12.1 Food Sheath (Annamaya Kosha) and Food Purusha (Annamaya Purusha)

Food Sheath : Created out of food and water, sustained and eventually merged into food and water. This gross body of a human being alone is called the food sheath.
 
That which has assumed the "I" in this food body, pervading the body from the head to the toe, that aware Purusha which remains established is called the food Purusha. "I am the gross body" - this knowledge is the knowledge of the food Purusha.
 
Food is created out of the earth, earth from water, water from fire, fire from air, air from space. Space is created out of the self (Taittireeya Upanishad 2.1.1). In this manner, the self alone is expressing itself as the gross body. So then, is the body an effect of the self or a transformation (vijaara) of the self? Both cannot be possible. Neither can the self be a cause or effect of anything, nor can it be subject to transformation. The body is a scene in the self of the self, this is clear. We then have to understand the goal of this statement with regards to a superimposition of the shruti, to enable discrimination of the following kind. The body is an effect and transformation of the five great elements, which themselves have been created from the self or brahman. Therefore, their prior non-existence (praagabhaava) and future non-existence (pradhvansaabhaava) is in brahman. Which means, they are illusory, and their substratum brahman alone is real. Then, how can the effect of these illusory five great elements - the body - be real? Therefore, the "food" aspect of the "food Purusha" is falsified (baadhita), it is illusory, whereas the "Purusha" aspect remains un-falsified (abaadhita). That Purusha alone is the self or brahman.
 
In the Taittireeya Upanishad, brahman is compared to a "tittira" bird. Therefore, the limbs of a bird are imagined upon this food Purusha. "He, that man, verily consists of the essence of food. This indeed is his head, this [right arm] is his right wing, this [left arm] is his left wing this [trunk] is his body (aatman), this support [below the navel] his tail, his support." (Taittireeya Upanishad 2.1.1).
 
The food sheath cannot be the self, yet there is natural "I"-understanding in this. The reason for this is the same as the reason given when proving that the gross body is not the selg. The food sheath has 6 transformations, it is an agglomerate of five elements. it is a seen like a pot, it is controlled. But the Purusha, the self is one, it is the controller, and the witness of transformation and the seen. Foolish people make an "I" understanding in this body due to lack of discrimination, and partake in bondage and sorrow.
 
Taking the self as the body is attained by absence of contemplation. Taking the self as the individual soul is attained by limited contemplation. Taking the self as brahman is attained by completion of contemplation. Inert Purushas have this I-understanding : "I am the body". Scriptural scholars have this I-understanding : "I am the individual soul". But those great souls who are endowed with the science of discrimination have this I-understanding : "I am brahman". But, regardless of whether I am the individual soul or I am brahman, I cannot be this gross body. This body does not go with me to heaven or hell. I cannot be endless, it cannot be real or aware.
 
Which discrimination-endowed person can even assume I-ness with this mound of bones-fat-skin-excreta-urine? Does anyone assume I-ness with a shadow, a reflection, or with one's body seen in a dream? Similarly, we should renounce the notion of I-ness in this ignorance-generated food sheath.