His attributes are taught therein.
Antah: (Antaratma, the being within the sun and the eye); Tat Dharma: His essential attribute; Upadesat: because of the teaching,
as Sruti teaches.
The won der ful Purusha of Chhandogya Upanishad de scribed in chap ters 1, 6 and 7 is Brah man.
From the de scrip tion in the Chhandogya Upanishad of the es - sen tial qual i ties be long ing to the In dwell ing Spirit re sid ing in the Sun and in the hu man eye, it is to be un der stood that he is Brah man and not the in di vid ual soul. You will find in Chhandogya Upanishad I-6-6, “Now that per son bright as gold who is seen within the sun, with beard bright as gold and hair bright as gold al to gether to the very tips of his nails, whose eyes are like blue lo tus. His name is ‘Ut’ be cause he has risen (Udita) above all evil. He tran scends all lim i ta tions. He also who knows this rises above all evil. So much with ref er ence to the Devas.”
With ref er ence to the body, “Now the per son who is seen in the eye is Rik. He is Sama. He is Uktha. He is Yajus. He is Brah man. His form is the same as that of the for mer i.e. of the Be ing in the Sun. The joints of the one are the joints of the other, the name of the one is the name of the other” Chh. Up. I-7-5.
Do these texts re fer to some spe cial in di vid ual soul who by means of knowl edge and pi ous deeds has raised him self to an ex - alted state; or do they re fer to the eter nally per fect su preme Brah - man? The Purvapakshin says that the ref er ence is to an in di vid ual soul only, as the scrip ture speaks of a def i nite shape, par tic u lar abode. Spe cial fea tures are at trib uted to the per son in the Sun, such as the pos ses sion of beard as bright as gold and so on. The same char ac ter is tics be long to the be ing in the eye also.
On the con trary no shape can be at trib uted to the Su preme Lord, “That which is with out sound, with out touch, with out form, with - out de cay” Kau. Up. I-3-15.
Fur ther a def i nite abode is stated, “He who is in the Sun. He who is in the eye”. This shows that an in di vid ual soul is meant. As re gards the Su preme Lord, he has no spe cial abode, “Where does he rest? In his own glory” Chh. Up. VII-24-1. “Like the ether he is Om ni pres ent, Eter nal”.
The power of the be ing in ques tion is said to be lim ited. “He is the Lord of the worlds be yond that and of the wishes of the Devas,” shows that the power of the be ing in the Sun is lim ited. “He is the Lord of the worlds be neath that and of the wishes of men,” shows that the power of the per son in the eye is lim ited. Whereas the power of the Su preme Lord is un lim ited. “He is the Lord of all, the King of all things, the Pro tec tor of all things.” This in di cates that the Lord is free from all lim i ta tions. There fore the be ing in the Sun and in the eye can not be the Su preme Lord.
This Su tra re futes the above ob jec tion of the Purvapakshin. The be ing within the Sun and within the eye is not the in di vid ual soul, but the Su preme Lord only. Why? Be cause His es sen tial at trib utes are de clared.
At first the name of the be ing within the Sun is stated, “His name is ‘Ut’.” Then it is de clared, “He has risen above all evil”. The same name is then trans ferred to the be ing in the eye, “the name of the one is the name of the other”. Per fect free dom from sins is as cribed to the Su preme Self only, the Self which is free from sin etc., Apahatapapma Chh. Up. VIII-7. There is the pas sage, “He is Rik. He is Saman, Uktha, Yajus, Brah man,” which de clares the be ing in the eye to be the Self, Saman and so on. This is pos si ble only if the be ing is the Lord, who as be ing the cause of all, is to be re garded as the Self of all.
Fur ther it is de clared, “Rik and Saman are his joints” with ref er - ence to the Devas, and “the joints of the one are the joints of the other
with ref er ence to the body”. This state ment can be made only with ref - er ence to that which is the Self of all.
The men tion of a par tic u lar abode, viz., the Sun and the eye, of form with a beard bright as gold and of a lim i ta tion of pow ers is only for the pur pose of med i ta tion or Upasana. The Su preme Lord may as - sume through Maya any form He likes in or der to please thereby his de vout wor ship pers to save and bless them. Smriti also says, “That thou seest me O Narada, is the Maya emit ted by me. Do not then look on me en dowed with the qual i ties of all be ings.” The lim i ta tion of Brah - man’s pow ers which is due to the dis tinc tion of what be longs to the Devas and what to the body, has ref er ence to de vout med i ta tion only. It is for the con ve nience of med i ta tion that these lim i ta tions are imag - ined in Brah man. In His es sen tial or true na ture He is be yond them. It fol lows, there fore, that the Be ing which scrip ture states to be within the eye and the Sun is the Su preme Lord.
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Bhedavyapadesacchanyah I.1.21 (21)