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The Anandamaya kosha or "sheath made of bliss" (ananda) is in Vedantic philosophy the most subtle or spiritual of the five levels of embodied self. [1] It has been interpreted differently according to specific schools of Indian (and also Theosophical) thought.
In Advaita Vedanta the Anandamaya kosha is the innermost of the five koshas or "sheaths" that veil the Atman or Supreme Self. Unlike the next three more outer koshas, it constitutes the karana sarira or causal body. It is associated with the state of dreamless sleep and samadhi.
The ānanda-maya stage is explained by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada as the "brahma-bhūta" stage in the Bhagavad-gītā. There it is said that in the brahma-bhūta stage of life there is no anxiety and no hankering. This stage begins when one becomes equally disposed toward all living entities, and it then expands to the stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in which one hankers to render service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This hankering for advancement in devotional service is not the same as hankering for sense gratification in material existence. In other words, hankering remains in spiritual life, but it becomes purified. When our senses are purified, they become freed from all material stages, namely anna-maya, prāṇa-maya, mano-maya and vijñāna-maya, and they become situated in the highest stage — ānanda-maya, or blissful life in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The Indian Theosophist T. Subba Row correlated the five koshas with Blavatsky's septenary principle. The Anandamaya-kosa (sheath of bliss or Karanopadhi - causal body) is here associated with the Spiritual Soul or Buddhi principle (the sixth of the seven principles)
In the teachings of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (Himalayan Academy), the Anandamaya kosha is not a sheath in the same sense as the four outer koshas, but rather constitutes the soul itself, a body of light. As well as being the Causal body and the repository of karma, it is also the Karana chitta, the "causal mind" or superconscious mind, of which Parashakti (or Satchidananda) is the substratum. This Anandamaya kosha evolves through all incarnations until finally merging in the Primal Soul, Parameshvara. It then becomes Sivamayakosha, the body of Siva.
Unlike other Vedantic philosophers, Sri Aurobindo does not consider the five selves as koshas, "sheaths", but instead sees them as the evolutionary principles of the Inner or True Divine Self at each plane of existence. The Anandamaya Self is thus the individualised Divine Self that will emerge with the actualisation of the Plane of Ananda, following and even surpassing the Supramental stage of evolution.
Lila or leela can be loosely translated as "divine play". The concept of lila is common to both non-dualist and dualist philosophical schools of Indian philosophy, but has a markedly different significance in each. Within non-dualism, lila is a way of describing all reality, including the cosmos, as the outcome of creative play by the divine absolute (Brahman). In the dualistic schools of Vaishnavism, lila refers to the activities of God and his devotee, as well as the macrocosmic actions of the manifest universe, as seen in the Vaishnava scripture Srimad Bhagavatam, verse 3.26.4:
sa eṣa prakṛtiḿ sūkṣmāḿ
daivīḿ guṇamayīḿ vibhuḥ
yadṛcchayaivopagatām
abhyapadyata līlayā
"As his pastimes, that Supreme Divine Personality, the greatest of the great, accepted the subtle material energy which is invested with three material modes of nature."
A subtle body is a "quasi material" aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. This contrasts with the mind–body dualism that has dominated Western thought. The subtle body is important in the Taoism of China and Dharmic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, mainly in the branches which focus on tantra and yoga, where it is known as the Sūkṣma-śarīra. However, while mostly associated with Asian cultures, non-dualistic approaches to the mind and body are found in many parts of the world.
Vishishtadvaita, is a school of Hindu philosophy belonging to the Vedanta tradition. Vedanta refers to the profound interpretation of the Vedas based on Prasthanatrayi. Vishishta Advaita, meaning "non-duality with distinctions", is a non-dualistic philosophy that recognizes Brahman as the supreme reality while also acknowledging its multiplicity. This philosophy can be characterized as a form of qualified monism, attributive monism, or qualified non-dualism. It upholds the belief that all diversity ultimately stems from a fundamental underlying unity.
The term involution has various meanings. In some instances it refers to a process prior to evolution which gives rise to the cosmos, in others it is an aspect of evolution, and in still others it is a process that follows the completion of evolution in the human form.
Integral yoga, sometimes also called supramental yoga, is the yoga-based philosophy and practice of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. Central to Integral yoga is the idea that Spirit manifests itself in a process of involution, meanwhile forgetting its origins. The reverse process of evolution is driven toward a complete manifestation of spirit.
Svātantrya is the Kashmiri Shaivite concept of divine sovereignty. Svātantrya is described as an energy that emanates from the Supreme (Paramaśiva), a wave of motion inside consciousness (spanda) that acts as the fundament of the world, or in another view, the original word. It does not use any external instrument as it itself is the first stage of creation.
A kosha, usually rendered "sheath", is a covering of the Atman, or Self according to Vedantic philosophy. The five sheaths, summarised with the term Panchakosha, are described in the Taittiriya Upanishad (2.1-5), and they are often visualised as the layers of an onion. From gross to fine they are:
The causal body, originally Karana-Sarira, is a yogic and Vedantic concept that was adopted and modified by Theosophy and from the latter made its way into the general New Age movement and contemporary Western esotericism. It generally refers to the highest or innermost body that veils the atman or true Self.
Shuddadvaita is the "purely non-dual" philosophy propounded by Vallabhacharya, the founding philosopher and guru of the Vallabhā sampradāya or Puśtimārg, a Hindu Vaishnava tradition focused on the worship of Krishna. Vallabhacharya's pure form (nondualist) philosophy is different from Advaita. The Shrinathji temple at Nathdwara, and compositions of eight poets, including Surdas, are central to the worship by the followers of the sect.
Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj (1888–1936) was a guru in the Inchagiri Sampradaya founded by his guru Bhausaheb Maharaj, a branch of the Navnath Sampradaya, the 'Nine Masters' tradition in India. His disciples included Nath teachers Nisargadatta Maharaj, Ranjit Maharaj, Kaadsiddheshwar, and Ganapatrao Maharaj Kannur.
Antaḥkaraṇa is a concept in Hindu philosophy, referring to the totality of the mind, including the thinking faculty, the sense of I-ness, and the discriminating faculty. Antaḥ means 'inner' and karaṇa means 'instrument', or, 'function'. Therefore, the word Antaḥkaraṇa can be understood as 'inner organ', 'inner functions', or, 'inner instrument'.
Pratyabhijñā or Pratyabhigyā is an idealistic, monistic, and theistic school of philosophy in Kashmir Shaivism which originated in the ninth century CE. The term Trika was used by Abhinavagupta to represent the whole of Kashmir Shaivism, or to designate the Pratyabhijñā system.
Panchadasi or Panchadashi is a simple yet comprehensive manual of Advaita Vedanta written in the fourteenth century CE (1386-1391) by Vidyaranya, previously known as Madhavacharya.
Paramananda is a Sanskrit word composed of two words, parama and ānanda. Parama is taken to mean the highest or transcendent. Ānanda means bliss or happiness, and also suggests a deep-seated spiritual emotion that is entrenched. The Upanishadic authors also used ānanda, to denote Brahman, the Supreme Being in Hinduism.
Avyakta, meaning "not manifest", "devoid of form" etc., is the word ordinarily used to denote Prakrti on account of subtleness of its nature and is also used to denote Brahman, which is the subtlest of all and who by virtue of that subtlety is the ultimate support (asraya) of Prakrti. Avyakta as a category along with Mahat and Purusa plays an important role in the later Samkhya philosophy even though the Bhagavad Gita III.42 retaining the psychological categories altogether drops out the Mahat and the Avyakta (Unmanifest), the two objective categories.
According to three bodies doctrine in Hinduism, the human being is composed of three shariras or "bodies" emanating from Brahman by avidya, "ignorance" or "nescience". They are often equated with the five koshas (sheaths), which cover the atman. This doctrine is an essential doctrine in Indian philosophy and religion, especially Yoga, Advaita Vedanta, Tantra and Shaivism.
Chidabhasa is the Sanskrit term which means the abhasa or reflection of Brahman, the Universal Self, on or through the mind; ordinarily this term is used to denote the reflected Universal Self in the Jiva, the Individual Self. The philosophical conditionedness belongs to chidabhasa. The causal body or the Karana Sarira which is the cause of man’s enjoyment or suffering is composed of the Anandamaya Kosha and adheres to the soul so long as the soul resides in the Sthula Sarira or the Sukshama Sarira, both vehicles of Avidya ('ignorance'); afflicted by vasanas ('desires/longings') the ordinary being does not become Chidabhasa, the reflection of the Atman in the Karana Sarira.
Taijasa, which means endowed with light, is one of the many different levels of existence which the Jiva experiences due to the activity of Maya; it is the second of the three stages of consciousness that are part of the individual order of the Jiva. The three stages of consciousness are – 1) Vishva or Vaisvanara or the waking stage characterized by the individual gross body or sthula-sarira, 2) Taijasa or the dream consciousness which has the subtle body or suksma-sarira as its object, and 3) Prajna or the deep sleep consciousness which is the unified undifferentiated consciousness or prajanaaghana and the characteristic of the blissful causal body, the ultimate experience of Brahman.
Bhrama, in the context of Hindu thought, means – error, mistake, illusion, confusion, perplexity. But, it literally means – that which is not steady; and refers to error etc., caused by defects in the perceptive system. The seeing of snake in a rope in darkness, silver nacre in moonlight, water in a mirage on a hot day and a person in a stump of tree are four classic instances quoted in Vedantic texts. Bhrama is a mistake, it is a confusion about one object which exists for another object which does not exist, it merely refers to the fallibility of human perception.
In Hinduism, the Karanodaka or the Garbhodaka, also referred to as the Causal Ocean, is the origin of material creation. It is the place in the spiritual sky where Mahavishnu lies down and creates the material world. The Causal Ocean is the border between the spiritual and material worlds.