Mandukya Karika, verse 4.59

Sanskrit text, IAST transliteration and English translation

यथा मायामयाद्बीजाज्जायते तन्मयोङ्कुरः ।
नासौ नित्यो न चोच्छेदी तद्वद्धर्मेषु योजना ॥ ५९ ॥

yathā māyāmayādbījājjāyate tanmayoṅkuraḥ |
nāsau nityo na cocchedī tadvaddharmeṣu yojanā || 59 ||

59. The illusory sprout comes forth from the illusory seed. This illusory sprout is neither permanent nor destructible. The same applies to Jīvas.

Shankara Bhashya (commentary)

Now, is the birth of Jīvas, that are seen to exist, illusory? To this question, our reply is as follows:—From¹ an illusory mango seed is born a mango sprout which is equally illusory. This sprout² is neither permanent nor destructible, simply because it does not exist. In³ the like manner, ideas of birth and death are applied to the Jīvas. The purport is that from the standpoint of the Ultimate Reality, neither birth nor death is applicable to Jīvas.

Anandagiri Tika (glossary)

¹ From, etc.—This is a familiar illustration often used by the Vedāntic writers. In India, certain jugglers produce from illusory seeds illusory trees full of illusory fruits.

² This sprout, etc.—Birth and death can be predicated of objects that exist. But the mango tree produced by a juggler is non-existent. Hence neither birth nor death is possible for such a mango tree.

³ In the, etc.—The Jīvas, endowed with birth and death, are seen on account of our ignorance. From the standpoint of Truth, such Jīvas do not exist. Hence birth and death are unreal from the standpoint of Truth. But birth and death are true, as in the case of the illusory mango tree, from the standpoint of ignorance.