अक्षरमम्बरान्तधृतेः ॥ १० ॥
akṣaramambarāntadhṛteḥ || 10 ||
akṣaram—The Akshara; ambara-anta-dhṛteḥ—(because) it supports all up to Akasa (ether).
10. The Akshara (the Imperishable) (is Brahman) because it supports (everything) up to Akasa (ether).
“O Gargi, the Brahmanas call this Akshara” etc. (Brih. 3. 8. 8). Here the question is whether ‘Akshara’ means the syllable ‘Om’ or Brahman. The doubt arises because ‘Akshara’ etymologically means a syllable and therefore commonly represents the syllable ‘Om’, which is also an object of meditation. The Sutra however says ‘Akshara’ here stands for Brahman. Why? For the text says, “In that Akshara, O Gargi, is the ether woven like warp and woof” (Brih. 3. 8. 11). This attribute of supporting everything, even the Akasa, the first entity in the order of creation, can be true only of Brahman. Then again “it is neither gross nor minute, neither short nor long” etc. (Brih. 3. 8. 8) shows that all relative qualities are absent in it. Therefore the ‘Akshara’ is Brahman.