Pancha-Kosha

The five sheaths — Vedanta’s nested-coverings model of the apparent person. Five layers are stripped away, each said “I am not this,” until only the atman remains.

Overview

The Taittiriya Upanishad’s anuvaka 2 introduces the five-sheath analysis of the person. Like Russian nesting dolls, the sheaths cover the atman from outside in:

1. Annamaya-kosha — the food sheath — the physical body, nourished by food
2. Pranamaya-kosha — the vital sheath — prana and the five vital functions
3. Manomaya-kosha — the mental sheath — thoughts, feelings, manas
4. Vijnanamaya-kosha — the intellect sheath — buddhi, discriminative judgment
5. Anandamaya-kosha — the bliss sheath — deep-sleep blankness; the subtlest covering

Mapped to the three-body model:

• Annamaya = sthula-sharira (gross body)
• Pranamaya + manomaya + vijnanamaya = sukshma-sharira (subtle body)
• Anandamaya = karana-sharira (causal body)

The five-sheath method is pedagogical: the student is led to observe each sheath in turn, recognize it as an object of awareness (hence not the awareness), and peel it off. Neti, neti — “not this, not this.” What remains when all five are recognized as coverings is the atman — the witness that was observing them.

Related concepts

• sthula-sharira, sukshma-sharira, karana-sharira — the three-body model, in one-to-one correspondence
• atman — what the sheaths cover
• taittiriya-upanishad — locus classicus
• prana, manas, buddhi — each a component of a specific kosha
• sat-chit-ananda — ananda here is not the anandamaya-kosha; they are easily confused but distinct (the sheath is an object; the atman’s ananda is not)

In the Gita

• 02-22 — implicit in “changing bodies”; the subtle and causal bodies (= pranamaya through anandamaya) travel.

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 8 [66:37]: Five-sheath model listed; mapped to the three bodies — annamaya is sthula, pranamaya/manomaya/vijnanamaya constitute sukshma, anandamaya is karana.