Ananda-Mayo
Ānanda-Mayo (IAST)Translation: "of the form of bliss"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 5)
A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Monier-Williams)
Sanskrit: आनन्दमय
Transliteration: Ānanda-Maya
Translation: "blissful, made up or consisting of happiness"
Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: आनन्दमयो
Transliteration: Ānanda-Mayo
Translation: "of much peace, of the form of bliss"
Commentary: "in that state, the Ātman of the pure principle of consciousness remains in the Ānandamaya Kośa, identifying itself with the Kāraṇa-Śarīra. This Ānanda or bliss is not the bliss of the transcendental or the supreme state of absolute unity, but it is called bliss because in deep-sleep there is a feeling of composure and perfect rest, and mind is not agitated by any activity, desire, or thought. So this bliss is the bliss of quiescence and peace only and not that transcendental joy of Mukti.
The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)
Commentary: "The five Kośa have been classified into three groups: the physical, the subtle, and the causal. In the waking state in which we are now, for instance, the physical body is intensely operative and we always think in terms of the physical body, physical objects and physical sensations.
This physical sensation is absent in the state of dream, but three of the Kośa operate in dream. All the five are operative in the waking condition, concentrating their action mostly on the physical body. The physical body is not operative in the dream state, but the vital, the mental, and the intellectual sheaths are active. The Prāṇa is there, the mind is there, and the intellect is there, in a diminished intensity. We breathe, we think and we understand in the state of dream. That means the Prāṇa, Manas, and Buddhi are all active in the state of dream minus the physical element – namely, the body consciousness. In the state of deep sleep, none of these are active. Neither the body is operative there, nor the mind, nor the intellect, nor is there any consciousness that we are even breathing. The consciousness is withdrawn entirely from all the sheaths – physical, vital, mental, and intellectual. There is only one sheath operating in the state of sleep. That is the causal sheath – the Ānandamaya Kośa as it is called in Sanskrit."
References:
- Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European languages. Oxford: Clarendon Press
- Sharvananda, Swami (1920). Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads: With Sanskrit Text; Paraphrase with Word-For-Word Literal Translation, English, Rendering and Comments. Mylapore, Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math
- Krishnananda, Swami (1991). Lessons on the Upanishads. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/upanishad.html. p. 97-98.
