imate (i.e. mentioned not far off
so that it may be concluded to be the thing referred to), while the
individual soul is neither proximate nor intimated by any word directly
pointing to it. The cases of Brahman and the individual soul are
therefore not equal.

2. And because the qualities desired to be expressed are possible (in
Brahman; therefore the passage refers to Brahman).

Although in the Veda which is not the work of man no wish in the strict
sense can be expressed[138], there being no speaker, still such phrases
as 'desired to be expressed,' may be figuratively used on account of the
result, viz. (mental) comprehension. For just as in ordinary language we
speak of something which is intimated by a word and is to be received
(by the hearer as the meaning of the word), as 'desired to be
expressed;' so in the Veda also whatever is denoted as that which is to
be received is 'desired to be expressed,' everything else 'not desired
to be expressed.' What is to be received as the meaning of a Vedic
sentence, and what not, is inferred from the general purport of the
passage. Those qualities which are here desired to be expressed, i.e.
intimated as qualities to be dwelt on in meditation, viz. the qualities
of having true purposes, &c. are possible in the highest Brahman; for
the quality of having true purposes may be ascribed to the highest Self
which possesses unimpeded power over the creation, subsistence, and
reabsorption of this world. Similarly the qualities of having true
desires and true purposes are attributed to the highest Self in another
passage, viz. the one beginning, 'The Self which is free from sin' (Ch.
Up. VIII, 7, 1). The clause, 'He whose Self is the ether,' means 'he
whose Self is like the ether;' for Brahman may be said to be like the
ether on account of its omnipresence and other qualities. This is also
expressed by the clause, 'Greater than the earth.' And the other
explanation also, according to which the passage means 'he whose Self is
the ether' is possible, since Brahman which as the cause of the whole
world is the Self of everything is also the Self of the ether. For the
same reasons he is called 'he to whom all works belong, and so on.' Thus
the qualities here intimated as topics of meditation agree with the
nature of Brahman. We further maintain that the terms 'consisting of
mind,' and 'having breath for its body,' which the purvapakshin asserts
cannot refer to Brahman, may refer to it. For