Pan~ca koshas

The soul has three outer covering / sharIras or five sheaths around it. They are: *Annamaya kosham

*Pranayama kosham

*Manonmaya kosham

*Vijyanamaya kosham

*Anandhamaya kosham

These koshas are classified in to three sharIras :

Physical - annamaya kosham

Subtle – pranamaya, manonmaya , vij~yanamaya kosham

Casual – Anandhamaya kosham

The annamaya kosham is nothing but the physical body we always care about . All the koshas act only for this body when it is awake.

The next three koshas are active when one is in dream state.

The only kosha active when one is asleep is the Anandhamaya Kosham.

These five [kosas] are the five employed in the worship of the five deities. These five are, according to the JNAnArnava, "SrividyA, Paramjyotis, ParA, Niskalasambhavi, and the AjapAmantra, and these five in the SriChakra, the last four [Paramjyotis, etc] are to be worshipped individually and collectively in the Srsti and other cakras which are surrounding [the Sricakra]. But the SrividyA is the bindu in the centre. Thus she is in the midst of the five sheaths.