: 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 then appears as an existent nothing. We therefore conclude that our concept of the outer world is gained through our sense organs. The sense organs cannot function without the mind. We know that in 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 made a thorough study and scientific analysis of the structure 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. 1. The food Sheath2. Vital air Sheath3. Mental Sheath4. Intellectual Sheath5. Bliss SheathAnnamaya Kosa Pranamaya Kosa Manomaya Kosa Vijnanamaya Kosa Anandamaya Kosa .

The Food Sheath:

The physical body is the outermost precincts of our personality, beyond 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.

The food sheath consists of the five organs of perceptions (Jnanaindriyas) 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 Pranas which are corresponding to the five physiological 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, 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 received by stomach. Functioning in the abdominal regions is that which maintains the balance between Prana and Apana.

Vyana: 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 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.

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

The Mental and Intellectual Sheaths

The mental sheath regulates and orders the vital air sheath. For 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 intellectual sheath still subtler controls the mental sheath. Lets elaborate further on the differentiation between the mind and the intellect.
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a. The mind receives external stimuli through the senses. The intellect, being the discriminating faculty examines and judges the stimuli received by the mind and communicate back to the mind its decision on the type of directives to be sent to the organs of action. b. The mind is a continuous flow of thoughts, like a river. The direction of a river is determined by its banks. In the same way the intellect sets the direction of the thought flow. If a persons intellect is noble, the thoughts flowing in the mind must necessarily be also noble. c. The mind is the seat of emotions such as love, greed, hatred, compassion and jealousy. The intellect, in contrast is the springboard of all ideas and ideologies.

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

e. The mind is ever in a state of flux. It is always the doubting 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, what the mind is at one moment becomes the intellect at another 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 of changing between mind and intellect is possible 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 the innermost of the five sheaths and therefore the most 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
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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 sheath controls the intellectual sheath, since the intellect functions under the control and guidance of ones 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 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.

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 sheath is the grossest level, as the dimensions of the body 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 perceptions, part of the vital air sheath, go beyond the boundaries 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 sheath is more pervasive than vital air sheath, since the 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 intellectual sheath extends even farther than the mental sheath, 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 pervades all the sheaths. It is infinite and all-pervading. The subtlety of the self is absolute and beyond human comprehension.

The goal of life is to transcend the five sheaths and learns to identify with the pure, limitless,
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All-pervading self- that subtle repository of joy and peace over which the sheaths have thrown a temporary veil.

Questions for Discussion: 1. Imagine what the world would be like if you had the hearing ability 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 at least three differences between the mind and the intellect. 3. Describe an example from your own experience of how the mental function of your thoughts (mind) was in conflict with the intellectual function (intellect)? 4. Current thinking puts much emphasis on the relationship of 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, from the Vedantic perspective, why dreamless sleep is blissful? 6. How can you reconcile the fact that the scriptures describe the pure Self both as innermost and as all pervading?