Kosas and bodies etc.

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Kosas – Sheaths (Pancha- kosas)

From `Vedanta Treatise'

By Sri A. Parthasarthy

Vedanta Life Institute, Mumbai.

 

The structure of man can be divided into five material layers

enveloping Atman (indwelling soul). Atman is the core of your

personality. It is represented by the mystic symbol of AUM

(pronounced OM). The five layers of matter are like five

concentric circles around the symbol. They are called sheaths

or KOSAS in Sanskrit. The five sheaths (pancha-kosas) are:

 

Food sheath (Anna-maya kosa)

 

Vital-Air sheath (Prana-maya kosa)

 

Mental sheath (Mana-maya kosa)

 

Intellectual sheath (Vignana-maya kosa)

 

Bliss sheath (Ananda-maya kosa)

 

Food sheath

 

Food sheath is the physical body. The five organs of perception and

the five organs of action are a part of it. It is called food sheath

because it is caused by food, maintained by food; and finally ends

up as food.

 

Vital-Air sheath

 

There are five faculties functioning within you. They correspond to

the five physiological functions. They are called the five Pranas.

Together they constitute the vital-air sheath. They have been given

that name because they are related directly to air you breathe.

 

Faculty of perception (prana): is the functioning of the five senses

as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching.

 

Faculty of excretion (apana): throws out, evacuates

excreta of the body such as faeces, urine, sperms, sputum,

perspiration etc.

 

Faculty of digestion (samana): digests food received by the stomach.

 

Faculty of circulation (vyana); distributes digested food to

different parts of the body through blood stream.

 

Faculty of thought-absorption (udana): takes in fresh knowledge.

 

These five faculties (pranas) are sharp and clear when you are

young. As you get older the pranas lose their strength and vitality.

That explains why a ripe old man can hardly see, hear etc. His

faculties of excretion, digestion and circulation become very weak.

His capacity to absorb and accept new thoughts and ideas is reduced

to the bare minimum.

 

Vital-Air sheath is subtler than food sheath. It controls the food

sheath. When your pranas function properly your physical body

remains healthy and strong. And when they slacken and work

inefficiently the body is adversely affected.

 

Mental sheath

 

The mental sheath is the mind. Mind consists of passions and

emotions, feelings and impulses. It is full of likes and dislikes.

Mental-sheath controls vital-air and food sheaths. For instance,

when the mind is disturbed, the physiological functions (pranas) and

the physical body are affected.

 

Intellectual sheath

 

Intellectual sheath is the intellect. It functions as thinking,

reflecting, reasoning, discriminating, judging, etc. It analyses

and distinguishes between pairs of opposites. It controls the

above three sheaths.

 

Bliss sheath

 

Bliss sheath consists of Vasanas alone. When you are in deep sleep

i.e. dreamless sleep you are in bliss sheath. When you cross the

bliss sheath and move to other sheaths you experience the dream and

waking states of consciousness. Vasanas are therefore unmanifest in

deep sleep while they are manifest in the form of thought in the

dream and actions in the waking state. Consequently you experience

mental agitations, be they great or small, as long as you remain in

dream and waking states. When however you enter the state of deep

sleep all your mental agitations cease and you experience

undisturbed peace and bliss. Hence it is that this sheath is called

bliss sheath. But the bliss experienced in deep sleep is relative.

It is not to be confused with the absolute bliss of Self-realisation.

 

The five sheaths enumerated above may also be classified under three

different headings viz. gross body, subtle body and causal body.

Food sheath and the gross portion of vital-air sheath together

constitute the gross body. The subtle portion of vital-air sheath

combined with mental and intellectual sheaths form the subtle body.

While the gross body is made up of gross matter, the subtle body is

constituted of passions, desires, emotions, feelings and thoughts.

Bliss sheath is the causal body consisting of Vasanas alone.

 

Your causal body is the storehouse of all your impressions and

latent energies in you, all your Vasanas. When this hidden material

in the causal body expresses itself as feelings and thoughts it

takes the form of your subtle body. The same material works out as

perceptions and actions in the gross body. Let the causal body be

instilled with the suggestion of health, the subtle body will

entertain thoughts of health and the gross body is bound to be

healthy. Let the causal body be saturated with the suggestion of

godhead, the subtle body will revel in the thought of godhead, the

man is bound to be godly. A man is the architect of his own

personality inasmuch as it is his own causal body that is

responsible for his behaviour, movements and environments.

 

The substratum of your causal, subtle and gross bodies is

your real Self.

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