of absolutely the same nature. The things, moreover, to which
the source of all beings is compared, viz. the earth and the like, are
material, while nobody would assume the source of all beings to be
material.--For all these reasons the source of all beings, which
possesses the attributes of invisibility and so on, is the highest Lord.

22. The two others (i.e. the individual soul and the pradhana) are not
(the source of all beings) because there are stated distinctive
attributes and difference.

The source of all beings is the highest Lord, not either of the two
others, viz. the pradhana and the individual soul, on account of the
following reason also. In the first place, the text distinguishes the
source of all beings from the embodied soul, as something of a different
nature; compare the passage (II, 1, 2), 'That heavenly person is without
body, he is both without and within, not produced, without breath and
without mind, pure.' The distinctive attributes mentioned here, such as
being of a heavenly nature, and so on, can in no way belong to the
individual soul, which erroneously considers itself to be limited by
name and form as presented by Nescience, and erroneously imputes their
attributes to itself. Therefore the passage manifestly refers to the
Person which is the subject of all the Upanishads.--In the second place,
the source of all beings which forms the general topic is represented in
the text as something different from the pradhana, viz. in the passage,
'Higher than the high Imperishable.' Here the term 'Imperishable' means
that undeveloped entity which represents the seminal potentiality of
names and forms, contains the fine parts of the material elements,
abides in the Lord, forms his limiting adjunct, and being itself no
effect is high in comparison to all effects; the whole phrase, 'Higher
than the high Imperishable,' which expresses a difference then clearly
shows that the highest Self is meant here.--We do not on that account
assume an independent entity called pradhana and say that the source of
all beings is stated separately therefrom; but if a pradhana is to be
assumed at all (in agreement with the common opinion) and if being
assumed it is assumed of such a nature as not to be opposed to the
statements of Scripture, viz. as the subtle cause of all beings denoted
by the terms 'the Undeveloped' and so on, we have no objection to such
an assumption, and declare that, on account of the separate state