Sharira/Manas/Buddhi/Ahamkara/Chitta/Kosha

1. That entity which uses the 4 ‘Antahkarana-s’ (Manas, Buddhi, Chitta, Ahamkara [me, mine concept]), the 5 senses of perception (sound, touch, sight, taste and smell), the 5 senses of action (functions of: speech, locomotion [of the hands & legs], regeneration, and excretion) and the Kârana Sharira (causal repository that stores the seeds/impressions of past karma) is termed as the JIVA or Individual. Since all these enevelop the Atman (soul), the resulting combination of such an Atman enveloped by these is called JIVATMA. Hence the term Jivatma in total represents the embodied soul subject to ignorance. The term Jiva has been used as a short-form for the term Jivatma on this portal, while the term Atman refers to the inner soul (or God) in particular, within this very same combination, which is always pure and unaffected though enveloped by these (as a piece of gold is unaffected and does not change in the least inside, though covered by mud & slime from outside).

2. The three bodies Sthula sharira (physical body), Linga sharira (subtle body) and the Kârana sharira (causal repository) are the accessories of the Jiva, through which it works out karma in Samsâra (trans-migratory existence)

3. Prana is the life force or energy emanating from the Atman which propels the Jiva. Prana exists both within and without the Jiva.

4. The Atman is infinite and all pervading and is only a witness to the happenings in the Jiva. He has always existed and will always exist. He was never born, nor shall he ever die. He has no beginning and no end. He is the source of everything, while he himself has no source, always having existed. Being integral with the Paramâtma (Almighty), he is not subject to the modifications of body or mind experienced by the Jiva. The Atman is the true ‘I’ or us. The Atman himself is the Almighty, though as long as self-realization is not attained, this cannot be understood. All things other than the Atman are ‘Unatma’ (non-Atman), hence Asat (unreal) and false in terms of absolute reality. This entire universe of Âkasa (space) is filled by the Atman and nothing else. The world of objects is unreal.

5. The Kârana sharira is nothing but the storehouse of the seeds of past karma that support Ahamkara (I-ness or Ego), condensed by past karma. The Atman is beyond and completely unaffected by any of these 3 bodies.

6. The white screen in the cinema theater is the Atman; the ever changing images which are super-imposed on the screen represent the modifications subjected to the Jiva. As long as consciousness is centered in the Jiva, he has to experience pleasure or pain. The moment consciousness merges into the Atman, one realizes he is neither the doer nor the experiencer but only the witness (just as the cinema screen is unaffected by the scenes of happiness or sorrow in the movie, knowing fully well that it is not the character experiencing pleasure or pain but only the white screen supporting the image). However, till self-realization is not attained, it appears as though the screen itself is experiencing the scenes in the movie and hence subject to pain or pleasure. Hence this world is an unreal illusion of images which does not exist in reality.

7. Just as the movie is a super-imposition of images on the screen, the Jiva is a super-imposition of characterstics on the Atman. Since the movie does not exist in reality, but is only a set of moving images, the experiences of the Jiva (being of this world) are also illusionary experiences that are unreal, while the Atman (like the screen) alone is real and completely unaffected (what ever be the kind of movie played on the screen)

8. The Atman being a constituent of the Parabrahman (Almighty) knows everything. Hence he also knows the exact time when the Jiva will have to be moved into another body for another set of life experiences, so as to help the Jiva evolve further to finally realize his non-existence. At the time of death, the Atman moves out, followed by the helpless and ignorant Jiva which does not understand what is happening, but is forced to follow like a little ant which is tied by a rope to a powerful railway locomotive.

9. The Kosha-s (sheaths) are the Vedantic classification of the vehicles surrounding the Atman.

•   Annamaya Kosha: - (Annam – Food, Mayam – filled with, Kosha – Sheath or covering, meaning that covering which is filled with the derivative of food namely flesh). All that has come from food constitutes the Annamaya Kosha. The Annamaya Kosha cannot exist without food and will dissolve without it. It is the same as the Sthula Sharira or gross body.

•   Pranamaya Kosha: - That covering of Prana (vital force) around the Atman which controls the Annamaya Kosha is the Pranamaya Kosha - A part of the Linga sharira or subtle body.

•   Manomaya Kosha :- That covering consisting of the Manas (mind) and the five senses of perception around the Atman is the Manomaya Kosha - A part of the Linga sharira or subtle body.

•   Vignyanamaya Kosha: - That covering around the Atman consisting of the Buddhi (intellect), Chitta (contemplative faculty), Ahamkara (I-ness or Ego) - A part of the Linga sharira or subtle body.

•   Anandamaya Kosha: - That covering of bliss around the Atman which whose manifestation can be obvserved very clearly at the time of some pleasurable experience. It is a part of the Kârana sharira or causal body, the storehouse of the seeds of past karma.

10. The Jiva which has become a Preta (one who has gone to the other world after death) will be made to take up a body and other vehicles based on its past karma and based on those requirements necessary for it to evolve further. Since the Atman (who is nothing but the individualized concept of the Almighty) is the observer, he decides the next course of action. The transtition from Preta to Bhoota (estranged soul) is caused by the karma of the Jiva (an example being the act of suicide which invariably leads to transformation into a Bhoota). The Atman takes the next course of action based on such karma.

ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)