gher than the imperishable
source of all beings, three kinds of knowledge would have to be
acknowledged, while the text expressly speaks of two kinds
only.--Further, the reference to the knowledge of everything being
implied in the knowledge of one thing--which is contained in the passage
(I, 1, 3), 'Sir, what is that through which if it is known everything
else becomes known?'--is possible only if the allusion is to Brahman the
Self of all, and not either to the pradhana which comprises only what is
non-intelligent or to the enjoyer viewed apart from the objects of
enjoyment.--The text, moreover, by introducing the knowledge of Brahman
as the chief subject--which it does in the passage (I, 1, 1), 'He told
the knowledge of Brahman, the foundation of all knowledge, to his eldest
son Atharvan'--and by afterwards declaring that out of the two kinds of
knowledge, viz. the lower one and the higher one, the higher one leads
to the comprehension of the Imperishable, shows that the knowledge of
the Imperishable is the knowledge of Brahman. On the other hand, the
term 'knowledge of Brahman' would become meaningless if that
Imperishable which is to be comprehended by means of it were not
Brahman. The lower knowledge of works which comprises the /Ri/g-veda,
and so on, is mentioned preliminarily to the knowledge of Brahman for
the mere purpose of glorifying the latter; as appears from the passages
in which it (the lower knowledge) is spoken of slightingly, such as (I,
2, 7), 'But frail indeed are those boats, the sacrifices, the eighteen
in which this lower ceremonial has been told. Fools who praise this as
the highest good are subject again and again to old age and death.'
After these slighting remarks the text declares that he who turns away
from the lower knowledge is prepared for the highest one (I, 2, 12),
'Let a Brahama/n/a after he has examined all these worlds which are
gained by works acquire freedom from all desires. Nothing that is
eternal (not made) can be gained by what is not eternal (made). Let him
in order to understand this take fuel in his hand and approach a guru
who is learned and dwells entirely in Brahman.'--The remark that,
because the earth and other non-intelligent things are adduced as
parallel instances, that also which is compared to them, viz. the source
of all beings must be non-intelligent, is without foundation, since it
is not necessary that two things of which one is compared to the other
should be