Śruti / The twelve Upaniṣads / Taittirīya · 7 of 12
7. Five sheaths
Taittirīya (तैत्तिरीय)
The Taittirīya (तैत्तिरीय) belongs to the black Yajurveda, to the Taittirīya śākhā, inside the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka (तैत्तिरीय आरण्यक). Three vallīs are the ones readers name: the Śikṣā (शिक्षा), on pronunciation and the vows of a student; the Ānanda or Brahmānanda (ब्रह्मानन्द), on the sheaths and the grades of joy; and the Bhṛgu (भृगु), the son who is sent back until he sees.
The five sheaths are a person described as five bodies, each made of something, each filling the one outside it. The food-made, annamaya (अन्नमय), is the body of what is eaten. Inside it is the breath-made, prāṇamaya (प्राणमय). Inside that, the mind-made, manomaya (मनोमय). Inside that, the understanding-made, vijñānamaya (विज्ञानमय). Inside that, the bliss-made, ānandamaya (आनन्दमय). They are sheaths, kośa (कोश). The point of a sheath is that it covers, and that it is not the last thing.
Bhṛgu goes to his father Varuṇa (वरुण) and asks for Brahman. Varuṇa says: that from which beings are born, by which they live, into which they return, seek to know that. That is Brahman. Bhṛgu practices, and returns. He has found food. Varuṇa sends him again. He finds breath, then mind, then understanding, then bliss. He understands that bliss is Brahman. The Sanskrit of that recognition is not sat on this page. The four defining words of the middle vallī are.The breakthrough is the direction of the search. A student begins with the obvious body and is not allowed to stop there. Each honest finding is kept, and each is too small. Bliss is not a mood added at the end. It is what the outer sheaths were sheaths of. The grades of joy later in the same vallī, human joy multiplied up to the joy of Brahman, say the same thing as a ladder of measure.
सत्यं ज्ञानमनन्तं ब्रह्म satyaṃ jñānam anantaṃ brahma
Brahman is truth, knowledge, infinite. These are the four words of Taittirīya (तैत्तिरीय) 2.1 that this page sits. The sentence goes on, to the one who knows this as set in the hidden place. That continuation is not printed here.
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| satyam (सत्यम्) | nominative singular | Truth. The real. Heard satyaṃ. |
| jñānam (ज्ञानम्) | nominative singular | Knowledge. Heard jñānam. |
| anantam (अनन्तम्) | nominative singular | Infinite. Without end. Heard anantaṃ. |
| brahma (ब्रह्म) | nominative singular | Brahman. |
नेपालीमा
तैत्तिरीय कृष्ण यजुर्वेदको तैत्तिरीय शाखा हो, आरण्यकभित्र। तीन वल्ली: शिक्षा, आनन्द, र भृगु। पाँच कोश: अन्नमय, प्राणमय, मनोमय, विज्ञानमय, आनन्दमय। कोशले ढाक्छ, तर कोश अन्तिम वस्तु होइन।
भृगुले वरुणलाई सोधे। वरुणले भने, जसबाट प्राणी जन्मिन्छन्, जसको सहारामा बाँच्छन्, जसमा फर्किन्छन्, त्यही खोज। भृगुले अन्न, प्राण, मन, विज्ञान, अनि आनन्द भेटे। सत्यं ज्ञानम् अनन्तं ब्रह्म यो पृष्ठमा प्रस्तुत गरिएको छ। वाक्य अझ अघि बढ्छ, लुकेको ठाउँमा राखिएको जान्नेतिर। त्यो पछिल्लो अंश यहाँ छापिएको छैन।
Where it sits
The black Yajurveda is white and black. Prajñānaṃ brahma is the next sitting.