rmed.'--(But how
does this passage convey praise of knowledge?)--Because, we reply, its
meaning is as follows: 'Although I do such cruel deeds, yet not even a
hair of mine is harmed because I am one with Brahman; therefore the life
of any other person also who knows me thus is not harmed by any deed of
his.' And the object of the knowledge (praised by Indra) is nothing else
but Brahman which is set forth in a subsequent passage, 'I am pra/n/a,
the intelligent Self.' Therefore the entire chapter refers to Brahman.

31. If it be said (that Brahman is) not (meant), on account of
characteristic marks of the individual soul and the chief vital air
(being mentioned); we say no, on account of the threefoldness of devout
meditation (which would result from your interpretation); on account of
(the meaning advocated by us) being accepted (elsewhere); and on account
of (characteristic marks of Brahman) being connected (with the passage
under discussion).

Although we admit, the purvapakshin resumes, that the chapter about the
pra/n/a does not furnish any instruction regarding some outward deity,
since it contains a multitude of references to the interior Self; still
we deny that it is concerned with Brahman.--For what reason?--Because it
mentions characteristic marks of the individual soul on the one hand,
and of the chief vital air on the other hand. The passage, 'Let no man
try to find out what speech is, let him know the speaker,' mentions a
characteristic mark of the individual soul, and must therefore be held
to point out as the object of knowledge the individual soul which rules
and employs the different organs of action such as speech and so on. On
the other hand, we have the passage, 'But pra/n/a alone, the intelligent
Self, having laid hold of this body makes it rise up,' which points to
the chief vital air; for the chief attribute of the vital air is that it
sustains the body. Similarly, we read in the colloquy of the vital airs
(Pra. Up. II, 3), concerning speech and the other vital airs, 'Then
pra/n/a (the chief vital air) as the best said to them: Be not deceived;
I alone dividing myself fivefold support this body and keep it.' Those,
again, who in the passage quoted above read 'this one (masc.), the
body[132]' must give the following explanation, Pra/n/a having laid hold
of this one, viz. either the individual soul or the aggregate of the
sense organs, makes the body rise up. The individual soul as well as the
chief