Nor can we allow the assertion that there is something higher than the
highest because certain texts ('the Person which is higher than the
highest'; 'beyond the Imperishable there is the highest,' &c.) refer to
such a difference. For the same texts expressly deny that there is
anything else higher than the highest--'than whom there is nothing else
higher, than whom there is nothing smaller or larger' (Svet. Up. III, 9).
So also other texts: 'For there is nothing else higher than this "not
so"' (i.e. than this Brahman designated by the phrase 'not so'; Bri. Up.
II, 3, 6); 'Of him none is the Lord, his name is great glory' (Mahânâr.
Up. I, 10).
But what then is the entity referred to in the text 'tato yad
uttarataram '? (Svet. Up. III, 10)?--The passage immediately preceding
(8), 'I know that great person, &c.; a man who knows him passes over
death,' had declared that the knowledge of Brahman is the only way to
immortality; and the clause (9), 'Higher than whom there is nothing else,'
had confirmed this by declaring that Brahman is the Highest and that
there is no other thing higher. In agreement herewith we must explain
stanza 10 as giving a reason for what had been said, 'Because that which
is the highest (uttarataram), viz. the Supreme Person is without form
and without suffering, therefore (tatah) those who know him become
immortal,' &c. On any other explanation stanza 10 would not be in
harmony with stanza 8 where the subject is introduced, and with what is
declared in stanza 9.--Analogously in the text 'He goes to the divine
Person who is higher than the highest' (Mu. Up. III, 2, 8) 'the highest'
means the aggregate soul (samashâ-purusha), which in a previous passage
had been said to be 'higher than the high Imperishable' (II, 1, 2); and
the 'higher' refers to the Supreme Person, with all his transcendent
qualities, who is superior to the aggregate soul.
36. The omnipresence (possessed) by that, (understood) from the
declaration of extent.
That omnipresence which is possessed 'by that,' i.e. by Brahman, and
which is known 'from declarations of extent,' and so on, i.e. from texts
which declare Brahman to be all-pervading, is also known from texts such
as 'higher than that there is nothing.' Declarations of extent are e.g.
the following: 'By this Person this whole Universe is filled' (Svet. Up.
III. 9); 'whatever is seen or heard in this world, is pervaded inside
and outside by Nârâyana' (Mahânâr. Up.); 'The eternal, pervading,
omnipresent, which the Wise consider as the source of all beings' (Mu.
Up. I, 1, 6). The 'and the rest' in the Sâtra comprises passages such as
'Brahman indeed is all this,' 'The Self indeed is all this,' and the
like. The conclusion is that the highest Brahman is absolutely supreme.--
Here terminates the adhikarana of 'the Highest.'