Pancha Kosas. Five Sheaths

: Notes Prepared for study circle Participants

Pancha Kosas- Five Sheaths: When we first become interested in the spiritual life, we ask questions such as, “Where has the world come from? Where will it go?” After we gain some understanding of the outer world, we begin inquiring about our private physical world. “What is the body? How do the sense organs function?” If we take away the five sense organs (indriyas) there is no world for us.  The world world then then appea appears rs as an existent existent nothing. nothing. We We therefor therefore e conclude conclude that that our concept of the outer world is gained through our sense organs.  The sense sense organs organs cannot cannot functio function n without without the the mind. mind. We We know know that that in deep deep sleep the mind does not function, and therefore the sense organs are mute. We then probe further. How does the mind work? From where does our joy bubble forth? Thus as we continue to probe beyond the grosser outer world to the subtle realms of the mind, we move in our contemplative search toward the centre deep within the Self. (Atman)  The Rishis Rishis made made a thorough thorough study study and and scientific scientific analysis analysis of of the struc structure ture of  of  a human being and formulated his spirito-physical personality. They discovered that human personality comprises of Divine sparks of life called Atman with five layers of matter enveloping it. The five concentric layers of  matter enveloping the Atman are called sheaths or kosas. They are thus five distinct sheaths called “Pancha Kosas”. Kosas”. 1. The foo food Sheath-

Annamaya Kosa

2. Vital air SheathSheath-

Pranamay Pranamaya a Kosa Kosa

3. Mental Mental Sheath Sheath--

Manom Manomaya aya Kosa Kosa

4. Intellectual Intellectual SheathSheath-

Vijnanamay Vijnanamaya a Kosa

5. Blis Bliss s Sheath Sheath--

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Ananda Anandama maya ya Kosa Kosa

The Food Sheath :  The physic physical al body body is the the outerm outermost ost precinc precincts ts of our our person personality, ality, beyon beyond d which we do not physically exist, is called the food sheath. It is so called because it has emerged from the essence of food assimilated by the father, it is nourished in the womb by the food eaten by the mother; it continues to exist because of food eaten by the individual.

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 The food food sheath sheath consists consists of of the five five organs organs of percept perceptions ions (Jnana (Jnanaindriy indriyas) as) and five organs of action. (Karma indriyas) .The five organs of perception are: Eyes, Ears, Nose, Tongue, and Skin. The organs of action are; Hands, Legs, Organ of Speech, Genital organ and organs of evacuation. The five organs of perception are apertures in the body through which stimuli from the external world enter the physical body. These stimuli react on the inner equipment, the mind, intellect which issues responses. These responses are expressed by organs of action.

The Vital Air Sheath  The Pancha Pancha Pranas Pranas which which are correspo corresponding nding to the the five physiologica physiologicall systems described by the Biologists represent the vital air sheath. These activities which support the body take place as a result of the air that we breathe in. Hence it is termed as the vital air sheath.

In “Prasnopinisad” we find a detailed description of “Varistha prana” and Pancha Pranas. It is the Varistha Prana the eldest and first born of Atman that divides itself into five facets; Prana, Apana, Samana, Samana, Vyana and Udana and governs the different functions of the human body. Prana: Faculty of perception controls the fivefold perception of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. (The seat of prana is the chest.) Apana: Faculty of excretion- All things thrown out or rejected by the body such as sperm, sputum perspiration, urine, faeces etc. are expression of  apana. (The seat of Apana is the Mulathara Chakra)

Samana: Faculty of digestion; Digest the food f ood received by stomach. Functioning in the abdominal regions is that which maintains the balance between Prana and Apana.

Vyana: Faculty Faculty of circulation. It distributes the digested food to various parts of the body through the blood stream. There are a hundred and one main Nadis (channels or tubes for prana) in i n the Pranamaya Kosa. In each of  these, there are hundred branches which have 72,000 nadis each. And through all these flow the Vyana. Vyana governs the sense of touch and flow of impulses in the nerves.

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Udana: Faculty of thinking; capacity to entertain, absorb and assimilate new thoughts. This capacity helps us to acquire new knowledge and educate ourselves; we need to distinguish the faculty of thinking (udana) from the intellect (buddhi) which is our faculty of discrimination; Udana is the capacity to acquire new knowledge, while buddhi is the faculty of  discriminating against the background of knowledge already possessed. Udana is that part of varistha prana which is responsible for all physiological functions in the upward direction like antiperistalsis belching and vomiting. In the Pranamaya kosa Udana flows through the central main nadi susmina (which is popularly known as Kundalini sakthi). Normally Susumina Susumina is closed in most most human beings. In all, Udana carries at the time of physical death, the subtle bodies (Jivatma) into either the heaven or hell depending upon the nature of its karma. Udana is the carrier. Prana ,Apana, Samana,Vyana and Udana are thus the five functional manifestations of Varistha Prana. These five functional manifestations are not structurally different from one another, but operate in different regions differently like the lighting, heating and magnetic effects of the same electrical energy in the physical universe. Just as electricity is the unseen basis for light and heat pranas are at the base of all physiological and psychological functions in our gross body called Annamaya Kosa. Pancha pranas exist in the pranic body and manifest themselves as many physiological functions in our physical body.

 The five five faculties faculties gradually gradually weaken weaken as man man advanc advances es in age. age. The The vital vital air sheath controls and regulate the food f ood sheath. When Prana do not function properly the physical body is affected.

The Mental and Intellectual Sheaths  The mental mental sheat sheath h regulates regulates and orders orders the vital vital air sheath. sheath. For For example example when the mind is upset, the functions of the pranas and therefore of the physical body are affected. When the mind is joyous both vital air sheath and physical sheath work to optimum efficiency.

 The intellec intellectual tual sheath sheath still subtler subtler controls controls the the mental mental sheath sheath.. Let’s elaborate further on the differentiation between the mind and the intellect. 3

a. The mind mind receives receives external external stimuli stimuli through through the senses senses.. The intellect, intellect, being the discriminating faculty examines and judges the stimuli received by the mind and communicate communicate back to the mind its decision on the type of directives to be sent to the organs of action. b. The mind mind is a continuous continuous flow of of thoughts, thoughts, like a river. river. The direction direction of a river is determined by its banks. In the same way the intellect sets the direction of the thought flow. If a person’s intellect is noble, the thoughts flowing in the mind must necessarily be also noble. c. The mind mind is the seat seat of emotion emotions s such as love, love, greed, greed, hatred, hatred, compassion and jealousy. The intellect, in contrast is the springboard of all ideas and ideologies.

d. The mind mind can function function only only in known realms realms,, whereas whereas the intellect intellect can reach into yet uncharted realms of thought.

e. The mind mind is ever ever in a state of of flux. It is always always the doubt doubting ing element. element. When the thoughts stabilize themselves to a willed judgement we have the function called the intellect. When a person is indecisive about eating vegetarian or non-vegetarian food his thoughts are in a condition of doubt and indecision; this is the function of the mind. But when he takes a firm decision to become a vegetarian, his thoughts reflect the status of the intellect.  Therefore,  Therefore, what the mind mind is at one one moment moment becomes becomes the intellect intellect at another moment moment and conversely the intellect can be reduced to the status of the mind when its decisions are broken by another powerful intellect.  This kind kind of of changing changing betwe between en mind mind and and intellect intellect is possible possible because because the differences between the mind and intellect are purely functional. We do not have two separate organs called the mind and the intellect. The mind and intellect have only functions, but no structure. In essence both of them consist of thoughts.

The Bliss Sheath  This is is the innermo innermost st of the the five sheaths sheaths and and therefore therefore the most most subtle subtle.. It consists of Vasanas, our innate tendencies, before their manifestations into thoughts and actions. It is made up of ignorance in which we exist during our deep sleep state of consciousness. It is considered blissful because 4

whatever be the condition in which the individuals are in their waking state and dream state, once they reach the chamber of dreamless sleep whether we are rich or poor, healthy or sick, young or old, all of them experience relatively the same undisturbed peace and bliss due to the cession of  agitation experienced by them in the other two states of consciousness. However, this relative bliss is not the same as the infinite bliss of godrealisation.  This bliss bliss sheath sheath controls controls the the intellectu intellectual al sheath, sheath, since since the the intellect intellect functions under the control and guidance of one’s vasanas. The synonyms for bliss sheath are Vasanas, Avidya, Ignorance,(of the self) Causal body and State of deep-sleep. In the text books of Vedanta these terms are so frequently used that knowledge of them becomes essential for our study. Although these are in their essence the same, each one is used to indicate a particular aspect of the same thing in its particular context.

Transcending the Sheaths Beyond the five sheaths is the “OM”, the Self (Atman) the core of the five sheathed structure. The five sheaths are like five layers of dress worn by the Self, each of which is totally different from the wearer. We say that the vital-air sheath is within the food sheath, and that the mental sheath is within the vital-air sheath and so on, and that the Self is innermost. Such a description may give us the idea that the Self is something very minute located inside layers and layers l ayers of matter. Yet the Upanishads describe the self as all-pervading. Therefore, the term within has to be understood in a special philosophical context. When we say that a sheath is within another, we mean that the inner one is subtler than the outer one. The subtler controls and feeds the grosser. The Self, subtlest of  all is the controller and nourisher of all the five layers. Again the subtlety of something is measured by its pervasiveness.

When a piece of ice cube melts, the water formed occupies a larger area, and hence in philosophy we would say that water is subtler than ice. When water is boiled the steam generated spreads through the entire atmosphere, thereby filling a much greater space than the water did. Steam is therefore considered subtler than water.

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Similarly, the food sheath is considered the most gross because it is least pervasive. The Vital air, mental and intellectual sheaths follow the ascending order of subtlety. The bliss sheath, being the most pervasive, is the subtlest of the five sheaths. And the self is even more subtle than the bliss sheath.

 The food food sheath sheath is the grossest grossest level, as as the dimension dimensions s of the the body body remain remain almost the same at all times. At best, the body may expand by a few inches around the waistline after a heavy meal.

 The percep perceptions, tions, part of the vital air air sheath, sheath, go go beyond beyond the the bounda boundaries ries of  of  the physical body. The sense organs perceive forms, sounds, smells, tastes and touch that lie beyond the boundaries of the physical structure.  The mental mental sheat sheath h is more more pervasi pervasive ve than than vital vital air sheath, sheath, since the mind mind can comprehend within its orbit everything that is already known, even though those fields of knowledge may stretch beyond the scope of physical perception. Thus, while perceptions are confined to the perceiving limits of  the sense organs, the mind can contact distant realms.

 The intellec intellectual tual sheath sheath extends extends even even farther farther than the menta mentall sheath, sheath, since since it has the capacity to travel beyond known realms to new, unknown areas of thought. The bliss sheath is most pervasive consisting of vasanas, the bliss sheath is the subtlest of the five layers, since it controls the behaviour of all the above four layers. Vasanas are the cause of the other sheaths and as the cause they are inherent in the effect. Besides inherently existing in the four sheaths, vasanas remain in their unmanifest form in the state of deep sleep. None of the other sheaths has access to the bliss sheath.

 The Self Self pervade pervades s all the the sheath sheaths. s. It is infinite and all-per all-pervadin vading. g. The subtlety of the self is absolute and beyond human comprehension.

 The goal goal of of life is to transce transcend nd the five sheath sheaths s and learns learns to identify identify with the pure, limitless, 6

All-pervading self- that subtle repository of joy and peace over which the sheaths have thrown a temporary veil.

Questions for Discussion Discussion:: 1. Imagine Imagine what what the world would would be like if you had had the hearing hearing ability of  of  a dog and the sensing ability of a bat. What does this tell you about the absolute or relative nature of the external world? 2. Explain Explain at least three three differences differences between between the mind mind and the intellect intellect.. 3. Describe Describe an example example from your your own own experience experience of how the mental mental function of your thoughts (mind) was in conflict with the intellectual function (intellect)? 4. Current Current thinking thinking puts puts much emphasis emphasis on on the relationship relationship of the the body and the mind in maintaining good health. Give examples of studies you have heard about. How do these correlate with the idea that the subtler layers (mind-intellect) influence the more gross sheaths (Vital air and physical sheaths)? 5. Explain, Explain, from the the Vedantic Vedantic perspect perspective, ive, why dreamle dreamless ss sleep is blissful? 6. How can you you reconcile reconcile the fact that that the scripture scriptures s describe describe the pure Self both as “innermost” and as “all pervading”?

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