June 21, 2022 is celebrated as the International Yoga day! Perhaps it is appropriate to celebrate this special day with some reflection and contemplation – Jnana Yoga! In this essay we focus on “Who am “I”?” – us the human beings? Also how Yoga and Meditation can serve us far more profoundly, much more than merely as fitness routine or practices to calm our mind.

Pancha Kosha: Five sheaths, generally refer to the five conditions applicable to any human being. It is one of the most profound formalism found in Vedic Philosophy. Human is described as five layers each separate, contained inside the other. Perhaps a closer analytical look would suggest something more. Consider the layers of onion. Each layer is different from the one inside of it. Yet aren’t they all part of the same onion, a vegetable across all layers? We can think of the same in a cabbage or in any flower which blooms with many layers of petals.
Why is this important? We don’t consume only certain layers of onion and discard all the rest. We should not think of any sheath more valuable or less valuable. They are all parts of the human condition. In fact the five sheaths are also called Upadhi : Condition.

https://sipractce.com/2019/07/31/aging-vs-maturing/ https://sipractce.com/2016/11/26/maya-that-which-it-is-not/

The first layer or condition of the human is our physical body. This condition is enabled by the food (Annam) we consume. Hence it is called Anna Maya  (Material layer or condition)

The second layer of the human is the ability to live. This condition is enabled by the air we breathe (Prana). Hence it is called Prana Maya   (Living being). As a living being we are no different from plants and animals, which also live and grow. Our primary organs like heart, lungs, etc. function and keep us alive. Our sense organs function and we have the sight, sound, smell, feel, taste, etc. We could move through life passively, reacting and responding to our environment. All humans, animals and even plants operate at this level.

YOGA as a physical fitness routine helps to tune the physical body and manage cardiovascular fitness. Yoga routines are also considered useful to improve and tune many other physiological functions of the living person. Hence YOGA is valuable in managing the fitness and functioning of the first two layers.  The outer layers of onion feel stronger and taste different. Similarly, the human condition also begins to differ from plants and animals! We have the third layer or condition of the human body. It is the layer of emotions that we feel such as happiness/sorrow, love/hate, like/dislike, sadness, depression, unbridled joy, euphoria, etc. This is the layer where our brain plays an active role governing our emotions and feelings. We acquire “experiences”. These experiences result in subjective, impulsive reactions, responses and behavior. We live a life of emotional roller coaster. This layer  or condition fostered by our active mind is called Manon Maya (Emotional Being).
Then we come to the fourth layer, when we ask the questions “Where do my “experiences” come from? They are like the relentless waves. How can I manage them with a calm and stable mind? At least for a few minutes? For longer durations? As a way of life?” This human condition (sheath) where we engage in analytical reasoning is called Vignana Maya (Reflective person). Vedic philosophy and the scriptures provide a simple and lucid set of answers to these questions. They help to manage the equilibrium in life and all its activities (MEAL). https://sipractce.com/2011/05/25/anatomy-of-our-experiences-objectivity-the-end-result/

These answers and their practice leads us to a life of objectivity, which calms the mind and minimizes its perturbations. https://sipractce.com/meal-maintaining-equilibrium-in-activities-and-living/ 

It leads to a life of faith in God and service to others. Such a manner of living with self-control is achieved through Bhakthi Yoga.  It also leads to divinity in our behavior and way of life. This is achieved through the practice of Jnana Yoga. In these pathways – Bhakthi and Jnana Yoga – the word “Yoga” itself acquires a meaning different from being a mere practice for physical fitness. Here Yoga means “Union with the self”. It is enabled by reflection and contemplation, essential elements of “meditation”! 

Our mind and hence our capacity to think distinguishes us as human beings from the animals and plants. This is the third layer – Manon Maya (Emotional Being).This capacity of the mind to think and hence feel (the emotions) and the bias that come with it is unique to the human being! The fourth layer helps to elevate any human being from being an ordinary nobody, to a special somebody! They set the standards for others to follow! But, this opportunity to be special is within each of us. We desire to be special through our needs and wants in the third layer as an emotional being. We become special by managing our needs and wants objectively in the fourth layer as a reflective and analytical person!

We desire to be special through our needs and wants in the third layer as an emotional being. We become special by managing our needs and wants objectively in the fourth layer as a reflective and analytical person!

Now we are at the fifth layer: Ananda Maya (the layer of bliss)! Where did the layers of onion come from? They grew from another onion. It is part of nature! How did the onion grow in its layers? That is how onions grow. It is part of nature. Where did our human body come from? Like an onion grew from another onion, it grew out of the mother’s womb. Where did the life processes – breathing, digestion, assimilation, organs and their function, etc. – come from? They are all part of nature. Where did all these likes/dislikes and all other feelings come from? It is all part of human nature. Our skill or power to harness our mind, to seek right from wrong, subjective vs. objective helps us to constantly learn new things and travel through the journey of life with peace and tranquility. This is the fourth layer or condition. Where does it all come from? It is all part of nature! Wow! It is amazing! Everything I know and all that I don’t know are all part of nature. Sarvam Brahma Mayam. I am part of nature (Aham Brahma).This knowledge or awareness is the fifth condition or layer of human beings – the state of bliss (Ananda Maya). https://sipractce.com/2020/01/16/enlightened-living-progression-from-self-control-to-total-self-control-to-un-attached-active-engagement/ 

Everything I know and all that I don’t know are all part of nature. Sarvam Brahma Mayam. I am part of nature (Aham Brahma).This knowledge or awareness is the fifth condition or layer of human beings - the state of bliss (Ananda Maya).

The fifth layer is described in great detail in many places in the Upanishads. It can also be studied in Athma Bodha (Knowledge of the Self) https://sipractce.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/athma-bodha-1-03-22-20.pdf and Nirvana Shatakam (Six verses on liberation) https://sipractce.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/nirvana-shatakam-and-other-poems-2.pdf

Our knowledge and scientific studies provide cause and effect reasoning to many of the questions. They are all achieved as part of the fourth layer (Analytical reasoning). All our education in any field is to refine our objectivity to arrive at cause and effect reasoning. That is why we get Ph.D (Doctor of Philosophy) as the highest degree awarded in any field of study! But those answers, immense they may be, still address only a tiny fraction to explain what we know as nature. In all other cases we simply have to admit “it is part of nature”; “It is the way it is” https://sipractce.com/2015/05/02/astu-so-be-it/  This is not an admission of limits of science, but more an acknowledgement of the grandeur of nature!

We should not condition our mind to think that the fifth layer is unattainable except for a few. It would be like rejecting the wallet full of money in your pocket and feeling that you are poor! Few examples: A poor man lives a life of peace and contentment because he knows why he is poor, but he is also happy to manage his life within his means and resources. A rich man on the other hand does not know the limits of his greed and hence unable to enjoy all the wealth he already has! In addition, the fear of losing what he has makes him more unhappy and perturbed while he is also ignorant of the joy of giving what he has to the poor and needy! In both cases it is a simple matter of tuning our mind to the fourth and fifth layers as the starting points!

The state of bliss (Ananda maya) exists in all of us all the time. Those who explore it intensely come to realize it. While the ocean is full of salt water, few who reach the ocean and taste it realize that sea water is salty. But, it  would be incorrect to say that only that drop of ocean water which has been tasted by someone is salty. As another example: in a field full of bananas, we would not say that the sweet bananas are only those tasted by someone! “All of us as part of nature are all evolved; let me open my mind and explore these questions”. In other words we treat the fifth layer as the starting point and then move into the fourth, third layers, etc. This is the process of self-reflection (i.e.) Meditation!

Through such meditation, we can rejoice in peace and tranquility anytime and all the time. It is part of nature. All it requires is a subtle shift in our focus. When we shift our focus from the surface waves we can visualize the calm blue ocean supporting all the waves! When we shift our focus from individual events and incidents, we can see the larger pattern prevailing (fourth layer) as an undercurrent of all the perturbations of life (third layer). We appreciate and relish life the way it is in the big picture (living in the fourth layer), while also experiencing momentary happiness and sorrow (as part of the third layer)! No one escapes from any of the four layers. It is easy to see that.

This awareness - increasingly inwards or expansively outward (either right or left) - is suggested by Vedic Philosophy: You and the Universe are one and the same: Thath Thwam Asi!

Yoga and Meditation at the third and fourth layers are joyful exercises to reflect on Subjectivity (bias) Vs. Objectivity (unattached and neutral outlook). Meditation on the fourth and fifth layers is further enhancement of this joy to visualize the play of nature and its marvels we see as life. In this level of contemplation our calm and quiet mind learns to smell the rose, while also recognizing the thorn which is part of any rose. It accepts the joy of cherishing the fruit on hand instead of being fixated on the perfect imagined fruit elsewhere. The rose and the fruit are mere analogs for our physical health, comfort, economic condition, relationships, emotional upheavals and intellectual quests. In every case, we learn to enjoy what we have while learning the limits of what we need and why or what we truly do not have. We see the same in others around us. We learn to care and share with others limitlessly. We are not just individuals with limits. Instead we are an inseparable part of the wide open infinite: Children of Immortality. https://sipractce.com/2010/07/07/family/ 

Through Yoga and Meditation we learn to enjoy what we have while learning the limits of what we need and why or what we truly do not have. We see the same in others around us. We learn to care and share with others limitlessly. We are not just individuals with limits. Instead we are an inseparable part of the wide open infinite: Children of Immortality.

All five layers of human condition are integral and inseparable – all are part of nature. It is for our mental convenience we look at them as five layers. Birth and death of the body (second layer) is part of any living object, which includes plants and animals. The nature which enables our “gross body” is also responsible for our “causal body”. The laws of nature that enable them are universal, beyond these conceived bodies. One need not hang on to the causal body after death, looking for its liberation after cycles of “reincarnation”. We can let go of that causal body here and now! It truly liberates us instantly! Such liberation comes from a genuine acceptance that everything is part of nature (Sarvam Brahma Mayam). 

Buoyancy is conceived only through all that floats! It has no birth, cycles of birth, reincarnation or liberation! Our causal body, which enables all the four layers, is like buoyancy. It merely exists! It is the fifth layer! Why is this important? Causal body, Karma, reincarnation and eventual liberation are all concepts very much needed at the basic level. They are like crutches to support oneself to stand up in the pursuit of self-reflection, non-attachment and objectivity. They are like scaffolding put up to build a skyscraper. Our eventual goal is to be free of crutches and scaffolding to stand on our own strength of non-attachment and objectivity. Yoga and Meditation are the means for that liberation.