Dehaprakrti - Body types

Each human being is the result of two elements, the body and the mind. The body is made from materials that are available here on earth, the panchmahabhut, organized in various ways. The most subtle of these materials are the amino acids of DNA, which produce the perceptible body, this is our genetic system. The other element, the mind, is formless, immaterial, and does not involve any of the earthly materials. As time passes, the body and mind mature. In the beginning, as the body is growing, the mind is less dominant, but once the mind begins to fully function, it begins to dominate the life of the being. 

Our body comes from our parents, but our minds are our own. Each parent has their own dual nature as well, their body from their forebears and their own minds.

Reproductive material carries the physical aspects of each parent. The physical aspects of the father will be in the sperm and those of the mother will be in the egg. These are, in miniature form, a representation of the entire being of these individuals - their spiritual and psychological aspects as well as their physical ones, and these two agnis encounter each other and merge. The resulting being has nothing of its own, everything it has that is physical comes from those two initial inputs. 

Each being therefore has two sets of qualities, the inherited, physical ones and the soul that makes the person individual - the tendencies, what the person likes and dislikes, do not come from the parents. This means the parents bear responsibility for the body of the child. The child's mind is their own. Parents speak of children as "theirs", but they are not. Parents should consider themselves servants to their children.

The mind of an individual is like grafting one kind of tree onto another - the body from our parents is one kind of tree, but the mind we develop will bear fruit that will be different. Growth follows its own path, always. The Prakruti of a person does not fully develop until they are 16 years old or so, but once it is set, it will not deviate. This is the same as the difference between the raw ingredients for a dish and the resulting amalgamation of them that we call "goulash" or "pizza" or whatever the final product is.

Our samskars are like the DNA of the mind, they are the reason two parents give birth to many unique individuals.

Insects and snakes are able to carry poison within them without it harming them, and they are able to give birth to offspring without the offspring's poison affecting them either. Similarly, our own qualities do not harm us or our offspring during reproduction. 

This verse touches on modern genetics, where it concerns heredity. The Doshas present in the sperm, the egg and in the environment form the Dosha of the embryo. Prakruti means physical constitution. When the proportion of the Doshas is not equal, i.e. one Dosha prevails while another lacks, such combination is called Hina (weak, thin) and the embryo lives, but is not healthy. Its Prakruti is weakened. Where there are more disorders, where there is a lot of deviation and fluctuation, this is a Hina Dosha.

All Doshas can also be overproduced which is called Uttam, which means the embryo will have exaggerated imbalances.

Or the Doshas are balanced and so is the Prakruti.

Prakruti with a slight imbalance, having a light inclination to one Dosha, is considered Madhyama (moderate). Prakruti with an inclination to two Doshas is considered undesirable (Nindya). Prakruti with no discernible inclination is considered the best. Thus, there may be 7 basic Prakruti (v, p, k, vp, vk, pk, vpk). These 7 types serve only for reference purposes because in real life the possible combinations are endless. It is impossible to define their number.

Prakruti does not depend only on the Dosha of the sperm and the egg, but also on the environment at the time of conception and development of the embryo, e.g astrology, living conditions, nutrition, how the mother's mental condition affects her metabolism, etc. All this affects the final version of the Prakruti of the embryo.

Prakruti is a matter of the Dosha according to which the tissues develop. In Ayurveda, the tissues are called Dhatus. When Prakruti is balanced, so are the Dhatus. Such Dhatus are called Samadhatu.