tic marks of the individual soul as
well as of the chief vital air are not out of place even in a chapter
whose topic is Brahman. How so? 'On account of the threefoldness of
devout meditation.' The chapter aims at enjoining three kinds of devout
meditation on Brahman, according as Brahman is viewed under the aspect
of pra/n/a, under the aspect of praj/n/a, and in itself. The passages,
'Meditate (on me) as life, as immortality. Life is pra/n/a,' and 'Having
laid hold of this body it makes it rise up. Therefore let man worship it
alone as uktha,' refer to the pra/n/a aspect. The introductory passage,
'Now we shall explain how all things become one in that praj/n/a,' and
the subsequent passages, 'Speech verily milked one portion thereof; the
word is its object placed outside;' and, 'Having by praj/n/a taken
possession of speech he obtains by speech all words &c.,' refer to the
praj/n/a aspect. The Brahman aspect finally is referred to in the
following passage, 'These ten objects have reference to praj/n/a, the
ten subjects have reference to objects. If there were no objects there
would be no subjects; and if there were no subjects there would be no
objects. For on either side alone nothing could be achieved. But that is
not many. For as in a car the circumference of the wheel is set on the
spokes and the spokes on the nave, thus are these objects set on the
subjects and the subjects on the pra/n/a.' Thus we see that the one
meditation on Brahman is here represented as threefold, according as
Brahman is viewed either with reference to two limiting conditions or in
itself. In other passages also we find that devout meditation on Brahman
is made dependent on Brahman being qualified by limiting adjuncts; so,
for instance (Ch. Up. III, 14, 2), 'He who consists of mind, whose body
is pra/n/a.' The hypothesis of Brahman being meditated upon under three
aspects perfectly agrees with the pra/n/a chapter[135]; as, on the one
hand, from a comparison of the introductory and the concluding clauses
we infer that the subject-matter of the whole chapter is one only, and
as, on the other hand, we meet with characteristic marks of pra/n/a,
praj/n/a, and Brahman in turns. It therefore remains a settled
conclusion that Brahman is the topic of the whole chapter.

Notes:

[Footnote 32: The subject is the universal Self whose nature is
intelligence (/k/u); the object comprises whatever is of a
non-intelligent nature, viz. bodies with their sens