THE MANDUKYA UPANISHAD -2 Swami Krishnananda.

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Sunday, June 19, 2022. 21:30.

POST-2.

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we observed that the human individual is a microcosmic specimen of the entire creative process of the cosmos. The layers or degrees of reality which constitute the composition of the universe of creation are also to be found in the human individual in the form of the kosas or the sheaths, as they are called – physical, vital, mental, intellectual and causal-known in the Sanskrit language as annamaya kosa, pranomaya kosa, manomaya kosa, vijnanamaya kosa and anandamaya kosa. These are the five layers of objectivity which, in a gradational form, externalise consciousness. The grosser the sheath, the greater is the force of externality, so that when consciousness enters the physical body we are totally material in our outlook, physical in our understanding and assessment of values, intensely body-conscious, and know nothing about ourselves except this body. It is only when we go interior that we have access to the subtler layers of our personality, not otherwise. The Taittiriya Upanishad dealt with subject of the five layers, known as the kosas; and the Mandukya Upanishad, which is another important Upanishad, sometimes considered as the most important, deals with the very same kosas in a different way, namely, by the elucidation of the involvement of consciousness in these kosas.

The five have been classified into three groups – the physical, the subtle and the causal. In the waking state in which we are now, for instance, the physical body is intensely operative and we always think in terms of physical body, physical objects and physical sensations. This physical sensation is absent in the state of dream, but three of the kosas operate in dream. In the waking condition, all the five are operating, concentrating their action on the physical body mostly. In the dream state the physical body is not operating, but the vital, the mental and the intellectual sheaths are active. The prana is there, the mind is there, the intellect also is there also in a diminished intensity. We breathe, we think and we understand in the state of dream. That means prana, manas and buddhi all are active in the state of dream, minus the physical element, namely the body consciousness. In the state of deep sleep, none of these are active; neither the body is operating there, nor the mind, nor the intellect, nor is there any consciousness that we are even breathing. The consciousness is withdrawn entirely from all the sheaths – physical, vital, mental and intellectual. There is only one sheath that is operating in the state of sleep – that is the causal sheath, called anandamaya kosa in Sanskrit.

In the waking condition the senses are very active, physically and materially. The Mandukya Upanishad tells us that we enjoy, experience and contact things in nineteen ways in the waking state. Consciousness has nineteen mouths through which it eats the food of objective experience. What are these nineteen mouths? They are the five senses of knowledge – seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. With these five sensations we come in contact with things in the world outside, and enjoy them with actions and reactions produced thereby, by means of such sensory contact. These five mentioned are called senses of knowledge – jnanya indriyas. They are so called because they give us some sort of knowledge – either of sight, or sound, or taste, or smell, or touch. Apart from these five senses of knowledge, there are five organs of action; they do not give us any independent knowledge, but they act. The hand that grasps is one organ of action. The speech that articulates words is another organ of action. The feet that cause locomotion or movement are also organs of action. The generative organ and the excretory organ also are two of the active elements or organs of action. They act, but they do not give any new knowledge. Whatever idea, knowledge, experience, etc. we may have through any one of these organs of action comes through the sensations already mentioned, namely, the jnanya indriyas. Even when the organs of action act and we are conscious that they are acting, this consciousness is available only through the jnanya indriyas and not separately though the organs of action, which do not give additional knowledge. It looks as if we have some sensation even through the organs of action, but actually it is not so. The sensation, the experience of the action of the karma indriyas as they are called, arises on account of the simultaneous action of the jnanya indriyas or senses of knowledge. These five senses of knowledge and five organs of action make ten mouths of consciousness.

Then there are the five pranas – the prana, or the vital energy in us, operates in five ways. When we breathe out, expel breath, the prana is acting. When we breathe in, when we inhale the breath, the apana is acting. The vyana is a third form of the operation of this energy, which causes circulation of blood and makes us feel a sensation of liveliness in every part of the body because of the operative action of the bloodstream, which is pushed onward in a circular fashion throughout the body by the action of a particular function of prana, called vyana. There is another action of the prana, which is udana; it causes the swallowing of food. When we put food in the mouth, it goes inside through the oesophagus and it is pushed down by the action of a prana called udana. Udana has also certain other functions to perform. It takes us to deep sleep. Our jiva consciousness, our individualised consciousness is pushed into a state of somnambulism, sleep; that also is the work of udana. Udana has also a third function to perform, namely the separation of the vital body from the physical body at the time of death. Three actions, three performances are attributed to udana. There is another, fifth one, samana, which operates through the navel region and causes digestion of food. It creates heat in the stomach and in the naval region so that the gastric juices operate and we feel appetite. Hunger is caused and food is digested by the action of this samana. So, there are five pranas – prana, apana, vyana, udana, samana.

To be continued ...

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