The 'but' indicates an objection.--The highest Self is not apprehended
in earth and other places in the same way as the sun or a face is
apprehended in water or a mirror. For the sun and a face are erroneously
apprehended as abiding in water or a mirror; they do not really abide
there. When, on the other hand, Scripture tells us that the highest Self
dwells in the earth, in water, in the soul, &c., we apprehend it as
really dwelling in all those places. That the imperfections caused by
water and mirrors do not attach themselves to the sun or a face is due
to the fact that the sun and the face do not really abide in the water
and the mirror. Hence there is no real parallelism between the thing
compared (the highest Self) and the thing to which it is compared (the
reflected image).
20. The participation (on Brahman's part) in increase and decrease, due
to its abiding within (is denied); on account of the appropriateness of
both (comparisons), and because thus it is seen.
The comparison of the highest Self to the reflected sun and the rest is
meant only to deny of the Self that it participates in the imperfections--
such as increase, decrease, and the like--which attach to the earth and
the other beings within which the Self abides.--How do we know this?--
From the circumstance that on this supposition both comparisons are
appropriate. In the scriptural text quoted above Brahman is compared to
ether, which although one becomes manifold through the things--jars and
so on--within it; and to the sun, which is multiplied by the sheets of
water in which he is reflected. Now the employment of these comparisons--
with ether which really does abide within the jars and so on, and with
the sun which in reality does not abide in the water--is appropriate
only if they are meant to convey the idea that the highest Self does not
participate in the imperfections inherent in earth and so on. Just as
ether, although connecting itself separately with jars, pots, and so on,
which undergo increase and decrease, is not itself touched by these
imperfections; and just as the sun, although seen in sheets of water of
unequal extent, is not touched by their increase and decrease; thus the
highest Self, although abiding within variously-shaped beings, whether
non-sentient like earth or sentient, remains untouched by their various
imperfections--increase, decrease, and so on--remains one although
abiding in all of them, and ever keeps the treasure of its blessed
qualities unsullied by an atom even of impurity.--The comparison of
Brahman with the reflected sun holds good on the following account. As
the sun is not touched by the imperfections belonging to the water,
since he does not really abide in the water and hence there is no reason
for his sharing those imperfections, thus the highest Self, which really
abides within earth and the rest, is not affected by their imperfections;
for as the nature of the highest Self is essentially antagonistic to all
imperfection, there is no reason for its participating in the
imperfection of others.--'And as this is seen.' This means--Since we
observe in ordinary life also that comparisons are instituted between
two things for the reason that although they do not possess all
attributes in common, they yet have some attribute in common. We say, e.
g. 'this man is like a lion.'--The conclusion from all this is that the
highest Self, which is essentially free from all imperfections and a
treasure as it were of all blessed qualities, in no way suffers from
dwelling within the earth and the rest.
An objection is raised. In the Brihad-âranyaka, in the chapter beginning
'There are two forms of Brahman, the material and the immaterial,' the
whole material world, gross and subtle, is at first referred to as
constituting the form of Brahman, and next a special form of Brahman is
mentioned: 'And what is the form of that Person? Like a saffron-coloured
raiment,' &c. But thereupon the text proceeds, 'Now follows the teaching--
not so, not so; for there is not anything else higher than this "not so.
" 'This passage, referring to all the previously mentioned forms of
Brahman by means of the word 'so,' negatives them; intimating thereby
that Brahman is nothing else than pure Being, and that all distinctions
are mere imaginations due to Brahman not knowing its own essential
nature. How then can Brahman possess the twofold characteristics?--To
this the next Sûtra replies.
21. For the text denies the previously declared so-muchness; and
declares more than that.
It is impossible to understand the text 'not so, not so' as negativing
those distinctions of Brahman which had been stated previously. If the
text meant that, it would be mere idle talk. For none but a person not
in his right mind would first teach that all the things mentioned in the
earlier part of the section are distinctive attributes of Brahman--as
which they are not known by any other means of proof--and thereupon
deliberately negative his own teaching. Although among the things
mentioned there are some which, in themselves, are known through other
means of proof, yet they are not thus known to be modes of Brahman, and
others again are known neither in themselves nor as modes of Brahman.
The text therefore cannot merely refer to them as things otherwise known,
but gives fundamental instruction about them. Hence the later passage
cannot be meant as a sheer negation, but must be taken as denying the
previously described 'so-muchness' of Brahman; i.e. the passage denies
that limited nature of Brahman which would result from Brahman being
viewed as distinguished by the previously stated attributes only. The
word _so_ refers to that limited nature, and the phrase _not so_
therefore means that Brahman is not distinguished by the previously
stated modes _only_. This interpretation is further confirmed by the
fact that after that negative phrase further qualities of Brahman are
declared by the text: 'For there is not anything higher than this _not
so_. Then comes the name, the _True of the True_; for the prânas are the
True, and he is the True of them.' That means: Than that Brahman which
is expressed by the phrase 'not so' there is no other thing higher, i.e.
there is nothing more exalted than Brahman either in essential nature or
in qualities. And of that Brahman the name is the 'True of the True.'
This name is explained in the next clause, 'for the prânas,' &c. The
term prânas here denotes the individual souls, so called because the
prânas accompany them. They are the 'True' because they do not, like the
elements, undergo changes implying an alteration of their essential
nature. And the highest Self is the 'True of the True' because while the
souls undergo, in accordance with their karman, contractions and
expansions of intelligence, the highest Self which is free from all sin
knows of no such alternations. He is therefore more eminently _true_
than they are. As thus the complementary passage declares Brahman to be
connected with certain qualities, the clause 'not so, not so' (to which
that passage is complementary) cannot deny that Brahman possesses
distinctive attributes, but only that Brahman's nature is confined to
the attributes previously stated.--Brahman therefore possesses the
twofold characteristics. That the clause 'not so' negatives Brahman's
being fully described by the attributes previously mentioned, was above
proved on the ground that since Brahman is not the object of any other
means of proof, those previous statements cannot refer to what is
already proved, and that the final clause cannot therefore be meant to
deny what the previous clauses expressly teach. The next Sûtra now
confirms this circumstance of Brahman not lying within the sphere of the
other means of proof.