Seven Souls

I died from the mineral kingdom and became a plant;

I died to vegetable nature and became an animal;

I died to animality and became a human being.

Next time I will die to human nature and lift up my head among the angels.

Once again I will leave angelic nature and become that which you cannot imagine.

A TALE FROM TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD

Bhrigu went to his father, Lord Varuna and said, “Father teach me about God”. To him said Varuna, “Go and do Tapas. Tapas is the only way to understand God.” Bhirgu meditated for weeks. He came back once again to his father and said, “Father I know God no. Food is God. In the absence of food, all things grow weak. It is food that sustains life. Therefore, anna is God.”

Varuna said, “Go, perform tapas. Tapas is the only way to understand God.” Once again, Bhrigu performed Tapas. He went to his father and said, “Father, now I have understood God. God is prana, the life breath. Without breath, life can’t be sustained.

His father simply said, “I told you, my son! From tapas alone you will know God”. Bhrigu continued tapas for long. One day as he was performing pranayama, breath control, he realized that the mind, mana is superior to breath. He again went back to his father and said, father, truly I have known, mind is God.
Varuna simply said, “From tapas, you will know God.” Bhrigu once again performed tapas. One day as he was doing meditation, he suddenly felt, “meditation is performed to control the mind. It is vigna, intellect, that helps me to control the mind. Intellect is superior to mind.”

Having arrived at this conclusion, he once again went to his father and said that intellect is God. Said Varuna, “Go, my son, and continue your tapas.” From tapas alone you will know God.” Bhrigu continued his tapas. Then one day, in the stillness of his mind, he experienced ananda-bliss. He felt, anand is bliss, is God. It is from ananda that all these things emanate. It is ananda that sustains when we live. Ananda is indeed, God.

Kosha means sheath, case or cover. A sword is put into a scabbard. Money is kept in a treasury or kosha. The thing kept in this five fold case is the real ’self’. To see one’s own truth, one has to remove the five cases, the panchakosha. Starting from annamaya kosha, pranayama, manomaya, vijnanamaya and reaching the anandamaya kosha, our existence has five layers vibrating at different speeds. These interacting and overlapping layers of energy form the complete spiritual, mental and physical nature of human personality. They all enfold at the same time but reach their ultimate stage of development at different points. The ancient yogis have drawn a map to explore the deepest level of our being and to facilitate the inward journey. The koshas are imagined as layers of onion and form a barrier from realising the true nature of bliss and oneness with the universe. We can peel back these layers to bring awareness deeper and deeper, eventually reaching ther inner most core, our True Self.

FIVE KOSHAS

I have reviewed over 500 books and research papers and I conclude that Kosha model is the best approach for understanding human energy networks and to go deeper into human psychology to achieve harmony and balance. The koshas symbolize the aspect of psychology, which tends to start where contemporary western psychology ends.

Mr Mehta is GM with a company and his wife is working for the government. They have only one (pampered) son. In spite of all kinds of coaching and tutorials he could score only 58% marks in his final board examination. The parents became worried about the carrier of their only son. There were heated arguments in the family as to who had spoiled the child. Mehta now developed insomnia and occasional gastrointestinal problems. He went to his family physician who prescribed him tranquilizers and antacid. Do you think this was the correct medicine for him? Certainly not. This is an example of imposing modern medication rules without due consideration. The kosha model emphasizes each person’s uniqueness and special needs. In modern medicine, different people with the same disease would be treated similarly. The vedic science understands the universe as formed by the five elements - space, air, fire, water, and earth - and they are building blocks of bodies as well. The goal of kosha model is to enhance the level of wellness throughout the course of life.

“If we doctors threw our medicines into the sea, it would be that much better for our patients and that much worse for the fishes.”

-Oliver Wendel Holmes, MD