The Anandamaya kosha or "sheath made of bliss" ( ananda) is in Vedantic philosophy the most subtle or spiritual of the five levels of embodied self. It has been interpreted differently according to specific schools of Indian (and also Theosophical) thought.

The Anandamaya kosha in traditional Advaita Vedanta

Advaita Vedanta ''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hinduism, Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the Āstika and nāstika, orthodox Hindu school Ved ...

the Anandamaya kosha is the innermost of the five

kosha A ''kosha'' (also ''kosa''; Sanskrit कोश, IAST: ), usually rendered "sheath", is a covering of the ''Atman'', or Self according to Vedantic philosophy. There are five ''koshas'' (Panchakoshas; ; the five sheaths), and they are often vis ...

s or "sheaths" that veil the

Atman Atman or Ātman may refer to: Film * ''Ātman'' (1975 film), a Japanese experimental short film directed by Toshio Matsumoto * ''Atman'' (1997 film), a documentary film directed by Pirjo Honkasalo People * Pavel Atman (born 1987), Russian hand ...

or Supreme Self. Unlike the next three more outer koshas, it constitutes the ''karana sarira'' or

causal body The Causal body - originally ''Karana-Sarira'' - is a Yogic and Vedantic concept that was adopted and modified by Theosophy and from the latter made its way into the general New Age movement and contemporary western esotericism. It generally refer ...

. It is associated with the state of dreamless sleep and

samadhi ''Samadhi'' (Pali and sa, समाधि), in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools, is a state of meditative consciousness. In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ashtanga Yoga ...

The Anandamaya kosha in Krsna Consciousness

The ānanda-maya stage is explained by

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami (; 1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnava guru who founded ISKCON, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna movement". Members of ISKCON view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a repr ...

as the "brahma-bhūta" stage in the Bhagavad-gītā. There it is said that in the brahma-bhūta stage of life there is no anxiety and no hankering. This stage begins when one becomes equally disposed toward all living entities, and it then expands to the stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in which one hankers to render service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This hankering for advancement in devotional service is not the same as hankering for sense gratification in material existence. In other words, hankering remains in spiritual life, but it becomes purified. When our senses are purified, they become freed from all material stages, namely anna-maya, prāṇa-maya, mano-maya and vijñāna-maya, and they become situated in the highest stage — ānanda-maya, or blissful life in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

The Anandamaya kosha according to Subba Row

The Indian

Theosophist Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

T. Subba Row correlated the five koshas with

Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian Mysticism, mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Socie ...

's septenary principle. The Anandamaya-kosa (sheath of bliss or ''Karanopadhi'' - causal body) is here associated with the Spiritual Soul or Buddhi principle (the sixth of the seven principles)

The Anandamaya kosha according to Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

In the teachings of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
Himalayan Academy
, the Anandamaya kosha is not a sheath in the same sense as the four outer koshas, but rather constitutes the

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

itself, a body of light. As well as being the Causal body and the repository of karma, it is also the ''Karana chitta'', the "causal mind" or superconscious mind, of which Parashakti (or Satchidananda) is the substratum. This Anandamaya kosha evolves through all incarnations until finally merging in the Primal Soul, ''Parameshvara''. It then becomes ''Sivamayakosha'', the body of Siva.

The Self made of Delight according to Sri Aurobindo

Unlike other Vedantic philosophers,

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...

does not consider the five selves as koshas, "sheaths", but instead sees them as the

evolutionary Evolution is change in the heredity, heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the Gene expression, expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to ...

principles of the

Inner Interior may refer to: Arts and media * ''Interior'' (Degas) (also known as ''The Rape''), painting by Edgar Degas * ''Interior'' (play), 1895 play by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck * ''The Interior'' (novel), by Lisa See * Interior de ...

or True Divine Self at each plane of existence. The Anandamaya Self is thus the individualised Divine Self that will emerge with the actualisation of the Plane of Ananda, following and even surpassing the Supramental stage of evolution.

External links

Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary: Ke-Kz

Krsna Book
Vedanta {{Hindu-philosophy-stub