Similarities to Hindu thought in Dante's "The Divine Comedy"

The "Panchakosha" (five sheaths) are mentioned in the Taitteriya Upanishad of Krishna Yajurveda. These are supposed to cover the "Atman" (soul) & comprise:

1. Annamaya Kosha (Food sheath)
2. Pranamaya Kosha (Breath sheath)
3. Manomaya Kosha (Mind sheath)
4. Vijnanamaya Kosha (Intellect sheath)
5. Anandamaya Kosha (Bliss sheath)

It is instructive to compare this with the Canto IV of Purgatorio of Dante's "The Divine Comedy", where the Aristotelian theory that man possesses three souls (the soul definition in the western sense being quite different to the Hindu meaning), the vegetative (physical), the sensitive (feeling), & the intellectual (reason). These may compare respectively to the Annamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha & Vijnanamaya Kosha mentioned above.

Of course, if one dissects a cadaver, one finds only the Annamaya Kosha. Rene Descartes postulated the (artificial) separation of the body & mind. But Leonardo da Vinci was the first to discover the "holistic science" & considered them inseparable. In the twentieth century, the physicist Fritjof Capra demonstrated that most illnesses are psychosomatic in origin, finally dispelling the Cartesian dichotomy between body & mind. This may be considered to integrate the first three koshas, even if only the first is perceived by the senses.

As Virgil explains in Purgatorio, Canto XVII, Love, rightly directed towards God, or in moderation (this cannot be emphasised too much), towards temporal things, is the basis of all human action. But love may take wrong paths like Perverted love, (i.e., Pride, Envy & Wrath), Defective love (Sloth) & Excessive love (i.e., Avarice, Gluttony, Lust). These are similar to the eight evils (arishadvarga) of Hindu Philosophy.  Also the danger in free will is balanced by God's other gift of reason, which makes it possible for man to make right decisions & raise himself above animals.

In Canto XX, Dante & Virgil hear praises of Poverty, citing the poverty of Mary; of Fabricius, the Roman Consul who refused both gifts & bribes; & of St. Nicholas (Santa Claus), whose legendary generosity has made him a symbol of Christmas giving.

Here it may be mentioned in passing that the Roman Catholic monastic ideas are very similar to the sannyasin ideas of not only Hinduism but other religions like Buddhism & Jainism, where renunciation of all physical comforts & voluntary poverty are the bedrocks of the spiritual life. In fact, in Hinduism it is mandatory for every person to become a monastic at the end of their life.

So in Dante also man's spiritual progress is charted very similarly to Hindu thought. John Bunyan also in his "Pilgrim's Progress", likened normal worldly life as an intolerable burden on one.