12.2 Vital Force Sheath (Praanamaya Kosha) and Vital Force Purusha (Praanamaya Purusha)

Vital Food Sheath : There is yet another body which is inside of, and which pervades, the food sheath, and which is responsible for the movement, activity and action of the food sheath. This is called the vital force sheath. The vital forces and organs of actions are its components (Vivekachoodaamani 162). The awareness which pervades the vital force sheath is called vital force Purusha.
 
Without the power of activity, the body is dead. Only by the presence of the power of activity does the knowledge of "I am an alive person" happen. Therefore people treat the vital force Purusha alone as the "I" (the self).
 
"Verily, different from this, which consists of the essence of food, but within it, is another self, which consists of the vital breath (praana). By this the former is filled. This too has the shape of a man. Like the human shape of the former (the sheath of food) is the human shape of the latter (the sheath of the vital breath). Praana (the upward breath), indeed, is its head; vyaana (the diffused breath) is its right wing; apaana (the downward breath) is its left wing; aakaasha (samaana) is its trunk; the earth is its tail, its support." (Taittireeya Upanishad 2.2.1).
 
Like the I-ness (the I notion) is imagined in the food sheath through ignorance, so too is it imagined in the vital force sheath. Just like the food sheath, the vital force sheath is designated by a "this", it is a scene. Even though there is lack of sensation of the vital forces in deep sleep, the "I"-ness is never not-sensed. Therefore, the existence or reality of the vital forces is falsified. Also, even when the vital forces continue to function in deep sleep, there is no special functioning of the body or the organs. If someone takes something of, or gives something to a sleeping individual, the vital forces do not interfere in it. That is why the vital forces are inert. How can they be the aware self?
 
In the vital force Purusha, vital forces are falsified and the Purusha is not falsified (baadhita). The Purusha in the food sheath is the same Purusha in the vital force sheath. The very same Purusha (self) has an outer coating of the food sheath and a more inner coating of the vital force sheath. From a pervading-pervader standpoint, we can say that the vital force sheath is the self, and the food sheath is the body.
 
Like the gross body is called the food sheath, the vital force sheath is one part of the subtle body.