rise to the question, 'How is it the light of lights?' there is
occasion for the reply given in 'The sun does not shine there,' &c.--In
refutation of the assertion that the shining of luminous bodies such as
the sun and the moon can be denied only in case of there being another
luminous body--as, for instance, the light of the moon and the stars is
denied only when the sun is shining--we point out that it has been shown
that he (the Self) only can be the luminous being referred to, nothing
else. And it is quite possible to deny the shining of sun, moon, and so
on with regard to Brahman; for whatever is perceived is perceived by the
light of Brahman only so that sun, moon, &c. can be said to shine in it;
while Brahman as self-luminous is not perceived by means of any other
light. Brahman manifests everything else, but is not manifested by
anything else; according to such scriptural passages as, 'By the Self
alone as his light man sits,' &c. (B/ri/. Up. IV, 3, 6), and 'He is
incomprehensible, for he cannot be comprehended '(B/ri/. Up. IV, 2, 4).

23. Moreover Sm/ri/ti also speaks of him (i.e. of the praj/n/a Self as
being the universal light).

Moreover that aspect of the praj/n/a Self is spoken of in Sm/ri/ti also,
viz. in the Bhagavad Gita (XV, 6, 12), 'Neither the sun, nor the moon,
nor the fire illumines that; having gone into which men do not return,
that is my highest seat.' And 'The light which abiding in the sun
illumines the whole world, and that which is in the moon and that which
is in the fire, all that light know to be mine.'

24. On account of the term, (viz. the term 'lord' applied to it) the
(person) measured (by a thumb) (is the highest Lord).

We read (Ka. Up. II, 4, 12), 'The person of the size of a thumb stands
in the middle of the Self,' &c., and (II, 4, 13), 'That person, of the
size of a thumb, is like a light without smoke, lord of the past and of
the future, he is the same to-day and to-morrow. This is that.'--The
question here arises whether the person of the size of a thumb mentioned
in the text is the cognitional (individual) Self or the highest Self.

The purvapakshin maintains that on account of the declaration of the
person's size the cognitional Self is meant. For to the highest Self
which is of infinite length and breadth Scripture would not ascribe the
measure of a span; of the cognitional Self, on the other hand, which is
connected with limiting adjuncts, extension of the size of a s