Advaita provides systematic methodology for distinguishing the eternal Self from temporary appearances. Every person has three "bodies" (shariras): Sthula Sharira (gross physical body) made of food, born from parents, subject to birth-death-decay. Sukshma Sharira (subtle body) consisting of 17 components—five organs of knowledge (jnanendriyas: ear, skin, eye, tongue, nose), five organs of action (karmendriyas: speech, hands, feet, excretory, generative), five pranas (life forces), mind (manas), and intellect (buddhi). This subtle body survives physical death and transmigrates. Karana Sharira (causal body) is ignorance (avidya) itself, the seed containing latent tendencies (vasanas) driving rebirth. These three bodies can be analyzed as five sheaths (pancha koshas) covering the Self like lamp covers obscuring inner light: Annamaya (food sheath/physical), Pranamaya (vital sheath), Manomaya (mental sheath), Vijnanamaya (intellectual sheath), and Anandamaya (bliss sheath). Through systematic negation—"I am not the body, I am not the breath, I am not the mind, I am not the intellect"—one transcends identification with these temporary coverings to discover the eternal Witness (Sakshi) beyond them all.