Date uploaded in London – 29 July 2024
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Here are some important slokas that can be compared with Tamil Hymns
Five Layers
अस्ति कश्चित्स्वयं नित्यमहंप्रत्ययलम्बनः ।
अवस्थात्रयसाक्षी संपञ्चकोशविलक्षणः ॥ १२५ ॥
asti kaścitsvayaṃ nityamahaṃpratyayalambanaḥ |
avasthātrayasākṣī saṃpañcakośavilakṣaṇaḥ || 125 ||
125. There is some Absolute Entity, the eternal substratum of the consciousness of egoism, the witness of the three states, and distinct from the five sheaths or coverings:
See 149
Notes:
[Five sheaths &c.—Consisting respectively of Anna (matter), Prána (force), Mana (mind),
Vijnana (knowledge) and Ananda (Bliss). The first two comprise this body of ours, the third and fourth make up the subtle body (Sukshma Sarira) and the last the causal body (Karana Sarira). The Atman referred to in this Sloka is beyond them all. These Kosas will be dealt with later on in the book. ]
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Tamil Saint Tirumular says,
2664. தானான வண்ணமும் கோசமும் சார்தரும்
தானாம் பறவை வனமெனத் தக்கன
தானான சோடச மார்க்கந்தான் நின்றிடில்
தாமாம் தசாங்கமும் வேறுள்ள தானே. 9
2664: Way of Seeking Within Leads to Supreme Attainment
Of five sheaths is the Jiva’s body;
Unto a forest is that body
Where the Jiva-bird its abode has;
If the Jiva seeks the Way of Sixteen worships
Then is Jiva’s Ten attainments are.
Swami Krishnananda of the Divine Life Society explains Five Sheaths or Kosha:
The layers, or degrees of reality, that constitute the universe are also to be found in the human individual in the form of the koshas, or the sheaths, as they are called: the physical, vital, mental, intellectual and the causal. These are known in the Sanskrit language as annamaya kosha, pranamaya kosha, manomaya kosha, vijnanamaya kosha and anandamaya kosha. These are the five layers of objectivity which, in a gradational form, externalise consciousness. The grosser the sheath, the greater is the force of externality, so that when consciousness enters the physical body, we are totally material in our outlook, physical in our understanding and assessment of values, intensely body-conscious, and know nothing of ourselves except this body. It is only when we go inward that we have access to the subtler layers of our personality, not otherwise.
The Taittiriya Upanishad deals with this subject of the five layers, known as the koshas; and the Mandukya Upanishad, which is another important Upanishad, sometimes considered as the most important, deals with the very same koshas in a different way—namely, by way of the elucidation of the involvement of consciousness in these koshas. The five koshas have been classified into three groups: the physical, the subtle and the causal.
कोशैरन्नमयाद्यैः पञ्चभिरात्मा न संवृतो भाति ।
निजशक्तिसमुत्पन्नैः शैवालपटलैरिवाम्बु वापीस्थम् ॥ १४९ ॥
kośairannamayādyaiḥ pañcabhirātmā na saṃvṛto bhāti |
nijaśaktisamutpannaiḥ śaivālapaṭalairivāmbu vāpīstham || 149 ||
149. Covered by the five sheaths – the material one and the rest – which are the products of Its own power, the Self ceases to appear, like the water of a tank by its accumulation of sedge.
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Red hot iron
ज्ञाता मनोऽहंकृतिविक्रियाणां
देहेन्द्रियप्राणकृतक्रियाणाम् ।
अयोऽग्निवत्ताननुवर्तमानो
न चेष्टते नो विकरोति किंचन ॥ १३३ ॥
jñātā mano’haṃkṛtivikriyāṇāṃ
dehendriyaprāṇakṛtakriyāṇām |
ayo’gnivattānanuvartamāno
na ceṣṭate no vikaroti kiṃcana || 133 ||
133. The Knower of the modifications of mind and egoism, and of the activities of the body, the organs and Prāṇas, apparently taking their forms, like the fire in a ball of iron; It neither acts nor is subject to change in the least.
ज्ञाता मनोऽहंकृतिविक्रियाणां
देहेन्द्रियप्राणकृतक्रियाणाम् ।
अयोऽग्निवत्ताननुवर्तमानो
न चेष्टते नो विकरोति किंचन ॥ १३३ ॥
jñātā mano’haṃkṛtivikriyāṇāṃ
dehendriyaprāṇakṛtakriyāṇām |
ayo’gnivattānanuvartamāno
na ceṣṭate no vikaroti kiṃcana || 133 ||
133. The Knower of the modifications of mind and egoism, and of the activities of the body, the organs and Prāṇas, apparently taking their forms, like the fire in a ball of iron; It neither acts nor is subject to change in the least.
Notes:
[Like the fire……iron—Just as fire has no form of its own, but seems to take on the form of the iron ball which it turns red-hot, so the Atman though without form seems to appear as Buddhi and so forth.
Compare Katha II. ii. 9. ]
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उपाधिसंबन्धवशात्परात्मा
ह्युपाधिधर्माननुभाति तद्गुणः ।
अयोविकारानविकारिवन्हिवत्
सदैकरूपोऽपि परः स्वभावात् ॥ १९१ ॥
upādhisaṃbandhavaśātparātmā
hyupādhidharmānanubhāti tadguṇaḥ |
ayovikārānavikārivanhivat
sadaikarūpo’pi paraḥ svabhāvāt || 191 ||
191. Owing to Its connection with the super-impositions, the Supreme Self, even thou naturally perfect (transcending Nature) and eternally unchanging, assumes the qualities of the superimpositions and appears to act just as they do – like the changeless fire assuming the modifications of the iron which it turns red-hot.
Notes:
[Naturally perfect—Or the phrase “paraḥ svabhāvāt” may mean “transcending Nature”
Modifications—such as size, shape etc. ]
Tamil Saint Tirumular says
2270. காய்ந்த இரும்பு கனலை யகன்றாலும்
வாய்ந்த கனலென வாதனை நின்றாற்போல்
ஏய்ந்த கரணம் இறந்த துரியத்துத்
தோய்ந்த கருமத் துரிசக 2லாதன்றே.
2309 Yet in Turiya, Karmic Effects Are
Well may you iron
From fire remove;
The iron still retains
The effect of fire (experience);
So too,
Even if sense organs
Are in Turiya State extinguished
The impure effect of Karmic acts
Will still there be.
Notes:
[Like the fire……iron—Just as fire has no form of its own, but seems to take on the form of the iron ball which it turns red-hot, so the Atman though without form seems to appear as Buddhi and so forth.
Compare Katha II. ii. 9. ]
இரும்பிடை நீரென என்னையுள் வாங்கிப்
பரம்பர மான பரமது விட்டே
உரம்பெற முப்பாழ் ஒளியை விழுங்கி
இருந்தஎன் நந்தி இதயத்து ளானே. 6.
- காய்ந்த இரும்பு நீரை உள்வாங்கிக் கொள்வது போல அவன் என்னை வாங்கிக்கொண்டான்.
2592: Three Voids
He absorbed me in totality
As hot iron absorbs water;
Transcending Param-Para State;
He stands engulfing the Three Voids Luminous
There He is, Nandi
That in my heart resides.
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In Purananuru of 2000 year old Sangam literature , we find the same simile
Puranānūru 21, Poet: Aiyur Moolankizhār to King Kānapēreyil Kadantha
Ukkira Peruvazhuthi,
(translated by Vaidehi)
O Lord whose renown extends beyond the ability of poets!
Vēnkaimārpan is grieving and thinking, “With deep moats
deeper than the limits of the earth, walls that seem to
touch the sky, well-guarded protective forests dense with
trees where even a ray of sun cannot enter, battlements
with arrow holes that appear like stars in the sky, the
fort at Kānapēr is protected, and to take it back from
him is impossible, like trying to recapture water in
liquid iron melted by red flame lit by a metalsmith with
strong hands.”
O Victorious king who wears a thumpai blossom garland each
day, as you triumph in battles! Poets have exhausted themes
to sing about you. May your spear flourish, gleaming with
glory, and may those who scorn you perish with their fame!
புலவரை யிறந்த புகழ்சா றோன்றல்
நிலவரை யிறந்த குண்டுகண் ணகழி
வான்றோய் வன்ன புரிசை விசும்பின்
மீன்பூத் தன்ன வுருவ ஞாயிற்
5. கதிர் நுழை கல்லா மரம்பயில் கடிமிளை
அருங்குறும் புடுத்த கானப் பேரெயில்
கருங்கைக் கொல்லன் செந்தீ மாட்டி
இரும்பு ணீரினு மீட்டற் கரிதென
வேங்கை மார்ப னிரங்க வைகலும்
10. ஆடுகொளக் குழைந்த தும்பைப் புலவர்
பாடுதுறை முற்றிய கொற்ற வேந்தே
இகழுந ரிசையொடு மாயப்
புகழொடு விளங்கிப் பூக்கநின் வேலே. (21 புறநானூறு purananuru)
–subham—
Tags- Five sheaths, pancha koshas, VC, Tirumanthiram, red hot iron.
Tamil and Vedas 