I, 1, 25

25. If it be objected that(Brahman is) not (denoted) on account of the metre being denoted; (we reply) not so, because thus (i.e. by means of the metre) the direction of the mind (on Brahman) is declared; for thus it is seen (in other passages also).

We now address ourselves to the refutation of the assertion (made in the pūrvapakṣa of the preceding Sūtra) that in the previous passage also Brahman is not referred to, because in the sentence, 'Gāyatrī is everything whatsoever here exists,' the metre called Gāyatrī is spoken of.--How (we ask the pūrvapakṣin) can it be maintained that, on account of the metre being spoken of, Brahman is not denoted, while yet the mantra 'such is the greatness of it,' &c., clearly sets forth Brahman with its four quarters?--You are mistaken (the pūrvapakṣin replies). The sentence, 'Gāyatrī is everything,' starts the discussion of Gāyatrī. The same Gāyatrī is thereupon described under the various forms of all beings, earth, body, heart, speech, breath; to which there refers also the verse, 'that Gāyatrī

has four feet and is sixfold.' After that we meet with the mantra, 'Such is the greatness of it.' &c. How then, we ask, should this mantra, which evidently is quoted with reference to the Gāyatrī (metre) as described in the preceding clauses, all at once denote Brahman with its four quarters? Since therefore the metre Gāyatrī is the subject-matter of the entire chapter, the term 'Brahman' which occurs in a subsequent passage ('the Brahman which has thus been described') must also denote the metre. This is analogous to a previous passage (Ch, Up. III, 11, 3, 'He who thus knows this Brahma-upaniṣad'), where the word Brahma-upaniṣad is explained to mean Veda-upaniṣad. As therefore the preceding passage refers (not to Brahman, but) to the Gāyatrī metre, Brahman does not constitute the topic of the entire section.

This argumentation, we reply, proves nothing against our position. 'Because thus direction of the mind is declared,' i. e. because the Brahmaṇa passage, 'Gāyatrī indeed is all this,' intimates that by means of the metre Gāyatrī the mind is to be directed on Brahman which is connected with that metre. Of the metre Gāyatrī, which is nothing but a certain special combination of syllables, it could not possibly be said that it is the Self of everything. We therefore have to understand the passage as declaring that Brahman, which, as the cause of the world, is connected with that product also whose name is Gāyatrī, is 'all this;' in accordance with that other passage which directly says, 'All this indeed is Brahman' (Kh. Up. III, 14, 1). That the effect is in reality not different from the cause, we shall prove later on, under Sūtra II, 1, 14. Devout meditation on Brahman under the form of certain effects (of Brahman) is seen to be mentioned in other passages also, so, for instance, Ait. Ār. III, 2, 3, 12, 'For the Bahvṛcas consider him in the great hymn, the Adhvaryus in the sacrificial fire, the Chandogas in the Mahāvrata ceremony.' Although, therefore, the previous passage speaks of the metre, Brahman is what is meant, and the same Brahman is again referred to in the passage about the light, whose purport it is to enjoin another form of devout meditation.

Another commentator^[1] is of opinion that the term Gāyatrī (does not denote Brahman in so far as viewed under the form of Gāyatrī, but) directly denotes Brahman, on account of the equality of number; for just as the Gāyatrī metre has four feet consisting of six syllables each, so Brahman also has four feet, (i. e. quarters.) Similarly we see that in other passages also the names of metres are used to denote other things which resemble those metres in certain numerical relations; cp. for instance, Ch. Up. IV, 3, 8, where it is said at first, 'Now these five and the other five make ten and that is the Kṛta,' and after that 'these are again the Virāj which eats the food.' If we adopt this interpretation, Brahman only is spoken of, and the metre is not referred to at all. In any case Brahman is the subject with which the previous passage is concerned.