pter is referred to in
that chapter under a different name, we yet conclude, from the general
topic, that that special matter is meant. For instance, when we meet in
the section which treats of the jyotish/t/oma sacrifice with the
passage, 'in every spring he is to offer the jyotis sacrifice,' we at
once understand that the word denotes the jyotish/t/oma. If we therefore
meet with the clause 'to pra/n/a mind is fastened' in a section of which
the highest Brahman is the topic, we do not for a moment suppose that
the word pra/n/a should there denote the ordinary breath which is a mere
modification of air. The two passages thus do not offer any matter for
discussion, and hence do not furnish appropriate instances for the
Sutra. We have shown, on the other hand, that the passage about the
pra/n/a, which is the deity of the prastava, allows room for doubt,
purvapaksha and final decision.

24. The 'light' (is Brahman), on account of the mention of feet (in a
passage which is connected with the passage about the light).

Scripture says (Ch. Up. III, 13, 7), 'Now that light which shines above
this heaven, higher than all, higher than everything, in the highest
worlds beyond which there are no other worlds that is the same light
which is within man.' Here the doubt presents itself whether the word
'light' denotes the light of the sun and the like, or the highest Self.
Under the preceding Sutras we had shown that some words which ordinarily
have different meanings yet in certain passages denote Brahman, since
characteristic marks of the latter are mentioned. Here the question has
to be discussed whether, in connexion with the passage quoted,
characteristic marks of Brahman are mentioned or not.

The purvapakshin maintains that the word 'light' denotes nothing else
but the light of the sun and the like, since that is the ordinary
well-established meaning of the term. The common use of language, he
says, teaches us that the two words 'light' and 'darkness' denote
mutually opposite things, darkness being the term for whatever
interferes with the function of the sense of sight, as, for instance,
the gloom of the night, while sunshine and whatever else favours the
action of the eye is called light. The word 'shines' also, which the
text exhibits, is known ordinarily to refer to the sun and similar
sources of light; while of Brahman, which is devoid of colour, it cannot
be said, in the primary sense of the word, that it 'shines.' Fur