'For who could breathe, who could breathe forth, if that bliss existed
not in the ether? He alone causes bliss' (Taitt. Up. II, 7). This means--
He alone is the cause of bliss on the part of the individual souls.--
Some one is here designated as the cause of bliss enjoyed by the souls;
and we thus conclude that the causer of bliss, who must be other than
the souls to which bliss is imparted, is the highest Self abounding in
bliss.
In the passage quoted the term 'bliss' denotes him who abounds in bliss,
as will be shown later on.--A further reason is given in the next Sûtra.
16. And because that (Brahman) which is referred to in the mantra is
declared (to be the ânandamaya).
That Brahman which is described in the mantra, 'True Being, knowledge,
infinite is Biahman,' is proclaimed as the Self abounding in bliss. And
that Brahman is the highest Brahman, other than the individual soul; for
the passage 'He who knows Brahman attains the Highest' refers to Brahman
as something to be obtained by the individual soul, and the words 'On
this the following verse is recorded' show that the verse is related to
that same Brahman. The mantra thus is meant to render clear the meaning
of the Brâhmana passage. Now the Brahman to be reached by the meditating
Devotee must be something different from him. The same point is rendered
clear by all the following Brâhmana passages and mantras: 'from that
same Self sprang ether,' and so on. The Self abounding in bliss
therefore is other than the individual soul.
Here an opponent argues as follows:--We indeed must acknowledge that the
object to be reached is something different from the meditating Devotee;
but the fact is that the Brahman described in the mantra does not
substantially differ from the individual soul; that Brahman is nothing
but the soul of the Devotee in its pure state, consisting of mere non-
differenced intelligence, free from all shade of Nescience. To this pure
condition it is reduced in the mantra describing it as true Being,
knowledge, infinite. A subsequent passage, 'that from which all speech,
with the mind, turns away, unable to reach it' (II. 9), expresses this
same state of non-differentiation, describing it as lying beyond mind
and speech. It is this therefore to which the mantra refers, and the
Self of bliss is identical with it.--To this view the next Sûtra replies.