ts of the pra/n/a, we observe that all the single passages can be
construed into a whole only if they are viewed as referring to Brahman.
At the beginning of the legend Pratardana, having been allowed by Indra
to choose a boon, mentions the highest good of man, which he selects for
his boon, in the following words, 'Do you yourself choose that boon for
me which you deem most beneficial for a man.' Now, as later on pra/n/a
is declared to be what is most beneficial for man, what should pra/n/a
denote but the highest Self? For apart from the cognition of that Self a
man cannot possibly attain what is most beneficial for him, as many
scriptural passages declare. Compare, for instance, /S/ve. Up. III, 8,
'A man who knows him passes over death; there is no other path to go.'
Again, the further passage, 'He who knows me thus by no deed of his is
his life harmed, not by theft, not by bhru/n/ahatya' (III, 1), has a
meaning only if Brahman is supposed to be the object of knowledge. For,
that subsequently to the cognition of Brahman all works and their
effects entirely cease, is well known from scriptural passages, such as
the following, 'All works perish when he has been beheld who is the
higher and the lower' (Mu. Up. II, 2, 8). Moreover, pra/n/a can be
identified with the intelligent Self only if it is Brahman. For the air
which is non-intelligent can clearly not be the intelligent Self. Those
characteristic marks, again, which are mentioned in the concluding
passage (viz. those intimated by the words 'bliss,' 'imperishable,'
'immortal') can, if taken in their full sense, not be reconciled with
any being except Brahman. There are, moreover, the following passages,
'He does not increase by a good action, nor decrease by a bad action.
For he makes him whom he wishes to lead up from these worlds do a good
deed; and the same makes him whom he wishes to lead down from these
worlds do a bad deed;' and, 'He is the guardian of the world, he is the
king of the world, he is the Lord of the world' (Kau. Up. III, 8). All
this can be properly understood only if the highest Brahman is
acknowledged to be the subject-matter of the whole chapter, not if the
vital air is substituted in its place. Hence the word pra/n/a denotes
Brahman.

29. If it be said that (Brahman is) not (denoted) on account of the
speaker denoting himself; (we reply that this objection is not valid)
because there is in that (chapter) a multitude of references to the
interi