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I ADHYAYA, 2 PÂDA, 25.
Imperishable' (II, 1, 2); for the last words mean 'that imperishable highest Self possessing invisibility and similar qualities, which is higher than the aggregate of individual souls, which itself is higher than the non-evolved subtle elements.' The term 'akshara' (imperishable) is to be etymologically explained either as that which pervades (asnute) or that which does not pass away (a-ksharati), and is on either of these explanations applicable to the highest Self, either because that Self pervades all its effects or because it is like the so-called Mahat (which is also called akshara), free from all passing away or decaying.-Here terminates the adhikarana of 'invisibility and so on.'
24. And on account of the description of its form, 'Fire is his head, his eyes the sun and the moon, the regions his ears, his speech the Vedas disclosed, the wind his breath, his heart the universe; from his feet came the earth; he is indeed the inner Self of all things' (II, 1, 4)— the outward form here described can belong to none but the highest Self; that is, the inner Self of all beings. The section therefore treats of the highest Self.
25. Vaisvânara (is the highest Self), on account of the distinctions qualifying the common term.
The Khandogas read in their text, 'You know at present that Vaisvânara Self, tell us that,' &c., and further on, 'But he who meditates on the Vaisvânara Self as a span long,' &c. (Kh. Up. V, 11, 6; 18, 1). The doubt here arises whether that Vaisvânara Self can be made out to be the highest Self or not. The Purvapakshin maintains the latter alternative. For, he says, the word Vaisvånara is used in the sacred texts in four different senses. denotes in the first place the intestinal fire, so in Bri. Up. V, 9, That is the Vaisvânara fire by which the food that is eaten is cooked, i. e. digested. Its noise is that which one hears when one covers one's ears. When man is on the point of departing this life he does not hear that noise.'-It next denotes the third of the elements, so in Ri. Samh. X, 88, 12, 'For the whole world the gods
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