In the previous post we explored the five koshas or sheaths, the emergent forms of being manifesting as the cosmic evolutionary journey of becoming and belonging in the human. These five nested levels of subtlety, each of them dynamic, living expressions of presence, carry the learned wisdom of our evolutionary history into the infinite spacious openness of the present moment. However, inherited and learned pathologies from the past, stored in the denser levels, also comes forth into the present moment.
There is a human collective consciousness emerging Now and we as individuals are contributing to the process. The question is how conscious are we in our emergence. The challenge of our times is to help create a future founded on wisdom, love and the inherent intelligence of Mother Earth and the Cosmos. I am very excited to note that Brian Thomas Swimme, in collaboration with The Human Energy Project (which I have just discovered) has begun a video series on this process and you can click to watch the first video here.
The quality and types of actions that flow through us in the present determine how the future will unfold, and thus meditation practice, i.e., staying in presence, Being presence, is crucial for both the personal and collective healing process. The open spaciousness of the present allows a linking of the dysfuctional habits of the past with the inner light and planetary/cosmic intelligence to bathe the whole in a river of healing, creative growth and evolutionary celebration.
The Koshas are one of many models of evolutionary emergence and can be explored, awakened and celebrated in meditation and life.
Out of the Tao, Ultimate Mystery, Brahman, Darkness within Darkness,
emerges
Causal Body (the light of the candle)
Anandamaya Kosha: ‘Body of Bliss’: The most subtle expression of form, the vibrancy of aliveness, of is-ness, the expression of an open heart. This is the ‘light’ of the candle; the Shen or Spirit in Taoism; the vital energy that emerged spontaneously, mysteriously 13.7 billion years ago; and the portal to both healing and the luminous emptiness of Ultimate Mystery, the Tao.
Feel it as a very subtle vibrancy emanating from inside the cells of your body. The Sanskrit word jyoti refers to this inner divine light, and Patanjali, in I-36, vishokaa vaa jyotishmatii, invites us to rest here as a meditation practice. Another way to discover your bliss body is in the simple joy of being, of delight in the little things of life. If you are taking your ‘self’ too seriously, pause and let in the light, the de-light, the wonder. Tears, of both joy and sadness emanate from the bliss body. It is always present.
Subtle Body (the flame of the candle in three levels)
Vijnanamaya Kosha: Body of Intelligence, Buddhi, Link from Mahat or Cosmic Wisdom to the individual; the driving force of the evolutionary journey from light to stars and galaxies, to solar systems and life forms to us and beyond; the vehicle Cosmic Awakening, i.e., the Universe becoming aware of itself through the human. Recognize this as spontaneous intuition and insight and a ‘sense of knowing’ without needing analysis.
The Sanskrit root jna meaning spiritual knowledge is found in many other words such as: jnana, prajna and samprajnata (I-17), and the Greek word gnosis, also meaning spiritual or esoteric knowledge. In Vedanta, Atma Jnana is knowledge of True Nature. The Noosphere mentioned in Brian’s video emerges when Buddhi (individual intelligence) awakens to Mahat (Universe Intelligence.) Please note that without the heart of the anandamana kosha, the intelligence can become dry and detached.
Manomaya Kosha: Body of Mental Activity; from the Sanskrit manas or mind. Citta vrttis, sensory perceptions; memory; information labeling, categorizing and storing; meaning making; organizing attention; storing unconscious ideas, beliefs, mythologies and learned patterns of action; imagination. And most importantly, generating and sustaining our biographical story, i.e. ego structures. This is a very busy place; a bit too busy when out of sorts.
In the manomaya kosha, imagination, attention, unconscious beliefs and memories and our inherent urge to continuously create a biographical narrative sustain our delusional beliefs of a separate ‘me’. This creates the urge to constantly ‘make things right’ by chasing toward this and away from that. When this neurotic (an automatic, unconscious effort to manage deep anxiety) narrative is finally brought into the light through meditation, the disentangling and healing can begin.
For the very rare few, the narrative of separation just dissolves in the light of awakening. For most of us though, the karmic momentum of delusion is strong and we have to learn self compassion and patience to allow the process of healing to unfold in its own way and time. Hebb’s Axiom, ‘neurons that fire together wire together’, shows the how the power of habit can be deeply encoded in the wiring of the nervous system, challenging our attention to stay present and non-reactive.
In somatic meditation, a key question to ask our intelligence (buddhi), as we navigate through the manomayakosha; how can we know when the Universal Intelligence is revealing a strategy to us and when our old habits are trying to hijack our attention and perpetuate the unhealthy pattern. Finding patience, compassion, presence and a little bit of lightness will always help.
The greatest strength of the manomaya kosha is its capacity to present information from the senses to the intelligence (vijnanamaya kosha) and the center of joy (anandamaya kosha) in the present moment and we use this in meditation. As our attention stabilizes in presence we can bypass the ego stories, comparisons and unnecessary thought and just live fully awakened in presence. Our self sense aligns and merges with the Unfolding Mystery of the Cosmos. Almost all systems of meditation begin by attending to the sensations of the breathing process, linking us to the
Pranamaya Kosha: The Body of prana or qi. Attending to our felt sense of breathing opens us to our physiological systems and biological health function here. This is the first Kosha that we can actually feel, as the prana or qi has a very clear physical presence. You can notice the manomaya, as well as the anandamaya and vijnanamaya koshas, but we feel their effects in the pranamaya kosha.
When the pranamaya kosha is linked and integrated with the light of the anandamaya kosha and the cosmic wisdom of the vijnanamaya kosha, health and well being ensue. The manomaykosha helps us function in the world as we live our lives carrying out our karmic path. If the pathologies of the manomaya kosha dominate, the immune system and all other organ systems are challenged and compromised.
The habits of mental activity in the manomaya kosha immediately reflect in the flow patterns of prana/qi, and if dysfunctional, lead to low or high levels of anxiety and fear in the background, often leaking into the foreground of our attention. The pranamaya kosha is a continually self healing system when not disturbed by trauma, where fear and terror are embedded in the tissues of the gross body.
Gross Body (the wax of the candle)
Anamaya Kosha: Body of Food: our flesh and blood, fluids and fascia, muscles and bones. This is our link to the Cosmic glue of Gravity, the organizing field of the macro-structure of the universe. When we talk about embodying a spiritual practice, this is the level that tends to be the most unconscious and we wish to awaken it with light, love wisdom and compassion. We feel others through the tissues of our bodies and as we bring more sensitivity here, we become more able to sense others and how we are co-creating the emerging collective field or Noosphere.
Feel the anamaya kosha as weight, study it as anatomy and awaken through the fluids as water is the link between the physical and the energetic. We use anatomical reference points here (the xyphoid process, the spines of the ischia) in somatic meditation, helping develop focal attention, opening energy channels and bringing the energy body out of dullness (tamas) and distraction (rajas) into a state of harmony (sattva). When the sattvic state is sustained in samadhi, (samyama in asana) and strengthened over time (abhyasa), the portal to the infinite present opens and we can then rest as presence.
The most dense of the layers stores trauma, toxins and wounds, but when integrated with all five koshas, the anamaya kosha radiates an inner light, in spite of the traumas. It is not a question of eliminating all of the problems, an impossible task, but of awakening and integrating the layers so that they may function together. In resting as Presence, our self sense is transformed from a separate being to Being, and in due time, the energy sustaining the separate self dissolves back into Ultimate Mystery. The problems remain, but now there is an opening to deep healing. This is also the journey of awakening the noosphere, where humans link their individual awakening with others, to share energy, passion, challenges and successes.
Being, Becoming, Belonging. Each moment, a new beginning.
gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā
