By knowledge one does not reach death, but being Brahman, one reaches Brahman.

This verse summarizes the teaching of non-duality (advaita). Na saṃdhayā (not by combination, not by mixture) indicates that liberation is not the result of uniting with something external. We are not fragments that need to reintegrate with the whole; we are always the whole apparently manifesting as parts.

Mṛtyum āpnoti (reaches death) is what does NOT happen to the knower. While the saṃsārī (conditioned being) is subject to the cycle of birth and death, the jñānī completely transcends this destiny. Knowledge does not lead to a new state but reveals the always-present state.

Brahmaiva san brahmāpyeti (being Brahman, reaches Brahman) is the Advaita Vedānta formula. There is no journey, no transformation, only recognition. We are what we seek. The Ātman does not become Brahman; it realizes it always was Brahman. Ignorance created the appearance of separation.

This truth completely transforms the practice of yoga. It is not an anxious search for something absent, but a relaxed discovery of the always-present. Effort exists — discrimination, practice, surrender — but it is effort of revelation, not acquisition. The yogī is one who has stopped searching for themselves outside themselves.