Adhyaasa
(Superimposition)
Brahmasuutra---
(B.S.)-adhyaasabhaashya of
S’rii S’ankara
-
smr.tiruupaH paratra puurvadr.shTa
avabhaasah---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.
B.G.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 suutras 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 that is
contained in 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 lo
ok
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. B
rahman
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. Back to contents
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