The virus continues to bamboozle us. Are we nearing the end of the pandemic? Is the virus on its way out? Or is a new variant on its way in? Should we continue to wear masks at least in public places when we are indoors? Should vaccines be made mandatory? Is social distancing effective?
The answers to such questions are varied and often mutually contradictory. We are drowned in a mind-boggling cacophony of voices from scientists, politicians, journalists, armchair experts, conspiracy-theory enthusiasts, and rumormongers. The less sure they are, the louder are their claims. At some point, people just give up and believe whatever they want to believe.
Although masks are attracting a lot of attention at present, they have been around for a long time, being used for ceremonial as well as practical purposes such as protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment. These are just the visible masks. There are other masks which are hidden in the psyche. People use these, often unconsciously, in order to project the kind of personality they want others to see, so what goes on within is known only to them. This sometimes is done to conform to social pressures, abuse or harassment. Sometimes these invisible masks are a result of a survival mechanism, manifesting in people’s behavior when they try to mentally block feelings of suffering.
Beyond these invisible masks are a set of even more subtle masks that are as old as creation. They don’t cover the body, they are the body. They don’t cover the mind, they are the mind. Who do they cover then? They cover the self (ātman), the real me, the essence of my existence. The body and the mind are all that I see in myself from as far back as I can remember. They don’t appear to me as mere coverings. They are me.
Are they really? Am I nothing more than this body and this mind? Is that all?
Centuries ago, far beyond our known history’s reach, it was discovered that beneath the body, beneath even the mind, there was something else—more accurately, someone else. That someone was the real me, the real self. Why call it the real self? Because we are more familiar with the fake self that shines within as “I”. That’s not me. That’s the ego. The real me is even beyond my present “I”. Since it was hidden under the body and under the mind, it remained unnoticed and unknown.
But those who refused to live superficially, those who challenged the conventional wisdom, those who explored what was happening inside them, finally discovered this hidden gem, the Gem of all gems. It was a revolutionary discovery. Those brave, relentless discoverers—we call them sages (ṛṣi)—found themselves experiencing the kind of freedom they had never known existed. They experienced the pinnacle of bliss and it remained with them always. It is their inner discoveries that find expression through the Vedas. The greatest among these is the discovery of the real me, the Ātman.
The Ātman remains hidden under layers of masks. These masks can be classified in at least two distinct but related ways. One way is to view the covering as comprising three masks. Each of the masks is perishable and, in Sanskrit, it is called śarīra (literally, “that which wears away”). In English, śarīra is usually translated as “body.”
The three masks are: gross body (sthūla śarīra), subtle body (sūkṣma śarīra), and causal body (kāraṇa śarīra). The gross body is what I see when I stand before a mirror. The subtle body comprises everything in me that a surgeon won’t find when my body is cut open. It includes the mind (manas), the intellect (buddhi), the ego (ahaṁkāra), the senses (indriya), the life force (prāṇa). The subtle body survives death and is the repository of all the fruits of my actions (karma-phala) and mental impressions (saṁskāra). The causal body—which is even more subtle than the subtle body—is, as the name suggests, the “cause” of everything. In plain terms, the causal body is ignorance (ajñāna or māyā). Obviously, the gross body is the most fragile of the three masks. It perishes sooner and is replaced after death. The subtle body is with us for the long haul. As long as it remains, we are stuck like leeches to the painful and boring, even if constantly changing, cycle (saṁsāra-cakra) of birth and death.
But it is also possible to view the coverings over the Ātman as comprising five masks. Like the earlier one’s, these are perishable too and, in Sanskrit, are called kośa (literally, sheath, layer). The five layers are: of the body (lit. “food,” annamaya, because the gross body depends on food for its growth and survival), of the life force (prāṇamaya), of the mind (manomaya), of the agent-ego (lit. “knowledge,” vijñānamaya, because the knowledge of being an agent is necessary for any activity), and the experiencer ego (lit. “bliss,” ānandamaya, because of the experience in deep sleep, when all other masks seem to fall away).
It doesn’t really matter whether we see the masks hiding the Ātman as three or five, whether we think of each of them as a “body” or as a “layer.” What matters really is the simple fact that they keep me hidden from myself, however illogical this statement might appear. The deeper we dig into life and its incongruences, clinging to logic seems like one big joke. Logically is how our mind tends to think, but it’s not always how life wants to function. Which is why the impossible can seem possible. How else can anyone explain the infinite, immortal and free divine being suddenly transformed into a finite, mortal and trapped human being?
Whatever we may think of masks today, we know that not wearing them increases the risk of infection. We may argue over the degree of risk, but the stakes involve a likely infection followed by variable amount of suffering, possibly hospitalization, and perhaps death. The stakes are high, but not higher than keeping those other almost in-built masks described above that we seem unable to shake off.
These “bodies” or “layers” over the Ātman are robbing us of our innate bliss, our unrestrained freedom, our deep unshakeable peace. There is no question that these inner masks must go. The sooner they do, the better it is for us. The only way to peel off these inner masks is to take spiritual life seriously. We have no one to blame but ourselves if we ignore the call of the spirit. Only those who keep their eyes and minds open realize this.
As to the outer masks of today, just use your common sense.