6.1 PRANA, THE KOSHAS

UNPICKING THE LAYERS FROM GROSS TO SUBTLE and back again

WHAT IS PRANA?• Prana with a capital P – life force, vital force,

animating principle, without Prana there is no life. Originates outside the body

• Gives vitality and strength• Provides the link between the physical body and

the energetic bodies/astral body. When this link is lost, death results

• Associated with the sun, all pervading. Exists in both macrocosm and microcosm

• The same energy from the same force, but manifests in different forms

MORE ABOUT PRANA

• - that which is/goes everywhere, in all beings, in earth and rocks.

• - flows through the nadis whose gateway is the nostrils.

• 2 main channels in yoga: Left nostril = ida nadi and right nostril = pingala

Prana and the Breath• Prasna Upanishad –prana “issues out of the mouth and nostrils,

resides in the eyes and ears”. In other words, it is manifest in the breath and animates the sense organs. However it is NOT the breath itself. The confusion arises because we need the breath to survive and we can manipulate the Prana through pranayama.

• Desikachar in Heart of Yoga says that Prana enters the body in the moment when there is a positive change in the mind, occurring over a long period of time. It does not simply flow into us when we inhale.

• We cannot acquire more prana from the outside, by breathing it in, for example. When allowed to flow correctly, then we have conditions for optimum functioning.

• Breath is the expression of Prana, the expression of life and the force behind it.

Drastuh

Anandamaya

Vijnanamaya

Manomaya

Pranamaya

Annamaya

THE 5 KOSHAS• Koshas means sheath, ie something which covers

something else underneath, like a wrapping• They help us understand who we are.• Liable to change, flux, fragmentation but there is

something beyond that which remains unchanging, boundless, Atman.

• Interdependence of all 5 koshas• The pull and push of the “personality” which causes us

so much pain and torment• Meditation enables us to peel back the layers of the

koshas and reveal the unchanging Self below (PYS I.2-3)

ANNAMAYA KOSA• Physical body or the food sheath• Subject to birth, growth, disease, death, decay• Relates to food matter nature rayi (associated to the

moon), whatever possesses tangible form• Comes into the body through the senses and nourishes

us• Depends on gross prana in the form of water food and

air• Comprises 5 elements : air earth water fire and ether• How can we develop this area? • Transition now to astral body, which is divided into 3

sheaths

Energetic Body

• Comprises the 5 subtle elements which manifest on the physical plane : ether akash , fire tejas (what word does this resemble?); air vayu; water jala and earth prithvi.

• Divided into 3 sheaths, of which the Pranamaya Kosha is the outermost.

Pranamaya Kosha Vital Energy Sheath

• Comprises 5 life energies or pranas, known as the vayus

• These are subsidiaries or subdivisions of Prana, each with responsibility for a different function in the physical body.

• More subtle that the physical sheath but more gross than those which follow

PRANAYAMA

• Is the way we activate the pranamaya kosha• Conscious and deliberate regulation of the

breath (T.K.V. Desikachar)

• Reason to practice PY is to remove the covering of the inner light (PYS II.52)

• As if the clouds had parted and more sunshine was coming through

• It prepares the mind for meditation

PRANAYAMA

• Conscious and deliberate regulation of the breath (T.K.V. Desikachar)

• Reason to practice PY is to remove the covering of the inner light (PYS II.52)

• As if the clouds had parted and more sunshine was coming through

• It prepares the mind for meditation

PRANA = ENERGY

• Do you have enough energy to do what you want to do?

• Do you burn out or overspend your energy?

• Do you have strategies for conserving energy?

MANOMAYA KOSHA• 2nd of the 3 astral body layers• More subtle than pranamaya kosha• Mental sheath• Messenger bringing information, experiences and

sensations from external world to the intelligence sheath (vijnanamaya kosha) and the influences of the more subtle levels to the physical body

• Comprises sensory organs of perception, intellect, integrates knowledge, comprehension, learning, images, ideas, information, etc. The constant babble in the head.

• How do we develop this kosha?

MORE MANOMAYA KOSHA

• Mind is an excellent servant but poor master• Develop this kosha through meditation• All yoga is about refining the mind• PYS I.2 – yogaha citta vritti nirodaha• PYS I.33 – happy for people who are more

fortunate than you are; compassionate to those who are less fortunate; undisturbed by errors – outcome is citta prasadanam” mind becomes quiet

• Manomaya kosha needs to slow down and settle to make ourselves available to the Vijnanamaya Kosha. Level of thinking and enquiry. Start of insight

• Referred to in Bhagavad Gita VII.2

VIJNANAMAYA KOSHA

• Sheath of discrimination or intellect; wisdom or discrimination

• Our value system : how we as individuals uniquely see the world.

• Clarity, realm of insight • Also known as buddhi• Vi means special, so special knowledge

Anandamaya kosha

• Most subtle of the 5 koshas – causal body• Cause of both subtle and physical bodies• Blissful state in which there is no ego, no

thoughts, dreamless sleep; in tune with ocean of awareness

• Joy that depends on nothing but itself – end up feeling elevated, inspired, magic moment

• Unlimited bliss; fundamental insight; intuition

• We could say the outcome of this kosha is more clarity, less suffering or more stability within the suffering, freedom within suffering.

• Experience a link to something beyond yourself, no matter how transitory

• A sense of spaciousness in the heart space, more sukha less dukha.

• a sense of trust that you are held & supported

WHAT IS LEFT? - SARVAM

• Means “all” • BG VI.19• Soul, Atman, Brahman, unbounded,

limitless, drastuh, purusha, unchanging, ocean of awareness

Bibliography

• Heart of Yoga TKV Desikachar Inner traditions International

• Yoga Anatomy Leslie Kaminoff Human Kinetics

• Yoga Book Stephen Sturgess Motilal Publ.

• Windows into the Infinite Barbara Powell Jain Publish.

• Yoga for Body Breath & Mind AG Mohan Shambhala Pubs

• The Upanishads, especially Prasna & Taittiriya Easwaren