Koshas in the taittiriya upanishad
This Upanishad is the source material for a detailed analysis of the 5 koshas. The concept of the 5 Koshas was first revealed in the Taittiriya Upanishad, which was written around 600 BC. Instead of Pure Consciousness, the term we will use in this article is Self-Awareness. If you peel all the 5 layers, the above image shows you will reach your inner core, which is Pure Consciousness. It is like peeling the layers of an onion or unpacking the Russian dolls. The Food Sheath covers the Pranamaya Kosha, the Pranamaya Kosha covers the Manomaya Kosha and so on. If you peel off the outer sheath, you move to the inner sheath. Each outer sheath covers the inner sheath. It may not be an accurate representation, but it does convey the idea quite well. Most books describing the 5 koshas use the above illustration. This logic applies to other the koshas also and each kosha has its own building blocks.
![koshas in the taittiriya upanishad koshas in the taittiriya upanishad](https://img.yumpu.com/47763995/1/500x640/taittiriya-upanishad-tns-complete-esamskriticom.jpg)
Just like material is made up of atoms and molecules, in the same way this kosha is made up of intelligence. The substratrum of the kosha is intelligence. For example, the Vijnanamaya kosha is made of intelligence. It literally means that the koshas are made of the things stated above. The ‘made of’ used above is not some abstract term. Ananadamaya Kosha – Sheath made of bliss.Vijnanamaya Kosha – Sheath made of intelligence/knowledge.Manomaya Kosha – Sheath made up of mind stuff.Pranamaya Kosha – Sheath made of energy – to keep the physical body functional.Annamaya Kosha – Sheath made of food – This is our physical body.Based on this, the 5 koshas can be defined as follows: The word ‘maya’ in the names shown below means ‘made up of’. Koshas is a Sanskrit word which means ‘sheath’ or ‘layers’. If you are a student of Vedanta, you probably know that every living being is made up five (pancha) Koshas.