Pancha Maya Koshas
The willingness to work through the material, understand the energy, control the mind, gain insight, and ultimately be fully at peace. Ancient mystical science understood consciousness by removing the ignorance placed around our being. To constitute Yoga as a form of experience, one can refer to texts such as the Taittiriya Upanishad 2.2.1 speaking of the Panchamaya Koshas.
Pancha means Five. Maya translates to the illusion of outer appearances. Ego attaches to during a human experience, and Kosha translates to sheaths or layers needing to be revealed. In Hinduism, Atman is the eternal self, the ultimate revelation.
Sensation creates a response (Ana Maya); a reply opens up to reason (Prana Maya). A reason summons awareness (Mano Maya); awareness transcends to experience (Vijana Maya). Finally, experience permeates into the universal consciousness (Ananda Maya). The Pancha Maya Koshas describes the five layers as a way to Atman, centermost being. However, a learned disciple knows Atman isn't an internal self but instead is all-pervasive.
Anna Maya
The Physical Sensation
Center: Root, ground, foundation, security, nourish
Element: Earth, solid
Stage: Gross Thought
The skin is the biggest organ of the body. It is an acting agent of transference by drawing sensory and motor input from external stimuli. Whatever we experience on the gross level sends messages to the brain to initiate a physiological response.
The physical layer consists of shape, size, color, tendons, bones, muscles, blood, the five senses of smell, touch, taste, hearing, and seeing. It is the controller of cause, consumer, producer, feeding the physicality and nourishing earth matter. Suffice it to say the Anna Maya Kosha is like a port of entry, a gateway. In Yoga, the general public who practice identifies with the material by asana to feel and satisfy.
The five senses make it tangible. Due to the satisfaction we receive, it's the reason we continually want more. The neurotransmitters in our brains rely on the receptors relentlessly working in our default network. It feels good, so I want more, it makes me happy, so I want more. This underlying realm is where the Ego loves to stay relevant, be recognized, be heard, connect the self to external energies and sensations, and establish autonomy.
Prana Maya
The Vibrations
Center: Sensations, Response, Vital Energy
Element: Water, Movement
Stage: Letting go of Gross Thought
Prana is the life force that flows within and around our bodies. For example, our breath is the gateway to the metaphysical with sense. By controlling our breath, we learn how to control our thoughts and energy flow throughout the body. Prana includes maintaining the circulation of blood as well as the lymphatic system. When one learns to let go of gross thought, it allows one to pay closer attention to the messages relaying throughout the body.
Prana flows in the blood, lymphatic, and nervous circulation, and the breath is a life principle and is a controllable expression. The regulation of breathing (Pranayama) links between the body and mind; interactive and dependent. A disturbance in vital energy may cause illness and psychosomatic irregularities. People with a unique ability to see another person's aura can perceive this body with their naked eye. It is the principle of life that distinguishes between living and dead matter. It controls the urge for survival, reproduction, movement, and self-expression.
Those with stable and egoistic vitals tend to dominate and feel the need to rule the world, where those with weaker vital energy are seen to be followers. However, the reliable egoistic essential power can be a significant obstacle in attaining a more spiritual path.
Mano Maya
The Mind
Center: The Solar Plexus, Will Power, Emotions, Feelings
Element: Fire, Heat, Power
Stage: Subtle Thought
The mind comprises the five organs of knowledge (nose, ears, eyes, skin, and tongue), the closest approximation to personhood. The brain is made up of thoughts, collectiveness, diversity, perception, judgment, reasoning, evaluating, comprehending, interpreting of 'I and Mine,' conceiving into thinking, will, or wish.' Thus, the mind links the soul and organs, which helps produce knowledge, pleasure, pain, etc. Remember, the brain is like a magnifier, perceiving all enjoyments or pain that are not on a physical level but rather in three dimensions. Hence, in Sanskrit, the subconscious, the conscious, and the unconscious.
Default networking and feedback looping condition our responses. Every person reacts and responds differently based on the projections of our minds, from repressing emotions to expressing emotions, pushing our thoughts, feelings, and emotions onto others without awareness.
Happy/Sad - Fear/Courage - Frustration/Relaxed.
Vijnana Maya
The Intellect and Wisdom
Center: Heart
Element: Air
Stage: Letting go of Subtle Thought
Known as the understanding, harmonized mind, recognizing, an elevated state of consciousness, and intellect. The capacity of exoteric is understanding and ascertaining by anyone (referring to knowledge outside of, and independent from, a person's experience). The body feels; the mind is experienced but not seen; the soul is neither experienced nor seen. Therefore with practice, particularly in Yoga, the awareness in consciousness begins to take place. During the processing of becoming aware and awakened, they will start to break through chains of actions and reactions, allowing the self to break free. Vijnanamaya enables a person to step back and analyze the situation, understanding and accepting a different perspective. This is where insight becomes instead bestowed.
Learning to witness and process our response will increase awareness, enabling those to break deeply rooted cycles to bring about change. Inviting and noticing the polarity of emotions, sensations, memories, and images, recognizing the construct of our minds, and allowing a deconstruction to attain liberation of the mind. Evoking insight into self-defeating patterns and regaining equanimity to induce freedom. Action and Ego.
Ananda Maya
The Pleasure and Joy
Center: Heart
Element: Space
Stage: Wholeness and Bliss
Peace and pure consciousness. Our birthright to be and to enjoy divine bliss. Revealing our actual beings and independent from our thoughts. It is made of pure love. The state of wholeness, of integration with the moment and with yourself, encompasses the inner sheath of Anandamaya. This bliss state is usually experienced in fleeting moments but can remain for more extended periods. Importantly, Anandamaya is still a sheath, a layer that can be peeled back. When peeled away, we reach Atman—our very center. Atman is our direct connection with the divine, with the essence of all that is. It is pure consciousness.
Atman is revered as the eternal self.