The five sheaths · pañca-kośa

The Taittirīya Upaniṣad wraps the self in five kośas, husks nested one inside the next: annamaya (made of food — the body), prāṇamaya (of breath), manomaya (of mind), vijñānamaya (of discernment), ānandamaya (of bliss) — and at the centre, the ātman, which is not another sheath. Three traditions on this bench count to five, and the arithmetic is the least interesting thing about it. Judaism's five soul-levels ascend — nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah, yechidah, the singular indivisible you at the top. Buddhism's five heaps circulate around a centre where no owner is found. And here, five sheaths nested around a centre that is not merely occupied but is the absolute. Same number, three incompatible answers to what is at the middle of a person — and this app lets you stand in all three rooms.