16.  And on account of the supporting also (attributed to it), (the small ether must be the Lord) because that greatness is observed in him (according to other scriptural passages).

And also on account of the ‘supporting’ the small ether can be the highest Lord only.—­How?—­The text at first introduces the general subject of discussion in the passage, ‘In it is that small ether;’ declares thereupon that the small one is to be compared with the universal ether, and that everything is contained in it; subsequently applies to it the term ‘Self,’ and states it to possess the qualities of being free from sin, &c.; and, finally, declares with reference to the same general subject of discussion, ’That Self is a bank, a limitary support (vidh/ri/ti), that these worlds may not be confounded.’  As ‘support’ is here predicated of the Self, we have to understand by it a supporting agent.  Just as a dam stems the spreading water so that the boundaries of the fields are not confounded, so that Self acts like a limitary dam in order that these outer and inner worlds, and all the different castes and a/s/ramas may not be confounded.  In accordance with this our text declares that greatness, which is shown in the act of holding asunder, to belong to the small (ether) which forms the subject of discussion; and that such greatness is found in the highest Lord only, is seen from other scriptural passages, such as ’By the command of that Imperishable, O Gargi, sun and moon; are held apart’ (B/ri/.  Up.  III, 8, 9).  Similarly, we read in another passage also, about whose referring to the highest Lord there is no doubt, ’He is the Lord of all, the king of all things, the protector of all things.  He is a bank and a limitary support, so that these worlds may not be confounded’ (B/ri/.  Up.  IV, 4, 22)—­Hence, on account of the ‘supporting,’ also the small (ether) is nothing else but the highest Lord.

17.  And on account of the settled meaning.

The small ether within cannot denote anything but the highest Lord for this reason also, that the word ‘ether’ has (among other meanings) the settled meaning of ‘highest Lord.’  Compare, for instance, the sense in which the word ‘ether’ is used in Ch.  Up.  VIII, 14, ’He who is called ether is the revealer of all forms and names;’ and Ch.  Up.  I, 9, 1, ’All these beings take their rise from the ether,’ &c.  On the other hand, we do not meet with any passage in which the word ‘ether’ is used in the sense of ’individual soul.’—­We have already shown that the word cannot, in our passage, denote the elemental ether; for, although the word certainly has that settled meaning, it cannot have it here, because the elemental ether cannot possibly be compared to itself, &c. &c.

18.  If it be said that the other one (i.e. the individual soul) (is meant) on account of a reference to it (made in a complementary passage), (we say) no, on account of the impossibility.