Q: What are the five layers or pancha koshas of the body?
Today, let us talk about the five layers or pancha koshas of the body. As I said earlier, there are three bodies i.e., the gross body, the subtle body and the causal body. Now, these three bodies can be further divided into five layers called pancha koshas or the five koshas or five layers.
They are called Annamaya kosha, Pranamaya kosha, Manomaya kosha, Vijnanamaya kosha, and Anandamaya kosha. The English word for that is the physical body, the energy body, the mental body, the intellectual body and the blissful body. These are the five layers of being.
The physical body is made up of five elements. Earth, water, air, fire and wind – pancha bhutas. It has five sense organs, five organs of action. It is made up of the skin, the bones, the muscles, the blood, all those, five layers, pancha koshas. This physical body is given to you by birth, at the time of conception. At the time of death, it will be taken away. It will merge with the five elements.
Most people confuse the ‘I’ with the physical body. They confuse the eternal, permanent, ‘I’, with the physical body, and say, ‘I am the body’. But the body keeps on changing. It is wrong to associate the Self, with the body. People confuse the Self, which is of the nature of Consciousness, with the body, which is not correct.
The physical body is energized by the pranic body or the energy body. The energy body consists of a distribution system within our body called ‘nadis’. There are 72000 nadis or channels which distribute energy to the whole of the body. There are five main types of breath that you take. It gets distributed in the body, in terms of five pranas. They are called Prana, Apana, Vyana, Udana, and Samana. These are the five different types of prana.
The pranas function to operate the body. The digestion is taken care by the prana, the circulation is taken care by the prana. Energization of the physical body is done by the prana. At the time of death, even this pranic body and the physical body is taken away. Only subtle prana, along with inner layers, move to other body. The gross prana, and channels of distribution is gone.
Many people think that prana is me and the Self is associated with prana. Which is also not true. So, people say that ‘he breathed his last’. The last breath is considered as that person dying. Prana has nothing to do with the Self. Prana is the only instrument, of the vehicle, of the Self, just like the physical body.
Within that pranic body, there is a subtle body called mental body, mind, manas, Manomaya kosha. So, Annamaya kosha is the physical body, Pranamaya kosha is the energy body and Manomaya kosha is the mental body. So, what is this mental body doing? The mental body, through sense organs and perceptions, senses the world. It gets concepts, and conceptualizes and desires, ‘I want this’, ‘I want that’. Then, it starts craving for something, craving for objects. This is the mental body.
The mind or the manas is the one that craves for objects of the physical world. It senses the objects of the physical world. The manas or the Manomaya kosha, is the inner layer of the personality. Then, there is buddhi, intellect, the sheath of intellect. It is called Vijnanamaya kosha. Buddhi is the one who determines this is what it is.
The Manomaya kosha with the buddhi, together, plays a role in perception. Manomaya kosha, through sense organs, perceives an object. Concepts arise in Manomaya kosha. When it is determined what object is being seen, that is called buddhi. Buddhi plays the determining role. Whereas the mind forms the conceptualizing role. The multiple concepts, which are not finalized, final determination, to finally decide, what it is. Buddhi determines this is what it is.
The mind is full of ignorance. It starts craving for so many things. A purified mind is required for realization. The mind has to become free from the cravings. That can happen, only with Viveka, the thought process. A clear thought process where the buddhi or the intellect can guide the mind and make it free from wrong notions.
There is a reflection of Atma in the buddhi or reflection of pure Consciousness in the buddhi. This reflection, along with buddhi, is called Jiva. This is what migrates from one body to other body. Deep inside, there is another layer called Anandamaya kosha or blissful sheath. The blissful sheath is the deep bliss which you experience in deep sleep. It is actually a modification of the fine nature, Prakriti. The very fine aspect of Prakriti, is the blissful sheath. It is also not Atma. It is not the bliss of Atma.
The Atma gets reflected in the Prakriti, nature, and is called a blissful sheath. So, many people confuse that with Self-realization. ‘I am very blissful’. No, the ‘I am blissful’, is also not correct. Because that’s the association with the blissful sheath. The Self is the witness of all this. Self is not associated with this.
Q: What is the modification of nature of the bliss?
A: Bliss is a reflection in Prakriti, nature. A very subtle aspect of Prakriti. Like, subatomic, microscopic. The reflection of Atman is more. That’s why you feel bliss there. Some amount of reflecting of Atma is there in buddhi. So, that’s why buddhi becomes activated. And it is able to think and work. That reflection in buddhi is called Jiva. Reflection in the Anandamaya kosha is called bliss.
So, bliss and Consciousness, are two aspects of Paramatma. Sat, Chit, Ananda. Chit, Consciousness, gets reflected in buddhi. Bliss, Ananda, gets reflected in the Anandamaya kosha. So, even the bliss is not Atma. Atma is of the nature of bliss. But, when you say, ‘I am blissful’, some people do meditation and say, ‘I am blissful’, that’s not the final. You have to come out of the blissful sheath also, an association of the blissful sheath.
Q: So, when I am blissful, I am experiencing the nature of Atma?
A: When I am blissful, where ‘I am blissful’, ‘I am’ is Atma. Bliss is the sheath, the Prakriti, nature. Again, you are associating, out of the five layers, with one layer. You need to come out of this blissful sheath also, to realize your own nature. You are the Sakshi of this bliss also. This is the Pancha koshas, five koshas.
Pranams
References:
Self Knowledge – Talk 11_Five Sheaths (Panchakoshas)_06Apr2016