Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori

THE HUMAN BODY
THE human body is Brahma-pura, the city of Brahman.
Īśvara Himself enters into the universe as jīva. Wherefore
the mahā-vākya “That thou art” means that the ego
(which is regarded as jīva only from the standpoint of an
upādhi) 1 is Brahman.
THE FIVE SHEATHS
In the body there are five kośas or sheaths—annamaya,
prāṇ a-maya, mano-maya, vijnāna-maya, ānandamaya,
or the physical and vital bodies, the two mental
bodies, and the body of bliss. 2 In the first the Lord is
self-conscious as being dark or fair, short or tall, old or
youthful. In the vital body He feels alive, hungry, and
thirsty. In the mental bodies He thinks and understands.
And in the body of bliss He resides in happiness.
Thus garmented with the five garments, the Lord,
though all-pervading, appears as though He were
limited by them. 3
ANNA-MAYA KOŚA
In the material body, which is called the “sheath of
food” (anna-maya kośa), reign the elements earth, water,
1 An apparently conditioning limitation of the absolute.
2 According to “Theosophic” teaching, the first two sheaths are apparently
the physical body in its dense (Anna-Mayā) and etheric (Prāṇa-maya) forms.
Mano-maya represents the astral (Kāma) and lower mental body; Vijnānamaya
the higher mental or (theosophical) causal body, and the highest the
Ātmik body.
3 Mānasollāsa of Suresvarācārya, Commentary on third śloka of the Dakṣ
ina-mūrti-stotra.