Verse 2.236

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

आध्यात्मिकान्विलाप्याथ यथास्वं प्रत्यगात्मसु ।
अन्नादीन्पर्युपासीत ह्युत्तरोत्तररूपगान् ॥ २३६ ॥

ādhyātmikānvilāpyātha yathāsvaṃ pratyagātmasu |
annādīnparyupāsīta hyuttarottararūpagān || 236 ||

English translation of verse 2.236:

Then, after resolving the five sheaths of the individual in their respective causes which constitute their selves (i.e., their essence), one must, indeed, think of the sheaths of anna, etc., as of the nature of subsequent sheaths.

Notes:

How the knowledge of the sheaths at the individual and cosmic levels should be made use of for realizing Brahman-Ātman which is beyond the kośas is explained in this verse.

The classification of the sheaths into two groups—one group consisting of causes and the other group consisting of their effects or modifications—is intended to show that all these sheaths could be merged in one another in such a way that ultimately the non-dual Self alone will remain. The guiding principle in this process of merging one sheath in another is provided by the discrimination that the effect does not exist as something different from its cause (kāraṇātirekena kāryaṃ nāsti), that the effect is non-different from its cause.

The process of merging is done at two stages. The five sheaths of the individual, i.e., the sheaths of the subject or the "I” division, must first be resolved in thought into the five sheaths of the cosmic level, i.e., the sheaths of the object or the “Thou” division- The second stage consists in resolving each of the five sheaths of the cosmic level into its respective cause.

The five sheaths of the object at the cosmic level constitute respectively the material essence (svarūpa) from which the five sheaths of the subject group at the individual level have evolved. That is to say, the five sheaths of the individual are the modifications of the corresponding sheaths at the cosmic level. The annamaya-kośa of the individual is a modification of the anna-kośa of the cosmic level. The prāṇamaya-kośa of the individual is a modification of the prāṇā-kośa of the cosmic level. The other kośas must be understood in the same way. Since the effect is non-different from its cause, one must realize that the annamaya-kośa is not different from the anna, its material cause, that the prāṇamaya-kośa is not different from the prāṇa which is its material cause, and so on. As a result of this merging, we will be left with only five sheaths at the cosmic level.

Now we come to the process of merging at the second level. Anna has evolved from prāṇa, prāṇa from manas, manas from vijñāna, and vijñāna from ānanda, the first cause. Since the effect is non-different from it cause, one has to resolve anna in prāṇa, prāṇa in manas, and so on; that is, one must look upon anna as nothing but prāṇa, its material cause; similarly one must look upon prāṇa as nothing manas, and so on. This process of merging will finally help the spiritual aspirant to realize the non-dual Self which is neither a cause nor an effect.