From the yogic perspective, mind and consciousness are experiences. These experiences are defined in the koshas. A Russian wooden doll can be opened and inside there is another doll. You open that and inside is the third one. You open that and inside is the fourth one. Then you open that and inside is the tiny fifth one. Surprisingly, the Russian dolls only have five dolls, and surprisingly our body has five bodies, which we experience in this lifetime.
The first experience is the physical body, the senses and the interaction or the attraction of the senses to different sense objects. You hear something; you can either like it or dislike it. You see something; you can either like it or dislike it. You taste something; you can like it or dislike it. You can touch something; you can like it or dislike it. In this manner, in the physical dimension, our whole awareness and attention revolves around the sensorial perceptions, known as the jnanendriyas, the cognition of the senses.
Along with the cognition of the senses which give us the experience of life through this body, the body is also supported by intricate organs whose sole function is to keep the body alive – lungs, heart, kidneys, liver, stomach, everything in this body. The sole purpose is to keep this mechanical component functioning. The cognition of this mechanical robot happens through the senses, which are always seeking for something which is pleasant and gratifies. It makes the physical dimension fulfilled, and that you experience in your mind as happiness. This is annamaya kosha.
For any equipment to work, whether it is a fan, air-conditioning, heater or a car, energy is needed. For the organs of the body to function optimally, energy is needed. That energy is pranic energy or the second body, the pranic dimension, the pranamaya kosha. Pranamaya kosha is the battery which feeds the senses at the physical dimension. It keeps all the systems ticking inside to ensure that physically we are able to interact with our environment, our world, the sense objects and senses. Internally, at another dimension, it is feeding the subtle mental, emotional and spiritual behaviour. Pranamaya kosha is more the battery, through which we are able to experience the totality of life.
From the yogic perspective, at the time of death, the pranas along with the spirit leave the body. It is not only the spirit, but also the pranas. Yogis have shown that when they achieve samadhi, they are able to raise their pranas and put them out through the crown of the head, the sahasrara chakra. This indicates a level of competence, perfection and understanding of the intricate pranic process. Yogis are able to achieve that, yet for us normal people, prana is a feeder to the physical, mental and spiritual bodies.
This prana has to always maintain its balance. If there is more prana, there is hyperactivity in all the koshas. If there is less prana, there is lethargy and hypo-activity in all the koshas. Either vitality increases or dullness sets in. The only way to charge these pranas when they are depleted is through rest, sleep and pranayama practices. When you are tired, you feel sleepy. It is an indication that your body needs recharging, and so you lie down. Then, as the energy recharges the body, you feel better, and you get up. When the batteries are not fully recharged, you drag yourself up to do something that you need to do. Or, if the batteries are fully charged, you jump up and are ready to do anything that requires doing. That is the pranic dimension.
The third body is manomaya kosha, which is a very interesting subject. Let us think of manomaya kosha like a round ball. I am holding a ball in my hand and that is the mind. The sun is up and is lighting the ball. Where has the light come first to this ball, and where has the light come last to this ball? The ball is curved, so in the centre part which is closest to the sunlight, the light will come first. If this is Earth, the equator will have the first strike of light. Places like Greenland, which are in the Arctic circle, or the Antarctic circle, are further away, so light will go there last. It is not a vertical object where light is hitting all the sides at the same time.
The part where the light hits first is the conscious mind. In between the middle and top is the subconscious mind, where the light will hit after it has gone through the conscious. At the North Pole and South Pole, the light will reach last, and that is the unconscious mind. The globe is the mind. Consciousness is the space where this globe is hanging. Manomaya kosha, where the light is hitting first, is the chetan man, conscious mind. The whole concept of mind represents that aspect of our nature, ourselves, or consciousness, which is interacting with life, not only the body, the senses, me or my family, but the entire experience and expression of life. That is the conscious which is visible, external, and in the form of kriya, action. The senses cannot be without kriya, without action. When the mind is awake, it cannot be idle; you have to force it to be idle during meditation. Otherwise, it is just continuously running helter-skelter. That is the conscious mind.
Then, after some time, the light hits the subconscious dimension. It is the conscious perceptions which reach into the subconscious dimension, in the form of conditionings, samskaras and pratyayas. The subconscious is the building block of your nature and personality. Whatever is in the subconscious will affect the conscious dimension. Then, the little bit of light that comes through very late to the top, is the unconscious. The light is there, yet it is not making you aware of that region because your centre is focused on the conscious dimension, in the middle. Sometimes, you access your subconscious dimension when you sleep, in the form of dreams and visions. The mental activity that you perceive at night during sleep is coming from the subconscious dimension. When these experiences stop completely and you see nothing, and there is no awareness of time, space and object, then in that limbo state, you are in the unconscious mind.
This whole mind is nothing but an expression of intelligence. Intelligence is of two types. One type of intelligence is known as intellect, and the other type is known as intelligence. Intellect is something that we realize when we are in this body, but intelligence is something that is there permanently, even if we do not experience it, or when we are able to experience it. Intellect or logic is an activity of the conscious mind. Intellect does not function in the subconscious, it is more active in the conscious. Everyone in this world tries to develop their intellect. Education is a form of developing intellect. Knowing 2 + 2 = 4 is not intelligence; it is intellect. Knowing the combination of hydrogen and oxygen is not intelligence; it is intellect. In this sensorial world, our interaction is through intellect, not intelligence. Intellect is what everybody wants to sharpen.
Intellect is like a knife. Intellect can slice through ideas, just as a knife can slice through an apple or orange. Intellect will question ‘Why?’ and dissect different layers of the onion – take out each layer of the onion. That is intellect – what lies after this; what lies after this. Intellect is like a knife which dissects everything. The more you dissect things, the less of the bigger picture you see. You only have that tool of intellect, which is to cut and dissect; you do not have a needle to sew. You are able to cut the cloth with your knife, slash it and make a thousand pieces of the cloth with your knife, to discover what lies beyond. However, you do not have the tool to sew the cloth. The tool to sew the cloth is not intellect.
This intellect is very much for material understanding, beyond that intellect has proved futile. Intellect has never allowed us to understand, grasp and recognize the reality which exists behind the appearance. We are always going for the appearance, and we are not connected to the reality behind the appearance. Intellect itself is not enough to have spiritual or even philosophical understanding and realization. If I speak on philosophy, through your intellect you will be debating with me forever – why like this; why not like this; why should it be that; why should I do that; why can’t it be done like that? Intellect is not a constructive thing. Sri Aurobindo said clearly, ‘In the beginning intellect was my friend, but at the end it was the biggest barrier that I had to face in my life, the biggest obstacle that I had to face in my life, because it would not allow me to construct anything; it would make me destroy things. Even things that I believed in were destroyed by the intellect, without creating anything new.’
This is the mind; the whole mind can be said to be the intellect. We do not understand philosophies; we do not understand good ideas; we do not understand religion; we do not understand what is virtue; we do not understand what is dharma. If somebody says anything about these things, immediately your intellect comes to cut it into shreds, from your perspective and understanding, without developing the picture for which it is intended.
After this comes vijnanamaya kosha. Vijnanamaya kosha is the space where Earth and other planets are just sustaining themselves; they exist without any support. They are all in the lap of space, and that space is vijnanamaya kosha or consciousness. One interesting idea has been given in the yogas – you can speak of the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, the unconscious mind, yet beyond that you say super consciousness. You do not say super conscious mind, as there is no such thing as super conscious mind. There cannot be a super conscious banana; there cannot be a super conscious animal, bird or a super conscious person.
To become that, you have to go beyond the mind into nothingness, and where the mental experiences will have no sway over you, your actions, your thoughts, your emotions, your aspirations. This super conscious mind which you achieve is vijnanamaya kosha. Now, you are able to see yourself, and you are able to see others as balls hanging in space. Sages have the super consciousness, for they are able to see the bigger picture of everyone, including the universe. They become the witness of that consciousness, and discovery continues in that dimension as well.
Just as science is continuing to tell us that space is not what it looks like; there is also dark matter. Space is contained in that dark matter, so something much greater and much vaster than space is out there, known as the dark matter. In that dark matter is our bubble of universe. When you are able to witness this bubble of universe that is the vijnanamaya kosha.
Then discovery continues from space to dark matter. You know what is dark matter? It is known as Kali, the power of time. In this transcendental consciousness, time is just one experience, not the past, the present or the future. At that level of super consciousness in vijnanamaya kosha, time is just one continuum. There is no past, there is no future, there is no present. If anything, it is a continuous present. That continuous present is what makes you a drashta, the seer, the rishi.
Then beyond that is the anandamaya kosha, where you see the distant sun, the source of everything. You go towards that and you merge in it. You become a part of the sun, a ray of the sun, a part of the hydrogen that burns in the sun. You become the sun. That is the merger of the individual consciousness with the higher consciousness. When a raindrop falls into the ocean, it becomes one with the ocean and you cannot separate it again.
18 January 2025, Ganga Darshan, Munger