The 'but' discards the objection. 'Like light and so on.' The individual
soul is a part of the highest Self; as the light issuing from a luminous
thing such as fire or the sun is a part of that body; or as the generic
characteristics of a cow or horse, and the white or black colour of
things so coloured, are attributes and hence parts of the things in
which those attributes inhere; or as the body is a part of an embodied
being. For by a part we understand that which constitutes one place
(desa) of some thing, and hence a distinguishing attribute (viseshna) is
a part of the thing distinguished by that attribute. Hence those
analysing a thing of that kind discriminate between the _distinguishing_
clement or part of it, and the _distinguished_ element or part. Now
although the distinguishing attribute and the thing distinguished
thereby stand to each other in the relation of part and whole, yet we
observe them to differ in essential character. Hence there is no
contradiction between the individual and the highest Self--the former of
which is a viseshana of the latter--standing to each other in the
relation of part and whole, and their being at the same time of
essentially different nature. This the Sûtra declares 'not so is the
highest,' i.e. the highest Self is not of the same nature as the
individual soul. For as the luminous body is of a nature different from
that of its light, thus the highest Self differs from the individual
soul which is a part of it. It is this difference of character--due to
the individual soul being the distinguishing clement and the highest
Self being the substance distinguished thereby--to which all those texts
refer which declare difference. Those texts, on the other hand, which
declare non-difference are based on the circumstance that attributes
which are incapable of separate existence are ultimately bound to the
substance which they distinguish, and hence are fundamentally valid.
That in declarations such as 'Thou art that' and 'this Self is Brahman,'
the words _thou_ and _Self_, no less than the words _that_ and _Brahman_,
denote Brahman in so far as having the individual souls for its body,
and that thus the two sets of words denote fundamentally one and the
same thing, has been explained previously.