smr.tiruupaH paratra puurvadr.shTa avabhaasah---adhyaasa
Adhyaasa (superimposition)
is the illusory appearance,
in another place,
of an object seen
earlier elsewhere. It is
similar in nature to
recollection.
(On seeing a
rope in dim light and
not recognizing it
as a rope, a
person mistakes it
for a snake which he
has seen elsewhere. The
snake
is not absolutely
unreal, because it is actually
experienced, and produces
the same effect,
such as fear and so
on, as a real
snake would. At
the same time,
it is not real, because
it is no longer
seen when the
rope has been
recognized. It is therefore
described as anirvachaniiya,
or
what cannot be
classified as either
real or unreal). In the
above definition, the words
‘similar in nature
to recollection’ are intended
to exclude recognition. ‘Recollection’
is of an object
previously experienced,
but which
is not now
present before the
person recollecting. ‘Recognition’
is when
the same object
previously experienced
is again present before
the person.
Bhagavad Gita 13.26 S.B.---
In this verse it is
said that everything in
this world is brought
into existence by
the association of the
‘field’ and the ‘knower of
the
field’, or, the
self and the non-self.
S’rii S’ankara points out
in his commentary on this
verse that the association
of these two is only by
superimposition, since there cannot
be any real association between
the
self, which is
absolutely real and the
non-self which has only empirical
reality. The non-self, namely,
the body, mind and organs, is superimposed
on the self
and, consciousness, which is
the nature of the self,
is
attributed to the
body, mind and organs.
S’rii S’ankara further points
out in his adhyaasa-bhaashya
on the
Brahma Sutras that,
when there is superimposition
of one thing
on another, the
latter is not affected
in the least by the
good
or bad qualities of
the former. (e.g., nacre
does not become more
valuable because it
is mistaken for silver,
nor does a rope get
the
qualities of the snake
which it is mistaken for).
The implication of
this statement is
that the self does not
undergo any of the changes,
nor does it experience
any of the joys and
sorrows, of the body,
mind and organs.
It is, however, only because
of this mutual
superimposition of
the self and
the non-self that all action,
both
secular and religious,
becomes possible. The
self, by itself, is neither
a doer of
actions, nor an
enjoyer of the results.
It becomes a doer
and an enjoyer
only because of
this superimposition, as a
result of
which, as S’rii
S’ankara says, the real
and the unreal, namely,
the
self and the non-self,
are blended into one, as
it were. All action,
including the various
rites laid down in the
Vedas, thus come within
the sphere of
avidyaa or nescience,
which is the cause of
superimposition.
Superimposition is of two
kinds. When a rope is
mistaken
for a
snake, the snake alone
is seen. The existence
of the rope is
not known
at all. Here the snake
is said to be superimposed
on the
rope. This
is known as svaruupa-adhyaasa.
The second kind of
superimposition is
when a crystal appears
to be red in the
proximity
of a red
flower. Here both the crystal
and the flower are seen
as
existing, and the
redness of the flower is
attributed to the crystal
also. This is known
as samsarga-adhyaasa. Both these
kinds of
superimposition are
present in the mutual superimposition
of the
self and
the non-self. Because of the
superimposition of the non-self
on the
self, the existence of the
self is not recognized
at all, and the
non-self , (that is,
the body, mind and organs),
is alone recognized as
existing. This is svaruupa- adhyaasa.
In the superimposition of
the
self on the
non-self, only the consciousness
of the self is attributed
to the body,
mind and organs. This is
samsarga-adhyaasa. The result
of this mutual superimposition
is that every one identifies
himself with
the body. This is
the root cause of all
suffering. Giving up this
wrong identification with
the body-mind complex and
realizing that
one is the self which
is beyond all suffering
and all the pairs of
opposites such
as heat and cold, success
and failure and so on,
is vidyaa or
knowledge. It is
this knowledge which is
taught by the
Upanishads. Svaruupa-adhyaasa is also
known as ‘nirupaadhika
adhyaasa’,
or superimposition
without a limiting adjunct
or upaadhi. The superimposition
of an illusory
snake on a
rope is of this type.
Upaadhi has
been defined by Bhaskararaya
in his commentary on
the
name ‘nirupaadhiH’ (No.154)
in the Lalitaasahasranaama as--upa
samiipe aadadhaati sviiyam dharmam—that
which gives its quality
to an object near
it. A red
flower which makes a transparent
crystal near it look red
is
an upaadhi. The
superimposition of the red
colour on the crystal is
a superimposition with upaadhi
and it is known as ‘sopaadhika
adhyaasa’,
which is the
same as samsarga adhyaasa.
In the superimposition of
the
snake on the
rope, the substratum is
considered to be the rope.
But the
rope itself is
not real, and is
a superimposition on Brahman or
Consciousness. Therefore
it is said
in Vedaanta that the substratum
is ‘rajju-upahita chaitanyam’, or,
Consciousness apparently limited by
the rope.
The illusory snake
is said to
be ‘praatibhaasika’; the rope,
like everything
in this world,
is ‘vyaavahaarika’,or
empirical reality. Brahman alone is
‘paaramaarthika’, or absolute
reality.
B.S.-Adhyaasa-bhaashya---adhyaaso naama atasmin tadbuddhiriti---
Adhyaasa, or
superimposition, is the cognition,
as a particular
thing, of what is
not that, like the cognition
of what is not silver
as silver.
Other examples given here
by S’rii S’ankara are---when
one’s wife or son
is happy or unhappy, one
considers oneself also
as happy or
unhappy; one attributes
the qualities of the physical
body, such as
fatness, leanness and
so on, to oneself, as
one
says- “I am fat, I
am lean, etc”;
one says-“I am blind, deaf,
etc”,
attributing the qualities
of the sense-organs
to oneself. This
superimposition is
beginningless, it is
of the nature of illusory
cognition and
is the cause of the
notion of agency
and enjoyership.
The truth is
that one is the aatmaa
which is free
from all these
qualities. The
wrong identification with the
body, mind, organs,
etc.,
can be removed
only by the realization
of one’s real
nature. The aim
of Vedaanta
is to enable one to
attain this realization.