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Because the clause 'What is Ka the same is Kha' speaks of ether as characterised by pleasure, the ether which is denoted by 'Kha' is no other than the highest Brahman. To explain. On the Fires declaring 'Breath is Brahman, Ka is Brahman, Kha is Brahman, Upakosala says, 'I understand that breath is Brahman, but I do not understand Ka and Kha. The meaning of this is as follows.
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.
But remembering that, as scripture says, 'the knowledge acquired from a teacher is best, and hence considering it advisable that the teacher himself should instruct Upakosala as to the attributes of the highest Brahman, the place with which it is to be connected in meditation and the way leading to it, they tell him 'the teacher will tell you the way, the 'way' connoting everything that remains to be taught by the teacher.
Now this same way is described by the teacher to Upakosala in connexion with the instruction as to the Person in the eye, 'They go to light, from light to day, &c. This also proves that the Person within the eye is the highest Self. Not any other, on account of non-permanency of abode, and of impossibility.
His teacher having gone on a journey without having imparted to him the knowledge of Brahman, and Upakosala being dejected on that account, the sacred fires of his teacher, well pleased with the way in which Upakosala had tended them, and wishing to cheer him up, impart to him the general knowledge of the nature of Brahman and the subsidiary knowledge of the Fires.
'We guard him in this world and the other, i.e. we Fires guard him from all troubles until he reaches Brahman. We have to consider, we reply, in what connexion the Fires address those words to Upakosala.
This also appears from the fact that the Garhapatya fire begins to instruct Upakosala only after he has been introduced into the knowledge of Brahman. Pu. Mi. Su. It, moreover, is by no means true that the text mentions such fruits of the Agnividya as would be opposed to final Release; all the fruits mentioned suit very well the case of a person qualified for Release. Up.
In order to ascertain which of the two meanings has to be taken, Upakosala therefore says, 'I do not understand Ka and Kha. The Fires, comprehending what is in his mind, thereupon reply, 'What is Ka the same is Kha, what is Kha the same is Ka, which means that the bliss which constitutes Brahman's nature is unlimited. That Person therefore is the highest Self.
Hence Upakosala says, 'I understand that breath is Brahman. With regard to pleasure and ether, on the other hand, there arises the question whether they are exhibited in the relation of qualifying attributes of Brahman on the ground of their forming the body of Brahman, and hence being ruled by it, or whether the two terms are meant to determine each other, and thus to convey a notion of the true nature of Brahman being constituted by supreme delight.
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