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.   

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