Mandukya Karika, verse 3.27

Text

सतो हि मायया जन्म युज्यते न तु तत्त्वतः ।
तत्त्वतो जायते यस्य जातं तस्य हि जायते ॥ २७ ॥

sato hi māyayā janma yujyate na tu tattvataḥ |
tattvato jāyate yasya jātaṃ tasya hi jāyate || 27 ||

27. That which is ever-existent appears to pass into birth through illusion (Māyā) and not from the standpoint of Reality. He who thinks that this passing into birth is real asserts, as a matter of fact, that what is born is born again (and so on without end).

Shankara Bhashya (commentary)

Thus hundreds of Scriptural passages conclude that the essence which is the non-dual and birthless Self, existing both within and without, is the only Reality, and that nothing else, besides the Self, exists. Now, in order to determine this very Reality through reason, again it is stated:— (Objection)—It may also be true that if Reality be incomprehensible then the knowledge of Self would be unreal. (Reply)—No, this cannot be, for1 the effect is comprehended. As the effects, that is to say creation (of new things), come from a really existent magician through Māyā (magic), so also the comprehension of the effects, in the form of the creation of the universe, leads us to infer the existence of the Ātman, the Supreme Reality, who, like the magician, is, as it were, the substratum of the illusion which is seen in the form of the creation of the universe. For, the creation of the universe is possible only with a Reality, i.e., an existing cause, like the birth of the effects, such as the elephant, etc., conjured up through illusion (by an existing magician); and this creation is never possible with a non-existing cause. It is not, however, possible for the unborn Ātman to really pass into birth. Or,2 the first line of the text may be explained in another manner. As a really existing entity, such as the rope, etc., passes into such effects as the snake, etc., only through Māyā and not in reality, similarly, the real and the incomprehensible Ātman is seen to pass into birth, in the form of the universe, like the rope becoming the snake, only through illusion. The birthless Ātman cannot pass into birth from the standpoint of Reality. But the disputant who holds that the unborn Ātman, the Supreme Reality, is really born in the form of the universe, cannot assert that the unborn is born, as this implies a contradiction.3 In that case he must admit that, in fact, what is (already) born, again passes into birth. If, thus, birth is predicated of that which is already born, then the disputant is faced with what is known in logic as regressus ad infinitum. Therefore it is established that the Essence which is Ātman is ever unborn and non-dual.