आत्मार्थत्वेन हि प्रेयान्विषयो न स्वतः प्रियः ।स्वत एव हि सर्वेषामात्मा प्रियतमो यतः ॥ १०८ ॥
ātmārthatvena hi preyānviṣayo na svataḥ priyaḥ ;svata eva hi sarveṣāmātmā priyatamo yataḥ . 108 .
Anvaya
विषयःviṣayaḥ
A sense object
प्रेयान्preyān
is dear
न स्वतःna svataḥ
not intrinsically by itself
प्रियःpriyaḥ
is it dear
हि आत्मा–अर्थत्वेनhi ātmā–arthatvena
because it is so to one’s Self
यतः स्वतः एव हिyataḥ svataḥ eva hi
because by itself
आत्माātmā
the Atman
प्रियतमःpriyatamaḥ
is most dear
सर्वेषाम्sarveṣām
for all
Translation
A sense object is dear because it is so to one’s Self. It is not intrinsically dear by itself. It is so because the Self, by itself, is the dearest for all.
Annotation
Sense objects cause happiness at times but not at all times. If happiness were to be in the objects, they should give happiness at all times. Thus happiness is not in the objects themselves but in the Self which receives them. The statement that Atman is dearest to all is an echo of the line from Br.Up. (2–4–5) in which Yajnavalkya tells his wife Maitreyi that a person loves sense objects not because of them but because they please the Self (Jagadguru).