वेदान्त पारिजात सौरभ (भगवद् निम्बार्काचार्य - द्वैताद्वैत वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

[sū. 3. 3. 23.
ADH. 8.] VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA 617
‘oldest’, i.e. as their chief,—that means: they are the attributes of
Brahman. (They are) ‘held together’, i.e supported, by the sub-
stratum of the attributes, (viz. Brahman),—hereby (Brahman's attri-
bute of) holding the powers together is designated. That chiefest
Brahman stretched out the heaven,—hereby (Brahman's attribute of)
pervading the heaven is designated.
Here the doubt is as to whether these attributes of Brahman
are to be inserted in the Śāṇḍilya-vidyā and the rest,—that are
meditations on Brahman—enjoined in their (i.e. Rānāyanīyas's)
Upaniṣads, or not to be inserted, a different kind of meditation (on
Brahman) as possessed of these attributes being enjoined here. On
the suggestion that they are to be inserted,
We reply. Just as the two names are not combined, so the group
of attributes like “holding together and pervading the heaven”
and so on too is not to be combined. Why? “For this reason,”
i.e. on account of the very same difference, i e. on account of the
difference of abodes In the Śāṇḍilya-vidyās and the rest, Brahman
is declared to have a small abode in the texts: “This soul of mine
within the heart” (Chānd. 3.14.3, 4). Here, there (is no mention of the)
attribute of occupying a place that is not small, resulting from (His)
‘pervading the heaven’, as well as of other attributes of occupying
a place that is not small, such as, ‘holding together’ and the rest,
resulting from (their) association with that Hence it is established
that there is a separate meditation (on Brahman) as qualified by the
attributes of holding the powers together, pervading the heaven and
so on.
Here ends the section entitled “Holding together” (8).
COMPARISON
Baladeva
This is sūtra 24 in his commentary. He continues the topic that
the God-possessed souls are not to be meditated on as possessed of
the attributes of the Lord. Hence the sūtra: “And (the attributes
like) holding together and pervading the heaven too (are not to be
combined in the meditations on the God-possessed souls) also for this
reason (i.e. because they are not equal to the Lord) ”.¹
¹ G.B. 3.3.24, pp. 148-149, Chap. 3.