Life Surrendered 2

The Self, soul is that essence which came into existence and was individualized through the interaction of the purity of Supreme Consciousness or Spirit with Primordial Nature, the projected sound current of OM.

The vibration of OM is responsible for space, time and fine cosmic forces

The sound frequency of Om results in an out-flowing force and its inherent attracting influence.

Tamas (see gunas) is influential in the out-flowing movement and sattva (see gunas) is the attracting influence.

All vibratory aspects in creation emerge from OM.

Man in his essence is the all-pervading immortal soul. Yet on account of delusion and ignorance, he identifies himself, with the five illusory Koshas or sheaths; the Annamaya, Pranamaya, Manomaya, Jnanamaya, and Anandamaya and thinks that he himself is subject to the various changes.

He identifies himself with the Annamaya Kosha or the physical body. He identifies himself with the Pranamaya Kosha and thinks 'I am hungry, I am thirsty, I did this action.' With the Manomaya Kosha and regards himself as the thinker and thinks 'I am angry, I am lustful, I am greedy. He identifies himself with the Jnanamaya Kosha and regards himself as the knower and thinks 'I am intelligent, I know everything, I am the enjoyer.' He identifies himself with the Anandamaya Kosha and feels 'I am happy.'

The student needs to be given insight into the nature of the Koshas and it must to be pointed out, that Brahman (God) is beyond the Koshas and is identical with one’s innermost Atman (Self, soul).

We can see that man naturally identifies himself with the Koshas, because of this, it is important for him to develop his power of discrimination between the real and the unreal, between the permanent and the impermanent.

When he acquires this faculty of discrimination, he abandons the first Kosha by realizing ‘I am not this body’ and proceeds to the next one. He resolves through meditation each Kosha into what is behind it, until he reaches the innermost Atman behind the Koshas and then holds on to that Atman (Self) alone.

Step by step he abandons one Kosha after another and dissolves all of them and eventually attains knowledge of unity with Brahman and becomes liberated from births and deaths. The main object of the Vedas is to impart knowledge of Brahman as the means of attaining the highest goal or the final emancipation (Moksha- Liberation).

The purpose of life is the realization of one’s own essential nature. It is to know that we are the pure ever-free Atman. Yoga expounds the great truth that Atman (Self) alone is real, the phenomenal world is unreal. We are Atman, but we forget our real due to identification with the body. This is the greatest obstacle to Self-Knowledge or Atma-Jnana. To get over this delusion of identification with body the Seers have made a detailed analysis of the different bodies, gross and subtle, and systematically proved that the Jiva Soul identified with the body, is not the body but is identical with the Paramatman (supreme Soul or Spirit).

 The study of the three bodies, the physical, the astral and the causal body, the five sheaths and the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep, helps us to understand that we are different from all these diverse modifications and that we are the unchanging, constant, witness of all these. This helps us to feel that we transcend the three states, the three bodies and the Koshas.

Constant remembrance of this and meditation on this knowledge will lead us to the realization of our true nature. Therefore, the study of the Koshas is a valuable aid in the process of disassociating ourselves from the bodies and the sheaths. It enables us to rise above body-consciousness, to feel that we are the Atman (Self) and thus remain quite unaffected and unattached amidst all distractions and tribulations of life.