During these active states, this Kosha is the center of emotions or feeling.
#PANCHA KOSHA TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD FULL#
During the waking and dream state, the mind full of activity. This is impossible during the waking and dream states. Ananda or bliss as it is commonly translated occurs only in ideal conditions when there are no thoughts in the mind. Ananda means bliss but this Kosha should not be translated as the “Bliss Sheath”. This is the innermost kosha and it is closest to the inner core. This way, you can negate this Kosha also. If the Vinanamaya Kosha is absent during deep sleep, it only means that you cannot be the Vijnanamaya Kosha. During deep sleep (sleep without dreams), this Kosha is no longer active, yet you still exist – even if you have no thoughts, feelings or emotions, and your mind is absent, YOU still exist. The next sheath you will encounter is the Vijnanamaya Kosha. After meditating on this idea, you can peel away this sheath. So, the ever-changing mind just cannot be our inner core. We are taught that out inner core of Self-Awareness is unchanging. There is hardly a moment when there is no thought in the mind. The mind is continuously changing, it is changing with every thought. The next sheath is the Manomaya Kosha or the mind stuff. This way you can eliminate this layer also. The Upanishad ask us to meditate on this idea and conclude that you are not the Pranamaya Kosha. The Upanishad explains that this layer is inert, it has no intelligence, it does its job like a robot. Without this Kosha, the physical body is dead. Blood circulation, breathing and muscle toning etc. It vitalizes the body and keeps the body and the inner organs functioning. The next inner layer is the Pranamaya Kosha. The Upanishad suggests you meditate on this idea and when you are convinced that you are not the body, you peel away the Food sheath as not being yourself. It is therefore impossible that your inner core, which is Self-Awareness, can be made up of food. It is born out of food it lives on food and after dying it goes back as food. The Taittiriya Upanishad explains that the physical body is only made up of food – Annamaya Kosha. You identify the physical body as yourself. Each one of us thinks we are the physical body. In this methodology, you start eliminating what is not you, till you discover your inner self. The strategy of neti, neti is described – not this, not this is suggested in this Upanishad. The main purpose for discussing the 5 Koshas is to show the correct path to reach your inner core which is Self-Awareness. The insight into the 5 Koshas is one of them. During this process, they gained tremendous insights into a wide variety of subjects. The great sages closed their eyes and meditated, looking for their innermost core. This Upanishad is the source material for a detailed analysis of the 5 koshas.
The concept of the 5 Koshas was first revealed in the Taittiriya Upanishad, which was written around 600 BC. Instead of Pure Consciousness, the term we will use in this article is Self-Awareness. If you peel all the 5 layers, the above image shows you will reach your inner core, which is Pure Consciousness. It is like peeling the layers of an onion or unpacking the Russian dolls. The Food Sheath covers the Pranamaya Kosha, the Pranamaya Kosha covers the Manomaya Kosha and so on. If you peel off the outer sheath, you move to the inner sheath. Each outer sheath covers the inner sheath. It may not be an accurate representation, but it does convey the idea quite well. Most books describing the 5 koshas use the above illustration. This logic applies to other the koshas also and each kosha has its own building blocks.
Just like material is made up of atoms and molecules, in the same way this kosha is made up of intelligence. The substratrum of the kosha is intelligence. For example, the Vijnanamaya kosha is made of intelligence. It literally means that the koshas are made of the things stated above. The ‘made of’ used above is not some abstract term. Ananadamaya Kosha – Sheath made of bliss.Vijnanamaya Kosha – Sheath made of intelligence/knowledge.Manomaya Kosha – Sheath made up of mind stuff.Pranamaya Kosha – Sheath made of energy – to keep the physical body functional.Annamaya Kosha – Sheath made of food – This is our physical body.Based on this, the 5 koshas can be defined as follows: The word ‘maya’ in the names shown below means ‘made up of’. Koshas is a Sanskrit word which means ‘sheath’ or ‘layers’. If you are a student of Vedanta, you probably know that every living being is made up five (pancha) Koshas.
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