Verse 2.357

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

यतः कोशातिरेकेण नासत्त्वं विद्यते परम् ।
मृत्युर्वा असदित्येवं घटते श्रुत्युदीरणम् ॥ ३५७ ॥

yataḥ kośātirekeṇa nāsattvaṃ vidyate param |
mṛtyurvā asadityevaṃ ghaṭate śrutyudīraṇam || 357 ||

English translation of verse 2.357:

Inasmuch as there is no other non-being than the sheaths, the scriptural declaration, “Death, verily, is the non-being,” is thus appropriate.

Notes:

It was stated earlier that if a person identifies himself with the sheaths he becomes non-existent; if, on the contrary, he identifies himself with the supreme Self, he is existent. Could it not be said, it may be argued, that a person is non-existent, even in the form of the Self? The answer is: no. The jīva is non-existent only in the form of kośas and not in the form of Brahman-Ātman, for there is no non-being other than the kośas. In other words, if the jīva were to be non-existent, it must be only in the form of the sheaths. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka text (I, iii, 28) is cited in the verse in support of this view. In this śruti text mṛtyurvā asat, the word mṛtyu refers to the five kośas. Since the five sheaths alone are non-being, the jīva who identifies himself with the sheaths is non-being or non-existent.