प्रकरणाच्च ॥ १० ॥
prakaraṇācca || 10 ||
prakaraṇāt—From the context; ca—and.
10. And because (Brahman) is the subject of the discussion.
In an earlier text, Nachiketas asks Yama:
“Tell me of that which you see as neither good nor bad action, as neither effect nor cause, as neither past nor future” (Kath. 1. 2. 14).
In this text Brahman is inquired into and Yama answers : “I will tell you in brief—it is Aum” (Kath. 1. 2. 15). Further on he says, “The Self is neither born nor does it die” (Ibid. 1. 2. 18), and finally concludes with the passage in which the eater is mentioned. All this clearly shows that Brahman is the topic, and therefore the ‘eater’ is Brahman. It also follows from the peculiar characteristic, viz. the difficulty to cognize It, which is referred to in the text under discussion.
An objection may be raised on the ground that the scripture itself in another place denies that Brahman is the ‘eater’: “The other (Brahman) looks on without eating” (Mu. 8. 1. I). But ‘eating’ in this text refers to the experience of pleasure and pain, while in the text under discussion it means the reabsorption of the universe at the time of dissolution, which the scriptures attribute to Brahman alone.