7.3 The 5 Sheaths

The Vital Air Sheath refers to the physiological system.

In the 3 Bodies chapter we discussed the 5 Pranas (Life force) of the Subtle Body. The Pranas are responsible for the health and vitality of the body.

They take care of respiration, waste removal, circulation of oxygen and nutrition in the body, converting food into nutrition, and executing the reversal function at the time of emergencies and death.

The Subtle Body also has 5 organs of action – speech, hands, legs, anus and genitals.

So the 5 Pranas and the 5 organs of action together form the physiological system of the body. This combination is also called Kriya Shakti or Action Power.

This Kriya Shakti is called the Vital Air Sheath or Pranamaya Kosha.

To summarize; the 5 Pranas are the life force or energy. The 5 organs of action are the tools.

So energy + tools = Action Power (Kriya Shakti)

The purpose of the Vital Air Sheath can be better understood when we look at what happens at the time of death. When a person dies, the Gross Body remains, but the Subtle Body leaves the body. Vital Air Sheath is part of the Subtle Body, so it too leaves.

So even though the organs and limbs of the body are present, they do not function because Kriya Shakti (Action Power), the Vital Air Sheath, is no longer present to run them.

But at the same time, if you transplant organs from a newly deceased body to a living person, the organs start functioning once more because of the presence of a Subtle Body in the transplanted body.

This shows that you need a Subtle Body to operate the physical body.

The Mind Sheath refers to the psychological functions in a Jiva. Emotions, doubts, the feeling function belongs to the Mind Sheath.

This sheath is also called Iccha Shakti or Desire Power. Iccha stands for desire, and Shakti means power.

Kriya Shakti (Action Power) is preceded by Iccha Shakti (Desire Power), because desire prompts one to act. Therefore the Mind Sheath pushes the Vital Air Sheath to act.

The sheath consists of:

1. The 5 organs of Knowledge.
2. Mind, Memory and Ego of the 4 internal organs

The intellect Sheath refers to the cognitive or knowing function. Intellect Sheath is also called Jnana Shakti or Knowledge Power.

All the intellectual faculties likes reason, judgement, knowing, discrimination etc belong to the Intellect Sheath.

To put it succinctly, the Intellect Sheath knows, the Mind Sheath desires, and the Vital Air Sheath acts.

The Intellect Sheath consists of:

1. The 5 organs of knowledge.
2. Intellect, Memory and Ego of the 4 internal organs.

Memory & Ego are common to both, the Intellect and Mind Sheaths.

We again want to reiterate what we said in the 3 bodies chapter. The 4 internal organs – Mind, Intellect, Memory and Ego – are not actual divisions in the Subtle Body, but functional divisions. It is one organ – Mind (Antahkaranam) – having different names based on the particular function it performs.

The Causal Body is called the Bliss Sheath. The Bliss Sheath is similar to the “Unconscious Mind” in modern psychology. All our conditioning, tendencies and personality is present in seed or dormant form in the Bliss Sheath. From time to time these tendencies will express themselves.

In electronics, a fuse is a mechanism which protects electronic devices against overcurrent. We also have physiological fusing where the body stops registering any pain or loses consciousness when the pain becomes too intense for the body to bear.

Similarly, the mind also requires a psychological fuse when any emotional pain becomes too much to bear. The unconscious is a fuse mechanism for emotional pain.

At certain times when we cannot stand a situation, we have to release the pressure by lashing out verbally or physically, by either crying or shouting.

If we are not able to express the emotion, then the unprocessed emotion gets put in the unconscious. And when the time is conducive these bottled up emotions come out.

That is why we sometimes cry or get angry for no reason.

Another example of the working of the unconscious mind is our extreme reactions to minor events. A person makes a small mistake and we get very angry at him. The intensity of the response does not match the magnitude of the mistake.

Such minor events are not the cause for our response, but only a trigger for the unprocessed emotions in our unconscious to come out.

That is why the unconscious is called the Causal Body. And it is also called the Bliss Sheath because being in the unconscious, it is unknown, and being unknown we are blissfully ignorant and do not feel any pain.

An “Upadhi” in Sanskrit is that which ‘apparently’ lends its attributes to something else.

When a red rose is placed in proximity to a crystal, the crystal appears red. Here the rose becomes an Upadhi because it apparently lends its attribute of ‘redness’ to the crystal.

If we change the red rose to a yellow rose, the yellow rose becomes an Upadhi for the crystal.

Since the attributes of redness and yellowness is only apparently taken on by the crystal, you need not physically remove the flower to make the crystal clear. Crystal is always clear.

Which means if one understands that crystal is always clear, in spite of the appearance of ‘redness’, one understands that ‘redness’ belongs to the flower and not to the crystal.

Similarly, the various Koshas are Upadhis for the Self. Awareness apparently takes on the attributes of the 5 Koshas.

At the level of the physical body there is the experience as “I am a mortal”, “I am fat” etc., which is a mistake. The body (Annamaya Kosha) apparently becomes an Upadhi for Awareness.

At the Pranamaya (Vital Air Sheath) level there is the experience “I am hungry”, “I am thirsty”, “I am not healthy” etc. The “I” and Prana (Life force) are taken as identical. Prana is Self, but Self is not Prana; it is the witness (Sakshi) of Prana.

“I am restless”, “I am angry”, “I am sad” etc. are experiences at the level of mind (Manomaya Kosha). Restlessness, anger, sadness etc. are states of mind; they are not the Self.

In the same way “I am a doer”, “I am an enjoyer” are experiences at the level of Vijnanamaya Kosha and Anandamaya Kosha respectively, where we again make the same mistake of identifying with the Upadhi.

So if I know myself to be the Self, I am ever-free from the experiences at the level of the 5 Koshas.

To understand why the Koshsa don’t actually cover the Self we have to understand 2 Vedantic terms: Satyam and Mithya.

Mithya means dependent reality. It is the reality of an object which has no being on its own.

The pot doesn’t have a being without clay. Pot is not an independent object; it is just a name describing a form and a function.

The pot is clay, but the clay is not the pot. Satyam refers to the reality of the clay, whereas Mithya refers to the reality of the pot – which is a dependent reality.

Therefore Mithya is that which has no being of its own, and which has its being or basis in something else.

In other words, every product is Mithya. It is not separate from the material out of which it is made.

And Satyam (or Satya) is the reality in which all things have their being, this reality being the Self.

In the Chandogya Upanishad, the word that is used for this reality is “Sat”. Sat is that which never changes.

That reality is real (Satya), and the world is a product not separate from that reality, like a clay pot is not separate from clay.

As the pot is nothing but a name and form depending on the clay for its existence, the world is nothing but names and forms depending for their existence upon Awareness.

Therefore this Sat (Self) alone is real, like the clay alone is real for the clay pot.

The word Satyam can be used only for Awareness and everything else, including elements like space, air, fire etc., is Mithya.

Therefore Vedanta says, idam sarvam brahma, “All this is Brahman (Self)”.

The cause of the entire world is Awareness, and all that is here is Mithya, and is not separate from the cause i.e. the Self.