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Yoga Principles
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 Nirguna and Saguna

 Shiva and Shakti
 The Guru Principle
 Pashuchakras
 Tattvas and Gunas
 Jivatma, Atma, Paramatma
 Karma
 Panchakosha
 Antahkarana
 Mala, Viksheps, Avarana
 Tritapas
 Shatsampatti
 Pravritti and Nivritti
 Kundalini
 Nadis
 Chakras
 Kamala
 Chaturdashana Lokas
 Mantra
  Nirguna and Saguna
 Shiva and Shakti
 The Guru Principle
 Pashuchakras
 Tattvas and Gunas
 Jivatma, Atma, Paramatma
 Karma
 Panchakosha

Pānchakosha
The Five Sheaths
Our body does not just consist of the visible physical form; we also possess four other
subtle sheaths. Altogether each person consists of five “bodies” or KOSHAS.

These five Koshas are:

 ANNAMAYA KOSHA - the Body of Nourishment - Physical Body

 PRĀNAMAYA KOSHA - the Energy Body - Astral Body
 MANOMAYA KOSHA - the Mental Body - Astral Body
 VIGYĀNAMAYA KOSHA - the Intellectual Body - Astral Body
 ĀNANDAMAYA KOSHA - the Body of Joy - Causal Body

Our KARMAS (actions) and SAMSKĀRAS (memories and experiences) are stored in
the Koshas. They form the partitions between the individual soul and the universal
Self. Liberation – MOKSHA – therefore means to release the Ātmā from the
limitations of the Koshas. In order to become one with something we must develop
the same qualities as that with which we wish to unite. Until we have released
ourselves from the Koshas, while we still hang onto our personal ego and continue to
identify with the little “i”, we cannot become one with the Infinite.

On the other hand, however, all five Koshas are indispensable for our existence on
the earthly plane. Without them we cannot exist here. To surmount and detach from
the Koshas is primarily an extensive process of mental purification and development.
When there are no more impurities, no more “shadows” remaining, then at the end
of our life the astral body also dissolves and our soul’s spark unites with the infinite,
divine light.
ANNAMAYA KOSHA is the physical body. It is influenced by the food we eat as well
as by our environment and society. Therefore the Yoga teachings emphasise how
important positive and beneficial human interactions, as well as a healthy, sattvic
diet, are for our physical and mental development. The consumption of meat, alcohol
and drugs weakens our vitality and fills us with negative vibrations. A wholesome,
lacto-vegetarian diet, however, provides nourishment for the body in an optimal way.

PRĀNAMAYA KOSHA is the subtle sheath of cosmic energy that penetrates and
surrounds the physical body. It forms our “aura”, the radiance that emanates from
us. PRĀNA is the subtle “nourishment” that is as necessary to life as food and drink.
With each breath we not only absorb oxygen, but also Prāna. All foods not only
supply us with nutrients, but also with Prāna. The quality of our Prāna is decisively
affected by external influences as well as by our own thoughts and emotions, and
impacts upon the other Koshas.

MANOMAYA KOSHA, the mental energy sheath, is even more extensive and
powerful than the Prānamaya Kosha. Its scope is infinite. The mind and thoughts can
reach anywhere without any loss of time. Therefore, it is very difficult to control the
thoughts.

Vedanta philosophy coined the saying:

MANO MĀTRA JAGAT – “The whole world exists in your mind.”

Innumerable levels and worlds exist in the mind of each individual. Every thought,
every idea and every feeling forms a separate world for itself.

Only through controlling the mind can we gain control over our destiny! The best
method of mastering the mind is to foster good thoughts and qualities. Following the
rules of YAMA and NIYAMA , understanding, giving, praying and practising Mantra
purify our karmic phänomen.

VIGYĀNAMAYA KOSHA is the intellectual body. It can also be positively or

negatively orientated. This depends on the society we keep, together with the sensory
impressions that we absorb from our environment. It is formed by the experiences,
upbringing and education in this lifetime, and represents the sum total of all of these.
The intellect, though, is not always our best adviser. All too often it is deaf to the
truth and judges egoistically in line with our desires.

The intellect can be a very useful tool, but it can also be a great hindrance. That is
why we should always employ both BUDDHI (reason) and VIVEKA (correct
discrimination).
ĀNANDAMAYA KOSHA is the “body of bliss”. It is the subtlest of the five sheaths
and the most difficult to overcome. This is because the aspiration for the fulfilment of
our desires and for comfort and pleasure is a powerful motivator and a decisive
power within us.

There are two types of joy:

 the transitory, limited elation, and

 the eternal, unlimited feeling of supreme joy.

The first depends on certain conditions, the fulfilment of our desires and other
favourable circumstances, whereas the latter is unconditional, and is totally
independent of external conditions. Lasting contentment and MAHĀ ĀNANDA
(infinite bliss) are bestowed upon us only in union with the Self; all other joys are
limited and transitory.

Only through GYĀNA (wisdom) can we free ourselves from the Ānandamāya Kosha.
BHAKTI (devotion to God) takes us close to this goal; but the final step can only be
mastered through the knowledge of the truth. Only then can we finally attain
MOKSHA (liberation).

The five bodies that encase the Jīvātmā can be compared with the skin of an onion -
the “essence” of the onion being neither chemically nor physically derived from its
skin.

It is the same with our identity. When we observe our body we say: “This is my body;
this is my arm and my leg, my head ……” When we go a little deeper within ourselves,
we recognise our thoughts and feelings. And we still say: “These are my thoughts,
experiences....”, and so forth. This actually means that everything belongs to us, but
is not identical to us. The “Self” is apparently something else. The body, thoughts,
emotions and intellectual knowledge are merely skins that cover the nucleus of our
existence. We can only experience this when we go deeply within ourselves and
penetrate the numerous layers that cover it.

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Pancha Koshas & Panchakoshatita

Swami Atmananda Saraswati

Compilation of a series of six articles published in Vedanta Sandesh : Editor

Annamaya Kosha
Taittiriya Upanishad gives us the Pancha Kosha Viveka, to help discriminate
between the self & the not-self. There are five layers of our personality on the self.
These five layers ‘as though’ veil the self. Really speaking nothing can veil the
atma, but due to our excessive focus and importance to these layers of our
personality, these layers, for all practical purposes, do appear to veil the self. We
need to identify each of these properly, so that we can see them in right
perspective, and thus negate our notion that these layers are our real self, and
thus this very viveka helps to as though unveil the real self. Atma is revealed as
Panchakoshatitaha. We shall first study each of these five kosha's, and then see
what does Panchakoshatitaha exactly means.

Annamaya Kosha is the first ‘layer’ of our personality where we all slip, and
erroneously take it to be our Self. This layer of our personality is made up of Anna
Rasa, and it grows because of this Anna Rasa, and in the end it goes back into this
Anna Rasa alone. Anna Rasa means that ‘essence’ of our food which the body
retains & assimilates. While it is made up of inert matter it, and later goes back
into mud again, yet it grows. It is living, it feels & responds. It has the capacity to
reproduce. It is only when we take up this physical body that our lives start, and
when we drop this body we ‘die’. Where ever the body is there alone we are, and
where ever it goes, we too seem to go. The scriptures too say that this body is got
because of our punya's, thus we are intimately related with it too. Thus there are
ample reasons for this presumption to come about that ‘our description’ becomes
that of this physical layer.’

While it is a fact that the sthoola sharira which is made of & by the food we
eat is a very important part of our personality, and we need to take proper care of
it, yet to take it as ‘I’ is an error. We pay an unimaginable price of this error by
imposing the limitations of this body on our Self, and take its limitations as our
own limitations. As the very ‘I’ is erroneously & baselessly taken as limited, so the
innings of our life thereafter starts with a sense of limitation, which no one of us
likes. Subsequently the goal of our life is to shake off this deep sense of limitation
within. It is indeed a funny game which is going on in life, first we erroneously
take this limited physical body as our self, and thereafter we work to remove this
sense of limitation. The fact is that there is no real limitation, it is just an error
borne out of ignorance of our true self. In the beginning the better relationship
with the body is to take it to be ‘mine’ rather than ‘me’. This will keep the
responsibilities intact, free our self from the limitations of the body, and above all
help to keep an open mind to realize our real essence.

There are ample reasons for us to believe this fact that we are not this
physical body. It is an ‘object’ of our consciousness. We as a ‘subject’ objectify our
body, so we are naturally something different from it. We all know that subject is
always different from object. Secondly when a person dies, the body remains here
and we say that the person is dead & gone. Something which was present in a
body a short time ago is no more. So it is evident that there is some ‘I’ which is
different from this body. It alone takes up this body, and the body exists till that ‘I’
resides in & manifests from it. At this stage we need not jump to any conclusions
about what the nature of real ‘I’ will or should be. At this stage we just need to
keep aside our various errors. Negating the errors progressively unveils the Self.
Once we have kept aside all errors, then it will be very easy to know that which is
not transitory or limited. That which always is, that which is not taken up & left,
that which is not an ‘object’, but exists as a knower of all objects; it alone can be
called as the ‘subject, or ‘I – the Atma’.

The manifestation of the error of taking our self as the Annamaya Kosha is
in the form of experiences & perceptions like: I am fat or thin, I am white or black,
I am young or old, I am man or a women, I am healthy or sick, I was born & will
die etc. All these statements refer only to various aspects of this layer of our
personality which is made up of Anna. In other words, when we realize the truth of
our self as something other than this Annamaya Kosha, then none of these things
are thereafter associated with ‘I’. They may remain a fact at a particular level of
our personality, but will not be seen as ‘my’ definition, and this makes all the
difference. Knowledge of the truth of our self gives us an altogether new identity,
a new birth & life. The various social & other problems connected with us being
young & old, white & black, man or women etc attain unmanageable proportions &
complexities only because of our erroneous association with this particular layer of
our personality, and become petty things if we are not these things, but something
which is a common denominator of all.

The lesson we learn from knowing that the Annamaya is a Kosha, is that
we are prompted to re-define our relationship with our body. It is extremely
necessary that we drop this error that ‘I am this body’ before we enter the portals
of the realization of our true Self. In fact this negation is the very process of Self-
Knowledge.

Pranamaya Kosha
The inert Annamaya Kosha is sustained & energized by a layer or level in
our personality which is an Energy Layer. The word Prana when roughly translated
means energy. We can visualize the existence of a energy-providing layer for all
our physical activities. Every vee bit of physical activity requires energy. We are
constantly acting & busy at some level, either body, sense organs or mind. Every
activity requires lots of energy. It is indeed astounding that every person has as
though access to infinite amount of energy, and that also without paying any bills
for it. There are conscious activities, and there are unconscious activities.
Conscious activities may have rest periods, but unconscious activities are
continuous. Our breathing, heart beats, circulation, digestion etc all carry on
almost continuously. Imagine the amount of energy required. Sometimes we do
feel exhausted & drained, but nevertheless the flow of energy is always there - no
disruption in power supply here. This astounding physiological system which gives
us energy backup is the Pranamaya Kosha.

Taittiriya Upanishad tells us that this 'layer' of our personality is almost like
'atma' of the annamaya kosha. It is because of this prana that we live. The
moment prana leaves the body, all activities come to a halt, and we have to start
thinking of the last rites of this lifeless physical body. No wonder an individual is
commonly called as Prani in sanskrit and hindi languages. So important is the
place of prana. We also see that if we regulate our prana properly then many
physical ailments come to an end. There are organizations & people who have
dedicated themselves to propagate the importance of Pranayama to the world. The
mind becomes quiet, energetic and capable of doing almost unimaginable things.

However much important this kosha is, it is only a kosha, not our real self.
The most evident logic against this kosha is that it is 'inert'. It is not something
conscious. Prana neither has intelligence or feelings. Your prana may be active &
awake, but when a robber comes in the night & takes your things away this prana
will not know anything. It is as inert as stones around. Moreover, it has to be
regulated by a conscious entity. A conscious entity can stop it, regulate it, or
redirect it. Prana is directly connected with our mind. The moment mind gets
tensed your pranic activity too gets hyper. Deeper breathing, increased heart
beats etc. Mind, which appears to be a conscious entity is its master. So know
Pranamaya Kosha as just one of the layers of your personality. A part of your
costume. Anatma. The moment you see anatma as anatma - it stands negated.

Manomaya Kosha
Taittiriya Upanishad reveals that the atma of Pranamaya kosha is the
Manomaya Kosha. Our prana, the vital energy, which takes care of the energy
backup for all our physical, physiological & mental activities is sustained and thus
is directly effected by our mind. Ramana Maharshi in his Upadesha Sar says that
mind & prana are like two branches of one tree, both connected together below.
We can see this direct co-relation of mind & prana, when we see the increased
pulse & breathing rate the moment the mind gets anxiety ridden. If however, we
can keep our mind pleasant & cool, then the physiological activities too get
positively effected. What exactly is this Manomaya Kosha?

Manomaya Kosha is that layer of our personality which is called as mind.

We have what is called as an Antahkarana (inner instrument). This broadly has
two parts - the mind and the intellect. The former constitutes the manomaya
kosha, while the latter is called as the Vigyanmaya Kosha, which we shall see in
the next article. What is Mind? Well, mind is basically the thoughts layer of our
personality. They could be any thoughts. Thoughts prompted by memories,
conditionings of either likes or dislikes, various emotions or even wisdom. Thought
is that because of which we are 'conscious of something'. This awareness of
something or anything is a thought, and in the mind we have thoughts of various
things continuously flowing. Thoughts which are as per our likes invoke positive
feelings, while thoughts pertaining to our dislikes invoke negative emotions. Those
who do not know how these thoughts come about are continuously buffeted by the
various thoughts. They are helplessly caught up in their moods. Not knowing their
secret & genesis they even arrogate their good & bad moods and experiences to
destiny, or even to the whims & fancies of God.

Every thought has a great inherent power, it effects our physiology, moods,
physical body, responses, work efficiency, relationships and even wisdom. In short
our thoughts determine as to what we really are. In our day to day life mind is
really the real essence of man. As the mind so the man. The modern day epidemic
problem of stress is basically a problem at the level of mind, wherein a great
negative emotion has been allowed to be built up without giving it a vent.

The secret of managing your mind is by understanding the mind.

Understand properly as to what a thought is, how they come about, what are its
contents. However, to begin with, check out the quantity, quality & direction of
your thoughts. Having a clear & noble goal begins the process of setting the house
in order. Then we can directly see the effect of mind on our prana. It is indeed
that which sustains the prana. So dont think that pranayama is just doing some
breathing exercises. Till you manage your mind, you can not really manage your
prana - say the Vedas. However, there is something beyond mind too, and that is
our Vigyanmaya Kosha - which we shall see in our next article.

Vigyanmaya Kosha
Taittiriya Upanishad reveals, that our real self, the 'atma' is Panchakosha
vyatariktah, i.e. that which transcends the five kosha's. Transcendence is not that
which exists in a realm beyond the five kosha's, but that which even though
pervades these five layers of existence exists independent of these five kosha's.
While the kosha's are dependent for their existence on this timeless divinity, the
self is independent of these. Starting from Annamaya Kosha the five kosha's are
progressively subtler, so as we progress to identify & discover each of these
kosha's we simultaneously make our minds subtler too. The Self is the subtlest of
all these, so the appreciation of these five kosha's also becomes a means to
prepare our minds for the ultimate realization. Pancha Kosha Viveka is a one of
the finest journey to the ethereal, divine and transcendental realm. It is the valid
means of realization revealed by the Upanishads themselves for the one, non-dual
divinity.

In the last article we studied about the Manomaya Kosha. We saw that
manomaya kosha is that layer of our personality which there are thoughts
prompted by memories, conditionings of either likes or dislikes, various emotions
or even wisdom. We also saw that 'thought' is that because of which we are
'conscious of something'. Once a particular thought is there it has its own positive
or negative effect. Thought by itself is a great potent power. It effects our
physiology, moods, physical body, responses, work efficiency, relationships and
even wisdom. We saw that as the mind so is the man. Now, we go a step further.
Is the mind our real self, or is it sustained by something else? For all practical
purposes mind is indeed the basis of our identity, and very few people have
paused to objectively understand this highly subtle and important level of our
existence. Some wonder as though from were do these thoughts come? Who
sends our thoughts? Today we know that there is a conscious mind and a a very
vast unconscious mind. In this unconscious mind exist our impressions &
conditionings. The seeds of the manifested thoughts at the conscious level. The
Rishi's of Upanishads do not look upon us as someone who is just innocently
receiving impressions from the world outside. Mind is not comparable to a slate
where the world writes something and thereafter we just follow that conditioning.
We are not inert objects but dynamic & intelligent living beings. If we were just
recipients of impressions from outside, there would have been no creative work in
the world, and creativity is all about doing something which is not a product of our
memory. It is not something which we have seen or experienced earlier.

The Upanishad reveals that the self of manomaya is the vigyanmaya.

Vigyanmaya includes our intellect and also the Gyana Indriya's (the equipments of
perception). This level is basically that of knowledge. Yes, we are being told that
all thoughts are product and reflection of our 'knowledge'. Knowledge is our
understanding, our appreciation of the fundamentals of life. The very fact we all
have a self-identity, reveals that all of us have some understanding about
ourselves, it doesn't matter, whether it is right or wrong, but it is there. The fact
that we have desires, shows that we have certain fundamental understanding
about the real source of joy & happiness, the reality of things outside etc. Every
thought has at its root, certain presumptions, which exist in our unconscious mind.
We may have got these as impressions from outside, but the fact we choose to
accept certain things reveals our nature & level of understanding. Let us see this
fact with an example. X fellow is striving hard to attain a Y object. He is working
hard, even prays for the fulfillment of his or her desires. Today X certainly has the
strong thoughts of the Y, but before this thought & desire certain other things
have taken roots. We need to see what all presumptions exist in X before the
thought & desire of Y can exist in his or her mind.

One, X obviously sees himself as a lacking person, two, he presumes that

the object Y seems to have the potential of effacing the lack within, that the object
Y is a real thing with substantial independent reality. The nature of lack is seen as
something which an extraneous object can remove. I am a limited being, and
things outside too are limited, in the sense that they exist apart from me. We
presume that happiness is not something subjective, but a product of objective
situations. We presume that our action or effort of acquiring a particular object is
the real valid means of getting real fulfillment. There is a list of presumptions
which exist in this innocent act of X wanting a Y object. While the great thinkers
reflect deeply on each & every point, and deliberate for years for coming to the
right conclusion, an ordinary man of the world concludes about various things
impulsively and thoughtlessly. The vigyanmaya kosha is obviously not used at all.
It is these conclusions & presumptions which sustain our thoughts, and the
moments some basic premise changes, we see how drastically the person changes
too. Buddhi or intellect is an intelligent equipment. We can reflect & deliberate on
any thought. We can objectify thoughts, go deep into the presumptions sustaining
thoughts and even quieten all thoughts effortlessly. This is our Vigyanmaya Kosha.
Awake to this dimension of your personality. Try to discover the presumptions
behind every thoughts, and you enter the controllers cabin. One who enters the
vigyanmaya kosha alone ends all bondages and will shortly attain moksha & self-
realization. This is so very important.

However, there is something beyond buddhi too, which this buddhi alone
has to 'see', and that is our Anandamaya Kosha - which we shall see in our next
article.

Anandamaya Kosha
In the last article we saw how important the vigyanmaya kosha is. This is
where the roots of our bondage & liberation are. Vigyanmaya kosha included our
buddhi, were we take all decisions. It is these decisions, our conclusions which
give direction to our thoughts & desires, which manifests in our manomaya kosha.
Our conclusions basically pertain to two things, one, the subject - our self, and
two, the objective world, the world which is known & experienced by us. I, the
subject looks at the objective world with some thirst, it wants something, and thus
formulates a plan of action to do whatever it does. What is that which compels the
buddhi to plan, conclude, & discern. Obviously there is some motivation. That
which motivates the buddhi is our final kosha - the anandamaya kosha.

Motivation indicates drive. It reveals something for which we live & exist. It
is something which prompts all faculties to work & be active. Therefore everyone
should be clear about their motivation. Clearer & stronger the motivation better is
the output of work. The buck of all desires & essence of motivation is in seeking
happiness. This is indeed the basic motivation, this alone drives everyone for
doing whatever one does. Attainment of a state of deep fulfillment. There is no
greater fruit of any of our action than our satisfaction. Money fulfills our needs and
brings happiness, name gives happiness, sensual gratification is for this alone, and
so on. The desire for happiness alone motivates us to think, enjoy & act. That level
of existence wherein we are experiencing happiness is called by the Upanishads as
'Anandamaya Kosha'.

Anandamaya Kosha is the atma of vigyanmaya kosha. It alone sustains the

latter. Desire for ananda alone motivates the latter. So deep down in our buddhi is
this realm of 'joy'. Ananda is basically one but depending on the intensity of its
manifestation it is categorized in three kinds. Priya, Moda & Pramoda. Priya is that
intensity of joy which we experience when we 'think' of our cherished object or
person, Moda is that intensity which we experience when we are near of desired
person or object, and Pramoda is that joy which we experience when we are one
with our object of love. All this alone keeps everyone on the run, we are motivated
for all this alone.

It apparently appears that this is the summum bonum of our life, the
ultimate which we can dream of, that we have everything we cherish & dream of.
However, Upanishads say that this is not the ultimate, because however much we
'experience' ananda, we basically still remain a seeker & are still in bondage. It is
this 'desire' to experience ananda, and having experienced ananda, the desire to
'hold on' to all that which gives us ananda is indicative of the the continuity of our
insufficiency. Desire of experience of ananda indicates a lacking self, and as long
as that exists no matter how much we experience ananda, we shall continue to
live in lack & limitation. So awakening in anandamaya kosha, or the realm of
'experience' of ananda is not the ultimate state. Experience of some ecstatic
ananda is not moksha either, it is still the realm of bondage, we are still in
ignorance. The final step is the realization that 'I am that'. I am of the nature of
bliss. One who has this knowledge is free, he or she alone is liberated, rest will
continue to live in the realm of anatma, in the pancha-kosha. It is this direct
realization which is the subject matter of Self-Knowledge, i.e. Vedanta.

With this we end our series of articles on the five realms of our existence as
revealed in the Taittiriya Upanishad.

Panchakoshatita
In the last five articles we were going into the Pancha Koshas - the five
sheaths of our personality, as revealed in the Taittiriya Upanishad. Now in this
article we shall go into the culmination of this knowledge. One who has the
discrimination of five kosha's is indeed a wise man. He sees all these sheaths as
anatma, and in effect does not associate his self with these outer layers. Such an
enlightened wise man who does not see the limitations of his various faculties &
instruments as his limitation is a Jivanmukta, a liberated soul. The atma is always
revealed to all. The problem is never of ‘not knowing’ the self, but knowing it
wrongly. The self-revealing, ever-effulgent self is the very basis of our life & all its
experiences, we just superimpose the limitations of anatma on this atma. The
moment we see anatma as anatma, then that very moment, the self is as though
freed of all its imaginary limitations, and is realized directly as that which is
timeless & infinite – the Brahman. This realization is real freedom.

Bondage of man is a strange thing. The fact that the majority of people the
world over are on a desperate and also apparently a never ending seeking-trip,
shows that very few have understood the exact nature of their basic problem.
Everyone naturally experiences a basic sense of lack, and it is this lack which
drives us to do something, compulsively. There is no freedom not to do something
about this. This deep rooted compulsion to handle this 'feeling of lack' is the
symptom of real bondage. Strangely enough all our efforts stop short of effacing
this 'sense of limitation'. The only changes which are seen is in the object of our
desires. Earlier we sought something else, now we seek something else, but the
common denominator remains same, we continue to seek. No permutations or
combinations outside seem to do the desired trick. We feel like the person who
gave out his best the whole night to sail to some destination, but in the morning
saw that he was on the shore alone, because he had forgotten to untie the rope.
So initially we were 'uncomfortably unhappy' and after all the money & comforts
we just graduate into a state were we are 'comfortably unhappy'. After all the
treatment the basic malaise continues to choke us. This fundamental problem of
man has been a matter of great deliberation by various thinkers all over the world,
and depending on their understanding of the basic problem, appropriate measures
are taken to handle it. With due respect to all thinkers we have to say that indeed
very few have understood the real issue, because man continues to seek -
endlessly & compulsively.

The Vedic seers present the conclusions of their deliberations in

Upanishads. They unanimously say that the real issue is not about some change in
the objective world outside, but rather the issue is totally subjective. Real bondage
is just ignorance of our Self (agyana), and the subsequent imposition of the
limitations of anatma on atma (adhyasa). The real problem is in our erroneous
perceptions about the fundamentals of our self and the world. So knowledge alone
was seen as the door to true liberation. With such fundamentals they saw that
every experience has the component of the subject and the object, and all
limitations belong only to the field of objects. Limitations are an object of our
knowledge. Having properly concluded that all limitations just belong to
extraneous things, they negated the imaginary limitations on their Self, and once
all limitations are passed on to were they truly deserve, they saw that the subject
'I' was free from all limitations. The spectrum of anatma is very wide, from the
gross to the subtlest, so this alone takes some time, but once you can see very
clearly that all the sheaths are an ‘object’ of your knowledge and you as a subject
are free from their limitations, then that very moment you realize that you are a
free one, as though liberated.

Such a wise man who sees himself as someone who transcends the five
kosha's does not see himself as white or black, man or women, fat or thin etc. Not
that he or she doesn't see the pros & cons of any quality of things in the objective
world, but no where do they associate themself with these qualities. That alone is
the basic issue. Not associating ourselves with the limitations of the objects. They
effortlessly revel in a state of timeless, infinite, blissful, self-effulgent existence,
which they know as their real Self. Such a man of knowledge is called
Panchakoshatitaha. In the fourteenth chapter of Bhagwad Gita Lord Krishna points
this in terms of gunas, and defines a man of knowledge as one who has become
gunatita. Atita means beyond, transcending. Transcending means to see your
existence unaffected by the thing you transcend. So when we transcend the five
kosha's, in effect this implies that neither my existence nor my fulfillment depends
on these five sheaths. The fulfillment of these people does not depend on any
particular condition of these five sheaths, but is there inspite of any condition of
these five sheaths. Meditation for them is not merely to make the mind
thoughtless for some time, but to awake to this knowledge that I am that who
transcends all thoughts, and thus thoughts or no thoughts it doesn't matter to my
fulfillment. Meditation without this knowledge is just an act of escape, were the
moment you are back from meditation the basic problem remains as it is.

Thus everyone should see the profound importance of Pancha Kosha

Viveka, and go into each kosha thoroughly so as to see them as anatma. Once you
see anatma as anatma, then alone you will unveil the atma and see atma as atma.
Aim to be Panchakoshatitaha, that is the real goal of life, the real state of health,
well-being & real freedom.