ANNAMAYA KOSHA🔗

Objectives: To understand deeply about Annamaya Kosha To learn how the Annamaya Kosha is created To expel the animal engrams from Annamaya Kosha To reprogram the Annamaya kosha for a healthy, stress free and blissful life

1. Revisiting Koshas - from a Healing Perspective The allopathic system of medicine is related to the annamaya kosha, the physical layer created by memories. For all problems related to annamaya kosha, allopathic medicine is the best curative. Allopathic treatment plays an amazing role in all sorts of problems related to annamaya kosha. Injuries caused in accidents occur in the annamaya kosha. Intensive care, emergency care, etc are available in the treatment of annamaya kosha. It is only allopathic remedies, which are useful for treating fractures and other injuries related to accidents.

The trouble starts when the layers beneath the annamaya kosha need to be treated. After trials and errors with various medicines, people realised that close to 90% of illnesses were psychosomatic in nature and it came to be accepted that allopathic medicine was not very effective for it.

Today, research on mind-body medicine is happening at a very fast pace in the world of medicine. People have begun to explore the deeper, subtle layers that are inside the physical body. Research is being conducted on the manomaya kosha, looking deep inside the physical body, the annamaya kosha.

The physical body, which we think as solid, is not solid at all. It is like this: The Cosmic energy is all-pervading. The various living forms, such as trees, animals and the human body, are actually different forms of the same energy.

How is it that this cosmic energy is available in various forms, yet remains

one? Let us understand this with an example.

Suppose you have a picture of a wave that is six to twelve feet high. Is this wave a truth? No! It had just risen, when the picture was taken. The next second, it would have fallen. But how huge it looked when it was at its peak! But the very next second, the same wave ceased to exist. Only in the picture, the wave seems like an independent object. Apart from the photograph, the wave would be part of a continuous motion.

Similarly, we see various objects only through the mind. We are able to see objects independently only due to the presence of our mind. If we did not have the mind, we would not be able to realise the boundary between our own body and that of a chair that is present in front of us. Everything would be seen as a whole.

People who have slipped into deep meditation say that suddenly they feel they have totally lost their self. This is because the mind becomes still. This is the case of man going beyond the mind. This is the experience when you go beyond the manonmaya kosha.

One more thing: Allopathy can cure the problems that affect the outer most layer of the human body. A person has to go for allopathic remedy to fix a broken bone. However, after it has been plastered, for the actual healing to happen, the energy play has to be addressed, nurtured.

There is a popular quote amongst the doctors: „Doctor Stitches, God Heals!‟

What is God? God is the all pervading, pure form of energy. God is neither an individual nor a character as we think. If we are able to connect to this pure form of energy, then we can maintain eternal

youth. The energy called God is available aplenty in every single layer of our body. However, it gets filtered as it passes through each of the layers.

The divine energy is over flowing in the deepest kosha, which is the anandamaya kosha. It is reduced in the vignanamaya kosha and gets lesser and lesser as it comes towards the outer layer.

The medical system suitable for Annamaya Kosha is Allopathy. The medical system suitable for Pranamaya Kosha is Yogasana and Pranayama. The medical system suitable for Manonmaya Kosha is Homoeopathy. The medical system suitable for Vignanyamaya Kosha is nature cure and Ayurveda. The medical system suitable for Anandamaya Kosha is Energy Healing like our Nithya Spiritual Healing.

Only the healing touch of the Master or the healing energy passed through divine meditation, can heal the problems related to anandamaya kosha.

2. The Physical Layer - How You Create It So, please sit up with your spine straight in line with your neck and head. We will start the process on the first layer. Let us now work on the first layer that is the annamaya kosha. The layer that is the physical layer - the body which you are carrying now, the body made of flesh and bones and blood.

Adi Sankara discusses about annamaya kosha in his book Tattvabodha

Meaning:- What is the food sheath? That which comes into being owing to the essence of food, that which is sustained by the essence of food, and that which decays or goes back to the earth which also is of the nature of food, is called the food sheath, the physical body.

The Vivekacudamani (87-91) says: „Skin, flesh, blood, nerves and tendons, fat, marrow, bones and waste - this is what the physical sheath is made up of. What we did in the past has made this body in this manner.

Annamaya kosha is the material part of Creation. Whether it is a tree or a rock or man, all these have the annamaya kosha in addition to having different degrees of consciousness. This kosha is the gross manifestation of energy as matter, in different proportions and strengths. It is the first layer of skin, muscle tissue, bones, and organs. It is called the gross body, the tangible part of yourself that you can mostly see, touch, and feel.

You have actually created this body of yours out of so many engrams, or samskaras, or engraved memories, belonging to past lives. The base material out of which you created this body is your engraved memories or samskaras. Engraved memory means the memory out of which you do all the actions, including your thinking. The engraved memories or samskaras are the base material out of which you have created this body. If you ask me whether I believe in a person having many births, I don"t just believe, I know it is the truth. You go through many births. The samskaras which you collect in the many different births - out of that you create your body for this birth.

Two things you need to understand: all samskaras or engrams will have a certain power, certain energy in them. There will be energy and a certain love or hatred attached to it. Let me describe this engram concept very clearly so that you will understand what I am trying to convey. Let us take some engram: for example the engram to have a cup of coffee as soon as you get up in the morning. When you get up in the morning, you will have that energy to get up, go to the kitchen, pick up the coffee and drink. The picture of coffee and the experience of coffee - both these put together is what is called samskara. Now, we are trying to remove the picture and give the energy alone to you. If you remove the engraved memory completely, you will loose both the energy and the picture. But when you work on the annamaya kosha, the memory"s energy

will be there, but the pictures will disappear! The vasanas will be removed but the shakti or the power of the samskara will stay with you. Vasana refers to the object that created the samskara in the first place. It is like the seed. Shakti is the power of the samskara. Removing vasana but not the power of the samskara, is called Self-actualization. Understand: Self-realization can be achieved in two ways: by completely removing the samskara and the energy. This is the path of renunciation; or, by having the energy but not the vasana. This is the path of self-actualization.

Now, by working on the anandamaya kosha, you will be having the power but not the pictures.

The Vedic way of putting the theory of evolution is the most beautiful way. Understand: Charles Darwin missed an important point in the theory of evolution. If Darwin had caught a little bit of the energy of enlightenment, the whole history of the West might have been different! He took the monkey as the father figure; there lies the problem! The Vedic tradition says, man came down from God! Darwin says, man came down from the monkey! The throne is given to God in one tradition and to the monkey in another tradition. Whoever you put on the throne - you will

remember and live like. That is why Darwin missed the game. He did not catch the exact thread.

Again, Sigmund Freud, after 40 years of research, concluded that human beings, as such, can't be helped or healed! After 40 years of research, he said this. The problem is, he did not get a single enlightened specimen to work with! He worked only with patients, with sick people, who had not experienced the flowering of enlightenment and hence the totality of being a human. So, he was led to conclude that that was the normal state. He concluded that man, as such, was sick, and hence can never be helped or healed!

A follower of Sigmund Freud went to Tiruvannamalai, a spiritual nerve center in South India, and my native place. He was afraid to meet Ramana Maharishi and so came away without meeting him. He writes, „I was afraid I would be lost in His presence. I have done too much

research, and I have too much investment in my beliefs. All my beliefs might disappear if I meet Him and sit in His presence.“ Just see his mind game! It clearly shows that he was not a true scientist! He was just a marketing person; one who sells himself, not one who works for the truth. Understand: if you are a scientist, and you sign an agreement with a company, you are completely bound. The moment you sign an agreement, you give up your freedom to research the real truth. Then, you are no more a scientist. You are not a true seeker. In the same way, this man had lost the truth. In olden days in India, there was a taxi which you had to push half the distance and the other half, it would go by itself! This man writes in his reminiscences, „Such a taxi came to take me to Ramana Maharishi's place. That morning, some fear gripped me and I simply took the taxi and ran away to Chennai. From there, I came back.“ He went all the way and was just half an hour“s distance away from Ramana. If he had met Bhagwan, the whole Western analysis of human psychology might have been different. They would have enjoyed the science of enlightenment!

You see: these people have done enough research in the waking state, dream state and deep sleep state, but they missed the samadhi state! If they would have had one enlightened specimen, they would have been flabbergasted by the results! They would have had real fun with the science, defying results recorded!

In the Vedic tradition, evolution is linked to the different avatars of Vishnu. The first is considered to be the fish body. You are born as a fish. You accumulate some samskaras through a few incidents when you are a fish. Then, you see a tortoise going around. You see a better possibility in the body of the tortoise. You decide: next time I create, I will create a body like that. A tortoise can live in water and on land. Then, when you are in the tortoise body, you see a better and bigger body, like that of a pig or some other animal. Then you decide, „The next time I create a body, I will create that kind of a body.“ So when you die, you create the next level - that is the pig body. As this cycle happens, you evolve, and also collect different engrams or samskaras every time you take birth anew. You raise the frequency of the system, or the body, every time you are given a chance to create or design. This same sequence, you can see in the incarnations of Lord Vishnu as well! First, it is the macha avatar - the fish incarnation, then the tortoise, then the pig, then half man half animal, then the pigmy man, then the primitive man, then the civilized man like Rama, who is dharmic. Lastly, even beyond civilization, there is the civilized poorna avatar - the completely enlightened being, who is not bound by any rules and regulations, who is just radiating joy, energy and enlightenment. It is this evolution that

happens in man also. Step by step, different kinds of beings happen. At every stage, you collect samskaras and design a body, when you are given an option, in a better way. This is the process of the evolution of the physical body, and the intelligence of evolution.

Anyhow, let us both work together. Let us not hate each other until the process is over. This is a very important thing, so understand and remember this statement deeply. Let us not hate each other till the end of the program. I say this because, when the Master starts doing his work on you, burning all your cancerous points, the points where you have invested your ego, you will experience hatred towards him. Right now, this may seem impossible to you, but when the work starts, you will be surprised!

During these few days, your food will be a little delayed; your sleep will also be a little delayed.

Please bear with it. This is required, because if you are caught in your regular routine for these few days, your second and third layer energies can't be awakened. You cannot be brought back to life from your deep sleep. So understand the whole truth, only then you will be able to enter into the process.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says of himself, „Even seeing me is like a glimpse of enlightenment for a person!“ He used to go to Calcutta in a horse carriage. He lived a very joyful life - picnicking, going out, jumping, dancing etc. He did not undertake the responsibility of a mission during his lifetime. Ramakrishna Mission was not created by Ramakrishna. He initiated around 60 disciples. When he died, only they gathered. He says, „Even if someone sees me accidentally, they don't even have to understand that I am enlightened etc...even if they just see me casually, they are blessed!“ You might think: how can that be? It sounds too egoistic. It is like me saying that if my car is standing in the signal and another car comes next to my car, if the person in the other car just happens to turn and look at me, he is blessed! He doesn't have to understand that I am enlightened. He does not even have to think that I am a holy man. Just a casual glimpse is enough! Ramakrishna says he is blessed! How can that be? When you understand how to design your body after death, you will understand this statement.

A small incident from Ramakrishna“s life:

One day, suddenly, he permitted his photograph to be taken. He selected one of the three photographs and said, 'Please make prints of this photo. This is going to be worshipped by thousands of people.' Ramakrishna kept the print in the prayer room, and worshipped the photograph. The people who saw this were confused at the act of Ramakrishna and asked him the reason.

Ramakrishna explained that he was in the samadhi state when that picture was taken, and hence it had become the very form of Parashakthi (cosmic energy), which could be worshipped.

Another interesting story from the life of Krishna:

Once, Krishna and Arjuna were walking in the forest, after the Mahabharata war was over. Suddenly, Arjuna said, 'Krishna! You told me so much in the Bhagavad Gita during the war. You delivered such beautiful aphorisms. But because I was feeling deeply troubled at that time, I am unable to remember them all clearly. Can you please repeat it to me now? I will grasp it deeply in my mind.'

Krishna replied casually, 'What? You do not remember! Even I do not remember anything now!'

Arjuna was perplexed. He asked, 'What are you saying Krishna? How is it that you yourself, don't remember what you said?'

Krishna replied, 'Yes Arjuna, I would have remembered if I had told you all the sutras myself.'

Now Arjuna was even more perplexed and said, 'Krishna, do not confuse me. It is you who told me the seven hundred verses during the war. If you say that you did not tell me, then who did?'

Krishna replied calmly, 'All that was said, was not spoken by me, but by the Parabrahma Krishna – the cosmic Krishna! The Krishna who is talking to you now is Vasudeva Krishna – Vasudeva's son!'

Through these stories, understand that the physical body of enlightened Masters is not their own. Whatever they do from their physical body is only through divinity. They are a pure channel for Existence to flow. That is why getting even a glimpse of them is enough in a lifetime.

Understand: whatever samskaras you collect when you are alive, everything gets recorded in you, even if you have not paid conscious attention while collecting them. For example, let us say that you are driving your car, and on the way, some accident or some loud expression of grief is going on in the road. You did not really observe much; you just drove past quickly. Consciously, you may not have even registered the car number, the color of the clothing of the person, or the face of the person who was involved in the accident. But, if you are hypnotized, you will tell the exact car number, the color of the clothing, the person's face etc! What does this mean? It means that, even if you don't pay attention to the scenes in your life, there is a system inside you which records anything and everything happening around you! Anything happening around you is getting recorded inside.

When you leave the body, all the things which got recorded in your entire life will replay in front of you. Like an option, your mind will ask what you want to pick up. See, by natural intelligence, you know that the body of an enlightened being which is there in your memory is the best body to choose. But you choose only out of whatever is available in front of you. When you are living as a fish, if you have seen a tortoise even once, you will choose only a tortoise! From the fish stage, you can only take one jump at a time - like the zoning system in USA! Only one jump at a time. There is nothing else you can do. But the next jump you will always take, is based on the best information available, the best data available.

One important thing: the onlooker, the man who got a glimpse of an enlightened being during his previous birth, may not recognize that he is enlightened, but after death, the memory will show him very clearly that he had the darshan - glimpse - of an enlightened person. This happens because that memory alone will shine! At the time of death, that will be in 4-colours, while everything else will be in black and white!

Yes...any questions till now?

Q: Some people are born blind or handicapped. Why is that? Did they consciously choose it to be so?

A: Yes. They consciously chose. I was once healing an autistic child in America. The child was born and brought up in a Telugu speaking family. When I put my hand on the child to heal, the child started talking to me in singular Tamil, a child who is 4 years old! He spoke to me, „Remove your hand.“ I slowly asked him, „Why are you telling me not to heal you? Don't you know that I am here only to heal you?“ He replied, „Yes, but I don't want to get healed. I am the owner of this body. I have consciously decided to take such a body.“ I asked him why? He replied, „I am not interested in taking the responsibility of going to school, going for a job etc. I hate this civilization. I just want to rest and relax. I don't want any so called civilized life. That is why I chose autism." I told him, „But your parents are suffering. They are such nice people. They are suffering because of you. Why did you decide to take birth with them?“ He replied, „Only because they are nice people, I took birth with them! They will take good care of me.“ Remember: he is answering all these things logically in Tamil! The whole family is looking baffled and troubled because this boy is talking in Tamil so fluently! Not a single person among them knows Tamil. I don't want to reveal the identity for privacy reasons, but this incident actually happened.

Your birth is your conscious decision, your conscious choice, the reason for which only you know. Sometimes, a particular part of the body might have been involved in some activity which you did not like, so you will renounce that part of the body when you take birth the next time. Just because of hatred towards that activity, you renounce that part of the body itself! It is true!

Q: Even if we do the mistake just once, will we renounce that part of the body?

A: If that one instance created a strong memory, then yes, you will renounce it. You see: when you leave the body, and you are about to chose the next body, all the cards will be in front of you. Naturally, you will pick up only the Master Card. You will say, „I have played with all other cards like Visa Card etc....now I want to play only with the Master Card. You would have gotten tired with all the other types of cards. So you decide, it is time to pick up the Master Card. That is why Ramakrishna says that even seeing an enlightened Master casually is a blessing! It is a blessing.

Never take an enlightened Master's darshan for granted. Working with him or knowing that he is enlightened is secondary. Just understand that getting a glimpse is a blessing. The entire planet Earth does not have more than 2000 enlightened Masters. When I say 2000, I am also including all those persons who are claiming that they are enlightened also. If there are 2000 enlightened beings on Earth, what are your chances of meeting one in a single lifetime? Half a million is the maximum number of people you might see in your lifetime. In 6.5 billion population of the world, half a million is about 10%! So understand: you are clearly blessed to be a part of that 10%. Don“t take yourself for granted. Don't think that having darshan of a Master is a casual thing. Further, in that 10%, probably only 0.1% will work with him - like going to his mediation

camps, sitting around him etc. Even setting your eyes on him for a brief moment, puts you in the 10% category! Just imagine! So don“t take yourself for granted. It is a very dangerous attitude. Be very clear: you are blessed.

6. Choosing an Enlightened Physiology When you choose the next body, you will sit and try to recall the best physiological structure that you have seen in your entire life. You will analyze the best physiological structure possible and naturally, the enlightened physiology is the best! Human beings are the best physiological structures as of now. And naturally, out of whatever human structures you collected in your lifetime, the best will be the enlightened physiology. It is the physiology that does not bother much about food, eating, outer world; that which is established in bliss and ecstasy. You see all this, and naturally you say, „O God! This seems to be a very strong and beautiful physiological structure. Let me choose to work for this.“

Either you may choose the enlightened physiology for yourself, or you may choose to live around that kind of an enlightened being, to be in the same space as that being. But your next decision, the decision of your next birth, will be very strongly towards enlightened physiology. So Ramakrishna's words are true. Even casually seeing an enlightened Master is a blessing. At face value, it may sound egoistic. Only if you look inside logically and understand, you will know, that it is a blessing. When I read this before enlightenment, it looked egoistic. When I got enlightened, I clearly understood what it was! Either you are on this side of the game, or on that side of the game. But blessed are those who understand the real inside view of this game, who understand the ideas or truths underlying the game.

7. Start Now - Clean and Reprogram Yourself! You don‘t even have to wait till death to create an enlightened physiology. If you are seeing me now, now itself you can pick up the Master Card! You see: every night you sleep is actually death for you. Every day you get up is a new birth for you. If you look a little deeply, every ingoing breath is birth and every outgoing breath is death. Every moment, you are actually dying and taking birth. If you understand this, you don‘t have to wait till death to create an enlightened physiology. You can start right away!

You can create the enlightened physiology NOW. How to do it?

Two steps to create an enlightened physiology: the difference between your physiological structure and enlightened physiology is that he does not carry the samskaras from so many births; he has burned everything. So, you, also, can renounce all the samskaras brought from animal body to human body. Basically, the samskaras that you bring from the animal bodies are violence and greed - that gives rise to sex and fear. Because animals don't have a mind, they don‘t have intelligence, they have only instinct. But they have true instinct. They can save themselves from any survival threat. Also, they can reproduce themselves through physical relationship - sex. They don‘t do anything else. Your body, the base material for your body, is basically made up of these two engrams - fear and greed. If you can enter into the animal body again, and release these two engrams, your body will be ready, purified, to be programmed for

enlightened physiology.

Understand: there are two steps. One is throwing away the engrams you brought from the animal body and other births. The second is, programming your body to have an enlightened physiology - a more positive and energetic physiology. The first part is cleaning, and the second part is programming. Cleaning, you will do. Programming is my part. I will do it. I always do my job in the best way, so don't bother! I will do my job. Programming is my job. You just do the cleaning part. Now we will do both the parts. In the first part, become the same animal that you were. How will you know from which animal you took birth, from which animal you took this jump? In India, they have a technique based on

your time of birth. They will predict the animal from which you took birth! It is part of the science of astrology. How many of you have studied your own horoscope. If you have, you will know your animal. There are 27 nakshatras or planets. For each planet, there will be an associated animal. Usually, only from the 5-sense animal, you will take a jump to the 6-sense human form. So among the 5-sense animals, they very clearly categorize and classify the animals. But now, how do you to tell from which animal you took birth? Just close your eyes, and start visualizing; whichever animal comes spontaneously is the animal.

Yes...I think someone wants to ask a question in the back row?

8. You Are Not Just a Bio-Mechanism; You Are Consciousness Q: You said that you disagree with Darwin when he said we came from animals. Now you

are asking us to believe that we took birth from an animal.

A: I am not disagreeing with Darwin in the theory that man came from the monkey. I am disagreeing with the part where he says where we will proceed. He spoke of only the physical body level. He did not say that there is a part of the human being that has come from the Divine! Understand now: your whole being has not come from the monkey. If that was the case, there is no way of saving yourself. There is some part of you that has come from the Divine. He forgot to touch that part. He forgot to look into that part. He decided straightaway and put the monkey on the throne! From the monkey body, you brought only your engrams, not your consciousness! Your consciousness, you brought from the Divine. This has to be clearly understood. The whole game is about your consciousness. The body is just the vehicle.

According to Darwin, all the systems developed in the West, say that you are just the body. They say you are just a bio-mechanism. No, you are not! You are not just a bio-mechanism. The basic mistake Allopathy did, was to declare that you are a bio-mechanism. If we are just a bio mechanism, then the person who is dead, and whose body parts are not touched and removed, the medicine put into his body and the medicine put into a living body, should cause the same reaction, is it not? Why is it not so in reality?

There are so many ways in which I can explain why we are not just a bio-mechanism. We are something more than a bio-mechanism. We are not just monkeys. There is an ingredient in us which is taken from the ultimate Divine Energy. You are not just monkeys put together or animals put together. No!

One more thing: today's medication looks at the human body as a combination of several independent parts such as hands, legs, head etc. If we take the field of dentistry, I am told that there are seven areas in that field! Just imagine: one mouth and seven areas! These seven areas have been further split and have become nine now, I am told. As they specialize deeper, the nine might become eleven. This is the status now, in India. In the West, the specialisation is even more.

An American devotee, a dentist, shared with me this information about the high specialisation happening in the medicine world. If we look at things in such high detail, how can we understand anything holistically? Studying the simple tooth itself may take 32 years! Then, imagine how long it will take to study the rest of the body. A specialist will be able to take care of only that part he has specialized in. Then, who will cure the rest?

Whenever any cure approaches a disease from the outside, the cure can never be total, because the body is not made up of independent parts; it is a whole and holy system. Meditation is what looks at the outside from within. Meditation approaches the body in its totality. There is nothing like meditation separately for the head, hand or stomach. Any meditation technique energises the whole body; the whole body benefits from it. Medical science has grown vastly, with specialisations, but medication, along with meditation, is what will restore a positive well being-ness in the person as such.

We must first understand that the disease is not caused by disorder in any particular organ. Disease is related to the whole body. When only the diseased part is treated, the cause for the

disease still remains inside the body; it will not be eliminated. Since medical science looks at curing only affected body parts, the simple approach of eliminating the root cause of the disease is missed.

Why did this approach of dividing the body into parts come into practice? The reason is that there are many mysteries about the body, which science still does not understand. Many functions of the body remain unexplained. Whether we understand the body parts or not, it is important to understand these five vital layers in our bodies, which are called koshas. It is difficult to understand these five koshas as they are of a subtle nature, and based on spirituality. Since we are used to analysing every thing through scientific methods, let us try to understand these five koshas scientifically.

Let us take the example of an electric cable:

What is inside the electric cable? Copper wire. What is inside the copper wire? Electricity. What is electricity made of? Electricity is made of electrons. What are electrons made of? Electrons are made of vibrations and information. What constitutes the information and the vibrations? It is all energy!

Will people not laugh if you say there are five invisible layers inside a cable? Only people who know the science behind it will agree to this.

You can use this example to visualise the five koshas.

Now, we are going to work on the physical and outermost layer in which the animal engrams are engraved; that part, we are going to work and clean. But that does not mean you are only that. You are a mixture of these two. When you clean and release the animal part, the conscious parts start shining or flowering inside you. That is the whole purpose. Now, I hope you understand what I am saying. I think you are clear.