Note (return) — SA@NKARA'S INTRODUCTION (continued 2)

To this we reply that the person a thumb long can only be the highest Lord.—Why?—On account of the term 'lord of the past and of the future.' For none but the highest Lord is the absolute ruler of the past and the future.—Moreover, the clause 'this is that' connects the passage with that which had been enquired about, and therefore forms the topic of discussion. And what had been enquired about is Brahman, 'That which thou seest as neither this nor that, as neither effect nor cause, as neither past nor future, tell me that' (I, 2, 14).—'On account of the term,' i.e. on account of the direct statement, in the text, of a designation, viz. the term 'Lord,' we understand that the highest Lord is meant191.—But still the question remains how a certain extension can be attributed to the omnipresent highest Self.—The reply to this is given, in the next Sûtra.