காணப்பா வின்னமய மாகி நின்று
கலந்துநின்ற புராணமய கோச மாச்சே
ஊணப்பா விக்யான மயமு மாகி
உத்தமனே மனோமயமாங் கோச மாச்சு

 பூணப்பா ஆனந்த மயமு மாகப்
பொங்கிற்றே யஞ்சுதிறை போதத் துக்குத்
தோணப்பா திறையஞ்சு மாயை மாயை
சொல்லுகிறேன் சூட்சத்தைப் பூட்டிப் பாரே

- சட்டைமுனி (Sattaimuni)

(five layers of illusion in the name of body, breath, mind, wisdom, bliss - keeps one from realizing and manifesting the true nature of self)

Taittiriya Upanishad opened up the concept of Pancha kośas (கவசம்), five sheaths of illusion (maya) surrounding the soul (Atman). These five layers keep us, the humans engaged in multiple manifests of illusion. Due to this most of us never gets to experience the soul-self. Leave the experience apart, most go to an extent of even denying the existence of soul. But even those who deny the soul can understand, experience and hence cannot deny the existence of these sheaths.

Annamaya kosha - Annam means food, hence refers to the physical body that is nourished from intake. As obvious as it is, the physical body is the first layer of our existence. The body as such is utterly useless, which we must have realized by now, watching how soon people want to dispose a corpse.

Pranamaya kosha - Pranan translates to life-sustaining-breath. Breath gives life and hence a value to the body. It is also called as energy layer of the body. It is analogous to electricity, without which the device (body) is futile.

Manomaya kosha - Manam is mind. Collection of memories, senses and thoughts form this third layer of illusion. This is the key layer that limits the human experiences to the three dimensional plane and totally entraps our complete belief system to not venture beyond this. The concept of individual self, ego is the notorious child of this layer of illusion.

Vijnanamaya kosha - Vijnanam (விஞ்ஞானம்) is wisdom. The knowledge of beyond, things that are not in the experience of a common man forms this fourth layer. A person has to completely tame the aforementioned three layers and bring all those three outer layers (body, breath and mind) to a complete stand-still to gain access and experience this fourth layer of wisdom. All the forms of worship, rituals, yoga, meditation, mantra, tantra are all our attempts to gain access to this layer. Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra lists down 112 such ways to access this Vijnanamaya kosha and even goes to an extent to affirm that these are only 112 ways and none other.

Anandamaya kosha - Anandam means bliss. Allegedly this is layer of enlightenment. No one has ever been able to express the experience of this layer in any human perceivable form.

Once a person successfully traverses through these five veils of illusion undeterred and identifies the self with the soul, he or she is one with the divine.