Verse 2.586

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

नैवेहान्नमयात्मानं जलूकावत्परोऽञ्जसा ।
उपसङ्क्रामतीत्यस्माद्गौणी सङ्क्रान्तिरिष्यते ॥ ५८६ ॥

naivehānnamayātmānaṃ jalūkāvatparo'ñjasā |
upasaṅkrāmatītyasmādgauṇī saṅkrāntiriṣyate || 586 ||

English translation of verse 2.586:

Since here the jīva does not attain, in the literal sense, the self made of food as in the case of a leech, attainment in the figurative sense is desired.

Notes:

When the Upaniṣad says that “he who knows thus attains, after desisting from this world, this self made of food,” it does not speak about attainment in the literal sense of the term. For instance, when a leech or some other worm moves from one thing to another, we can say that it attains or reaches an object literally. But in the case of the knower of Brahman, attainment is only figurative. When śruti says that the knower of Brahman, becoming indifferent to the things of the world, attains the self made of food, what it means is that as a result of the knowledge he has gained he does not see the things of the world as different from the cosmic self in its gross aspect. He realizes, that is to say, his identity with the Virāj. Then he realizes his identity with the Hiraṇyagarbha. It is in this sense that we have to explain his attaining the prāṇamaya, the manomaya, etc.