There are five sheaths of existence, which through our prayers and study of the Upanishads we begin to understand who we are and find our inner truth.
The physical sheath, Annamaya-Kosha. (Physical Body).
The vital sheath, Pranaymaya-Kosha. (Astral Body).
The mind sheath, Manomaya-Kosha. (Astral Body-Lower mind).
The intellect sheath, Viijnanamaya-Kosha. (Astral Body-Higher mind).
The bliss sheath, Anandamaya-Kosha. (Causal Body).
This can be understood as.
Matter = Anna.
Energy = Prana.
Emotion = Manas.
Intelligence = Vijana.
Bliss = Ananda.
These last two as a more detailed understanding.
Consciousness = Chit.
Being = Sat.
Self Soul.
When we find the meaning of these sheaths and understand these different aspects, we can find the peace. We can get past our physical body, including our breath, we can go beyond all of our memories, good and bad, we can go past name and form, we can even go beyond the memories of our previous lives and the lessons good and bad, and finally we find the pure soul and our connection to the Divine Soul, Devi.
Memory is only memory which comes from a set of perceptions, we need to understand the perceptions, and understand name and form, and understand breath, breath which only keeps the physical body together, breath departs when the physical body departs, we must try to go beyond all that we understand and thus learn that we do not need to respond to memories if we chose not to.
(The other similar theory is the seven energy chakras).
Pure consciousness is peace and positive energy, The Supreme Devi is Pure Consciousness.
Energy is seen as negative and positive in the quantum theory field.
Everything is energy, positive and negative,
We understand delusion, and our reaction to thought, sensation, action, and memory.
We remove delusion through praying.
We remove the negative by getting past delusions, and through constant study and prayers.
The Devi is pure Divine peaceful energy who is in all aspects of everything, who removes all negativity.
Brief meaning of the Five Sheaths.
Maya has several meanings, but in this case it means composed of.
Kosha means sheath meaning a case, or close fitting.
Anna means food, so Annamaya Kosha means composed from or of food, the physical body. Made of bone, blood, flesh.
Prana is all the breath that moves within and through the body. This is the vital sheath.
The intelligence of everyday functions, making lunch, watching a movie! Is the lower sheath.
The intelligence of truth, law is the knowledge of the upper sheath. Discovering who we are, where we come from. Learning about quantum theory and reasons for the wave collapse, plasma the fourth state of matter, methane natural gas, electromagnetic fields, space and curved time, the earliest form of consciousness in predators, possibly being the urchin axonemes, dating back to the Cambrian explosion about half a billion years ago. Finding which group we belong to in science as regards, how does consciousness arise, the living awareness, "the hard problem".
The wave patterns in sleep, dreaming and deep sleep. Thinking about thoughts as wave, vibration, in picture and sound.
Becoming aware of God, past memories, the cycle of birth and death, karma, clearing karma, coming to terms with destiny.
The idea that we are made up of atoms and understanding illusion, the constant flow of atoms, for example a hand is not a hand but a group of flowing atoms in and around the hand. It is about understanding perception.
Love for the Divine, connecting with the Divine. Understanding the Non dual theory and the Dual theory, and accepting both. Male passive energy, female active energy, dual but living together as one, which is a non dual theory. The Goddess as Brahman. Feeling supported, helped by the Divine. This is the Viijnanamaya Sheath. It is believed that the person needs to understand this sheath in a broad minded way, in order to understand the next sheath better.
The bliss sheath is actually not as complicated as thought. It is simply a feeling of being happy.
We all have times, moments of happiness, this bliss is both a feeling of being happy because we have achieved, understood, enjoyed something, or we are achieving, understanding, enjoying something, and this sheath is especially a feeling of being happy for no reason at all. For example lying under the stars on a clear night and feeling really content and at peace. A feeling that comes from nowhere and for no particular reason. Or just being content and happy, just being, simply a positive feeling. The more we create a positive mental state the more we understand the bliss sheath. The bliss sheath is also known as the casual body.
The five Sheaths explained in the Upanishads.
Mind = knowledge.
Faith = head.
Order and law = right side or right wing.
Satya truth =left side or left wing.
Yoga is its body, (yoga is basically the control of the mind).
Maha = tail or foundation, or support. Goddess.
Taittiriya Upanisad Book 11 Chapter 4.
Text.
"It is the bodily self of the previous one.
Different from and inside the self made of mind is the self made of knowledge. This one is filled by it. It, too, is man-shaped. This, in its man-shape, matches the man-shape of that one. Faith is its head; law is its right wing; truth is its left wing; yoga is its self; MAHAH is its tail, its support".
(MAHA means shining, beautiful eyes. Shining is the Goddess Uma, who is an aspect of the supreme mother Goddess Jagad-dhatri).
Taittiriya Upanisad Book 11 Chapter 8.
"This one who is in the person and that one who is in the sun are one".
Discussion of the above text.
Thoughts on Dual and Non Dual theory.
Meaning non dual and dual theory. Both are the situation, and who we are. Male and female dual but together as one, i.e. one cannot live without the other, passive and active energy, yet the Goddess is everything meaning one. Supreme Brahman. So both theories work when applied. This is also the individual connecting to God, as one, yet the individual soul being connected to the Supreme Goddess but having its own individual jive or soul identity, again two and also one. Or one and also two!!!
In Quantum Theory, an individual particle can perhaps possibly be in two places at the same time 'double slit' much to the confusion of us human beings !!!
In Quantum Theory the individual particle is more considered an individual particle rather than a wave, or group of particles. It can also be both wave like and particle like. (It depends which scientific group or side you belong to, to make such decisions).
To make things seem easier, in music, concert pitch (A=440). It is a set pitch. An A is an A, a B is a B. Intonation is a set pitch, that is within the context of the music we are playing, i.e. Baroque, Classical Western, Modern.
We have perfect pitch, which is to hear an A and identify it as an A without having the score on the music stand, and also with the score, and we have relative pitch, which is sound being compared to and understood by the comparison made. So here we make a comparison between the distance between an A and a B, which can be considered one step, or notch. (Also depending upon how many octaves are between the two notes).
So the sounds or notes are individual different types of sound, but they are all sounds. An individual particle can be an individual sound, or part of a wave sound. Which can be regarded as one. It depends on which angle or perception one perceives, or how one looks at the situation.
The other simple idea is that with ink, we can draw, print textiles and design graphs, make photographs and films, write anything, make poetry all done with ink. The ink is one. The poetry, letter etc. Is the individual word, or a poem, or indeed thought, but all is connected to the ink. All is done with the ink. All is done with God, absolute reality Brahman, who is the Goddess Jagad-dhatri. This explains the name and form theory, to go beyond name and form. We find the Supreme Goddess.
This is the Dual and Non Dual theory regarding Brahman the Supreme Goddess Jagad-dhatri. Only realised by faith.
It is to be noted that the Supreme Goddess lives within the five sheaths. Fourth Book Chapter 15 The S'rimad Devi Bhagawatam.
Text.
So it can be two, or one, it can be both. This is the theory.
"The self made of food, goes up to the self made of breath, goes up to the self made of mind, goes up to the self made of knowledge, goes up to the self made of joy.
Discussion.
Sheath 1 food, physical body, sheath 2 breath, sheath 3 mind, sheath 4 knowledge, sheath 5 joy".
Text.
Chapter 9
"The one who knows the joy of Brahman from which speech, along with mind, turns back without reaching it, is afraid of nothing".
Meaning it's a good idea to worship God!!! Nice and simple!
The opposite of consciousness is a lack of consciousness.
Having discussed consciousness and the Divine as pure consciousness. That which is positive energy which is consciousness it's self. The opposite of consciousness is "a lack of consciousness", which is negative energies, i.e. going in the direction of psychopathic behaviour. Generally, if we try to be a calm consciousness in life then it would make sense that after departure from this material world that our consciousness is a calm energy.
All negativity is destroyed by Divine Pure Consciousness. Divine Consciousness has the whole truth, the greatest power, and all the knowledge.