अनुकृतेस्तस्य च ॥ २२ ॥
anukṛtestasya ca || 22 ||
abykṛteḥ—Because of the acting after; tasya—Its; ca—and.
22. Because of the acting after (i.e. shining after) (That which shining, everything else shines) and (because by) Its (light everything else is lighted).
“There the sun does not shine, nor the moon .. . . It shining, everything else shines after It, by Its light all this is lighted” (Mu. 2. 2. 11).
Here ‘It’ refers to the Supreme Brahman, the pure Consciousness, and not to any material light besides the sun -and the moon. It is absurd to say that one light is lighted by another. Nor do we know of any material light besides the sun that can light it. ‘It shining, everything else shines’ shows that it is the principle of Intelligence which shines first of all. ‘By Tts light ail this is lighted’ shows that it is the light of Intelligence, Consciousness or Brahman which illumines the whole world, luminous and non-luminous. That Brahman is self-luminous we learn from texts like, “It is the light of lights.”