Lesson 27: Online Education in Yoga by Prashant S Iyengar: recorded 6-27-2020

Pranayama — By, On, For, With, & In Pranamaya Kosha

Last time we were dealing with the Pranamaya Kosha….[1] I need to repeat that we have to look into pranayama as an educational process. The world is not familiar with this process. The world is familiar with the consumer package of pranayama.

Everyone gets… instructions on pranayama. [Although] pranayama is taught and practiced…, there is a big difference [between that and] the educational process,. That is what we are looking into now….

Pranayama is something by, on, for, with, and in the Pranamaya Kosha. That’s an aspect of… esoteric anatomy. Therefore, I said going for pranayama is non-classical… [if it lacks] understanding of the Pranamaya Kosha…. In the classical approach, the Pranamaya Kosha was understood. [Pranayama is more] than just understanding the breath and breathing; breathing slower, deeper, and fuller; or breathing from the right and left nostril, etc. That is shvasayama (breath control).

But this is pranayama. Therefore, having some idea about the Pranamaya Kosha is so important. That’s why we were looking into the pranamaya kosha. To look into the pranamaya kosha, you must understand the pancha (five) koshas because it is one of the five koshas: Annamaya, Pranamaya, Manomaya, Vijnanamaya, and Anandamaya.

Therefore, we had an… introductory understanding of Annamaya Kosha as well. In the Pranamaya Kosha… we came to six chakras: Muladhara, Svadishthana, Manipuraka, Anahata, Vishuddhi, and Ajna.[2] This is just introductory information.

Sahasrara Chakra — Sole Purpose is Liberation +2.45

Some of you have an idea about the seventh chakra, the Sahasrara Chakra. However, in yoga technology there is mention of shat (six) chakras and shat chakra kriyas (actions). Why not a seventh chakra? The seventh chakra has only one purpose…. At the point of liberation, it’s an escape route for salvation…, and for emancipation. Only when that jivatma (individuated Self) escapes through the Brahmarandhra (fontanel at the crown of the head), which is in the Sahasrara Chakra, [can] it go for emancipation.

The Sahasrara (thousand petal) Chakra has only one function: to emancipate a jiva and bestow kaivalya (isolation), nirvana (lit., extinction of wind), and moksha (liberation).

Sahasrara Chakra — Comprised of All Aksharas (Energy Forms) +03.25

The Sahasrara Chakra is constituted of all the letters, and all the letters are already covered by the six chakras. It doesn’t have any additional letters; there are no additional letters. All the chakras collectively have all the aksharas (letters of the alphabet). Therefore, since these aksharas come in the thousand petal chakra, there is a repetition of the same letters.

These letters are not just… literal letters. They’re aksharas… for language. [They have] a very significant kind of designation. We don’t call them literal letters, as is the case in other languages. In other languages they’re literally called letters.

Aksharas are not literally letters. They are aksharas. Shara means destructible. Akshara means indestructible. They’re energy forms. The Adi Shakti (primordial power in the form of Parvati, Shiva’s consort) manifests in the forms of these aksharas. They become energy forms. Actually, they are all energy forms.

I’ll… give you an example for you to understand, a little amusing example: Some unknown person — a Tom, Dick, or Harry — writes you a letter… which only says, “I love you.” You do not know that person. So what does that word mean? The sentence has a meaning, but what does it mean to you? In all probability, you are unhappy with some Tom, Dick or Harry writing you a letter with the message, “I love you.” But, if your beloved had written those words, what would be the value of the words? The value would change. If an unknown person writes it, you have one reaction. If your beloved writes… the same words, it means a lot. The… statement has not changed; the letters have not changed….

Perhaps that person has written it in [beautiful] calligraphy. [Although] your beloved has not written [it so beautifully]…, it has more value. Why is that? Because those letters become power. If your beloved tells you, “I love you,” it becomes an energy booster for you. If some Tom, Dick and Harry says it, it doesn’t work that way. It can work negatively, as well.

Those become energy forms. Who says it can become an energy form? Someone can say the same thing, giving you a depleted energy condition. [When] that statement is uttered by a person… related to you, it can give you a depleted condition of energy. The same letters repeated by another person…, can become an energy form for you.

So, what is said in this world is not as important as who says it. Who says it, when it is said, and how it is said matters a lot. They become energy forms. They are not inert letters because the letters can animate you. Letters that can provoke you…, energize you…, and deplete you… become energy forms for you.

These are indestructible energy forms because that is how the Adi Shakti (primordial power) manifests. Therefore they are called matrkas (divine mothers).[3] I won’t go into that detail because at the introductory level, we don’t need to understand what that is. We know what Mata is. Mata is mother. Adi Shakti is the Adi Mata (primordial mother). She’s the mother of all creation. She’s the mother of all manifestations. This is beautifully described in the Saptashati (collection of seven hundred verses) on Devi. Those who are familiar with the Saptashati — the mother has been described in so many ways how she manifests within us in the form of hunger, thirst, intelligence, mind, sleep, every kind of power in us. It is a manifestation of Adi Devi,

ya devi sarva bhuteshu Vishnu-mayeti shabdita
To that Devi who, in all beings, is called Vishnu-maya [Tantroktam Devi Suktam 16, ca. 600 C.E.]

Then it describes various forms of energies on which we thrive. She manifests in us in so many forms.

That is why the prana is called Vishva Chaitanya Shakti (power of universal consciousness). These letters in the chakras mean [more] than the same letters on a piece of paper…. When those letters are there in the chakras, they mean a lot. They become energy forms.

I just gave you an example for you to understand this: Who says the three words, “I love you,” when it is said, and how it is said, can become an enormous energy form.

These are not literal letters, these are akara (forms) diksha (consecrated), akaranta (inner form), letters. They come in the petals of the chakras. They are matrkas, they are energy forms.

The Sahasrara Chakra has the same letters. From the Muladhara to the Ajna Chakra you get all the rksh letters. Then in the Sahasrara Chakra they are repeated. It really doesn’t manifest as… only one function. Therefore, in the technology of yoga, there is mention of shat (six) chakras — Shat Chakra Nirupanam (Six Chakra Investigation by Tantrik Purananda-Svami, 1526 C.E.). There is no seventh chakra nirupanam. The seventh chakra is only an escape gate for a proficient yogi who has attained the spiritual summum bonum (highest good).

There’s a seventh chakra, which is at the top of the head. There is a Brahmarandhra. Randhra means hole. At the top of the head, at the top of the crown, there is a hole. You can feel the hollow there in a newborn baby…. It is filled up by applying oil to the crown of the head of the baby. [The hole] then fills up over a period of time [with bone]. However…, that hole is the gate…, which is an escape route for the emancipated individual Self. That is the Sahasrara Chakra.

That was a very, very, basic, brief introduction to the chakras…. I have not gone into it in depth. The shat chakras are born from the Pranamaya Kosha, which is the locus for all the, the celestial forces that operate within us.

Pancha Pranas — Functions & Locations +12.10

The other aspect of the Pranamaya Kosha is the pancha pranas, the five pranas — prana, apana, samana, udana, and vyana…. These are the five pranas.

The prana is one…, but it has been given five nomenclatures depending upon region, and function. It is one and the same energy, but it plays different roles in different locations of the body…. Therefore, it is given five nomenclatures.

[Although] our planet earth has only one ocean…, we have given it five names. However, the water is the same…. For our convenience, for our geographical mapping, etc., we have named them Arctic Ocean, Antarctic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean. The water is one and the same. These names are given by us… because of their location. A particular location is called Pacific. Other locations are called Atlantic…, Arctic and Antarctic. The ocean is one.

Similarly, prana is only one. In different locations it has been given different… names because it has different functions. Below the navel, it is called apana. From the navel to the heart region, it is called samana. In the heart region, up to throat, it is called prana…. The throat [region], and above, is called udana…. And vyana is all over. They… are not five pranas, that have a substantially different status. The substance is one. [Although] the substance doesn’t change, they have five… different functions in five locations.

Below the navel, the [apana] prana will work for excretion, and the movement of the lower organs… and extremities. The same prana above the throat becomes udana. It starts working for the brain. There’s a big difference between brain function and function below the navel. It is convenient to call them different names because of their different functions — so that we can… study them. Otherwise, prana is only one.

This prana, as I said, is energy. Oxygen is only energy for the biological status in us. The oxygen is needed in different parts of the body, where oxygen is supplied through the blood to various cells. However, all our functions are not [served] by oxygen. The oxygen has to transform into many different forms…, for the various forms of energy to function in human beings….

I’ve got this analogy to [help] you comprehend…. Does your car run on crude oil? No. You can’t fill up your tank with crude oil and run your car. Oxygen is like crude oil within us. [Oxygen] is only good to keep us alive. But, it has to be transformed into many different forms because we work with variegated forms of energy — physical…, mental…, life force…, intellectual…, emotional…, and psychic…. [There are] an n number of energies within [us]. We don’t just work on one energy. Energy has to come in different forms.

For another example, I will use electricity. Electricity manifests in several ways. It becomes a light…, a heater…, air conditioning…, a fan…, a freezer…, a machine…, or mortar. [Although] electricity is one and the same, it manifests in different ways, depending upon the apparatus through which it is running…. Similarly, this energy works in several ways in human beings. Therefore, there have to be several forms of energies within us.

Breath — Refined & Transformed by Nostrils +17.55

Crude oil goes to a refinery. Then, you get your petrol from a refinery [so that] your car can run on it. When… our breath goes through the nostrils, the nostrils are an incredible refinery…. They are not really [given sufficient] importance…. The nostrils… refine and transform the breath, into many forms, to go into different places in our body, to carry out different kinds of activities.

Do you know the chemical status of oxygen, [designated] by the letter O, in physical chemistry? The breath we take through the nostrils… doesn’t [directly] go into the lungs [from] the gates. There’s a lot of refining of the breath taking place to go into the lungs.

[Even when] the temperature outside may be sub-zero — minus ten, minus fifteen, minus three, or minus four — by the time air goes into the lungs [it has been warmed to] human temperature. You can not take sub-zero temperatures into the lungs…. It doesn’t go in that way…. There are turbines in the nostrils that work on the breath; it is immediately heated to our temperatures, ninety-eight degrees Fahrenheit…. When it is in the nose, it is processed immediately.

We have a concept of edible food. All food is not edible…. We have to select the food, and process the food. Then it becomes edible.

So, the breath, the air that is taken in, has to become a “lung-able” breath….[4] There are so many processes which take place. The air is filtered. Otherwise, there is too much dust in the atmosphere…. We don’t take the dust into us. The dust is stuck in the nostrils. That’s why we have hair in the nose…. If the dust were to go into the lungs…, infection, and disease could [result].

There’s a lot of purification… and processing taking place. The air that we take in for oxygen is like something like crude oil. You can’t [pour] crude oil into your car and make the car run on crude oil. It needs to be processed and refined. So, the nostrils are a marvelous instrument to carry out so many processes on the breath and make it lung-able. Only then does it get into the lungs. It goes into the… windpipe. It’s a marvelous organ that we need to appreciate.

Every four seconds we take a new breath. Understand the base in which it is working. Every four seconds, a new in-breath. Then it carries out this processing in no time. It purifies. It is an enormous filter…. It’s an enormously vigilant agency. Our breathing is an incessant activity, 24/7. It is on duty, 24/7 [for our] lifespan. And highly vigilant. We don’t give any credit to the whole mechanism of nostrils.

Ashvini Kumara Physicians Reside at the Gates of the Nostrils +22.50

Very significantly, in the adhidaivika constitution, the celestial twin Ashvini Kumara physicians…, the physicians of the gods, preside over the nostrils.[5] The Ashvini Kumaras are the presiding deities of the nostrils. It is such an incredible unrecognized organ…. We don’t give much importance to it.

Ashvini is [rooted in] the word ashva (horse). Ashva means horse. A horse is ever-alert, ever-active. A horse is ever-standing. Figuratively, we say, “we have to take it standing.” [A horse] is literally standing. If a horse sits, it is killed. A horse doesn’t even sit.

This force in the nostrils is like an ashva in the sense that it is ever-alert, ever-standing. It has to work 24/7 for its lifespan, with the same amount of vigilance. It cannot relax even for a moment. So, in the word Ashvini is the word ashva (horse).

Ever-alert is also very significant. After all, this breath is going to the Pranamaya Kosha, which is the locus of the divine forces within us. That is why the divine physicians are right at the gates. It is so significant. The Ashvini Kumaras are the twin physicians right at the gates of the breathing organ. They [remain] vigilant there, carrying out all kinds of processes. An enormous [amount of] chemical processing is carried out in the nostrils.

Breath Corresponds to Emotion +25.05

If you are a little more familiar with the science of yoga, it says that if you are angry, you have a corresponding breath. If you are crazy…, overcome with some sentimental emotions…, egoistic…, sublime…, or humble, there is a corresponding kind of breath. For every emotion there is corresponding kind of breathing. It is processing in the nose for your emotions… and the breath is modified accordingly. Therefore, if the mind is in turmoil, your breathing will have bizarre schemes.

That’s why, in yoga, we speak about steadying the mind, giving a pattern to the mind — so that the breath will be richer in form. Otherwise, a bizarre kind of breathing will take place as the moods change, or are negative…. There is a correspondence between the breath and the mind.

Even your breathing changes…. If you are angry, when you breathe, you hit the membranes [of the nostrils]. That’s why the nostrils horizontally broaden when you are angry. That’s why the tip of the nose is very thin. That’s something that you need to observe in yourself.

When you are angry, how do you breathe? When you are emotional, sentimental, or in love, how do you breathe? If you are delighted, how do you breathe? If you are in sorrow, how do you breathe? It is something to be observed. Your nostrils are such flexible organs. Like dancers with several facial expressions, the nostrils have several forms. If I may say so, it can be called a physiognomy of the breath. It has so many forms — as many forms as moods.

The breath is processed for the state of mind within you. If you are regulating the mind, then the breath also will contribute to regulating the mind. It is not necessary to go into details at our introductory phase of education….

Breath & Mind Are Chemical Matter +27.55

The breath doesn’t [remain the same] as it is outside of you. Whatever the chemical composition of oxygen, it is [that] just up to the gates of the nostrils. Up to [those gates] it is elemental air. Once it [enters] the gates, it is totally a different entity.

As a matter of fact, [the breath] is not a gaseous matter. It is a chemical matter. Our body is 70% chemical. So, we are a 70% chemical embodiment. The moment [the breath] reaches the embodiment, it is in conjunction with the chemicals. Our mental states…, emotional states…, and psycho-mental states are chemical states.

The moment the breath enters in, we say that the breath flows. This flow of the breath is like water flow. Air also flows. But, when we say the breath is flowing in our embodiment, it flows like a river. It doesn’t flow like air.

The moment it [enters ] into the nostrils, once it is in touch with the nostrils at the very gates, it ceases to be an element of air. It becomes chemical because we are a chemical complex. The science of yoga tells us about so many fascinating things.

Energy — Physical, Mental & Emotional Assimilation +29.40

Then, it manifests in different forms. We need one kind of energy to digest our food, and another kind of energy to digest our mental input. Imagine the way you might be digesting your food. How do you digest your food?

We also need to digest… mental input. If we do not digest that mental input, then we are in disarray. There are… mental things to be digested. It [requires] a different energy to digest mental input, mental [occurrences]. Many cannot digest [that]. When they do not get digested, they get agitations that are devastating. They are explosive or they’re depleted.

It [requires] a different energy form to assimilate what comes in the mind. There is one kind of assimilation for the edible food that comes into our belly…. So, also, there are different kinds of things which come into us like intellectual assimilation, mental assimilation, emotional assimilation, psycho-mental assimilation, psychological assimilation. There are so many assimilations, which depend on different energy forms.

Pranamaya Kosha Generates Energy +31.10

All those energy forms are provided by this Pranamaya Kosha. From biological energies to so many kinds of energies. Human beings do not just subsist on biological energy. There are so many kinds of energies in the psychic realm. Every kind of energy… required for the conduct of life is turned out by this Pranamaya Kosha.

These [chakras] are sometimes understood as wheels…. Even today, we are aware of this pranic healing concept. This pranic healing is with reference to the chakras.

Each chakra generates a different form of energy. We need every kind of energy for our… justifiable and… successful life as human beings, and, then, as exalted human beings. We need these energies. All these energies are generated by the Pranamaya Kosha.

Pranayama has to do something with these energies. It is for…, by…, through…, and on the energies. It is all the energies.

[Pranayama] is not breathing regulation, breath regulation. Otherwise, the word should have been shvasa-ayama (breath restraint). Although it is pranayama, what do we get in twentieth and twenty-first century consumer packages? It is all shvasa-ayama.

What is shvasa-ayama? “Be aware of the breath and do the breathing like that. Do the breathing like this — breathing from this nostril, breathing from that nostril. Soft breath to sharp breath, normal breath to deep breath.” It’s all respiratory breathing with which we are dealing.

Respiratory breathing comes in very handy for us to learn certain aspects of the pranic processes because this breath is a vehicle of pranayama. Therefore the breathing is important. Respiratory breathing is important.

But in yoga it doesn’t remain respiratory breathing. It becomes much more than that. It becomes holistic breathing. We need breathing for everything. To digest food in our gastric region, we need the breath to work in a particular way. The gastric fire is inflamed, and then the food is digested better.

Energy manifests in so many ways. That is pranic energy. To be exalted as human beings, yoga has the technology to further great refinements in our energy processes. It doesn’t refer to in-breath and out-breath. It says puraka (inhalation) and rechaka (exhalation). It says puraka, rechaka, and antara (internal) and bahya (external) kumbhakas (retentions). That’s a delineation which we will come to at some later point in time.

Pancha (Five) Pranas — Sited in Pranamaya Kosha +34.45

The pancha pranas are also part of Pranamaya Kosha. I’ll give a little introduction about these pancha pranas. We need an n number forms of energies. The pancha pranas do that, in various permutations, combinations, proportions, and processes. The volume, velocity, density, confinement, deployment, and process of breathing will work in a chemical way to turn out various kinds of energy in an exalted status.

That is why yogis are yogis, distinct from we commoners — various energy forms are turned out because of those energy manifestations…, pranayama, and the Pranamaya Kosha that is activated in different ways. That is the Pranamaya Kosha.

[The Pranamaya Kosha] is the energy body, the energy-profused body. All these energies are celestial energies. The mind is. They are not terrestrial energies. They are celestial energies. That’s a little bit about the pancha pranas. The Pranamaya Kosha is composed of the pancha pranas and six chakras…. That is all that I want to say about the Pranamaya Kosha.

Pranamaya Kosha — Site of the Prarabdha Karma (Destiny) +36.25

Now, a little peep into the next kosha, which we have to consider [as part of] the five koshas. That is called the Manomaya Kosha.[6] The Manomaya Kosha should not be mistaken for the mind, the psychological mind.

The Pranamaya Kosha has the whole scheme of prarabdha [karma], destiny. If you recall, I said in an earlier session that the Pranamaya Kosha gives us the whole scheme of our destiny. Why are we like this? And why are we not like that? It is because of constitution of the shat (six) chakras, the constitution, and functioning, of the shat chakras. The whole scheme of prarabdha karma gives us a caliber of Pranamaya Kosha.[7]

If the prarabdha karma is very rich — like in the mystics, saints, and sages — then the Pranamaya Kosha is devised accordingly. That’s why they have super energies. They are super yogis [with] super human energies. They work with superhuman energies.

But we mortals, ordinary beings because of our prarabdha, [have] a Pranamaya Kosha that is devised and customized accordingly. We get it because of our prarabdha. Therefore the prarabdha will actualize through the Pranamaya Kosha functioning.

The Pranamaya Kosha houses the entire destiny scheme of our life. It is suitably given to us to face destiny. There’s no mismatch. Otherwise it would be chaos. If [there were] a human embodiment with a manifestation of a beastly lion, then that human being would become a predator. That mismatch should not be there. The energy forms a destiny. There should be some compatibility. Otherwise…, there will be a misfire in life. The Pranamaya Kosha is devised and customized by the body of prarabdha karma, the destiny. The prarabdha karma has its locus in the Pranamaya Kosha.

Manomaya Kosha — Storehouse of Sanchita (Accumulated) Karma +39.20

The Manomaya Kosha is the storehouse of the entire sanchita (accumulated) karma. Sanchita karma means the latent deposits of karmas. That is in the Manomaya Kosha. The Manomaya Kosha has an entire infrastructure scheme for all the lives hereafter…. All the infra-matter, infrastructure, is available in the Manomaya Kosha for forthcoming incarnations.

The Manomaya Kosha will house the 8.4 million vasana schemes, tendencies schemes, for the 8.4 million life forms. It is said that we have 8.4 million life forms in a global scenario. The Manomaya Kosha will house all those.

The Manomaya Kosha doesn’t work much for the present life. It is… a storehouse of all our latent karma deposits. That’s the cold storage of all our karmas that we have been committing from time without a beginning…. That sanchita karma is like cold storage. It’s not going to work in our present life.

Present life is going to work on prarabdha (destiny) karma rashi (heap, mass), the heap of prarabdha karma, the heap of destiny-deciding karmas, destiny-shaping karmas [in the Pranamaya Kosha].

Whereas, we have all those karmas stored in the Manomaya Kosha. It’s like a microfilm, or microchip, which contains all those karmas of our past life — impressions of all those karmas that we have carried out from time without beginning, in our 8.4 class manifestations. We have infinite manifestations, but they’re all in 8.4 life species… classes…, called yunis (bonds). All those are housed in the Manomaya Kosha.

We should not mistake Manomaya Kosha… for this mind. Mind is not from that. Our mind is from the Pranamaya Kosha. Our mind is from the Annamaya Kosha. This mind — the empirical mind, this temporal mind, cerebral mind, cerebral-cortical mind — is from Annamaya Kosha and Pranamaya Kosha. Don’t mistake [that] it is… from the Manomaya Kosha.

The Manomaya Kosha has only one gate of entry. [Although] things will enter there in this life…, not much will come out. For mortals nothing comes out.[8] Something can contribute only for exalted beings and yogis, because their chitta bhumis (planes) are higher, their chittas work on higher plane. So the Manomaya Kosha will contribute.

But for we mortals, if I may say, bi-footed worms of the planet, we commoners, the Manomaya Kosha doesn’t have any dispensation. However, it has reception. It receives our karmas, which we are committing in this life. The karmas will go to the Manomaya Kosha. The entry aspect is available to us. Our karmas can enter the Manomaya Kosha, but there is no exit gate for us to get something from the Manomaya Kosha. Only exalted beings [get] something.

That Manomaya Kosha houses all of our vasanas (tendencies), and samskaras (latent impressions), which are not manifesting in this life, but will manifest in our life hereafter, in our subsequent lives.[9] They are all rightly called latent deposits…. They… cannot be liquidated in this life. They’ll be liquidated in life hereafter.

Manomaya Kosha — Universality of Karma Siddhanta (Karmic Law) & Atma +44.20

The Manomaya Kosha is an enormous thing. It is the body of the entire biological creature available in the universe. In the universe. I’m not just saying on the planet, because we can sometimes also manifest in another galaxy, according to the karma siddhanta (law of karma).

You can manifest in another galaxy. There’ll be another kind of life formed there. As I say sometimes, metaphysically, no part of this universe, no microscopic body in this universe, is bereft of life. Some form, or another, of life will be there. Our form of life is not available on Mars. Our form of life is not available on the Sun. Our form of life is not available on Uranus, Pluto, and… extra-galactic bodies. However, some life forms are there. Nothing is devoid of life.

The biology that we study… is only study of life on this planet. Metaphysics tells us clearly that you can’t extrapolate and deduce that there’s no life elsewhere. There is life even on the Sun. There’ll be a fiery embodiment. There’ll be a fiery life.

That is why the atma has been characterized in the Bhagavad Gita (II.23): It cannot be burned. It cannot be wetted.[10] Why? Since it cannot be burned, it can manifest on the Sun itself. It is manifesting on the Sun itself. There is life on the Sun, that is not akin to life on our planet. Our life here depends upon water. If there were no water, then we could not live. If there were no oxygen, we could not live. Therefore, if you go to the Moon, you have to carry oxygen because there is no oxygen on the Moon.

Even on our planet we see that the carbon dioxide is taken in by the botanical world. We can’t claim that everything lives on oxygen on the planet. Even on the planet there is life which is living by carbon dioxide, and which is emitting oxygen. [It is] the reverse of what we are doing. Life is really something quite marvelous to investigate.

According to philosophy, metaphysics, life even exists on any body in this universe, be that the Sun, a star of 40,000 or 80,000 degrees. The Sun is only 46,500 degrees Kelvin. But there are stars which are 40,000 or 50,000 Kelvin. Life will be there.

That’s why the Bhagavad Gita (II.23) says that [the atman] cannot be burned, it cannot be wetted, it cannot be dried, it cannot be cut. Why? So that it can manifest anywhere, in any condition in the universe. The whole universe is occupied by prakriti and purusha in metaphysics.

Manomaya Kosha — Samskara (Latent Impression) Body Transmigrates +47.55

The Manomaya Kosha is not to be mistaken for the mind. It is all a samskara (latent impression) body. All the prospective schemes for our life, the infrastructure, infra-matter, is available in the Manomaya Kosha.

Suppose that you are going to be a celestial deity in the next life. The infra-matter is available in the Manomaya Kosha. If in the next life you are going to be an infernal creature, the infra-matter is available in the Manomaya Kosha. It will be drawn at the point of death.

Only at the point of death is the outward gate opened to take the necessary karma rashi (heap of karma). In one sense, the outward gate of the Manomaya Kosha opens only once in life for all of us mortals. That is to take karmas from latent deposits to create a new body of karmas for a new life. That’s the role of the Manomaya Kosha….

We are carrying within us everything we are going to be in prospective life and lives… All infra-matter is available in the Manomaya Kosha within us for the hundreds, thousands, and ten-thousands of lives hereafter. That’s, again, a marvel to be investigating.

I have just given very introductory information about the third kosha, the Manomaya Kosha. Not much needs to be said at this stage. But it is really a marvel. If I open it out right now, it will be a Pandora’s box. So, let me not open it out at this stage when you are trying to have just an introductory understanding of the Manomaya Kosha.

[1]           Last time we were dealing with the Pranamaya Kosha: See Lesson 26: Pranayama Manages Chakras 6-21-20.

[2]           we came to six chakras: Muladhara, Svadishthana, Manipuraka, Anahata, Vishuddhi, and Ajna: See Lesson 26: Pranayama Manages Chakras 6-21-20.

[3]           they are called matrkas (divine mothers): The seven matrkas (mother goddesses) are derived of their male counterparts: Brahmani emerged from Brahma, Vaishnavi from Vishnu, Maheshvari from Shiva, Indrani from Indra, Kaumari from Skanda, Varahi from Varaha and Chamunda from Devi. The first three matrkas are portrayed in Ellora Cave 21 ca. 650 C.E. alongside Nataraja at Aurangabad.

[4]           the breath, the air that is taken in, has to become a “lung-able” breath: Prashant is initiating a theme that will be developed throughout the lecture: After the breath is taken in, it is transformed into usable energy that can be assimilated by body and mind. Taken in also has a metaphoric aspect comparable to consuming food or “feeding the senses” with beauty.

[5]           the celestial twin Ashvini Kumara physicians…, the physicians of the gods, preside over the nostrils: Ashvin means “horse possessors.” The Ashvini Kumaras are divine twin horsemen guardians that travel in a chariot drawn by tireless horses.

[6]           the next kosha… is called the Manomaya Kosha: Prashant will first discuss the prarabdha karma of the Pranamaya Kosha that determines our current destiny. He will return to the discussion of the Manomaya Kosha at +39.20, where he contrasts that with an explanation of how the accruing storehouse of sanchita karma is inaccessible in this life.

[7]           The whole scheme of prarabdha karma gives us a caliber of Pranamaya Kosha: See “Pranayama Manages Tendencies of Pranamaya Kosha to Determine Destiny,” Lesson 26: Pranayama Manages Chakras 6-21-20.

[8]           The Manomaya Kosha has only one gate of entry. [Although] things will enter there in this life…, not much will come out. For mortals nothing comes out: The Manomaya Kosha is accessed via an entry-only gate for the non-yogi. The yogi with a niruddha (restrained) chitta — the most exalted of the four stages (bhumis) of consciousness listed in VB I.1 — is able to parch the seeds of the subtle kleshas (afflictions) through involution (prati-prasava) [PYS II.10], and dhyana [PYS II.11]. The dhyana of such a perfected being results in freedom from latent impressions [PYS IV.6]. The yogi’s actions (karmas) are uncolored, neither black nor white, thus produce no consequences [PYS IV.4].

[9]           Manomaya Kosha houses all of our vasanas (tendencies), and samskaras (latent impressions), which are not manifesting in this life, but will manifest in our life hereafter, in our subsequent lives: Then, these [samskaras leave] vasanas (tendencies) which become manifested only when corresponding conditions are favorable and ripe (vipaka). [PYS IV.8] [B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, HarperCollins, San Francisco, 1993. P. 238]

[10]         atma… cannot be burned… It cannot be wetted: Bhagavad Gita II.23-24 Weapons do not cut this atma, fire (pavaka) does not burn it, water (ap) does not make it wet, and the wind (maruta) does not make it dry…. This [atman] is eternal (nitya), all pervading (sarvagata), unchanging (sthanu), immovable (achala), and primeval (sanatana).