knows Brahman attains the highest'); therefore the enquiry into Brahman
is to be undertaken subsequently to the acquirement of the mentioned
means.

By Brahman is to be understood that the definition of which will be
given in the next Sûtra (I, 1, 2); it is therefore not to be supposed
that the word Brahman may here denote something else, as, for instance,
the brahminical caste. In the Sûtra the genitive case ('of Brahman;' the
literal translation of the Sûtra being 'then therefore the desire of
knowledge of Brahman') denotes the object, not something generally
supplementary (/s/esha[56]); for the desire of knowledge demands an
object of desire and no other such object is stated.--But why should not
the genitive case be taken as expressing the general complementary
relation (to express which is its proper office)? Even in that case it
might constitute the object of the desire of knowledge, since the
general relation may base itself on the more particular one.--This
assumption, we reply, would mean that we refuse to take Brahman as the
direct object, and then again indirectly introduce it as the object; an
altogether needless procedure.--Not needless; for if we explain the
words of the Sûtra to mean 'the desire of knowledge connected with
Brahman' we thereby virtually promise that also all the heads of
discussion which bear on Brahman will be treated.--This reason also, we
reply, is not strong enough to uphold your interpretation. For the
statement of some principal matter already implies all the secondary
matters connected therewith. Hence if Brahman, the most eminent of all
objects of knowledge, is mentioned, this implies already all those
objects of enquiry which the enquiry into Brahman presupposes, and those
objects need therefore not be mentioned, especially in the Sûtra.
Analogously the sentence 'there the king is going' implicitly means that
the king together with his retinue is going there. Our interpretation