Commentary on the Panchadasi: 16. Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Thursday 18, Sep 2025, 05:30.
BOOKS
UPANISHAD 
Discourse -4
Chapter 1: Tattva Viveka – Discrimination of Reality
Mantras 28-43
Mantras 33
SWAMI KRISHNANANDA
Post-16.

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33.

Annaṁ prāṇo mano buddhir ānanaśceti pañca te, kośā stairā vṛtaḥ svātmā vismṛtyā saṁsṛtiṁ vrajet (33). 

The individual is constituted of certain sheaths. The outermost sheath is the annamaya kosha, or the physical body, which is sustained by the food that we eat. Internal to the physical body is the pranamaya kosha, or the vital body, which is sustained by the water that we drink. There is again a further internal body inside the pranamaya kosha, or the vital body; that is the manomaya kosha, or the mental body, which is also sustained by the subtle elements of the diet that we take—food and drink, etc. Internal to the mind is the buddhi or understanding, which is the highly purified form of thought. Internal to the intellect is the last kosha, or sheath, which is called the causal body—ignorance, avidya as we call it, through which we experience a kind of bliss when we are fast asleep.

Annaṁ prāṇo mano buddhir ānana are the five sheaths. That is to say, the physical, vital, mental, intellectual and causal are the sheaths. There are several corridors in a temple, as can be seen in temples in southern India. We cross from corridor to corridor, and after five, six or seven corridors, we go into the innermost holy of holies where the deity of the temple is. Likewise, the deity of the Atman is located inside as the holy of holies within the darkness of the ignorance of the causal body.

In temples, the holy of holies is not lit with bright light. The lights are only outside in the corridors. As we go further inside, the light becomes less and less, so that in the holy of holies only one or two small lamps are there. The holy of holies is not flooded with bright electric lights; that is not the tradition.

These temples are constructed in the fashion of the physical body. This is called vastu shastra, the great science of temple construction, which is an outer symbol of the human body, or the cosmic Viratsvarupa. The science of it is that from the feet we gradually move inward through the koshas, one after the other, just as we enter the corridors of a temple. Inward and inward we go until we find that there is very little light. A twinkling of the Atman is seen there as a ray penetrating through the otherwise-dark holy of holies, which is the causal body.

These koshas are covering the Atman, and on account of the identification of consciousness with these koshas—the causal, etc.—the Self-consciousness of the Atman is obliterated. Instead of the Atman knowing that it is universal, it begins to feel that it is sleeping, or that it is understanding through the intellect, thinking through the mind, breathing through the breath, and working and eating through the body. This is what the Atman begins to feel when it is, by some mistake or other, identified with these five sheaths. Then samsara starts.

Samsara, the worldly existence of suffering and sorrow, is the effect of the Atman getting identified with these five koshas. If we are identified with the body, we feel heat and cold. If we are identified with the prana, we feel hunger and thirst. If we are identified with the mind, we have doubt, disbelief and indecision. If we are identified with the intellect, we are logical, philosophical and decisive. If we are identified with the anandamaya kosha, we go to sleep and know nothing. These are the experiences that we pass through by consecutive or successive identification of consciousness with these five sheaths, due to which we suffer as mortals, jivas, in this world.

The identification takes place by a process called adhyasa, mutual superimposition. The character of the iron rod is superimposed on the fire which heats the rod, and the character of the fire that heats the rod is identified with the rod, so that the fire looks long when the rod is long, and the rod looks hot while it is actually the fire that is hot. The heat of the fire is identified with the rod, and we say the iron rod is very hot. It is not the iron rod that is hot; it is the fire that is hot. Conversely, we see a long beam of fire. The long beam is not actually the fire; it is the rod. This is called mutual superimposition of factors. The character of the consciousness is superimposed on the sheaths, and the character of the sheaths is superimposed on the consciousness. We feel that we are existing because of the Consciousness that is true Existence. We feel that we are finite because of the consciousness getting identified with the finite sheaths. We are hungry and thirsty, we feel heat and cold, and we have many other problems of which we are conscious. Here is an important point for us to remember. Hunger and thirst, heat and cold, the problems in life, etc., are objects of our awareness.

The awareness does not actually become the object, as the rod does not become the fire. But in the same way as the rod is identified with the fire, consciousness is identified with the conditions of the sheaths. Then consciousness feels “I am sleeping”; consciousness feels “I am studying and logically understanding things”; consciousness feels “I am thinking and doubting”; consciousness feels “I am hungry and thirsty”; consciousness feels “I am feeling heat and cold”; consciousness feels “one day I will die”. Because the body is going to die, consciousness feels that it is dying, and so we all feel that we will die one day. This happens due to the mutual superimposition of qualities.

The fragility and the finitude and the problems of the sheaths are superimposed on the Atman. Then we say that we are hungry, we are thirsty, we are short, we are tall, we are this, we are that, we are of the East, we are of the West, and so forth. But conversely, we are conscious in all these levels. This mutual superimposition of characters between consciousness and the sheaths is called tadatmya adhyasa, or the visualisation of the character of one in the existence of the other.

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34.

Syāt pañcī kṛta bhūtottho dehaḥ sthūlo'nnasaṁ jñākaḥ, liṅge tu rājasai prāṅaiḥ prāṅaḥ karmen indriyaiḥ saha (34). 

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