The other than the highest Self, i.e. the one called jîva, even in the
state of release, is not that Self which the mantra describes; for this
is not possible. For to a Self of that kind unconditioned intelligence
(such as is, in the mantra, ascribed to Brahman; cp. the term
'vipaskitâ') cannot belong. Unconditioned intelligence is illustrated by
the power of all one's purposes realising themselves; as expressed in
the text 'He desired, may I be many, may I grow forth.' Intelligence
(vipaskittvam, i.e. power of insight into various things) does indeed
belong to the soul in the state of release; but as in the Samsâra state
the same soul is devoid of such insight, we cannot ascribe to it non-
conditioned intelligence. And if the released soul is viewed as being
mere non-differenced intelligence, it does not possess the capacity of
seeing different things, and hence cannot of course possess vipaskittva
in the sense stated above. That, however, the existence of a substance
devoid of all difference cannot be proved by any means of knowledge, we
have already shown before. Again, if the clause 'from whence speech
returns,' &c., were meant to express that speech and mind return from
Brahman, this could not mean that the Real is devoid of all difference,
but only that mind and speech are not means for the knowledge of Brahman.
And from this it would follow that Brahman is something altogether empty,
futile. Let us examine the context. The whole section, beginning with
'He who knows Brahman reaches Brahman,' declares that Brahman is all-
knowing, the cause of the world, consisting of pure bliss, the cause of
bliss in others; that through its mere wish it creates the whole
universe comprising matter and souls; that entering into the universe of
created things it constitutes their Self; that it is the cause of fear
and fearlessness; that it rules Vâyu Âditya and other divine beings;
that its bliss is ever so much superior to all other bliss; and many
other points. Now, all at once, the clause 'from whence speech returns'
is said to mean that neither speech nor mind applies to Brahman, and
that thus there are no means whatever of knowing Brahman! This is idle
talk indeed! In the clause '(that) from which speech returns,' the
relative pronoun 'from which' denotes bliss; this bliss is again
explicitly referred to in the clause 'knowing the bliss of Brahman'--the
genitive 'of Brahman' intimating that the bliss belongs to Brahman; what
then could be the meaning of this clause which distinctly speaks of a
knowledge of Brahman, if Brahman had at the same time to be conceived as
transcending all thought and speech? What the clause really means rather
is that if one undertakes to state the definite amount of the bliss of
Brahman--the superabundance of which is illustrated by the successive
multiplications with hundred--mind and speech have to turn back
powerless, since no such definite amount can be assigned. He who knows
the bliss of Brahman as not to be defined by any definite amount, does
not fear anything.--That, moreover, the all-wise being referred to in
the mantra is other than the individual soul in the state of release, is
rendered perfectly clear by what--in passages such as 'it desired,' &c.--
is said about its effecting, through its mere volition, the origination
and subsistence of the world, its being the inner Self of the world, and
so on.