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I ADHYAYA, 3 PÂDA, 16.
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they constantly pass over it. This constant moving about on the part of ignorant creatures on the surface, as it were, of the small ether abiding within as their inward Ruler, proves that small ether to be the highest Brahman. That the highest Brahman abides within as the inner Self of creatures which dwell in it and are ruled by it, we are told in other texts also, so e. g. in the Antaryamin-brâhmana. "He who dwells in the Self, within the Self, whom the Self does not know, of whom the Self is the body, who rules the Self within; unseen but seeing, unheard but hearing' (Bri. Up. III, 7, 22; 23).-On this interpretation we explain the last part of the Satra as follows. Even if other texts did not refer to it, this daily moving about on the part of ignorant creatures, on the ether within the heart- which the comparison with the treasure of gold shows to be the supreme good of man-, is in itself a sufficient proof for the small ether being Brahman.
15. And on account of there being observed in that (small ether), supporting which is a greatness of that (i. e. Brahman).
In continuation of the passage . It is the Self free from Sin,' &c., which refers to the small ether, the text says:
it is a bank, a limitary support, that these worlds may not be confounded.' What the text here says about the small ether supporting the world proves it to be the highest Brahman; for to support the world is the glory of Brahman. Compare. He is the Lord of all, the king of all things, the protector of all things. He is a bank and a boundary, so that these worlds may not be confounded' (Bri. Up. IV, 4, 22); By the command of that Imperishable, O Gårgi, heaven and earth stand, held apart' (Bri. Up. III, 8, 9). Now this specific greatness of the highest Brahman, which consists in its supporting the world, is also observed in the small ether-which proves the latter to be none other than Brahman.
16. And on account of the settled meaning. The word “ether,' moreover, is known to have, among
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