn’t it the height of stupidity. This is what man does. Body is only a boat, which if you have wisdom, you can use to get across the sea called complex worldly life. Or are you going to trust your entire future with this one boat. Are you going to abandon your real journey, real travel plan, fall in love with this boat and hope to sit on it forever. Is this common sense even?

The lord says this body is like a drum, you know the instrument drum. This body like a drum is hollow, it has no real meaning, no essence content. Like the body of the drum, the body made of wood, this body is made of hard skeletons. The ropes that hold the leather membranes at both ends of the drum, these ropes are strings and the blood vessels and nerves. But this drum doesn’t even produce good music. The sound of good advices to attain liberation, that should be the music, the sound. Even that this body cannot produce. And I am caught like a cat inside this drum. With both ends closed, I don’t even know how to get out of this.

Says Lord Rama to Sage Viswamitra.

• The body is described as a temporary and foul container that holds waste and fluids, and is constantly on the verge of death.

• It reacts like a pet animal: a little food or comfort makes it happy, while minor discomfort causes it to panic.

• People become deeply attached to this fragile body and invest time beautifying it, even though it’s destined to decay and rot.

• Once life leaves the body, it is quickly abandoned and even feared — no one wants to be near a corpse.

• Our entire identity and relationships are mistakenly built around this body, which is nothing more than a shell.

• The soul (jeeva) is like a bird that perches on the tree of the body for a short while; it neither owns the tree nor needs to become attached to it.

• Body parts are metaphorically compared to a tree: torso as trunk, hands as branches, eyes as hollows, ears as holes, head as fruit, and smiles as seasonal flowers.

• The body is not an enemy or a friend; it’s simply a vehicle for temporary use — neither to be hated nor glorified.

• Its real value lies in using it like a boat to cross the ocean of samsara (the cycle of birth, death, and worldly suffering).

• Loving or worshipping the body is as foolish as falling in love with a ferry boat meant only to get you across a river.

• The body is hollow like a drum, made of bones and blood vessels, yet it cannot produce the music of wisdom and liberation.

• The soul feels trapped inside the body, like a cat stuck in a sealed drum — blind, confused, and desperate to escape.

What is the real nature of the body?
The body is fragile, filthy inside, and always one breath away from death. It’s a container for waste, blood, and decay — not something worthy of worship.

Why do we still get so attached to something so disgusting?
Because we’re conditioned to believe the body is 'us'. We’ve been taught to groom it, name it, decorate it — and over time, that illusion becomes hard to break.

But isn't that too harsh? Aren't bodies also beautiful?
That 'beauty' is surface-level. Strip away the skin and it becomes unbearable. Glorifying the body without seeing its frailty is delusion, not appreciation.

How does the body behave when it's pampered or disturbed?
It reacts exactly like a dog — a little comfort and it’s wagging its tail, a little discomfort and it whines. Its contentment is shallow and reactionary.

Isn't that just being human — responding to needs?
Responding is fine, but being enslaved to it is the issue. When every action is dictated by bodily whims, higher awareness gets no space.

So is taking care of health also foolish?
Taking care is fine. Obsession is not. Health is a means, not an end — the body is a tool, not your true self.

What happens to the body after life leaves it?
It becomes a corpse — cold, smelly, untouchable. The same body people once adored is now repulsive.

Then why do we spend so much time grooming it?
Out of habit and ignorance. We mistake temporary packaging for permanent worth.

Aren’t funerals and body rituals signs of respect?
They are for closure — not for the body, but for the living. Even those who cry won’t touch the dead form for long.

Why does the soul’s presence in the body feel like ownership?
Because we wrongly assume the host is the guest. The soul uses the body briefly, like a bird resting on a tree — it doesn’t own the tree.

Should I then not care about the body at all?
Don’t hate it either. Use it wisely, the way you’d use a rented room — respectfully, but without attachment.

So my body has no identity of its own?
It’s like a costume. Its identity is borrowed from your awareness. Once you leave, it loses all meaning.

Why compare the body to a tree?
Because it’s a structure — made of parts, offering shelter, but not meant for permanent residence. The soul perches and moves on.

Is the tree always the same?
No. Like the body, it changes. It grows, it withers. The bird doesn’t ask if the tree existed before or will after.

So we shouldn’t even build a relationship with it?
Use it, maintain it, but don’t over-identify with it. Clinging creates confusion, not comfort.

What is the correct purpose of having a body?
To cross the ocean of samsara — the exhausting cycle of birth, death, and worldly attachments. It's a tool for liberation.

Why call it a boat?
Because it helps you travel. But you're not meant to live inside a boat forever or decorate it as your permanent home.

But I love my body. Isn’t that self-love?
If love blinds you to truth, it’s attachment. True self-love is using the body for freedom, not fantasy.

How is the body like a drum?
It’s hollow inside — skeleton and nerves forming its frame. But unlike a good drum, it doesn’t produce wisdom unless tuned by awareness.

Isn’t a drum a symbol of music?
Only if it produces the right sound. This body often doesn’t — it gets caught in noise, not melody.

Then why am I stuck in it?
Ignorance binds you. Like a cat trapped in a sealed drum, the soul is surrounded by walls it cannot see through — until it seeks the way out.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi