SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF MALAM: LIFE STAGE APPROACH Because of the malam the soul suffers. The sufferings are classified in saiva siddhantha into symptoms. They are called avathais(avasthais). The first way is to classify the avathais in a life span model. The soul is in fetal stage and later in an adolescence stage. It gets matured into an adult stage after the complete knowledge of sivam. These three stages are analogous in psychoanalytic descriptions of post Freudians or neo Freudians like, margaretmahler,melanieklein,Heinz kohut,balint,winnicott,fairbarn,kernberg etc. The soul is attached with the physical body. The physical body is made up of the physical matters ,hence it is vulnerable to experience the symptoms of the soul. The soul is inflicted with the three malam. The soul develops distress due to the malam. The distress can be felt by the physical body too depending upon its stages with the attachments 1.kevala avthai(the dark stage):irul satage: The term kevala means aloofness or loneness. The soul is afflicted with only anavam. Here the soul has no well formed body or mind. It has no perceptions or thoughts. It has no joy or sorrows. At this stage the soul has a bear thread of life. It only knows itself. This stage is known as the self state. This is the earliest state of the ontogeny and phylogeny This particular position of soul is akin to the early fetal stage of life. In MargaretMahler's PSYCHO-ANALYTIC descriptions this phase is autistic symbiotic stage. In this stage the soul is affected by primary narcissism. 2.sakala-avathai: meta stage: marul stage: In this stage the soul is granted the company of the maya and kanma to get cleansed of the anava malam by the god. The soul just acquires a knowledge a primitive knowledge. The soul also now is capable of doing karma(kanma) with his rudimentary body it has developed by the ggrace of god. It has perception and thought. It is capable of interacting with the external objects and the material world(kala). Hence the term sa-kala. This is analogous to the later stages of the psycho-analytic development to the level of early adolescence. This phase the soul is capable of knowing only mundane things and drowned in the small material world for minor pleasures. 3.suddha avathai: clean stage: arul stage: Here the soul goes through the pain and pleasures of worldly life and metamorphoses to a learned individual. The anava affinities gets gradually blunted and gets weakened. It is prepared to leave the anavam. It gets the knowledge of the god and propels itself towards it. Through this pursuit towards almighty the malams get weakened. This phase is analogous to the later stage of the individuals life when he gets into the sadhanas. A matured late adult phase. Because of the cleaned malam this is called the suddha sate and the because of the god's grace it is called the arul phase.