purport, as they intimate that matter (viz. Brahman). Compare, for
instance, 'Being only this was in the beginning, one, without a second'
(Ch. Up. VI, 2, 1); 'In the beginning all this was Self, one only' (Ait.
Âr. II, 4, 1, 1); 'This is the Brahman without cause and without effect,
without anything inside or outside; this Self is Brahman perceiving
everything' (B/ri/. Up. II, 5, 19); 'That immortal Brahman is before'
(Mu. Up. II, 2, 11); and similar passages. If the words contained in
these passages have once been determined to refer to Brahman, and their
purport is understood thereby, it would be improper to assume them to
have a different sense; for that would involve the fault of abandoning
the direct statements of the text in favour of mere assumptions. Nor can
we conclude the purport of these passages to be the intimation of the
nature of agents, divinities, &c. (connected with acts of religious
duty); for there are certain scriptural passages which preclude all
actions, actors, and fruits, as, for instance, B/ri/. Up. II, 4, 13,
'Then by what should he see whom?' (which passage intimates that there
is neither an agent, nor an object of action, nor an instrument.) Nor
again can Brahman, though it is of the nature of an accomplished thing,
be the object of perception and the other means of knowledge; for the
fact of everything having its Self in Brahman cannot be grasped without
the aid of the scriptural passage 'That art thou' (Ch. Up. VI, 8, 7).
Nor can it rightly be objected that instruction is purportless if not
connected with something either to be striven after or shunned; for from
the mere comprehension of Brahman's Self, which is not something either
to be avoided or endeavoured after, there results cessation of all pain,
and thereby the attainment of man's highest aim. That passages notifying
certain divinities, and so on, stand in subordinate relation to acts of
devout meditation mentioned in the same chapters may readily be
admitted. But it is impossible that Brahman should stand in an analogous
relation to injunctions of devout meditation, for if the knowledge of