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Manomayakosha- The Sensory Mind Sheath/ Layer

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What is Manomayakosha?

Translation– mano– derived from the word manas, the sensory mind; maya– consisting of, made of; kosha– sheath, layer.

The word manomaya means made of manas (the sensory mind). In yoga, the mind consists of four parts, manas, ahamkara, buddhi, and Chitta. Manas is that part of the mind which receives information gathered by the sense from the outside world and acts on it accordingly. It also acts on the information from your inner layers. These inputs can trigger an emotional or energetic state which is already there in form of patterns (stored in the Chitta) and could act according to those patterns. It can also form a new pattern on the basis of the reaction/response taken by the motor organs as a consequence of the input.

Examples to understand Manomaya better

Example 1– Imagine you were walking through an empty street at night and you got robbed. This unpleasant experience left a traumatic impression that gets stored in the Chitta. The next time you are in a similar situation, the senses observe similar inputs (dark night, empty street), and a pattern of emotions from your past experience replays as if the situation were happening again.

Logically you might understand that your reaction is excessive but it plays out unconsciously and seems to overwhelm the manas. To break this pattern you will have to consciously work through it.

Example 2– An addiction is an unconscious pattern that keeps playing out. The moment you become conscious of it you start looking for ways to overcome it. You create new better conscious patterns which can override the previous one. Obviously, the previous pattern doesn’t weaken in one go but it depends on how frequently you are playing out the new one. Slowly this unwanted impression is uprooted.

Components of Manomaya kosha

The Manomaya kosha consists of the five jnana indriyas (five sense organs) and five karma indriyas (five motor organs)

Gyan Indriyas
(Organ of Perception)		Karma Indriyas
(Organ of Action)		Element
Nose (Smell)Anus (Excretion)Earth
Ears (Hearing, Sound)Mouth (Speaking)Space
Eyes (Sight)Feet (Movement)Fire
Skin (Touch)Hand (Grasping)Air
Tongue (Taste)Genitals (Sensual Pleasure)Water

Functions of Manomaya kosha

The Manomaya kosha is our connection to the outside world. Through the five sense organs, we perceive, and through the five motor organs, we take action. Within this process of perceiving and taking action, we make patterns. Doing something which makes us feel good might make us hooked to it or we might create an aversion to something we don’t like. Some of the patterns when repeated regularly unconsciously will become a deeper pattern that would be hard to break when required.

The patterns formed in early childhood embed themselves deep into our psyche (Chitta). What we experience in the first 5 to 7 years of life lays the foundation for how we respond to or anticipate the world to be for the rest of our lives unless we consciously undo these patterns. These can have either a positive or a negative effect.

The modern science way to understand it is through neuroplasticity. Each of our repeated actions makes some changes in the nervous system, the body makes new nerves connection or stops using some of the previous (unused) nerve connections. This is because of the body’s nature to be efficient, if some connection is not used it will gradually go redundant, and if some connections are used regularly then the body makes better faster connections to execute it.

The nervous system cannot decide on its own, we need to use the power of the intellect (vijnanamayakosha) to keep the connections that serve us or override a connection that doesn’t serve us in a better one.

How to work on Manomayakosha?

Manaomayakosha can be worked upon with the help of concentration techniques (dharna). The object of concentration could be your breath, energetic centers in your body, sensations in the body, a flame, a point, etc.

Our unwanted patterns (trauma, bad experiences, aversions, etc) can trigger at any time without any warning. When an unconscious pattern comes up it tends to express itself according to its previous conditioned way, but if you become aware then you can use a chosen concentration method.

Example– Imagine a particular thing that always makes you angry, you snap out, and start behaving in an uncontrolled manner which causes even more problems later. At those times you can tell yourself that “I will not react, I will let this internal turmoil pass, I will fix my attention to the breath. Energy is transitory in nature and this too shall pass”.

After the event has occurred then you can use the power of intellect (vijnanamaya kosha) to find out the reason for this issue. Slowly the roots of this pattern will weaken. To speed up the process you can also practice some concentration techniques as a routine.

To train the mind to be able to concentrate on one thing (ekagraha) you can practice the following

  • Trataka– Focussed gazing
  • Dharna (Concentration) on the breath.
  • Dharna on the chakras – Some of the issues can also be worked upon on the level of chakras. Like anger issues are mostly related to Manipura chakra, so focussing and channeling your energy to this chakra can also help to work on the anger issues. Similarly, you can link other patterns to different chakras and fix them.

**Asana and pranayama practice before the above practices could support for a deeper concentration. They can be done on their own as well.

Explanation of Manomayakosha in Taittriya Upanishad

Sanskrit Verses

तस्माद्वा एतस्मात् प्राणमयात् । अन्योऽन्तर आत्मा मनोमयः ।
तेनैष पूर्णः । स वा एष पुरुषविध एव ।
तस्य पुरुषविधताम् । अन्वयं पुरुषविधः ।
तस्य यजुरेव शिरः । ऋग्दक्षिणः पक्षः । सामोत्तरः पक्षः ।
आदेश आत्मा । अथर्वाङ्गिरसः पुच्छं प्रतिष्ठा ।
तदप्येष श्लोको भवति ॥ १॥ इति तृतीयोऽनुवाकः ॥

यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते । अप्राप्य मनसा सह ।
आनन्दं ब्रह्मणो विद्वान् । न बिभेति कदाचनेति ।
तस्यैष एव शारीर आत्मा । यः पूर्वस्य ।

English Transliteration

tasmādvā etasmāt prāṇamayāt. anyo’ntara ātmā manomayaḥ.
tenaiṣa pūrṇaḥ. sa vā eṣa puruṣavidha eva.
tasya puruṣavidhatām. anvayaṃ puruṣavidhaḥ.
tasya yajureva śiraḥ. ṛgdakṣiṇaḥ pakṣaḥ. sāmottaraḥ pakṣaḥ.
ādeśa ātmā. atharvāṅgirasaḥ pucchaṃ pratiṣṭhā.
tadapyeṣa śloko bhavati iti tṛtīyo’nuvākaḥ.

yato vāco nivartante. aprāpya manasā saha.
ānandaṃ brahmaṇo vidvān. na bibheti kadācaneti.
tasyaiṣa eva śārīra ātmā. yaḥ pūrvasya.

Word by Word Meaning

Tasmādvā (तस्माद्वा)- therefore; etasmād (एतस्माद्)- from which; prāṇamayāt ( प्राणमयात्)- from which the prana comes from; anyo’ntara (अन्योऽन्तर)- (there is) other separate; ātmā (आत्मा)- self; manomayaḥ (मनोमयः)- made of manas;

tenaiṣa (तेनैष) – therefore, this; pūrṇaḥ (पूर्णः)- filled; sa vā eṣa (स वा एष)- with this (manas); puruṣavidha (पुरुषविध)- form of 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; yajureva (यजुरेव)- yajus is; śiraḥ (शिरः)-head; ṛgdakṣiṇaḥ (ऋग्दक्षिणः)- rig is right; pakṣaḥ (पक्षः)- wind, side; sāmottaraḥ (सामोत्तरः) – saam is left; pakṣaḥ (पक्षः)- wing;

ādeśa (आदेश)- order, command; ātmā (आत्मा)- self; atharvāṅgirasaḥ (अथर्वाङ्गिरसः)- the atharva hymns; pucchaṃ (पुच्छं)- (its) tail; pratiṣṭhā (प्रतिष्ठा)- base, stability;

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

yato (यतो)- when; vāco (वाचो)- speech; nivartante (निवर्तन्ते)- turn back; aprāpya (अप्राप्य)- not reaching; manasā (मनसा)- the manas; saha (सह)- with

ānandaṃ (आनन्दं)- bliss; brahmaṇo (ब्रह्मणो)- of the brahm (the absolute); vidvān (विद्वान्)- learned man; na (न)- not; bibheti (बिभेति)- afraid; kadācaneti (कदाचनेति)- at any time

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

Translation

There is another separate self (layer) made of manas from which the prana comes from. This form of human (sheath) is filled with this manas. This human form (the layer, Manomayakosha) succeeds the former human form (the layer, Pranamayakosha). Its head is yajus (Yajurveda), rig (Rigveda) is the right side; sama (Samaveda) is the left side, the command is the self and the tail is the atharva (Atharvaveda) hymns which provide stability. About that (manomaya) some more verses are there.

When all the speech turns back without reaching the manas, then this learned man knows the bliss of the brahm (the absolute). He is not afraid at any time. This is the embodies self of what has been described before (the Pranamayakosha).

Commentary

The author speaks about the four Vedas as the human form of this kosha. The word Veda means knowledge. So he means to say that gaining knowledge is the most important part to work on Manomaya kosha.

Here is a brief about what the various Veda consists of.

  • Yajurveda – austerity, worship, sacrifice, inner driving force; putting effort and energy
  • Rigveda – consists of the knowledge of the origin of the world, and knowledge of the mind.
  • Samaveda – consists of poetical chants. It is considered to be the origin of Indian classical music and dance, knowledge of emotion
  • Atharvaveda- has verses that deal with the health of the body, Ayurveda is said to be originated from this. It consists of daily procedures of life (discipline), knowledge of the body

The author also speaks that adesha (command or give order) is the self of this sheath. This refers to the will power, to gain the vast knowledge of the Vedas we need a strong will. This willpower commands us to choose.

Later he speaks that when the speech turns back without reaching the manas then this learned man experiences brahm (the absolute) and is never afraid. The mind chatter is also a result of the various patterns (samskaras) that we have created. When with the power of knowledge we start breaking these patterns then we have this feeling of freedom.

Fear is a very strong emotion and many of the patterns that we have created (or actions that we take) have some root in fear. When we resolve these we understand the fear better and fear will not have the same grip on us as before.

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