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Anandamayakosha- The Bliss Sheath/ Layer

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What is Anandmayakosha?

Translation: anand maya kosha (आनन्द मय कोश); anand (आनन्द)– bliss, pure happiness, pure joy; maya (मय)– made of; consisting of; kosha (कोश)– sheath layer;

Anandmayakosha, the bliss sheath/ layer is a space that is filled with unconditional bliss. This is not the same type of joy or happiness that we experience in our day-to-day lives as transitory emotions, but it’s the space that we reach when we feel a deep sense of freedom and non-attachment. Those moments where we are not caught up in any other thoughts or emotions and we are able to be completely present. This is why so many meditation techniques work on bringing you to the present.

We have a glimpse of this kosha usually at times when the mind is quiet. It could be after an intense exercise session, during meditation, chanting, singing, after freestyle dancing, while doing some artwork, yoga nidra, etc. Having a glimpse of the ananda makes us like the activity that helped us reach there, and can be a useful driving force to motivate you to do these practices more often. The more experience you have with this layer the easier it is to access then you can start to approach all elements of life from a place of bliss, and even the most mundane becomes joyful.

How is it different from emotional happiness?

Most people’s emotional state is dependent on the following factors

  • Your internal energy- You will be in some combination of Rajasic (active), tamasic (lethargy), and sattvic (balanced). Depending how energetic or exhausted you feel will often decide your emotions. Perhaps your lethargic energy makes you want to be more solitary, or maybe you become hyper and easily agitated. These energies can also work to calm you down or to increase productivity but when your energy is not supporting what you want to do your emotional state tends to suffer.
  • External environment- Some of these things we can control, and some we cannot. From the color and smells that surrond you to the weather or the pollution in the atmosphere. The types of people you come into contact with on a day-to-day basis, all of these interactions will affect your mood and emotions. Your closest relationships will tend to have a much more profound effect and if those are stable many of the other things become easier to manage.
  • Activities that you like or dislike- Although it may be possible to set up your life so that you are doing things that you love a lot of the time, there will inevitably be tasks that are not your favorite but still need to get done. It is a skill to practice these disliked tasks joyfully and something that many people could benefit from practicing.
  • Food – The food you choose can either help to shift your state from where it is currently (like caffeine or sugar for an energy boost) or sometimes it can be used to satisfy an emotion that you don’t want to look at right away, which is when people tend to turn to comfort eating, or over restricting as a way to manage the internal energy state. Ideally, we would be aiming toward a diet that allows us to stay relatively neutral and is neither too heavy nor too restrictive.

These emotional states are transitory, and you will keep fluctuating between the nine base emotions, depending on a combination of factors. The Anandamaya kosha is not so fleeting, it’s more like a sense of freedom that comes from the practice of non-attachment. Remember a time when “a heavyweight got lifted off your chest”, those are the times when one of your major responsibility was taken care of and then you felt free and lighter.

**Ananda can definitely trigger other positive emotions but that space is separate nonetheless.

Why can’t I access the bliss?

Sometimes it can feel frustrating to hear there is a limitless place of bliss that is just waiting to be accessed but your experience is not feeling at all blissful. The more caught up we become in our day-to-day suffering, the more attached we become to patterns and emotions, it becomes harder to access this place of freedom.

One of the biggest obstacles blocking you from this place of bliss can be hope/wishing things were different. This can manifest as a lack of forgiveness where you wish someone else had behaved differently, but this wish that you are holding on to is eating away at your own freedom. Or it may look more like comparisons, hoping or wishing that your life could be more like someone else, it is said that comparison is the thief of joy.

The quickest way to access real bliss is to become present in whatever you are doing. Removing judgment and just bringing awareness to the present moment. There is always the possibility for the mundane simple things in life to become opportunities for complete joy and bliss but there is also the opportunity for them to be tedious drawn out and boring. By really becoming present in what you do you can start to bring joy into every part of living.

How to achieve Anandmaya kosha?

  • Acceptance– Not accepting a situation, person, yourself etc results in constant friction and conflict within. Acceptance means you are with the flow with least resistance which naturally takes you closer to ananda.
  • Going beyond the intellect– Intellect is still based upon duality, good and evil, happiness and sadness. Going beyond the intellect helps us to see the things the way it is without getting influenced by ideas and conditionings.
  • Taking care of your responsibilities– Once you take care of your responsibilities then there is a sense of freedom within. Otherwise, the mind keeps on telling you that you should have done this, etc.
  • Forgiveness– Resentment eats away your insides. You created an expectation and when it happened differently you start holding a grudge against the person. Or you hold a grudge when a person behaves in some other ways that conflict with your ideas. Forgiveness can build this space within where you and the people around you can flourish setting aside the differences and dwelling in the past.
  • Setting others free– We create expectations from our near and dear ones, our kids, family, friends, partner, etc. These expectations are binding them and might make them feel suffocated gradually, for us it might make us angry or frustrated because things might not go exactly the way you expected. Either way, this causes suffering to both sides. So set people free, let them choose, let them flower.
  • Doing the things you actually like– It could be art, music, playing with mud, swimming in a lake, etc. Even if it is a silly thing that you like, forget about what people would think, do it for yourself.
  • Meditation– Some dynamic meditation techniques can easily take you to the space of ananda.

Explanation of Anandmaya kosha in Taittriya Upanishad

Sanskrit verses

तस्माद्वा एतस्माद्विज्ञानमयात् ।
अन्योऽन्तर आत्माऽऽनन्दमयः । तेनैष पूर्णः ।
स वा एष पुरुषविध एव । तस्य पुरुषविधताम् ।
अन्वयं पुरुषविधः । तस्य प्रियमेव शिरः ।
मोदो दक्षिणः पक्षः ।
प्रमोद उत्तरः पक्षः । आनन्द आत्मा । ब्रह्म पुच्छं प्रतिष्ठा ।
तदप्येष श्लोको भवति

असन्नेव स भवति। असद् ब्रह्मेति वेद चेत्। अस्ति ब्रह्मेति चेद्वेद। सन्तमेनं ततो विदुरिति।तस्यैष एव शारीर आत्मा। यः पूर्वस्य।

English Transliteration

tasmādvā etasmādvijñānamayāt .
anyo’ntara ātmā”nandamayaḥ . tenaiṣa pūrṇaḥ .
sa vā eṣa puruṣavidha eva . tasya puruṣavidhatām .
anvayaṃ puruṣavidhaḥ . tasya priyameva śiraḥ .
modo dakṣiṇaḥ pakṣaḥ .
pramoda uttaraḥ pakṣaḥ . ānanda ātmā . brahma pucchaṃ pratiṣṭhā .
tadapyeṣa śloko bhavati .

asanneva sa bhavati asad brahmeti veda cet| asti brahmeti cedveda | santamenaṁ tato viduriti |tasyaiṣa eva śārīra ātmā | yaḥ pūrvasya

Word by word meaning

Tasmādvā (तस्माद्वा)- therefore; etasmād (एतस्माद्)- from which; vijñānamayāt (विज्ञानमयात्)- vijnanamaya comes from;
anyo’ntara (अन्योऽन्तर) – (there is) other seperate; ātmā”nandamayaḥ (आत्माऽऽनन्दमयः)- self made of ananda;

tenaiṣa (तेनैष)- therefore; pūrṇaḥ (पूर्णः)- filled; sa vā eṣa (स वा एष)- with this (ananda); puruṣavidha (पुरुषविध)- form of a man; eva (एव)- verily, certainly;

tasya (तस्य)- this; puruṣavidhatām (पुरुषविधताम्) – human form (layer); anvayaṃ (अन्वयं)- is a result of, succession, cause and effect; puruṣavidhaḥ (पुरुषविधः)- (former) human form (layer);

tasya (तस्य) – its; priyameva (प्रियमेव)-pleasantness; śiraḥ (शिरः)- head (is); modo (मोदो)- joy; dakṣiṇaḥ (दक्षिणः)- (is) right; pakṣaḥ (पक्षः)- wing, side;

pramoda (प्रमोद)- cheerfulness; uttaraḥ (उत्तरः ) – (is) left; pakṣaḥ (पक्षः)- side; ānanda (आनन्द) – ananda; ātmā (आत्मा)- (is) self; brahma (ब्रह्म)- brahm, absolute; pucchaṃ (पुच्छं)- (is) tail; pratiṣṭhā (प्रतिष्ठा)- for support;

tadapyeṣa (तदप्येष)- about that also, these; śloko (श्लोको)- verses; bhavati (भवति)- are there;

asanneva (असन्नेव)- non-existing; sa (स)- he; bhavati (भवति)- becomes; asad (असद्)- non- existing; brahmeti (ब्रह्मेति)- brahm, absolute; veda (वेद)- knows; cet (चेत्)- if;

asti (अस्ति)- existing; brahmeti (ब्रह्मेति)- brahm, absolute; cedveda (चेद्वेद)- if one knows; santamenaṁ (सन्तमेनं)- as a saint; tato (ततो)- then they; viduriti (विदुरिति) – they know;

tasyaiṣa (तस्यैष)- this is; eva (एव)- the; śārīra ātmā (शारीर आत्मा)- embodied self; yaḥ pūrvasya (यः पूर्वस्य)- of the former (referring to vijnanamaya);

Translation

There is another separate self (layer) made of ananda from which the vijnanana comes. This form of human (sheath) is filled with this ananda. This human form (the layer, Anandmayakosha) succeeds the former human form (the layer, Vijnanamayakosha).

Pleasantness is its head, Joy is its right side, cheerfulness is its left side, ananda is its self and Brahm, and the absolute is its tail for stability. About that (Anandmaya) some more verses are there.

If one knows Brahm as non-existent he himself becomes non-existent. If one knows the Brahm as existing, then they know him as a saint. This is the embodied self of what has been described before (the Vijnanamaya kosha).

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