sign in sign up
<<
Home , Anandamaya kosha, Kosha

The and the Five Sheaths N K Divya

he word veda comes from the root The Atman vid, to know. The concluding portions of The declare that perfection is Tthe are called Upanishads or Ved­ within each and every jiva. This perfection has anta. Vedic literature conveys, in a poetic way, to become manifest in oneself. The method is a wide spectrum of metaphysical knowledge. by removing ajnana, ignorance, through jnana, At the most sublime end of the spectrum is knowledge. Jnana is knowledge that is not de­ Advaita , which discusses the nature rivative, partial, and subject to any qualifica­ of the jagat, universe; jivas, living beings; and tions; it is original, complete, unlimited, and . TheMuktika Upanishad states: ‘Tile- true. The Atman is the ultimate universal Ex­ shu tailavat-veda vedantah supratishtitah; as oil istence: ‘Ayam-atma ; this Atman is is well established in the sesame seeds, so is Ved­ Brahman.’3 Other Upanishads declare: ‘This anta in the Vedas.’1 , as system­ Atman is the ruler of all beings and the king atized by Acharya Shankara, is a comprehensive of all beings. Just as all the spokes are fixed in science of spirituality, universally realizable and the nave and the felloe of a chariot-wheel, so open to rational investigation. are all beings, all gods, all worlds, all organs, The most important challenge in Advaita Ved­ and all these (individual) selves fixed in this anta is to understand the relationship between Atman.’ 4 It is supreme bliss, light, love, bound­ the Atman and Brahman. A true perception of less consciousness, and knowledge. It is not in this relationship can be acquired only by remov­ time, but time arises from it; it is not in space, ing the veil of ignorance caused by the upadhis, as space also is created from it. ‘The Atman, limiting adjuncts, created by the inscrutable which is subtler than the subtle and greater . Theupadhi s manifest as the pancha-­ s, than the great, is lodged in the heart of (every) five sheaths, which hide the real nature of the creature. A desireless person sees that glory of Atman. The realization of the Atman removes the Atman through the serenity of the organs all afflictions, brings eternal knowledge, and and (thereby) becomes free from sorrow.’5 ‘This eradicates the ego, lust, anger, attachment, hat­ is the of all; this one is omniscient; this red, and the like. When the upadhis are removed, is the internal ruler; this one is the source of all; the distinction between knowledge, knower, and this one is verily the place of origin and dissol­ known is dissolved and only the Atman shines ution of all beings.’ 6 as the supreme Existence. According to Advaita Over and over the glory of the Atman is de­ Vedanta, the realization of non-duality is the true scribed from various angles in the Upanishads. knowledge of the Atman, or Brahman. Acharya As oil is hidden in a sesame seed, butter in yo­ Shankara says: ‘Brahma satyam jaganmithya jivo gurt, fire in wood, so does the Atman reside brahmaiva naparah; Brahman is real, the world is in oneself in its fullness. It is to be discovered unreal, the jiva is non-different from Brahman.’2 by one who searches for it through truth and

672 PB December 2013

—No bleed here— The Atman and the Five Sheaths 31 austerity. ‘The intelligent person gives up happi­ by covering it and projecting something else. ness and sorrow by developing concentration of This projection is like an illusion which is taken on the Atman and thereby meditating on for real and which binds us. the old deity who is inscrutable, lodged inacces­ All these sheaths that condition the Atman sibly, located in the intellect, and seated in the are called the non-Atman. These sheaths become midst of misery (the organs).’ 7 the upadhis of the Atman that completely limit The knowledge of the Atman is eternally ex­ its knowledge. TheTaittiriya Upanishad teaches istent and available to everyone. All the efforts the process of peeling off one layer, sheath, after of sadhakas, in the form of assiduous meditation another.8 As we peel off layer after layer, we and intense devotion, are directed towards the come closer and closer to the Atman. One has removal of avidya, ignorance. And as soon as to carefully separate the Atman from the non- the veil of ignorance is lifted, the self-luminous Atman. ‘One should unerringly separate him Atman shines forth. This is the state of enlight­ (the ) from one’s body, like a stalk from enment or , freedom. the munja grass. One should know him as pure and immortal ’ (2.3.16). The Pancha- The pancha-koshas are connected to the According to Vedanta, the Atman inside the three bodies—gross, subtle, and causal—of the body is apparently conditioned by the pancha- jiva. The sheath of food is identified with the koshas, five sheaths or vestures. The wordkosha sthula-sharira, gross body, which is subject to means ‘sheath’ or ‘covering’. Like a scabbard that birth and death. The sheaths ofprana , mind, and covers a sword, the pancha-koshas form a ser­ intellect, constitute the sukshma-sharira, sub­ ies of layers, as it were, one over the other. The tle body, which is the nucleus for the birth of annamaya-kosha, food sheath is the outermost; another gross body and is associated with the inside it is the pranamaya-kosha, sheath of jiva throughout its transmigratory existence. or life-force; inside this sheath is the manomaya- This consists of seventeen factors: kosha, sheath of mind; then comes the vijnana- the five sensory organs, the five motor organs, maya-kosha, sheath of intelligence; and finally the fiveprana s, the mind, and intelligence. The the anandamaya-kosha, sheath of bliss. The karana-sharira, , is made up of the anandamaya-kosha is subtler and more perva­ anandamaya-kosha. sive than all the others and is the cause of the From the relative or empirical point, there vijnanamaya-kosha; the vijnanamaya-kosha is, are three entities called Ishvara, jiva, and jagat; in turn, subtler and more pervasive than the fol­ from the absolute standpoint, there is only lowing three and is the cause of the manomaya- Brahman-Atman, which is ‘ekameva-advitiyam­ ; kosha; and so on successively. one only without a second ’.9 The pluralism we Each sheath interacts with the others, and experience, from where we start our philo­ since they all are under the law of cause and ef­ sophical enquiry, is not the final Truth. The fect, they are ultimately unreal. The Atman, en­ one Reality appears to be plural due to avidya. veloped by these pancha-koshas, is beyond all In Brahman there is absolutely no differenti­ desha, space, kala, time, and nimitta, causation. ation: ‘There is no diversity here whatsoever. The creation of thesepancha-kosha s is the work He who sees as though there is difference here, of maya, which has the power to hide the reality goes from death to death.’10

PB December 2013 673 32 Prabuddha Bharata

So far we have considered the objective ap­ filthy perishable things that go by the name proach to the Reality. The subjective approach of body. Yet the delusion of having a body is centres round the jiva. It is maya that makes the so strong that we cannot let it go and conse­ one Brahman appear as many jivas. This apparent quently try to do everything to keep it com­ creation conjures up the pancha-koshas and makes fortable. ‘A stupid person thinks he is the body; jivas think of themselves as individual beings. the book-learned person identifies himself with Therefore, the subjective approach takes into con­ the mixture of body and ; the sage pos­ sideration the constituents, the ­pancha-koshas, of sessed of realization, due to discernment looks the jiva as well as the three states of experience— upon the eternal Atman as his Self and thinks waking, dreaming, and deep sleep—for the pur­ “I am Brahman”. ’ 11 Theannamaya-kosha is the pose of unravelling the Reality behind them. The densest form avidya can take and hence it is process starts with the Vedantic discernment of the most delusive. The most beautiful body is ‘, neti; not this, not this’. shunned if there is no life in it. Annamaya-kosha · It is the physical body Pranamaya-kosha · It is the second sheath made of bones, marrow, skin, flesh, blood, and enlivens the first one. This sheath made and nerves. The body receives external stimuli of prana, life or vital force, comprises the five through the organs and responds through physiological systems of the body that control the motor organs. As the body is produced out many functions connected to living. The first of food and is dependent on it for survival, this of the five is also called prana; it is engaged in sheath is also called the food sheath. It does not breathing and perception and its movement is exist prior to conception and after death. It is upwards. The next one isapana and, taking care constantly changing and is an object like a jar. of excretion, has its movement downwards. This The body is subject to external influences. Only is followed by samana, which governs digestion a foolish person identifies with this bundle of and the assimilation of food. Next is vyana, which controls blood circulation and sup­ plies the digested nutrients to different parts of the body. Finally comes udana, which is the energy that propels the jiva from the body at the time of death. Some authors on Vedanta also speak of subsidiary that control lesser functions like yawning, open­ ing and closing the eyelids, and so on. But these are actually modifications of the five pranas. ‘Neither is the pranamaya-kosha the Self because it is a modification ofvayu , air, and like the air it enters into and comes out of the body, and because it never knows in the least its own weal and woe or those of others’ (166). Manomaya-kosha · The living body be­ comes useless if there is no mind in it. We see

674 PB December 2013 The Atman and the Five Sheaths 33 people in a coma and similar states in which the Atman and therefore one may wrongly believe body is immovable and life just hangs on tenu­ that it is the Atman. ously. It is the mind that brings consciousness Anandamaya-kosha · The sheath of bliss to both the body and the vital energy; that is is a reflection of the blissfulness of the Atman. why it is important. The organs of knowledge, It has its fullest play during profound sleep. This together with the mind, form the manomaya-­ sheath is also a modification of maya. It is the kosha. It is the cause of the diversity of such basis of all our happiness. ‘It appears in view thing as ‘I and mine’. Since it is conscious, it is when some object agreeable to oneself presents powerful and creates attachment to the body itself. It makes itself spontaneously felt by the and the sense objects. It is the repository of in­ fortunate during the fruition of their virtuous numerable impressions. A person’s existence deeds, from which every corporeal being de­ is the creation of the mind, which waxes and rives great joy without the least effort’ (207). The wanes and is subject to many influences. In the anandamaya-kosha is not the Atman because it is state of dream, it creates a world of its own. also changeful and the effect of past good deeds. ‘There is noavidya outside the mind. The mind It is embedded in the other sheaths, which are alone is avidya, the cause of the bondage of also modifications of maya. transmigration. When that is destroyed, all else Seeing the reflection of the sun mirrored in is destroyed, and when it is manifested, every­ the water a foolish person thinks it is the sun thing else is manifested ’ (161). Themanomaya- itself. Similarly, we identify ourselves with the kosha cannot be the Atman because it has a Atman caught in the vijnanamaya-kosha. We beginning and an end and is subject to pain then superimpose the attributes of the vijnana- and suffering; it creates the diversity of qualifi­ maya and the other koshas on the Atman and are cations, actions, means, and results. thus deluded. When the pancha-koshas are elim­ Vijnanamaya-kosha · The fourth sheath inated by the process of ‘neti, neti ’ what remains is that of intelligence, also a modification of at the culmination is the Atman, the witness of maya, and is endowed with the function of the pancha-koshas. ‘This self-effulgent Atman, knowledge; it wholly identifies with the previ­ which is distinct from the five sheaths, the wit­ ous sheaths. ‘It is without beginning, charac­ ness of the three states, the real, the changeless, terized by egoism, is called the jiva, and carries the untainted, the everlasting bliss—is to be real­ on the activities on the relative . Through ized by the wise person as his own Self ’ (211).P previous desires it performs good and evil ac­ References tions and experiences their results. Being born in various bodies, it comes and goes, up and 1. Muktika Upanishad, 1.9. down. It is this sheath of knowledge that has 2. Acharya Shankara, Brahma-jnanavali-mala, 20. 3. , 2. the waking, dream, and other states and ex­ 4. , 2.5.15. periences joy and grief ’ (171). The mental and 5. , 1.2.20. intellectual sheaths differ in their nature and 6. Mandukya Upanishad, 6. qualities: while the mind receives the stimuli 7. Katha Upanishad, 1.2.12. 8. See , 3.10.6. generated by the sense organs, the intellect con­ 9. Chhandogya Upanishad, 6.2.1. trols the thought processes. Thevijnanamaya- 10. Katha Upanishad, 2.1.11. kosha is effulgent due to its proximity to the 11. Acharya Shankara, , 160.

PB December 2013 675