Within it is the vital sheath made up of life-energy (prana.)
Within the vital sheath is the mental sheath
Made up of thought patterns.
Within the mental sheath is the wisdom sheath
Made up of detachment.
Within the wisdom sheath is the bliss sheath
Made up of pure joyous awareness.
- Taittiriya Upanishad
The Upanishads (Classic of Indian Spirituality)
At the center of our beings is pure awareness, according to Yogic teachings. It is known as Atman, or The Self. “The Self,” or any other term we use to identify “it,” however is misleading. This pure awareness can never be objectified it is always and only the subject, the awareness which illuminates any and all objects. It cannot be grasped, seen, measured or conceptualized. It is pure presence. To “realize” this presence as your true being is enlightenment.
The reason that we are not enlightened, and that we therefore suffer, is that our central being has become imbedded in layers of objectivity. Remember from the last post how Patanjali explained that ego-identification is the mistaken identification of the “knower” with the instrument of knowledge? The koshas as identified in the Upanishads are the successive layers of objectification of the Atman within. “Kosha” can be translated as a layer, sheath, level or dimension of the body-mind-spirit complex which forms our being in the world. If we start from the physical body, the most completely objectified layer, each successive layer represents a more subtle, more inward level of subject/object identification.
The physical body is known as the annamaya kosha, which means the “level of food.” It is the material and outermost layer of being. When we identify with our bodies, we ourselves seem to be objects in a world of objects. Because food is needed to maintain this body, and also because the body becomes food, this is how it is identified in the Upanishads. It is also known at times as the mrityormaya kosha, the “layer of death.” Because we are identified as material objects in space and time, we are subject to birth and death. The Atman is bound by neither space nor time.
Within the physical body then is the layer of vital-emotional energy, the pranamaya kosha. Without prana, or life-energy, according to Yoga, the physical body would just be inert matter. Prana, known as chi in Chinese medicine, circulates throughout the physical body and is responsible for the functioning of our various organs. It is also the intermediary between mind and matter. If we think of raising an arm and then raise it this is due to prana following the mental directions. From the Yoga perspective many of the illnesses we experience are caused by an imbalance or the blocked flow of prana within our system.
Figure 2. Illustration of the pranamaya kosha
The next level/layer of our beings is the mental or manomaya kosha. This is the level of mind, a further interiorization of self-identification. This is the level of thought, both conscious and subconscious. This is the level of ego-identification. The mind receives information through the senses, forms an interior image of the world and then identifies with it. As Joseph Chilton Pearce writes in Evolution's End: Claiming the Potential of Our Intelligence
, “The triune brain displays our universe, created within, projected without, and we enter into that creation, identify with it, lose ourselves to it, and become subject to it.” Although mind is not equivalent with the brain, we do know that brain structures reflect levels of mental functioning as they have evolved over time. We have a sensorimotor level of brain/mind, an emotional level and a higher level which is intellectual and intuitive, symbolizing and reasoning, etc. These also represent the cognitive developmental stages that we go through as we mature. Yoga tells us that there are higher levels of development than we generally realize. They don’t usually develop spontaneously though, but require sadhana, or spiritual work to activate. 
Figure 3. Triune brain
If we stop to reflect on these first three koshas, we notice that, while each is interior to the prior, each successive level also operates on the level below. Prana enlivens, energizes and moves the physical body while mind directs prana to some extent. As we move to the next level, that of the vijnanamaya kosha, or wisdom layer, we are talking about a level that many people have not yet developed. It is a higher or deeper level of self-reflection. It is associated with metacognition, which is the ability to inwardly step back from and reflect on our cognitive processes. However, it is deeper than just “thinking about thinking.” It is also associated with the quality of mindfulness, which is an open and non-attached awareness of mental processes. As Daniel J, Siegel, MD, writes, “Mindful awareness . . . actually involves more than just simply being aware: It involves being aware of aspects of the mind itself. Instead of being on automatic and mindless, mindfulness helps us to awaken, and by reflecting on the mind we are enabled to make choices and thus change becomes possible.” The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being
When we are fixated or imbedded in the mental level of being we are identified with our egos as part of what John Bowlby referred to as our IWM, or inner working model of the world. I believe that the development of this level of functioning is the true work of psychotherapy. It is greatly facilitated by the practice of meditation.Beyond or deeper than the wisdom layer is the level of bliss: the anandamaya kosha. This level is actually developed by a few rare and exceptionally individuals. It is known and developed through deep meditative insight wherein awareness begins to reflect upon itself as its own object. It is an extremely subtle level of objectification. It is closer to enlightenment than the other koshas but still not quite “there” yet. As Rishi Vivekananda writes,
“What can we say about this level of human experience? There are no words for it. How can we at our present level of functioning imagine the oneness with the absolute, the total security, the transcendental bliss, the vast power for good, the cosmic love, the omniscience, and the total communication with the universal spirit that a person in this state is experiencing?”
Practical Yoga Psychology
Perhaps the anandamaya kosha is the closest we can come to realizing the Atman while remaining in the human form. However, the Atman is central to our beings. It is merged in the Cosmic Consciousness of Brahman. As the Taittiriya Upanishad further tells us,
The Self is the source of abiding joy.
Our hearts are filled with joy in seeing him
Enshrined in the depths of consciousness.
If he were not there, who would breathe, who live?
He it is who fills every heart with joy.
It is important to remember and to realize that this level of being cannot be accessed through the intellect, although we are trying to talk about it here. It is known when the mind becomes very quiet and when we are not identified with our thoughts at all. The Upanishad while describing the bliss of realization also warns against our possible tendencies to intellectualize the whole thing:
When one realizes the Self, in whom
All life is one, changeless, nameless, formless,
Then one fears no more. Until we realize
The unity of life, we live in fear.
For the mere scholar who knows not the Self,
His separateness becomes fear itself.
The koshas represent progressive levels of awakening until we transcend body and mind. We know from developmental psychology that there is a progressive development of cognitive functioning from concrete to formal operations. Yoga psychology tells us that we can continue this progression until we move past the mind altogether. Again this is enlightenment. Don’t get trapped in your mind!
