Chapter IV, Section II, Adhikarana IV

Adhikarana summary: The mode of departure from the body up to the way is common to both a knower of the Saguna Brahman and an ordinary man

 Sutra 4,2.7

समाना चासृत्युपक्रमात्, अमृतत्वं चानुपोष्य ॥ ७ ॥

samānā cāsṛtyupakramāt, amṛtatvaṃ cānupoṣya || 7 ||

samānā—Common; ca—and; ā sṛti-upakramāt—up to the beginning of their ways; amṛtatvaṃ—immortality; ca—and; anupoṣya—not having burnt (ignorance).

7. And common (is the mode of departure at the time of death for both the knower of the Saguna Brahman and the ignorant) up to the beginning of their ways ; and the immortality (of the knower of the Saguna Brahman is only relative), not having burnt (ignorance).

For the knower of the Nirguna Brahman there is no departure at ah. Leaving his case, the opponent says that the mode of departure from the body for the knower of the Saguna Brahman and the ignorant ought to be different, as they attain different abodes after death, the former reaching Brahmaloka and the latter being reborn in this world. This Sutra says that the knower of the Saguna Brahman enters at death the nerve Sushumna, and then goes out of the body, and takes to the path of the gods, while the ignorant enter some other nerve and go by another way to have rebirth. But till they enter on their respective ways, the method of departure at death is common to both, for it is something pertaining to this life, and like happiness and misery it is the same for both.