Hari
OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
We are now undertaking basic technical discourse on
Vedanta. The text forming the basis of these posts is 'Kindle Life'.
We
have been looking at the 'material' structure of our existence through the
panchakosha-s; the five sheaths of substance ranging from the gross through to
the subtle. We are at the Aanandamaya kosha.
The Bliss Sheath.
This
is the most subtle of our material 'envelopes' - remember we are discussing
here the physical manifestations of the Great Self when it takes form and the
"We" is the expression of that Self in its state of maya (delusion).
This is why each kosha has 'maya' attached at the end of its name, to remind us
that none of these conditionings is, in fact, Reality. In terms of this
pyramidal illustration, bliss is the closest in form to the Self, or in other
diagrammatical representations it can be thought of as the innermost part of
our structure. (Neither illustration is the full picture of course!)
Aanandamaya can be a hurdle for the spiritual seeker because it can lead to
false samaadhi. 
Aanandamaya
is not the Self but gives us a sense of
the possibility of existence beyond the physical. It is actually made up
of आविद्य/avidyaa, ignorance. This is
ignorance of the True Self and is associated with the deep-sleep state of consciousness.
Every single one of us, regardless of who or where we are, has experienced a level of deep sleep which,
on rising back through dream into waking state we shake ourselves off and
declare "oh that was blissful!"
In
the state itself we know nothing so cannot say that we are in bliss whilst
experiencing it, but the memory is there of having 'known nothing' and that it
brought relief from the turmoil of life, thus we consider it blissful.
Nevertheless,
aanandamaya is still a condition in which our vaasana-s lie and therefore it is
governor of our intellect and, by default, all other sheaths. Therefore
[technical note!] whenever reference is made to the following, know that all
are but synonyms for aanandamaya kosha;
- वासनाः/vaasana-s - the tendencies, habits, motivational drivers
- आविद्य/avidyaa - the condition of not knowing, i.e. ignorance
- आभावन/aabhaavana - non-comprehension (or non-apprehension) of the state of things; if one doesn't know what to look for how can one see it?
- कारण शरीर/kaarana shariira - causal body
- तैजस/taijasa - deep sleep state.
All
these terms are interchangeable, yet each has its own quality also. These words
are used often, so it pays to learn the Sanskrit terminology; you will
find with each level of learning that another dimension of understanding is
added yet the names remain the same. Rarely does a Sanskrit word have a
solitary co-responding translation.
आत्मन्/Aatman
is at the core (or the pinnacle) of the sheaths. It is not itself a kosha, but
is the separated part of the whole which puts on the sheaths, as if they were
clothing. The clothes we wear are not us (though there are some who would have
society believe otherwise!). Equally, the sheaths are not the aatman.
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By
describing the aatman as being 'within', subtlest of the subtle, it can seem as
if we are describing something infinitely small. Far from it! Aatman is the
most expansive of all. It is Everything. It is that which pervades and informs
everything that we perceive and is, in truth, that which governs all. It is the
very subtlety which permits the pervasiveness. The example given by Gurudev in
our text is that of ice (solid and restricted in where it can go), water
(subtler than the ice which it was and pervasive but only at certain levels)
and steam (subtler state which can pervade levels that water cannot)… all are
water in different and ever more subtle states. From this we extrapolate that
the annamaya kosha is restricted and cannot expand (beyond its skin);
praanamaya pervades all of annamaya but also can extend into the space around
annamaya; manomaya contains the ability to 'travel, and is therefore
unrestricted by annamaya, yet is still contained within fields of perception
and what is known; vijnaanamaya can then use what mind has given and go one
step further, postulating something beyond the known, flying into the realms of
imagination; aanandamaya moves around and within all these yet can also go
where they cannot - into nothingness. Aatman, though, is separate. It exists
even when these matter envelopes do not.
On
the pyramid image, we can see reference to shtuula shariira and suukshma
shariira. The gross is clearly related to annamaya; however it can also include
praanamaya, though not shown thus here. We shall explore more on praanmaya and
why there can be this confusion of whether shtuula or suukshma are applicable to the vital airs. The mano and vijnana sheaths are easy to understand as being
suukshma. The reason aanandamaya is called as 'causal' is that is consists of
vaasana-s and these 'cause' our misperception and control our actions. All of
these envelope the aatman, which is the Consciousness, or the Life Principle.
SAADHANA
We shall continue this analysis next
workings-day. Do remember to utilise the little book which will become your best friend for
referring to the technical words. If you have them noted down, when they appear
again, you will not have to page back and search wildly through posts to
ascertain meaning. Just as, if you go to a biology or anatomy class, you are
expected to learn the language components which pertain only to that
discipline, so it is that there are certain terminologies within Vedanta which
cannot be escaped!
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| one of Yamini-amma's many notebooks! |