Summary:

Nirvana Shatakam, Verse 2: Every human being shares one common struggle: we all seek security (artha), enjoyment (kama), and virtue (dharma), yet no object fully satisfies, because all objects are time-bound and limited. Every action is ultimately a pursuit of moksha – freedom from limitation – and since we cannot tolerate limitation, our intrinsic nature must already be limitless. Vedanta identifies five koshas as the places where we mistakenly locate our identity, beginning with the annamaya kosha: the physical body, which is merely borrowed, recycled matter – an object of perception, constantly changing, inert, and never truly covering the consciousness it appears to inhabit. Just as an object cannot cover space, nothing covers consciousness. The pranamaya kosha manifests as fluctuating energy levels in your body, and is attributed to what makes the body “alive”. Thus aliveness belongs to prana, not to awareness, which remains equally present whether prana is high or low. The manomaya kosha functions like playdough, continuously reshaping itself according to memories, emotions, and conditioning, adding subjective layers onto objective reality – and its very nature is sorrow, since all its experiences are time-bound and mind is in constant state of doubt, producing anxiety-grief. It's doubt is only removed when you make a firm decision. The vijnanamaya kosha, or intellect, is the decision-maker and seat of the I-thought – a kaleidoscope of ever-changing roles and conclusions – yet awareness remains present through all 60,000 daily shifts, untouched by any of them. Next session, we cover the anandamaya kosha.

Nirvana Shatakam – Verse 2:

न च प्राण-संज्ञः न वै पञ्च-वायुः
न वा सप्त-धातुः न वा पञ्च-कोशः
न वाक् पाणि-पादम् न च उपस्थ-पायुः
चित्-आनन्द-रूपः शिवः अहम् शिवः अहम् ॥ २ ॥
na ca prāṇa-saṃjñaḥ na vai pañca-vāyuḥ (I am indeed not the prāṇa, nor the five vital airs.)
na vā sapta-dhātuḥ na vā pañca-kośaḥ (Not the seven material components of the body, nor the five sheaths.)
na vāk pāṇi-pādam na ca upastha-pāyuḥ (Not the organ of speech, nor hand or leg; not the genital organ, nor anus.)
cit-ānanda-rūpaḥ śivaḥ aham śivaḥ aham ॥ 2 ॥

I am indeed not the prana, (five vital airs), not the seven material components of the body and surely not the five sheaths or the organ of speech, the hand or the leg, and not the genital organ, nor the anus. I am of the nature of pure Knowledge and Bliss. I am Siva (the most auspicious), I am Siva.

1. na ca prāṇa-saṃjño na vai pañca-vāyuḥ:
   1. Prana: Prana (aliveness) is I, but I am not Prana. This wording is important, else creates disassociation (problem in modern Vedanta, where they disassociate from problems, but you still don’t become free from problems).
   2. Pañca-vāyuḥ: Prana is divided into 5-fold activities…
      • Prana: respiration (lungs)
      • Apana: evacuation (from body – things are sent out)
      • Vyana: circulation (heart, circulatory system)
      • Samana: Digestion (liver, stomach, pancreas)
      • Udana: Expulsion (vomit, also separates mind from body at death)
2. na vā sapta-dhātur-na vā pañca-kośaḥ
   1. sapta-dhātuḥ: Not the 7 components (blood, skin, bone, marrow, flesh, etc) that constitute the body.
   2. pañca-kośaḥ:
      • “Kosha” means cover. For Atma there’s no cover. If you can’t cover space, and space is consciousness – how can you cover consciousness. When you don’t know nature of Atma, there are 5 levels where you commit a mistake. For example – the body is I, and I am the body. But in reality, body is I, but I am not the body. Since the body-mind comes with complexes, they get superimposed on I, thus become I-complexes. That's how various attributes of body or mind become a kosha (cover) for me (who am always free of them).
      • The 5 covers are:
        1. Anna-vikara: The physical body is called “anna-vikara”, meaning it's food modified… into sapta-dhātuḥ (7 components). It is born and sustained from food.
        2. Prana-vikara: When we say, “I am hungry, ill” – prana becomes a kosha. In reality, illness is Atma, but Atma is not illness.
        3. Manaḥ-vikara: Mistake made is believing whatever happens to mind, is happening to me.
        4. Vijnana-vikara: It becomes a cover when Atma is taken as the doer (the one who is making decisions). This mistake creates guilt of omission (“I wish I done this”) and commission (“I wish I didn’t do this”). Taking yourself as the doer, you keep receiving new bodies to continue experiencing results of your (doer's) past decisions.
        5. Ananda-vikara: When we say “I was happy, or I am happy” – then happiness becomes a cover for “I”.  The mistake is thinking happiness is I, and I am happiness. In reality, happiness is I, but I am not happiness.
3. na vāk pāṇi-pādam na ca upastha-pāyuḥ
   1. I am not the five organs of action: speech, grasping (hands), locomotion (feet), reproduction (upastha), or elimination (pāyu). They are capacities given to me, while Awareness is free of them.
   2. Saying “I am dumb” or “I am skilled” is the same mistake – these are qualities of the organs, not of Ātmā. The concept of dumb/smart is Ātmā (it appears in me), but I am not dumb or smart.
   3. Then who am I? cit-ānanda-rūpaḥ śivaḥ aham śivaḥ EG: Both wave (jiva) and ocean (shiva / ishsvara) is water (cidananda) – but water is neither.

Content covered can be found at Vivekchudamani lesson 12-16.

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Recorded 18 April, 2026