The Moksha Gita: Swami Sivananda // Commentary: Chapter 9 - 9,10: Swami Krishnananda.

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Wednesday, 16 Aug 2023 08:10.

The Moksha Gita: Swami Sivananda

Chapter 9: The Five Sheaths- 9,10.

Commentary: Swami Krishnananda.

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9, 10. 

"The Anandamaya Kosha or this bliss sheath is Avidya or ignorance, a modification of Prakriti. 

It is the effect of past deeds. It is endowed with changing attributes. 

It is Jada or insentient. Therefore you are not the Anandamaya Kosha. 

You are the witness of this sheath." 

Understand, therefore, "I am not the Anandamaya sheath. I am Brahman."

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The Anandamaya Kosha is made of Mula-Ajnana. It is the Karana Sarira or the causal body which is the substratum of all other sheaths which are external to it. Its three attributes or Dharmas are Priya, Moda and Pramoda, affection, delight and intense happiness. It is the indescribable beginningless Avidya, the nescience of the Atma, and is composed of Malina Sattwa. It is inanimate, beginningless, but has an end in Atma-Jnana.

The ignorance of the real nature of the Self constitutes this causal body or seed-body. It contains the potentialities or the seeds for the subtle and gross bodies. It projects the appearance of the whole universe through the subtle sheath. It is the food of ignorance for the hungry ego. The mind has come out of this ignorance and gets involved in it during deep sleep. In the sleeping state there is a vigorous functioning of this ignorance in which everything is lost as in pitch darkness. The Karana Sarira screens the Satchidananda Brahman.

He who knows the ignorance or the negation of the existence of the Atman and the denial of its appearance is the true Self, the Atman. He who knows the effects of ignorance, such as "I am a man, I am the doer and enjoyer, I am happy, I am miserable," is the witness and the Atman. Hence in reality the Self is the seer, knower and the witness of the causal body or the ignorance. The Self is the Knowledge and the Light itself.

As the light that enlightens the jar is different from it, so is the Self different from the bodies witnessed by it. Therefore, the Self is Consciousness itself and not the bodies.

The aspirant should endeavour to rise above the five Koshas to realise the identity with Pure Consciousness. Just as one draws out the thin stalk from the Munja grass by stripping off its upper layers one by one, so also one should take out the innermost essence of the Atman from all objects of perception, i.e. the five Koshas, by the "neti, neti" doctrine of negating unreality. Just as butter is removed from milk by churning the mixture of curd, so also the butter of the Atman should be taken from the mixture of the five Koshas by the churning of constant meditation on the Immortal Brahman which fictitiously appears as the sheaths, the world, etc. When the identification with the sheaths ceases, the self realises the Infinite Being and gets liberated beyond death.

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Next

Chapter 10: The State of Jivanmukti

To be continued

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