Manomaya Kosha

Sanskrit, derived from "manas" meaning "mind," and "maya" meaning "made of" or "illusion," forming "made of mind." "Kosha" signifies "sheath" or "layer." It represents the mental and emotional constituents of a being.

A Vedantic term, meaning the Sheath (Kosha) of the Manomaya, an equivalent for fourth and fifth "principles" in man. In esoteric philosophy this "Kosha" corresponds to the dual Manas. Manticism, or Mantic Frenzy. During this state was developed the gift of prophecy. The two words are nearly synonymous. One was as honoured as the other. Pythagoras and Plato held it in high esteem, and Socrates advised his disciples to study Manticism. (The Church Fathers, who condemned so severely the mantic frenzy in Pagan priests and Pythias, were not above applying it to their own uses). The Montanists, who took their name from Montanus, a bishop of Phrygia, who was considered divinely inspired, contended with the udi'Teig (manteis) GLOSSARY 1 9 1 or proi)het.s. "Tertulliaii. Augustine, and the martyrs of Carthage, were of the number", says the author of Prophecif, Anrirnt and Modcni. "The Montanists seem to have resembk'd the Bacchantes in the wild enthusiasm that characterized their orgies", he adds. There is a diversity of opinion as to the origin of the word Maniicism. There was the famous Mantis the Seer, in the days of ]Melampus and Pratus, King of Argos ; and there was :\Ianto, tlie daughter of the prophet of Thebes, herself a prophetess. Cicero di-scribes prophecy and mantic frenzy, by saying, that "in the inner recesses of the mind is divine prophecy hidden and confined, a divine impulse, which when it burns more vividly is called furor"', frenzy. {Isis Unveiled). Mantra Period (^h.). One of tinfour i)eriods into whieli V.'di<literature has been divided.

In the intricate architecture of the human being as understood by Hindu traditions, particularly Vedanta, the Manomaya Kosha stands as a crucial intermediary. It is the sheath of mind, a layer woven from thoughts, emotions, desires, and the faculty of intellect. This is not merely the stream of consciousness, but the very fabric of our mental and emotional world, the realm where memories are stored and future possibilities are conceptualized. It is the instrument through which we interpret the sensory input of the Annamaya Kosha, the physical body, and through which we engage with the world.

The term "maya" itself, often translated as "illusion," points to the nature of this sheath. It suggests that our mental constructs, while real in their experience, do not represent ultimate reality. The Manomaya Kosha, in its active state, can bind us to a world of appearances, creating a sense of self that is contingent upon fleeting thoughts and emotions. As Mircea Eliade observed in his studies of comparative religion, the human mind often creates its own cosmologies, and the Manomaya Kosha is the crucible of such personal universes.

Understanding this sheath is an invitation to a form of spiritual discernment, a practice akin to the Buddhist concept of vipassanā, or insight meditation, which aims to observe the arising and passing of mental phenomena without identification. It is through this observation that one can begin to differentiate between the true Self, the Atman, and the ever-shifting contents of the mind. The goal is not to annihilate the mind, a notion often misunderstood, but to purify and refine it, to render it a clear lens rather than a distorted mirror.

The esoteric philosophies, as explored by thinkers like Carl Jung, recognized the profound influence of the psyche on our lived experience. The Manomaya Kosha can be seen as the blueprint of the personal unconscious, the repository of archetypal patterns and individual conditioning that shape our perceptions and reactions. To work with the Manomaya Kosha is to engage in a profound act of self-awareness, understanding that the narratives we tell ourselves, the emotional landscapes we inhabit, are not immutable truths but malleable formations. This process requires a quietude of the mind, a stillness that allows the subtler layers of being, like the Anandamaya Kosha, to become perceptible.

By recognizing the Manomaya Kosha as a sheath, we are empowered to see beyond its limitations. It is a tool, not the totality of our being. The practice of yoga and meditation often focuses on stilling the fluctuations of this mental sheath, leading to a state where the deeper, more luminous layers of existence can be glimpsed. It is in this quiet space that one can begin to understand the profound interconnectedness of all things, a realization that transcends the individual mind's constructions. The mind, when understood and purified, becomes a gateway to the infinite, rather than a prison of the finite.