Listen to All 8 Parts in a podcast
Part 4 of an 8 Part Series
The taittiriya upanishad explains that the human form is made up of five sheaths of illusion (panca-maya-kosha) which envelope the innermost core of Divinity in successive layers, like an onion.
annamaya kosha – the outermost layer, the physical body, is the illusive sheath of food. This layer of flesh essentially consumes food to keep the body alive and procreates to keep the species alive. This sheath begins life as a single cell, taking nourishment from the mother and developing in form along the path of evolution as it manifests more and more complex bodily structures until it is fully formed. Then it is ejected from the host in a process called birth. Upon being born, if it becomes viable (explained later), it continues to take nutrition from the material world in order to grow and perform other complex functions as it matures. Then it reaches the end of its viable life, dies, decays into dust and returns to the material world. Cremation accelerates the transformation into dust.
manomaya kosha – the illusive mind layer, is able to collect the input from the 5 bodily senses that are received by the brain. There are two types of input – raw sensory information as well as the various ways of processing that information (referred to as algorithms). All this information is collected in the memory cells of the brain and used by the processing faculty of the mind to control and direct the physical body. The mind is the product of the accumulating collection of information processing examples that the person is constantly learning from observing the world. The human mind is capable of learning and executing quite complex processing beyond what other creatures are able to do. This has led to humans even modifying the biological environment they live in, to the detriment of all lifeforms. But, even at the current state of technology, it still remains dependent on the body being alive. When the body dies, the brain dies along with it and the mind is no more.
pranamaya kosha – prana is the breath of life. When a baby is born, it has to successfully draw a breath in order to become independently viable. That first breath is the intake of prana. While the body remains alive, it continues to breathe, not just for oxygen but because prana is necessary for life. The prana body binds the physical body with the nonphysical self. When the body dies, prana is released. Prana, which the Chinese call chi, is not visible to our eyes and has not as yet been detected or measured by modern science. But its real presence is manifested all around us.
vignjanamaya kosha – vignjana, in this context, is consciousness or awareness, also referred to by some as the astral body. This consciousness is not of the physical realm of spacetime where our flesh bodies are formed but is from the Divine realm that is beyond space and time. This is the Self that is aware of what the body and mind are doing and which can guide the choices made by the person. This is the Self that will live beyond death of the body and carry the lessons learned in life into the next stage of existence. The state of the Self upon death will determine what path is to be taken after leaving the current body of flesh. The Self remembers of the karmic goals of the life that had just ended and knows how successfully those goals were fulfilled. The Self can redefine karmic goals for the next life such that an appropriate life stream (explained in a subsequent passage) can be selected to be born into.
anandamaya kosha – this is referred to as the Bliss Body that one can reach after all karmic goals are fulfilled and the vignjana body is released. This state has been described by various religions as Nirvana, Moksha, Jannah, Heaven etc. This is the innermost experiential sheath that envelopes the extension of the non-experiential16 divinity which lies at the core of every being. Bhakthi based religions offer a short cut to bliss through the path of surrender to an external divinity, setting aside personal desires and decoupling from all karma. Buddhism offers a short cut through walking the middle path, avoiding extremes and discarding attachments. In practice, only a very small minority of each religious or spiritual community actually succeed in attaining bliss through any of the above paths.
From the perspective of this material world, the vignjanamaya kosha and the anandamaya kosha can be looked upon as a single body, in some religions referred to as soul or ruh. We will encounter this other-worldly component of the self, which is called chitta, in the following examination of the nature of the mind.
The Tripurashakthi Upanishad explains the nature of the mind as made up of the four components of the antahkarana, as described below
Manas is the memory bank that stores all received input as well as records of outputs generated. Memory is the best evidence that the mind has only a physical base. When a person loses his memory, the mind goes blank.
Buddhi is the intellect, the thinking part of the mind which uses the information and the rules for processing the information that have been stored in manas in order to make decisions on what to do and how to do it.
Ahamkara is the ego, the seat of personality, the source of self-identity. Ahamkara is governed by emotion and is subject to pride, envy, despair and so on. Ahamkara usually directs the buddhi on the decisions to be made, often overriding logical conclusions and taking rash actions.
Chitta is the consciousness that comes from beyond the material realm of spacetime, which is the silent observer, which collects a record of all the decisions made by the buddhi, the record which is carried beyond the death of the body into the afterlife.
Buddhi, manas and ahamkara are formed in the brain of the person, are of this world and expire with the death of the body, while the true Self continues into the next stage of existence.
Chitta is not of this material realm, and is attached to neither the body nor the mind. It comes from the realm of the Divine and is the Divinity Within each of us. Chitta transcends space and time and is not governed by death.
When it is time for a soul to reincarnate, the chitta, which is associated with both vignjanamayakosha and anandamayakosha, selects a suitable lifestream (explained later) which will present the material world experience sought by that Self. When the growing foetus becomes viable, the chitta associates with it and it becomes the annamayakosha of that lifestream. As the foetus grows and the brain develops, the manas part of the brain begins to collect input coming from the sense organs of the growing body. When the brain has developed sufficiently, the buddhi starts working using the information processing examples that have been collecting in the manas. In this way, the manomayakosha starts to take shape.
When the baby is born, it needs to successfully draw breath, during which it takes on the pranamayakosha. When that happens, it becomes a fully formed and independently viable life made up of the panca mayakosha (five sheaths of illusion). As the baby grows physically and is exposed to the world, manas will accumulate more input and expand its content while buddhi extends its capabilities and learns to perform more complex tasks. When the child realizes that it is physically a separate entity from those people around it, the ahamkara starts to develop.
All this time, chitta remains the silent observer and chronicler. But chitta has one more role, perhaps the most important role. Chitta can also be the guide, the conscience that silently prompts the buddhi to make the right choices. A person who is in touch with his chitta is able to make better choices in life.
Notes:
- Panca – five, maya – illusion, kosha – sheath.
- Anna-thaanam is food offered in devotion
- The innermost experiential state is bliss. The divinity within is beyond experience i.e. non-experiential.
- Antah karana means inner instrument – the totality of the mind
- Reincarnation is when a soul is born again in a new body.
pancamayakosha - aananda>vignyana>prana>mano>anna
No comments:
Post a Comment