worlds/koshas

[Guest guest]

manoj,

You're right about the 3 koshas. According to Shankaracharya's

Tattva Bodha (#2.2), the 5 sheaths/bodies can also be divided into 3,

however I've always heard the 3 referred to as worlds. You're wrong

about the division of the sheaths. The food sheath (physical body)

is the gross/physical, the next 3 make up the subtle, and the last

one the causal, and it doesn't mention anything about the innermost

or outermost, just descriptions of what makes up what.

 

I've never heard much about karma being anything other than physical,

unless you're talking about the mind and how the moon plays such a

big part in Vedic Astrology. That is, part of your karma is how you

handle life's events, because the planets are only influences.

 

The closest I've heard it mentioned was in Yogananda's bio when he

talks about his guru, which I think you've already mentioned, and the

other is a day special to Tibetan Buddhists (not sure of other

Buddhists) in which Buddha's decision to teach in the subtle realms

is celebrated.

 

tom

Ammachi, Manoj Menon <manoj_menon> wrote:

> Actually, Tom, I am no authority on this, but I would like to my

understanding

> is that the worlds and koshas/sheaths are 'equivalent'.

>

> i.e.,

>

> in the physical world (earth), you have all 3 koshas - Physical,

Astral, and

> Causal - and the physical is the outermost kosha and the causal the

innermost.

>

> in the astral world, you have 2 koshas - astral and causal. You

dropped the

> physical kosha at death.

>

> in the causal world, you have that 1 thin kosha only - causal.

>

> Hope this explains why I used the word 'worlds' only, assuming that

we all

> understand that we can be in the worlds with the equivalent koshas.

>

> Another fascinating is that, in the physical world, you can knock

off your

> karma of all 3 layers. Whereas if you are in the astral world and

still have

> some physical karma, then you cannot knock it off there; you got to

come back

> to earth, baby! Likewise amongst the astral and causal worlds.

>

> All this is pretty fascinating and humbling. So many miles to go

before I sleep

> ...

>

> Jai Ma!

> manoj