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Re: The Koshas
Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian (rbalasub@ecn.purdue.edu) wrote:
Dear Ramakrishnanji:
Thank you for following up. I apologize for not being able to respond to
you before, as I was away. Indeed, the upanishads talk about the five
koshas. But I have noticed that it is not uncommon that some
descriptions have been added to the original model. For example, in
the Chhandogya upanishad, rishi uddAlaka described the elements of the
creation to be three (trivritaM), into which sat mingled with (as jivAtman)
to become the sarvabhuta. Those three were kshiti, ap.h and tejas.h.
We however, commonly talk about the pancha-bhuta, as kshiti,
ap.h, tejas.h, marut.h and vyoma. It appears that the other two bhutas
were put in the same category, after they were recognized to be so.
Similarly, as I read, Sri Aurobindo has included the higher koshas with the
fifth. I will quote from Prof. E.I.Warrier's book called 'Sri Aurobindo's
integral yoga and Sankara's advaita', a discussion that points to this issue.
p6 "Sri Aurobindo in his yoga lays down seven psychological principles or
forms of existence, viz. Sat, Cit, Ananda, vijnAna, manas, prAna and
anna. The seven worlds spoken of in the puranas correspond to these
subjective principles. The Vedic rishis speak of three worlds. earth,
air, heaven. But there is also a greater heaven called vast (bR^ihat).
This bR^ihat is sometimes described as R^itam bR^ihat (the truth, the
vast) and at other times as satyam R^itam bR^ihat (the truth, the law,
the vast). In the puranic accounts the four worlds are completed by three
others, viz. jana, tapas and satya, which are deemed as supreme worlds.
Three supreme worlds are referred to in the Veda also, but their names
are not given. Sri Aurobindo identifies the Vedic worlds with the
corresponding planes of conciousness in his yoga."
With best regards,
Dhruba.
