PARABRAHMA SUTRAS (195-196)

195. Saamanye panchakoshabrahmaartho yoge.

Translation: In the case of an ordinary human being, the five categories or koshas are praised as Brahman to mean greatest in a category as per the root meaning.

Explanation: In the analysis of the five categories (panchakosha), the food, respiration, awareness as mind, awareness more developed as intelligence and bliss, we can take either an ordinary human being or the human incarnation. If we take the case of an ordinary human being, each category becomes greatest and can be called as Brahman to indicate the maximum greatness in certain specified viscinity. The word Brahman indicates greatness by its root meaning (Yoga). The intensive happiness or bliss is also treated as limited (kosha), which means that for any human being, happiness is not unlimited. The specialty of knowledge that any human being possesses can be taken as prajnanam, which is greater than the knowledge of all the other living beings. Thus a special scholar is appreciated as Brahman or a very great person among all the human beings. If a human soul is referred to, the word Brahman stands only for maximum greatness.

196. Shreshthavichaare sankramanam vikaarapraachuryayorapyaanandasya.

Translation: In the search of finding the greatest category among the five categories, no where the analysis is stopped. Even the final category of bliss is not the greatest either in the sense of modification or in the sense of majority.

Explanation: In the case of ordinary human being, the analysis continued because no category is found to be the greatest or Brahman. Within the sphere of the affairs of human souls (Pravrutti), the greatest item is being searched in this analysis. Each category is great but not the greatest. Food and respiration stand for inert objects and trees, which are not the greatest. The mind stands for birds and animals, which are also not the greatest. Intelligence stands for human beings which are not the greatest. Happiness or bliss is finally concluded as the greatest item because happiness is the ultimate aim of Pravrutti and even for misunderstood Nivrutti. Unfortunately, happiness is always limited because it is linked with non-eternal items of the world. The entire creation is non-eternal and hence the happiness derived from the creation cannot be eternal or infinite. Therefore, even happiness is found to be only limited (Kosha). The word Anandamaya stands for either a modification of happiness (Mayat stands for vikara), or it stands for majority of happiness (Mayat stands for praachurya). In the first case, since the happiness from the world is non-eternal and limited, any modification of such happiness is also finite and cannot be the greatest or Brahman. In the second case, if you have major region of happiness, there must be minor region of misery because happiness is finite. Therefore, infinite happiness from world is impossible and such finite worldly bliss cannot be the greatest (Brahman).