On another occasion Indra instructs, "Know Me alone", (Maam Eva Vijaaneehi), that is to say, "Understand Me well; be aware of Me in full." The Indra referred to here cannot be a particular deity having a body with limbs. We cannot infer that the word "Praana" indicated the speaker Indra himself. One may argue that the entity who has to be meditated upon is either "Praana" or Indra, for Indra is Praana and Praana is Indra: it cannot be Brahman. This inference is not correct. Praana means Brahman and nothing else. Some interpret the statement "Know me alone" as a direction to the listener to "Know the Brahman that is My Reality, My Truth, My Core" - so Brahman alone is denoted by the word used by Indra while instructing Pratardana.

In common usage, in worldly parlance, Praana and Indra are associated with each other. In the vocabulary of spiritual enquiry, the Vast (Bhoomaa) is descriptive of Brahman which also means "The limitless, beyond even the Cosmos." Commentators have investigated the superficial and deeper meanings of these expressions and attempted to reconcile them as denoting one principle. Praana and Brahman, they laid down, are two faces of one coin; they are inextricably interpenetrative (Avinaabhaava Sambandha). What has therefore to be meditated upon is Brahman and nothing else.

"Saastra drshtyaa thu upadesha Vaamadevavathu": (The instruction is in consonance with the point of view of the scripture as in the case of Vaamadeva).

The sage Vaamadeva adhered to the teachings of the scriptures - I am Brahman (Aham Brahmaasmi), That thou art (Tathwam Asi); Brahman is the highest wisdom (Prajnaanam Brahma); This self is Brahman (Ayam Aatmaa Brahma) - which he listened to and thereby attained direct awareness of Brahman. (Aparoksha Brahma Jnaana). He meditated on the Truth "I am Brahman" (Aham Brahmaasmi). So too when Indra instructs, "Know Me alone" - the real Me - Brahman is meant not the vital force Praana. Before the awareness dawned on him, Vaamadeva too could well have understood by Praana, the deity Indra. His announcement after realization was, "I was Manu" (Aham Manurabhavam), "I am All" (Sarvaatmakam). In the same manner since the deity Indra possessed total wisdom, he could declare Brahman as equivalent to the Praana or the vital force in all. There is no inconsistency in this.