Avatarika
यत् केवलं कर्मनिरपेक्षम् अमृतत्वसाधनम्, तदुक्त- म्यमिति मैत्रेयीब्राह्मणमारब्धम्; तच्च आत्मज्ञानं सर्वसं- न्यासाङ्गविशिष्टम् ; आत्मनि च विज्ञाते सर्वमिदं विज्ञातं भवति ; आत्मा च प्रियः सर्वस्मात् ; तस्मात् आत्मा द्रष्ट- व्यः ; स च श्रोतव्यो मन्तव्यो निदिध्यासितव्य इति च दर्शनप्रकारा उक्ताः ; तत्र श्रोतव्यः, आचार्यागमाभ्याम् ; मन्तव्यः तर्कतः ; तत्र च तर्क उक्तः- 'आत्मैवेदं सर्वम्' इति प्रतिज्ञातस्य हेतुवचनम् आत्मैकसामान्यत्वम् आत्मैकोद्भ- वत्वम् आत्मैकप्रलयत्वं च ; तत्र अयं हेतुः असिद्ध इत्या- शङ्क्यते आत्मैकसामान्योद्भवप्रलयाख्यः ; तदाशङ्कानिवृत्त्य- र्थमेतद्ब्राह्मणमारभ्यते ।यस्मात् 'परस्परोपकार्योपकारकभूतं जगत्सर्वं पृथिव्यादि, यच्च लोके परस्परोपकार्योपकारक- भूतं तत् एककारणपूर्वकम् एकसामान्यात्मकम् एकप्रलयं च दृष्टम्, तस्मात् इदमपि पृथिव्यादिलक्षणं जगत् पर- स्परोपकार्योपकारकत्वात् तथाभूतं भवितुमर्हति-, एष ह्यर्थः अस्मिन्ब्राह्मणे प्रकाश्यते ।अथवा 'आत्मैवेदं
In plain words
Earlier the text told us there is one means to freedom that needs nothing else -- not even ritual -- and that is knowing the Self. That is why this whole section on Maitreyī was written, and why it comes bound to complete renunciation. Know the Self, and you have known everything; nothing is dearer than it. So the Self must be seen directly -- and that seeing happens in three moves: hearing the teaching, reasoning it through, and dwelling on it in meditation. Hearing comes from a teacher and from scripture; reasoning is how we test it. And the reasoning behind 'the Self alone is all this' rests on three claims: that the Self is the one common nature in everything, the one source everything rises from, and the one end everything returns to. Someone could object that this is just asserted, not proven. This section exists to answer exactly that doubt. Look at the world: everything in it helps something else and is helped in turn -- and whenever we see that kind of mutual give-and-take, it always turns out to trace back to one cause, one shared nature, one shared ending. So this world, too, built the same way out of earth and the rest, earns the same conclusion. That is the whole point this section is about to show. Or, put differently: 'the Self alone is all this
Close to the Sanskrit
That which alone, independent of ritual action, is the means to immortality -- that has been stated. With this [in view] the Maitreyī-Brāhmaṇa was begun; and that knowledge of the Self is qualified by [being accompanied by] complete renunciation as its limb. And when the Self is known, all this is known; and the Self is dearer than everything; therefore the Self is to be seen. And it is to be heard, reflected upon, and meditated upon -- these were stated as the modes of realization. Among these: it is to be heard through teacher and scripture; it is to be reflected upon through reasoning. And there, the reasoning stated was: for the thesis proposed, 'the Self alone is all this,' the statement of reason is the Self's being the single universal, the single origin, and the single dissolution [of everything]. There it is suspected that this reason -- called 'single universal, origin, and dissolution' -- is unestablished. To remove that suspicion, this brāhmaṇa is begun. Because: the entire world, beginning with earth, is characterized by mutual helping and being helped; and whatever in the world is characterized by mutual helping and being helped is observed to have a single prior cause, a single common nature, and a single dissolution; therefore this world too, characterized by earth and the rest, because of its being characterized by mutual helping and being helped, deserves to be of that same nature -- this indeed is the point illuminated in this brāhmaṇa. Or else, [the thesis] 'the Self alone is this