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Purusha or _Ātmā_, manifesting itself as _jīvātmā_ in the living form of the individual being, is regarded, according to the _Vedānta_, as clothing itself in a series of 'envelopes' (_koshas_) or successive vehicles, representing so many phases of its manifestation; it would be altogether wrong, however, to compare these envelopes to 'bodies', since it is the last phase only that belongs to the corporeal order. It is important to note, moreover, that _Ātmā_ cannot, strictly speaking, be said to be actually contained within such envelopes, since, by its very nature, it is not susceptible of any limitation and is in no way conditioned by any state of manifestation whatsoever.^[1]

The first envelope (_ānandamaya-kosha_, the suffix _maya_ signifying 'made of' or 'consisting of' whatever is denoted by the word to which it is joined) is none other than the totality of the possibilities of manifestation which _Ātmā_ comprises within itself, in its 'permanent actuality' in the principial and undifferentiated state. It is called 'made of Beatitude' (_Ananda_), because the 'Self,' in this primordial state, enjoys the plenitude of its own being, and it is in no way really distinct from the 'Self'; it is superior to conditioned existence, which presupposes it, and it is situated at the level of pure Being; that is why it is regarded as characteristic of _Īshvara_.^[2] Here, therefore, we are in the formless order; it is only when this envelope is viewed in relation to formal manifestation, and insofar as the principle of the latter is contained in it, that it can be said to represent principial or causal form (_kārana-sharīra_), that by which form will be manifested and actualized in the succeeding stages.

The second envelope (vijñānamaya-kosha) is formed by the directly reflected Light (in the intelligible sense) of integral and universal Knowledge (Jñāna, the particle _vi_ implying the distinctive mode);^[3] but it is composed of five 'elementary essences' (_tanmātras_), 'conceivable' but not 'perceptible', in their subtle state; and it arises out of the conjunction of the higher intellect (Buddhi) with the principal faculties of perception proceeding respectively from the five _tanmātras_, and the external development of which constitutes the five senses of the corporeal individuality.^[4] The third envelope (manomaya-kosha), in which the constituents of the preceding envelope are linked up with the inward sense (_manas_), especially brings into play the mental consciousness^[5] or thinking faculty; this, as we have previously explained, belongs exclusively to the subtle individual and formal order, and its development arises from the radiation, in reflective mode, of the higher intellect within a determinate individual state, which is in this case the human state. The fourth envelope (prāṇamaya-kosha) comprises the faculties which proceed from the 'vital breath' (_prāṇa_), that is to say the five _vāyus_ (modalities of this _prāṇa_), as well as the faculties of action and sensation (these last already existing principally in the two preceding envelopes as purely 'conceptive' faculties, at which stage, indeed, there could be no question of any sort of action, any more than of any external perception). The combination of these last envelopes (_vijñānamaya_, _manomaya_, and _prāṇamaya_) constitutes the subtle form (_sūkshma-sharīra_ or _linga-sharīra_), as opposed to the gross or corporeal form (_sthūla-sharīra_); thus we meet again here with the distinction between the two modes of formal manifestation which we have referred to on several previous occasions.

The five vital functions or actions are called _vāyus_, although they are not strictly speaking air or wind (which is the general meaning of the word _vāyu_ or _vāta_, derived from the root _va_, 'to go', 'to move', and usually denoting the element air, one of the characteristic properties of which is mobility),^[6] since they belong to the subtle and not to the corporeal state; as we have said above, they are modalities of the 'vital breath' (_prāṇa_, or more generally _ana_)^[7] considered chiefly in relation to respiration. They are: (i) aspiration, that is, respiration regarded as ascending in its initial phase (_prāṇa_ in the strictest sense of this word), and attracting the still unindividualized elements of the cosmic consciousness; (ii) inspiration to participate, by assimilation, in the individual consciousness; considered as descending in a succeeding phase (_apāna_), whereby these elements penetrate into the individuality; (iii) a phase intermediary between the two preceding ones (_vyāna_), consisting, on the one hand, of all the reciprocal actions and reactions which are produced upon the contact of the individual with the surrounding elements, and, on the other hand, of the various resultant vital movements, of which the circulation of the blood is the corresponding movement in the bodily organism; (iv) expiration (_udāna_), which projects the breath, while transforming it, beyond the limits of the restricted individuality (that is, the individuality reduced simply to those modalities which are commonly developed in all men) into the sphere of the possibilities of the extended individuality, viewed in its integrality;^[8] and (v) digestion, or inner substantial assimilation (_samāna_), by which the elements absorbed become an integral part of the individuality.^[9] It is clearly stated that all this is not purely a matter of the operation of one or of several bodily organs; it is, in fact, easy to realize that it refers not merely to the analogically corresponding physiological functions, but rather to vital assimilation in the widest possible sense.

The corporeal or gross form (_sthūla-sharīra_) is the fifth and last envelope, the one which, for the human state, corresponds to the most external mode of manifestation; it is the alimentary envelope (_annamaya-kosha_), composed of the five sensible elements (_bhūtas_) out of which all bodies are constituted. It assimilates to itself the combined elements received in nutriment (_anna_, a word derived from the verbal root _ad_, 'to eat'),^[10] secreting the finer parts, which remain in the organic circulation, and excreting or rejecting the coarser, excepting those however which are deposited in the bones. As a result of this assimilation the earthy substances become the flesh, the watery substances, the blood, and the igneous substances, the fat, the marrow, and the nervous system (phosphoric matter); for there are corporeal substances in which the nature of one element or another predominates, although they are all formed by the union of the five elements.^[11]

Every organic being, dwelling in such a bodily form, possesses, in a more or less complete degree of development, the eleven individual faculties of which we have spoken above, and, as we have also seen, these faculties are manifested in the bodily organism by means of the eleven corresponding organs (_avayavas_, a name which is also applied in the subtle state, but only by analogy with the gross state). According to Shankarāchārya,^[12] three classes of organic beings may be distinguished, according to their mode of reproduction: (i) the viviparous (_jīvaja_, or _yonija_, or again, _jarāyuja_), such as man and the other mammals; (ii) the oviparous (_āndaja_), such as birds, reptiles, fish, and insects; and (iii) the germiniparous (_udbhijja_), which includes both the lower animals and plants, the former mobile, being born chiefly in water, while the latter, which are immobile, are usually born in the earth: however, according to sundry passages in the _Veda_, nutriment (_anna_), that is to say vegetation (_oshadhi_), also proceeds from water, since it is rain (_varsha_) which fertilizes the earth.^[13]

Footnotes

[1]In the Taittiriya Upanishad II. 8.1 and III. 10.5, the designations of the various envelopes are referred directly to the 'Self,' according as it is considered in relation to this or that state of manifestation.

[2]Whereas the other designations (those of the four following envelopes) can be considered as applicable to _jivātmā_, the envelope called _ānandamaya_ applies not only to _Ishvara_ but also, by transposition, even to _Paramātmā_ or the Supreme _Brahma_, and that is why it is said in the _Taittiriya Upanishad_ II.5.1: ‘Differing from that which consists of distinctive knowledge [*vijñānamaya*] is the other interior Self [*anyoʼntara Ātmā*] which consists of Bliss [*ānandamaya*]. Cf. _Brahma-Sūtras_ I. 1.12-19.

[3]The Sanskrit word _jñāna_ has the selfsame root as the Greek Γνωσις, which it also shares with the Latin _co-gnoscere_; it expresses an idea of 'production' or 'generation' because the being 'becomes' whatever it knows and realizes itself through that knowledge.

[4]It is starting from this second envelope that the term _sharīra_ properly applies, especially if this word, as interpreted by the methods of _Nirukta_, be given the sense of ‘dependent upon the six [principles]', that is to say upon _Buddhi_ (or upon _ahaņkāra_, which is derived directly from it and is the first principle in the individual order) and the five _tanmātras_ (_Mānava-Dharma-Shāstra_ I. 17).

[5]By this expression we mean something representing a more advanced degree of determination than individual consciousness pure and simple: it might be said to be the resultant of the union of _manas_ and _ahaņkāra_.

[6]We refer the reader to the previous footnote concerning the various applications of the Hebrew word _Ruahh_, which corresponds rather closely to the Sanskrit _vāyu_.

[7]The root _an_ occurs again, with similar meaning in the Greek άνεμος, 'breath' or 'wind', and in the Latin _anima_, 'soul'. the original and proper meaning of which is precisely ‘vital breath'.

[8]It should be observed that the word 'expire' means both 'to eject the breath' (in respiration) and 'to die' (in respect of the bodily part of the human individuality); both these meanings are related to the _udāna_ in question.

[9]_Brahma-Sūtras_ II.4.8–13. Cf. _Chhāndogya Upanishad_ v. 19–23; _Maitri Upanishad_ II.6.

[10]This root is the same as that of the Latin _edere_, and also, though in more altered form, that of the English _eat_ and the German _essen_.

[11]_Brahma-Sūtras_ II.4.21. Cf. _Chhāndogya Upanishad_ VI.5.1–3.

[12]Commentary on the _Brahma-Sutras_ III.1.20&21. Cf. _Chhāndogya Upanishad_ VI.3.1; also _Aitareya Upanishad_ v. 3. The latter text, besides the three classes of living beings mentioned in the others, mentions a fourth class, namely those born of damp heat (_svedaja_); but this class can be linked on to the seed-born class.

[13]See especially _Chhāndogya Upanishad_ I.1.2: 'Vegetables are the essence [rasa] of water'; v.6.2 and vii. 4.2: _anna_ arises or proceeds from _varsha_. The word _rasa_ literally means 'sap' and it has been seen earlier on that it also signifies 'taste' or 'savor'; moreover, in French also the words _sève_ and _saveur_, like the corresponding English words, have the same root (_sap_), which is at the same time that of the Latin _sapere_ (French _savoir_) by reason of the analogy which exists between nutritive assimilation in the bodily order and cognitive assimilation in the mental and intellectual orders. It should also be noted that the word _anna_ sometimes refers to the element earth itself, which is the last in the order of development, and which is also derived from the element water which immediately precedes it (_Chhāndogva Upanishad_ VI. 2.4).

9 ENVELOPES OF THE 'SELF': THE FIVE VĀYUS OR VITAL FUNCTIONS

Footnotes