Fundamentally, everything in the physical universe is prana – prana constantly condensing or crystallizing into the forces and subatomic particles that comprise all living and non-living physical forms. Prana is not a physical substance, but an infinite reservoir of pre-physical energy. Kirlian photography is capturing within it's own color spectrum this pranic universe; nothing more, nothing less. It is revealing the pranic bodies of objects. Without the prana energy body, the physical substance would not exist. It is consciousness and will-power that shape and intensify individual fields of prana.
Non-living forms – rocks, metal keys, glass jewelry, polyester pants, etc. – radiate a pranic body that is lackluster but very regular. The pranic fields of non-living forms are seen by psychics to be generated by the consciousness of elemental devas (invisible beings who work with primal elements). These devas are living, yet their consciousness is neither strong nor penetrating, thus their forms lack pranic vitality. Self-energy forms, like the sun, generate powerful fields of prana.
The human body, dependent upon the evolution of the soul occupying it, will have an extremely dynamic pranic body. It is also known as the health aura. When seen with the Third Eye, it extends about 1-2 inches around the physical body and is composed of millions of translucent white fibers. When health is ebbing, the fibers curl and wilt, turning dull gray. The more a person becomes conscious of his pranic body, the more powerful his consciousness is infused into the prana composing his body, or into another living or insentient form. Consciousness enlivens prana.
During the process of death in any living being or form, the pranic body disintegrates in sync with the physical body. As the consciousness of the person's astral/mental/soul bodies withdraws from the physical plane, the pranic body diffuses as the physical body decays. In a process called mumia, the pranic energies that composed the body dissolve back into the greater reservoir of prana to be used again in other form-building processes. As long as some semblance of the deceased physical body remains, a low-level pranic body exists which keeps the individual tethered to the earth plane. This is why Hindus cremate their dead, so they are not tied to physical and pranic remains. And this is also why Hindus preserve and bury the bodies of great masters in samadhi shrines, precisely so that soul (not needing to incarnate) will be available to spiritually guide the community.
We are always aware of prana. Imagine the feeling of a forest glen of evergreen trees and meadow grass, redolent with the scents of pine, grass and loamy dirt. It is thick with prana. That is why we like to go on outdoor picnics. Now contrast that scene with the powdery dryness of the Sahara Desert. Very little prana there. Learning to feel our own pranic body is fairly easy. It is first sensed as a faint glow of energy through and around the body. Later it becomes a prominent envelope of electric-like energy that can be projected at will.
Article copyright Himalayan Academy.