As described in Dvidiya
Prasna of Taitriya
Upanishad: Ananda Valli or
Brahma Valli
http://www.vedarahasya.net/ananda.htm
It will be interesting to
compare other models with
the Biblical Model. The
Hindu model is a five
dimensional model. There
are three sheaths for man
subdivisible as five. These
are:
Sthula Sareera :Gross Body:
made up of gross matter
1.
Food sheath (Anna-maya kosa)
The five organs of
perception
and the five organs of
action are a part of it. It
is called food sheath
because it is caused by
food, maintained by food;
and finally ends up as food
2. Vital-Air
sheath (Prana-maya kosa)
There are five faculties of
man. They correspond to the
five physiological
functions. They are called
the five Pranas dependent on
air. These are:
Prana :Perception (five
senses) – seeing, hearing,
smelling, tasting, touching
Apana : excretion- faeces,
urine, sperms, sputum,
perspiration
Samana: digestion
Vyana: circulation
Udana: thought
Sukshma Sareera : Subtle
Body : constituting of
passions, desires, emotions,
feelings and thoughts.
3. Mental
sheath (Mana-maya kosa) –
Those faculties connected
with the mind. These are:
passions and emotions,
feelings and impulses.
4. Intellectual
sheath (Vignana-maya kosa):
These are: thinking,
reasoning, discriminating,
judging etc.
Karana Sareera : Causal
Body: storehouse of all
impressions and latent
energies
5. Bliss
sheath (Ananda-maya kosa)
Vasanas as experienced in
sleep state. There are
various levels in this as
seen through the deep sleep
state, dreaming state,
waking state.
One should go beyond all the
five sheaths in order to
experience bliss. This state
is known as Turiya or
Mahakaarana Swarupa (supreme
causal aspect). This comes
after Sushupti (deep sleep
state). This is also
referred to as
Paaramaarthika. The bliss
experienced in the state of
Turiya is the true bliss
There are five types of
Kleshas (obstacles), which
come in the way of
experiencing this bliss.
They are :
Avidya Klesha, obstacles
due to ignorance
Abinava Klesha, obstacles
because one do not exercise
control over the mind and
are carried away by vain
imaginations.
Asthitha Klesha, arises out
of interest in worldly
pleasures
Raaga Klesha, results from
attachment towards wealth
and material objects
and
Dwesha Klesha. arises when
one's desires are not
fulfilled.
This is very much parallel
to the following quote from
http://www.rezlife.net/tripartite.html
“Our five sense are like
five kings. When we are not
being led by the Spirit of
God, we are being led by:
sight, sound, smell, touch,
and taste. All of these
natural senses have
spiritual operations. In
Joshua , Joshua put five
kings in a cave and covered
them up by a rock.
The five kings cause these
things to be prominent in
our lives: (1)
self-elevation (2)
self-exaltation (3)
self-establishment (4)
self-motivation (5)
self-worship.
Self-elevation is idol
worship because we want to
ascend unto the heavens in
order to be noticed.
When we exalt ourselves, we
take glory from man's
approval. We want man's
approval more than God's
approval, thus causing us to
fear man instead of having
the fear of the Lord.
Self-establishment causes us
to want a kingdom to rule
over. This king is found in
churches when they strive to
establish their ministry
instead of the ministry of
God. This causes churches to
only want to feed themselves
spiritually instead of
reaching out to others.
If you are self-motivated,
you live a life filled with
lust, pride, self-will, and
self-pity.
Self-worship is the love of
self which causes us to
think that the world
revolves around us.
These kings have to be put
under the Rock of Jesus.
They have to be conquered by
the Sword of the Spirit.
How do we come to a place
where we can submit our soul
to the Spirit of God? In
order to do this we must let
the Sword of the Spirit cut
away the carnal desires that
are in our heart. What is
the Sword of the Spirit? The
answer to this question is
found in Ephesians 6:17.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the
helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of God.
We must allow the word of
God to cut away our carnal
mind which is enmity to God.
In Hebrews 4:12, the
scripture tells us that the
word of God will divide
asunder the soul and spirit,
and will separate the
thoughts and intents of the
heart. The word of God
reveals to us what is in our
heart and shows us what is
the heart of God. We have to
let the operation of the
Sword of the Spirit cut away
the thoughts and intents of
our own heart that are not
of God.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of
God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, and of
the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the
heart.
A similar
five sheath structure is
developed by James A. Fowler
in
Constitution
of Man (http://www.christinyou.net/pages/constman.html)
where he uses the following
diagram.
