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IV ADHYAYA, 2 PÂDA, 12.
735
that which is connected with the prânas (the prânas belonging to that, i. e. the soul, do not pass out '), not as that from which the passing out takes its start.—But why should the 'tasya' not denote the body as the point of starting the prânas do not pass forth from that (tasya), viz. the body') ?-Because, we reply, the soul which is actually mentioned in its relation of connexion with the pranas (as indicated by tasya) suggests itself to the mind more immediately than the body which is not mentioned at all; if therefore the question arises as to the startingpoint of the passing forth of the prânas the soul is (on the basis of the text) apprehended as that starting-point also (i.e. the clause the pranas of him do not pass forth' implies at the same time the prânas do not pass forth from him, i.e. from the soul'). Moreover, as the pranas are well known to be connected with the soul and as hence it would serve no purpose to state that connexion, we conclude that the sixth case which expresses connexion in general is here meant to denote the startingpoint in particular. And no dispute on this point is really possible; since according to some' it is clear' that what the text means to express is the embodied soul as the starting-point of the prânas. The some are the Madhyandinas, who in their text of the Brihad-aranyaka read 'na tasmât prânå utkråmanti'-'the prânas do not pass forth from him' (the 'tasya' thus being the reading of the Kanva Sakha only).—But, an objection is raised, there is no motive for explicitly negativing the passing away of the pranas from the soul; for there is no reason to assume that there should be such a passing away (and the general rule is that a denial is made of that only for which there is a presumption).-Not so, we reply. The Khândogya-text
For him there is delay only as long as he is not delivered (from the body); then he will be united' declares that the soul becomes united with Brahman at the time of its separation from the body, and this suggests the idea of the soul of him who knows separating itself at that very time (i. e. the time of death) from the pranas also. But this would mean that the soul cannot reach union with Brahman by
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