Fwd: the Five Sheaths or Koshas .....................

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advaitin , " adi_shakthi16 "

<adi_shakthi16> wrote:

 

Dear ALL,

 

After reading all the posts in the past few days , i thought it is

now timely to again remind all advaitins about the Five Koshas or

sheaths and their significance in the Adwitin philosophy.

 

i reproduce here a beautifu but simple explanation i came across

while cruising on the net!!!

 

Enjoy and expand your horizons!

 

5 Sheaths or Koshas

by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

SwamiJ.com

 

We humans are like a lamp that has five lampshades over our light.

Each of the lampshades is a different color and density. As the

light

shines through the lampshades, it is progressively changed in color

and nature. It is a bitter-sweet coloring. On the one hand, the

shades provide the individualized beauty of each lamp. Yet, the

lampshades also obscure the pure light.

 

 

 

The path of Self-realization is one of progressively moving inward,

through each of those lampshades, so as to experience the purity at

the eternal center of consciousness, while at the same time allowing

that purity to animate through our individuality. These five levels

are called koshas, which literally means sheaths.

 

Physical - Annamaya kosha

Energy - Pranamaya kosha

Mental - Manamaya kosha

Wisdom - Vijnanamaya kosha

Bliss - Anandamaya kosha

Self - Atman

 

Kosha means sheath, like the lampshades covering the light, or like

the series of wooden dolls pictured below. Maya means appearance, as

if something appears to be one way, but is really another. Advaita

Vedanta suggests that you imagine a dark night in which you think

you

see a man, only to find that it was an old fence post that was hard

to see at first; that is maya.

 

 

 

Here, it means that each of the sheaths or koshas is only an

appearance. In truth, all of the levels, layers, koshas, or sheaths

of our reality is only appearance, or maya (while also very real in

the sense of dealing with the external world), and that underneath

all of those appearances, we are pure, divine, eternal

consciousness,

or whatever name you prefer to call it. This is one of the

fundamental principles of Advaita Vedanta meditation.

 

While some view maya as meaning that nothing is real, and turn this

into a cold-hearted intellectual practice, others view the illusion

of maya as being shakti, the creative force of the universe. In this

way, the maya of the koshas is experienced both as unreal and, at

the

same time, as the beautiful manifestations of the universal oneness.

 

 

 

Physical - Annamaya kosha

 

Anna means food. All of the physical aspects of life come and go,

and

are consumed by another aspect of external reality. Thus, the

outermost of the koshas is called the sheath of food, or Annamaya

kosha.

 

In Vedanta practice, we train this aspect of ourselves, take care of

it, nurture it, so that we can both enjoy our external lives and go

inward without it being an obstacle during meditation time. In

meditation, we become aware of Annamaya kosha, explore it, and then

go inward, to and through the other koshas.

 

 

 

Energy - Pranamaya kosha

 

The next of the koshas is Pranamaya kosha. Prana means energy. It is

the vital force that produces the subtle vibrations related to

breath, and which are the driving force behind the physical aspect

of

the senses and the operation of the physical body. It allows the

invisible indweller, our True Self to be able to animate in the

external world. At the same time, however, it allows the eternally

still, silent center of consciousness to be mistakenly identified as

the moving, visible physical body.

 

For both a healthy life and the practice of meditation, Vedanta says

that it is very useful, or essential that this level of our being be

trained, regulated, and directed, so that it flows smoothly. In

meditation, we become aware of Pranamaya kosha, explore it, and then

go inward, to and through the other koshas.

 

 

 

Mental - Manamaya kosha

 

The next of the koshas is Manamaya kosha. Mana means mind. It is the

level of processing thoughts and emotions. It is in direct control

of

the operation, through the prana, of the physical body and senses.

It

is like a supervisor in a factory, in that it gives instructions,

but

is not supposed to be the manager of the factory of life. Because of

this, it naturally has doubts, and created illusions. When it

receives clear instructions from the deeper level, it functions

quite

well. However, when it is clouded over by its illusions, the deeper

wisdom is clouded over.

 

After taking care of the physical body and training the energy flow

of prana, the most important part to be trained in positive ways is

this level of mind. In meditation, we become aware of Manamaya

kosha,

explore it, and then go inward, to and through the remaining koshas.

 

 

 

Wisdom - Vijnanamaya kosha

 

The next of the koshas is Vijnanamaya kosha. Vijnana means knowing.

It is the sheath of wisdom that is underneath the processing,

thinking aspect of mind. It knows, decides, judges, and

discriminates

between this and that, between useful and not useful. It is also the

level of ego consciousness, meaning the powerful wave of I-am-ness.

This I-am-ness itself is a positive influence, but when it gets co-

mingled with the memories, and is clouded over by the manas, it

loses

its positive strength.

 

A major part of sadhana (spiritual practice) is gaining ever

increasing access to this level of our being. It is the level that

has the higher wisdom to seek Truth, to go within, in search of the

eternal center of consciousness.

 

 

 

Bliss - Anandamaya kosha

 

Anandamaya kosha is the most interior of the koshas, the first of

the

koshas surrounding the Atman, the eternal center of consciousness.

Ananda means bliss. However, it is not bliss as a mere emotion

experienced at the level of the sheath of mind. Ananda is a whole

different order of reality from that of the mind. It is peace, joy,

and love that is underneath, beyond the mind, independent of any

reason or stimulus to cause a happy mental reaction. It is simply

being, resting in bliss called ananda.

 

Yet, even this bliss, however wonderful it is, is still a covering,

a

sheath, a lampshade covering the pure light of consciousness. It is

the subtle most of the five koshas. In the silence of deep

meditation, this too is let go of, so as to experience the center.

 

 

 

Atman - Self

 

Atman is the Self, the eternal center of consciousness, which was

never born and never dies. In the metaphor of the lamp and the

lampshades, Atman is the light itself, though to even describe it as

that is incomplete and incorrect. The deepest light shines through

the koshas, and takes on their colorings.

 

Atman, the Self, has been best described as indescribable. The

realization of that, in direct experience, is the goal of Yoga

meditation, Advaita Vedanta, and Tantra practices taught in the

HIMALAYAN TRADITION.

 

http://www.swamij.com/koshas.htm - 16k - Cached

 

*********************************************************************

*

our beloved Shankara Bhagavdapada sings in Nirvana Shatakam

 

Om. I am neither mind, intelligence, ego, nor chitta,

Neither ears nor tongue nor the senses of smell and sight;

Nor am I ether, earth, fire, water, or air;

I am Pure Knowledge and Bliss: I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

 

I am neither the prana nor the five vital breaths,

Neither the seven elements of the body nor its five sheaths,

Nor hands nor feet nor tongue, nor the organs of sex and voiding:

I am Pure Knowledge and Bliss: I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

 

SHIVAYE NAMAH AUM!

 

PS - By logical reasoning the pure Atman should be separated from

the

five sheaths just as rice is separated from the husk by pounding it.

 

(ADI SHANKARA-ATMA BHODHA)

--- End forwarded message ---