Vijnayanamayakosha and Anandamayakosha: Our Intuition and Beliefs

Who are we, why are we here? Some of us could care less about this question, but for those of us that struggle with it daily we would love to find an answer. To achieve this we must explore our Vijnyanamayakosha.

This kosha consists of our higher mind. It is a witness for our thoughts and emotions. We use it as a guide, it is our conditioning. If we let our emotions rule our thoughts and actions then this kosha will be imbalanced. In order to heal at this level we need to tap into our inner wisdom allowing us to step out of our personal conditioning and become who we really want to be. Some may refer to this kosha as our intuition.

You need wisdom to recognize when your emotions are ruling your actions. You need to be wise enough to stop, take a breath and look at alternative options rather than a hasty reaction. It's about deconditioning your negative core beliefs and replacing them with positive ones. You may have been told your whole life that you are too anxious. This will have labled you in your mind as such. This kosha can help you to break through those beliefes and start to build new ones.

In order to break through these beliefs we can get a bit of help from the last kosha, the anandamayakosha, our bliss body. This kosha is believing in a higher power. Not necessarily god, as not all of us are religious, but spirituality in general. Knowing that you aren't tackling life alone. That there is someone or thing out there that is watching over you and guiding you. For me, when I'm overwhelmed, I'll go out into nature. I'll hike, ski or sail. Getting out into nature reminds me that I'm not alone in the world. It slows me down and allows me to take a breath so I can take the time to recognize my situation for what it is and have time to think on how I would like to change it.

These last koshas are subtle, but very important. Our beliefs shape us and rule our every day life. Take the time to write down your beliefs about yourself and society as a whole. Try to figure out if these beliefs are helping or hurting you. Pick one belief to work on, meditate on it for at least a week. See what answers you come up with for changing it for the better. Implement it slowly, be persistent. Change takes time. Once you've made progress pick another belief and do the same thing. Over time you will begin to change into the person you really want to be, not the one people told you you should be.