ज्योतिश्चरणाभिधानात् ॥ २४ ॥
jyotiścaraṇābhidhānāt || 24 ||
jyotiḥ—Light; caraṇābhidhānāt—on account of the mention of feet.
24. (The word) ‘light’ (is Brahman) on account of the mention of feet (in a complimentary passage).
“Now that light which shines above this heaven, beyond all, . . . Let a man meditate on this” etc. (Chh. 3. 13. 7).
Here the question is whether the meditation is to be on the light as such or on Brahman. The Sutra says that ‘light’ here does not mean physical light which helps vision, such as the sun, but Brahman, because feet (quarters) are mentioned in a preceding text:
“This much is Its glory, greater than this is the Purusha. One foot of It is all beings while Its (remaining) three feet are immoita] in heaven” (Chh. 3. 12. 6).
The Brahman that has been so described in this passage is recognized in the one first quoted, where ‘light’ occurs, because there also it is said to be connected with ‘heaven’. Brahman is the subject matter of not only the previous texts, but also of the subsequent texts; for in the section immediately following that which contains the passage under discussion (i.e. in Chh. 3.14) Brahman is also the main topic. It is therefore but reasonable to say that the intervening section (Chh. 3. 13) also deals with Brahman. Hence ‘light’ here means Brahman. The word ‘light’ can be used for Brahman, which manifests the world even as light manifests objects. The mention of limiting adjuncts with respect to Brahman, denoted by the word ‘light’ is only for the sake of meditation.