The works of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya

Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣadbhāṣyam

Avatarika

Avatarika

तत्र देहान्तरारम्भे नित्योपात्तमेव उपादानम् उपमृद्य उ-पमृद्य देहान्तरमारभते, आहोस्वित् अपूर्वमेव पुनः पुनरा-दत्ते-.इत्यत्र उच्यते दृष्टान्तः-

In plain words

So here is the real question about how a new body gets built: is it made, over and over, by grinding down and reusing the very same eternal stock of matter — or does it, each time, reach for something entirely fresh? To answer, here is an illustration.

Close to the Sanskrit

There, regarding the commencement of another body: does it, having crushed [it] and crushed [it] again, initiate another body [out of] material that is only ever the eternally-appropriated one; or does it, alternatively, again and again take up something without precedent? — On this point an illustration is stated—