Bhashya
स होवाच— अमृतत्वसाधनं वैराग्यमुपदिदिक्षुः जाया-पतिपुत्रादिभ्यो विरागमुत्पादयति तत्संन्यासाय ।न वै-वै-शब्दः प्रसिद्धस्मरणार्थः ; प्रसिद्धमेव एतत् लोके; पत्युःभर्तुः कामाय प्रयोजनाय जायायाः पतिः प्रियो न भवति,किं तर्हि आत्मनस्तु कामाय प्रयोजनायैव भार्यायाः पतिःप्रियो भवति ।तथा न वा अरे जायाया इत्यादि समान-मन्यत्, न वा अरे पुत्राणाम्, न वा अरे वित्तस्य, न वाअरे ब्रह्मणः, न वा अरे क्षत्रस्य, न वा अरे लोकानाम्,न वा अरे देवानाम्, न वा अरे भूतानाम्, न वा अरेसर्वस्य ।पूर्वं पूर्वं यथासन्ने प्रीतिसाधने वचनम्, तत्र तत्रइष्टतरत्वाद्वैराग्यस्य; सर्वग्रहणम् उक्तानुक्तार्थम् ।तस्मात्लोकप्रसिद्धमेतत् - आत्मैव प्रियः, नान्यत् ।'तदेतत्प्रेयःपुत्रात्' इत्युपन्यस्तम्, तस्यैतत् वृत्तिस्थानीयं प्रपञ्चितम् ।तस्मात् आत्मप्रीतिसाधनत्वात् गौणी अन्यत्र प्रीतिः, आत्म-न्येव मुख्या ।तस्मात् आत्मा वै अरे द्रष्टव्यः दर्शनार्हः,दर्शनविषयमापादयितव्यः ; श्रोतव्यः पूर्वम् आचार्यत आग-मतश्च ; पश्चान्मन्तव्यः तर्कतः ; ततो निदिध्यासितव्यःनिश्चयेन ध्यातव्यः ; एवं ह्यसौ दृष्टो भवति श्रवणमनननिदि-ध्यासनसाधनैर्निर्वर्तितैः ; यदा एकत्वमेतान्युपगतानि, तदासम्यग्दर्शनं ब्रह्मैकत्वविषयं प्रसीदति, न अन्यथा श्रवणमा-त्रेण ।यत् ब्रह्मक्षत्रादि कर्मनिमित्तं वर्णाश्रमादिलक्षणम्आत्मन्यविद्याध्यारोपितप्रत्ययविषयं क्रियाकारकफलात्मकम्अविद्याप्रत्ययविषयम्- रज्ज्वामिव सर्पप्रत्ययः, तदुपमर्दनार्थ-माह- आत्मनि खलु अरे मैत्रेयि दृष्टे श्रुते मते विज्ञातेइदं सर्वं विदितं विज्ञातं भवति ॥
In plain words
Wanting to teach dispassion as the road to immortality, Yājñavalkya first works loose her attachment to wife, husband, son — everyone close to her — because renouncing them is the point. The "indeed" here is just recalling something everyone already knows: a husband isn't dear to his wife for his own sake — he's dear because of the Self. The same is true, one after another, of a wife, sons, money, one's standing as a brahmin or a warrior, the worlds, the gods, every living being, and finally everything there is — none of it is loved for its own sake. He works from whatever a person clings to most closely outward, because that's where detachment is most urgently needed; and that last word, "everything," quietly gathers up anything left unnamed. So here is the plain truth: only the Self is dear — nothing else is. This is the very point made earlier, that the Self is dearer than a son, now spelled all the way out. Everything else we love, we love only because it serves our love of the Self; that is secondary. Love of the Self is the only love that is primary. And so — the Self must be seen, made real to direct experience; it must be heard about, first from a teacher and from scripture; then reasoned through; and finally meditated on with settled certainty. Only when hearing, reflection, and meditation come together as one is the Self truly seen — hearing by itself is not enough. All of it — brahmin, warrior, caste, stage of life, the whole machinery of ritual action, agent, and result — is just a notion laid over the Self by ignorance, the way a rope in dim light is mistaken for a snake. To dissolve that illusion, he says: "Maitreyī, once the Self has truly been seen, heard, reflected on, and known — all of this is known."
Close to the Sanskrit
He said [this]: desirous of teaching dispassion, the means to immortality, he produces detachment from wife, husband, son, and the rest, for the sake of renouncing them. The word "vai" has the sense of recalling something well known; this itself is well known in the world: it is not for the husband's own sake that a husband is dear to a wife; rather, it is for the Self's sake alone that a husband is dear to a wife. Likewise "not for the wife's sake," and so on — the rest follows the same pattern: not for the sons' sake, not for wealth's sake, not for brahminhood's sake, not for kshatra-hood's sake, not for the worlds' sake, not for the gods' sake, not for beings' sake, not for the sake of everything. Each statement addresses whichever object of affection is nearest at hand, because dispassion toward that nearer thing is the more urgent; the final mention of "everything" covers both what has been named and what has not. Therefore this is well known in the world: the Self alone is dear, nothing else. What was earlier introduced as "this is dearer than a son" is here elaborated in the place of a detailed gloss. Therefore, since everything else is only a means to affection for the Self, affection for anything else is secondary; affection for the Self alone is primary. Therefore, indeed, the Self is to be seen — worthy of being seen, to be brought within the range of direct perception; it is to be heard, first from a teacher and from scripture; afterward it is to be reflected upon through reasoning; then it is to be meditated upon — contemplated with certainty. For thus, accomplished by the means of hearing, reflection, and meditation, is this Self truly seen; when these three have arrived at unity, then right knowledge, whose object is the oneness of Brahman, becomes clear — not otherwise, by hearing alone. That which is marked by caste, life-stage, and the rest — brahminhood, kshatra-hood, and so on, occasioned by ritual action, the object of a notion superimposed on the Self by ignorance, consisting in action, the factors of action, and their result, the object of a notion born of ignorance — like the notion of a snake in a rope — to destroy that, he says: "Indeed, O Maitreyī, when the Self has been seen, heard, reflected upon, and known, all this becomes known, becomes understood."