Śaṅkaraon Brahma Sūtra 2.3.4

The word of the Veda also proclaims the non-originatcd- ness of ether; for it declares that ‘air and ether (antariksha) are immortal* (Bri\ Up. II, 3, 3), and what is immortal cannot have an origin. Another scriptural pa.ssage (‘ orhni- present and eternal like ether’), by comparing two attri- butes of Brahman, viz. omnipresence and eternity with the other, intimates that those qualities belong to the ether ; also ; in which case no beginning can be attributed to it. Other passages to be quoted in this connexion are, ‘ As ’ this ether is infinite, so the Self is to be known as infinite ; and ‘ Brahman has the ether for its body, the ether is the Self.’ For if the ether had a beginning, it could not be predicated of Brahman (as is done in the last passage), as we predicate blueness of a lotus (‘ the lotus is blue ’). Hence we understand that the eternal Brahman is of the same nature as ether.