We are Multi-Dimensional Beings

How many facets does the diamond of your inner being have?

Today, I am excited to share another incredible Vedic teaching that supports the vast and interconnected paradigm we’ve been exploring. This is the teaching on the Kośas.

Kośas, pronounced KOH-SHAH, literally means bucket. As in, a container you put stuff in. Other translations help us understand some of the more subtle nuance of the kośas include veil, sheath, and layer of being.

The kośas invite us to consider that we are multi-dimensional beings. These layers are like buckets inside of buckets, like nesting dolls. Each layer is unique, yet interconnected to the other layers. Each layer has a predominant element, associated qualities, and represents an aspect of ourselves and our lived experience.

The kośas teachings originate in the Taittirya Upanișad, which outlines 5 layers or dimensions of being. Here’s a picture (often worth a thousand words!):

This is an image that Laura M (a wonderful designer) and I worked on :)

The first layer, the anna maya, translates to “food body”. It refers to the part of us made of food, or our physical body. You can think of all things ‘anatomy & physiology’ - circulatory, cardiovascular, lymphatic, respiratory, nervous, urinary, digestive, etc. For those of you who are familiar with Āyurveda’s doșas (more to come on this in a future post), it relates to vāta, pitta, and kapha doșa, or the biological constitutions. It’s the most obvious of the layers, hence why it’s associated with the earth element and the qualities of stability, density, and structure.

The second layer, moving inward, is the prāna maya or the “body made of prāna” or the energy body. Prāna is a subtle energy, associated with the air element, that creates aliveness in us. Sometimes this sheath is called the “breath” body because we get the majority of our prāna from breathing and respiration. It’s subtle, mobile, and enlivening.

The third layer, still moving inward, is the mano maya or the “body made of basic mental functions”. It is associated with our emotions and habit patterns - the ways in which we respond automatically - both conscious and unconscious. For anyone familiar with the gunas of the mind (a post on this in the future), this is where we find sattva, rajas, and tamas. This sheath is connected with the water element - as in the flowing rivers of emotions. Depending on our emotional state, we could experience a variety of qualities like temperature (the heat of anger or the coolness of being lonely), texture (the sharpness of jealousy or the dullness of depression), and so on.

The fourth layer, more inward still, is the vijñāna maya or the layer of intuitive wisdom. Here the fire element illuminates the mind, enables discernment, and knowing is revealed. This creates a sharp sense of clarity, compassion, and connection. This fire is like the Sun, radiating warmth outward to all.

The fifth layer, the innermost, is the ānanda maya or the layer of joy, bliss, and peace. This sheath embodies the ether element, which fills all the space with joy, bliss, and peace. What’s really powerful about this layer, is that the space is always filled with joy-bliss-peace… it’s not something we have to build or create or find, it’s something we connect to and reveal from the inside!

The kośas help us realize that we are so much more than one thing… We are more than our physical body, our energy, our emotions, and our mind and thoughts… We are all of these and more.

As you go through the next week, notice which of your kośas you relate to and with - is it your body, breath, emotions, mind, or spirit? Some of them, or all of them?

Leave me a message - I’d love to read what you notice about your buckets of self and what you find in those buckets :)