The works of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya

Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣadbhāṣyam

Bhashya

Bhashya

यस्तु कार्यकारणसंघातो मानुषादिजातिविशिष्टः, सोऽय-मात्मा सर्वेषां भूतानां मधु ।ननु अयं शारीरशब्देन निर्दिष्टःपृथिवीपर्याय एव- न, पार्थिवांशस्यैव तत्र ग्रहणात् ; इहतु सर्वात्मा प्रत्यस्तमिताध्यात्मार्धिभूताधिदैवादिसर्वविशेषःसर्वभूतदेवतागणविशिष्टः कार्यकारणसंघातः सः ‘ अयमात्मा ’इत्युच्यते ।तस्मिन् अस्मिन् आत्मनि तेजोमयोऽमृतमयःपुरुषः अमूर्तरसः सर्वात्मको निर्दिश्यते ; एकदेशेन तु पृथि-व्यादिषु निर्दिष्टः, अत्र अध्यात्मविशेषाभावात् सः न निर्दि-श्यते ।यस्तु परिशिष्टो विज्ञानमयः- यदर्थोऽयं देहलिङ्ग-संघात आत्मा- सः ‘ यश्चायमात्मा ’ इत्युच्यते ॥

In plain words

But the particular body-and-organs that belongs to the human class — that is what 'this Self' means here, and it too is honey to every being. Now someone might object: doesn't the word 'embodied' just mean 'made of earth'? No — earlier only the earthy part was in view; here it is the Self that holds everything, with every line between inward, elemental, and divine erased, the very aggregate marked by every being and every god there is. Within that Self lives the being made of light and immortality, formless in essence, universal in nature. Earlier that same being was pointed out piece by piece, in earth and the rest; here, because nothing more specific is called for, it isn't singled out again. And the self that is left over — the one made of understanding, for whose sake this body and its subtle marks are even called 'self' at all — that is exactly what 'and whoever is this Self' means.

Close to the Sanskrit

But that aggregate of body and organs which is characterized by the class 'human' and the like — that is this Self, honey of all beings. Now: is this, indicated by the word 'embodied,' merely a synonym for 'earthy'? No — because there only the earthy portion was meant; here, however, it is the all-Self, whose every distinction of the inward, the elemental, the divine, and so on has been set aside — the aggregate of body and organs characterized by all groups of beings and deities — that is called 'this Self.' In that, in this Self, is indicated the person made of light, made of immortality, of unmanifest essence, whose nature is all; distributively, however, it is indicated among earth and the rest, [while] here, because there is no separate inward distinction, it is not [separately] indicated. But the remaining one, the one made of understanding, for whose sake this aggregate of body and its marks is 'self' — that is called 'and whoever is this Self.'