Panchakosha: An Indigenous Framework for Enhancing the Mental Well-Being of Indian Armed Forces and Central Armed Paramilitary Forces Personnel

Author(s)	Dr. Paresh Saxena
Country	India
Abstract	Personnel of the Indian Armed Forces operate under chronic occupational stressors - combat exposure, high-altitude postings, prolonged separation from family, and counter-insurgency duty - that place them at elevated risk of anxiety, depression, and suicide (Kumari, 2011.). While the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Home Affairs has expanded psychiatric services, welfare schemes, and yoga-based programmes, most interventions still treat the mind as a single, undifferentiated target. This paper argues that the Panchakosha model - the five-sheath framework of human existence described in the Taittiriya Upanishad - offers Indian military mental-health planners a more complete, indigenous architecture for intervention, one that already has partial empirical support from both Indian and international military research. The paper maps each kosha to a corresponding domain of soldier well-being and existing practice, reviews the available evidence, and discusses implementation challenges.
Keywords	panchakosha, yoga, armed forces, stress
Field	Sociology > Philosophy / Psychology / Religion
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2026
Published On	2026-09-14

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