अन्तर्यामी, अधिदैवादिषु तद्धर्मव्यपदेशात् ॥ १८ ॥
antaryāmī, adhidaivādiṣu taddharmavyapadeśāt || 18 ||
antaryāmī—The Ruler within; adhidaivādiṣu—in the gods etc.; taddharma-vyapadeśāt—on account of Its qualities being mentioned.
18. The Ruler within of the gods and so on (is Brahman) on account of the qualities of that (Brahman) being mentioned.
“Dost thou know the Internal Ruler” etc. (Brih. 3. 7. 1); and again,
“He who inhabits the earth, but is within it, whom the earth does not know, … is the Internal Ruler, your own immortal self” (Brih. 3. 7. 3).
The “Internal Ruler” spoken of here is Brahman and not the individual soul endowed with Siddhis (powers) or the presiding deity, or anything else, for the characteristics of Brahman are mentioned in the concluding part of the text cited, wherein the Raler is spoken of as identical with the individual soul and immortal, which can be true only of Brahman. He is also described in this section as being all-pervading, since lie is inside and the Ruler within of everything, viz. the earth, the sun, water, fire, sky, the ether, the senses, etc., and this also can be true only of Brahman.