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Now in the text under discussion instruction is given about a being called 'the True, and possessing the attribute of 'bhuman, as being something additional to the individual soul; and this being called 'the True' is none other than the highest Brahman.
The Bhuman is Brahman, because in the series beginning with name instruction is given about it subsequently to the individual Self. But how do we know that the instruction as to 'the True' is in addition to, and refers to something different from, the being called Prana?
The section, therefore, although really concerned with enjoining the meditation on the bhuman, at the same time means to declare that the special meditations also are fruitful; otherwise the meditation on the bhuman could not be recommended, for the reason that it has a more excellent result than the preceding meditations.
The settled conclusion, therefore, is that the abode of heaven, earth, and so on, is none other than the highest Self. Here terminates the adhikarana of 'heaven, earth, and so on. Up. The question now arises whether the Self called bhuman is the individual Self or the highest Self. The Purvapakshin maintains the former view.
The instances coming under this head of discussion are all those meditations on Brahman which have for their only result final Release, which consists in attaining to Brahman such as the meditation on that which is, the meditation on the bhuman, the meditation on the small space within the heart, the Upakosala meditation, the Sandilya meditation, the meditation on Vaisvanara, the meditation on the Self of bliss, the meditation on the Imperishable, and others whether they be recorded in one sakha only or in several sakhas.
Hence, the text means to intimate, meditation should be performed on the 'I, in order thus firmly to establish the cognition that the highest Self has the 'I, i.e. the individual soul for its body. It is thus an established conclusion that the bhuman is the highest Self. Here terminates the adhikarana of 'fulness.
That Brahman is of the nature of supreme bliss has been shown in detail under I, 1, 12 ff. The conclusion from all this is that, as the text applies the term 'bhuman' to what was previously called the Real or True, and which is different from the individual soul there called Prana, the bhuman is the highest Brahman. And on account of the suitability of the attributes.
Just as in the series of beings beginning with name and ending with breath, each successive being is mentioned in addition to the preceding one wherefrom we conclude that it is something really different from what precedes; so that being also which is called 'the True, and which is mentioned in addition to the individual Self called Prana, is something different from the individual Self, and this being called 'the True' is the same as the Bhuman; in other words, the text teaches that the Bhuman is the highest Brahman called 'the True. This the Vrittikara also declares: 'But the Bhuman only.
And this soul, there called Prana, is what the text later on calls Bhuman; for as there is no question and reply as to something greater than Prana, Prana continues, without break, to be the subject-matter up to the mention of bhuman. The Prana section closes with the remark that he who fully knows Prana is an ativadin, i.e. one who makes a final supreme declaration.
There, in the beginning, separate meditations are enjoined on name, and so on, with special results of their own; and after that a meditation is enjoined on bhuman, with a result of its own, 'He becomes a Self-ruler, &c. The entire section really refers to the meditation on bhuman; but all the same there are admitted subordinate meditations on name, and so on, and a special result for each.
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