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Appendix B
Body, Mind, and Atma
Following is Sai Baba’s teaching about the nature of our mind and of our Self beyond mind. This construct represents the anatomy of our true Self. It includes a number of Eastern concepts not defined in Western psychology, which does not believe in or define an aspect of ourselves beyond mind.
Eastern concepts used in defining mind and our divine Self beyond mind include the Atma (true Self), five sheaths that envelop the Atma like five layers of an onion around the core, five vital airs, four bodies (gross body, subtle body, causal body, and super causal body), and four states of mind (super mind, higher mind, illuminated mind, and over mind). I will define these terms by way of quoting Swami from various sources.
The Atma is the unseen basis, the real Self, one’s divinity, the soul, which is the reality within the five sheaths. It is the spark of God within, one’s own innermost reality. Because of his identification with the body, man forgets his spiritual reality. But in all experiences, the Atmic principle is the cause, though
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