गोविन्द भाष्य (श्रील बलदेव विद्याभूषण - अचिन्त्यभेदाभेद वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

Adhikaraṇa 6
The "Ātmā" of Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.5 is Brahman and Not Jīva
Introduction by Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa
In the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.5.6 Yājñavalkya teaches his wife, Maitreyī:
na vā are patyuḥ kāmāya patiḥ priyo bhavati
"A husband is not dear because the wife loves the husband. A husband is dear
because she loves the Self."
He also says:
na vā are sarvasya kāmāya sarvaṁ priyaṁ bhavati ātmanas tu kāmāya sarvaṁ
priyaṁ bhavati
"Everything is not dear because one loves everything. Everything is dear
because one loves the Self."
Again, he says:
ātmā vā are draṣṭavyaḥ śrotavyo mantavyo nididhyāsitavyo maitreyy ātmano vā are
darśanena śravaṇena matyā vijñānena idaṁ sarvaṁ viditam
"The Self should be seen, heard, worshiped, and always meditated on. O
Maitreyī, by seeing, hearing, worshiping, and understanding the Self, everything
becomes known."
Saṁśaya: In this passage which self is to be understood: the jīva (individual
spirit soul) described in the Kapila-tantra, or the Paramātmā (the Supreme
Personality of Godhead)?
Pūrvapakṣa: Because in this passage he describes the love of husband and wife
and because in the middle of the passage he says: etebhyo bhūtebhyaḥ samutthāya
tāny evānuvinaśyati na pretya-saṁjñāsti (He leaves the material elements, his body
is destroyed, he dies and is no longer conscious), words that clearly describe a
resident of the material world who is subject to birth and death, and because at the
end he says: vijñātāram are kena vijānīyāt (How should we understand the person
who is the knower?) this passage should be interpreted to describe the jīva, who is
the knower described in the Kapila-tantra. One may object: "But it says that by
knowing the Self everything becomes known. Certainly this refers to the
Paramātmā and not the jīva." but this objection is not valid. The jīva takes birth in