Verse 2.272

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

तेन प्राणमयेनैष पूर्णो रज्ज्वेव पन्नगः ।
कार्यतोऽन्नमयः क्लृप्तो वाचारम्भणशास्त्रतः ॥ २७२ ॥

tena prāṇamayenaiṣa pūrṇo rajjveva pannagaḥ |
kāryato'nnamayaḥ klṛpto vācārambhaṇaśāstrataḥ || 272 ||

English translation of verse 2.272:

By the sheath of vital force, this (sheath of food) is filled in the same way as the serpent is filled by the rope. The sheath of food which is an effect is illusory, as known from the vācārambhaṇa text.

Notes:

That the sheath of food is pervaded by the sheath of vital force is shown by the śruti text tenaiṣa pūrṇaḥ which occurs immediately after the text anyo'ntara ātmā prāṇamayaḥ. The relation between the prāṇamaya-kośa and the annamaya-kośa is on a par with the relation between the rope and the illusory serpent which is superimposed thereon. Just as the rope and the snake are related as cause and effect, so also the sheath of vital force and the sheath of food are related as cause and effect. Like the rope which constitutes the nature (śvarūpa) of the snake, the sheath of vital force constitutes the nature of the sheath of food.

It may be argued that the rope-snake example which has been cited is not apt; for, while the snake is illusory, the sheath of food is not so. But this argument will not do. The sheath of food is also illusory, because it is an effect, and whatever is an effect is illusory. Being an effect is what makes a thing illusory, and being a cause is what makes a thing real. This is the central idea contained in the teaching of the vācārambhaṇa text of the Chāndogya (VI, i, 4) which says that an effect or a modification is only a name arising from speech.