Anna

Food, material sustenance. In Upaniṣadic cosmology, anna is the first of the five cosmic sheaths (annamaya → prāṇamaya → manomaya → vijñānamaya → ānandamaya), constituting the outermost envelope of the self — the [[annamaya-kośa]]. The Taittirīya Upaniṣad declares that all is born of anna, all is sustained by anna, all returns to anna. In Haṭha Yoga, diet (āhāra) is regulated as an essential practice: the purity of food conditions the purity of body and mind. See [[āhāra]] and [[mitāhāra]].