be reached, were not Brahman--just as the Selfs
consisting of food, &c. are not Brahman--then it would not be declared
(in the passage immediately following) that he who knows obtains for his
reward Brahman.--This objection we invalidate by the remark that the
text makes its declaration as to Brahman--which is the tail, the
support--being reached by him who knows, by the very means of the
declaration as to the attainment of the Self of bliss; as appears from
the passage, 'On this there is also this /s/loka, from which all speech
returns,' &c. With reference, again, to the passage, 'He desired: may I
be many, may I grow forth,' which is found in proximity to the mention
of the Self consisting of bliss, we remark that it is in reality
connected (not with the Self of bliss but with) Brahman, which is
mentioned in the still nearer passage, 'Brahman is the tail, the
support,' and does therefore not intimate that the Self of bliss is
Brahman. And, on account of its referring to the passage last quoted
('it desired,' &c.), the later passage also, 'That is flavour,' &c., has
not the Self of bliss for its subject.--But, it may be objected, the
(neuter word) Brahman cannot possibly be designated by a masculine word
as you maintain is done in the passage, 'He desired,' &c.--In reply to
this objection we point to the passage (Taitt. Up. II, 1), 'From that
Self sprang ether,' where, likewise, the masculine word 'Self' can refer
to Brahman only, since the latter is the general topic of the chapter.
In the knowledge of Bh/ri/gu and Varu/n/a finally ('he knew that bliss
is Brahman'), the word 'bliss' is rightly understood to denote Brahman,
since we there meet neither with the affix 'maya,' nor with any
statement as to joy being its head, and the like. To ascribe to Brahman
in itself joy, and so on, as its members, is impossible, unless we have
recourse to certain, however minute, distinctions qualifying Brahman;
and that the whole chapter is not meant to convey a knowledge of the
qualified (savi/s/esha) Brahman is proved by the passage (quoted above),
which declares that Brahman transcends speech and mind. We therefore
must conclude that the affix maya, in the word anandamaya, does not
denote abundance, but expresses a mere effect, just as it does in the
words annamaya and the subsequent similar compounds.

The Sutras are therefore to be explained as follows. There arises the
question whether the passage, 'Brahman is the tail, the sup