[Advaita-l] avidyA is adhyasta (superimposed) in AtmA

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

When bhAshyakAra himself says : adhyAsa is anAdi and Ananta and clarifies no pramANa is required to prove as it is sarva lOka pratyaksha based on personal experience, it is quite stubbornness to find the kAraNa for the adhyAsa.  No sane person would entertain the doubt like since when I started seeing ‘snake’ in rope??  And what is the reason for seeing the snake in place of rope!!??  Coz. his anubhava tells him that due to lack of knowledge (jnAna abhAva) about the existing rope he had seen the snake (adhyAsa / misconception).  What is the cause of adhyAsa??  Obviously, it is the abhAva of the vidyA.  This adhyAsa is in itself main ‘anartha hetu’ bhAshyakAra explains elsewhere.  And this adhyAsa is main culprit and to eradicate this type of avidyA ONLY ultimately shAtra-s would aim.  And more importantly based on this adhyAsa only all worldly as well as scriptural vyavahAra pertaining to the means of knowledge and objects of knowledge, so also ALL scriptures dealing with vidhi, nishedha and finally mOksha have come into being ( all pramAtru, pramANa and prameya vyavahAra).  The bhAshya vAkya in adhyAsa bhAshya : taM yetaM avidyAkhyaM AtmanAtmanOH etc. rejects the absolute validity of all pramANa-s in determing the svAbhAvika adhyAsa.  And this socalled ignorance by saying ‘avidhyAkhyaM’ the bhAshyakAra is certain that avidyA is ONLY another name given for adhyAsa which he himself confirmed with no ambiguity by declaring 'tametaM lakshaNaM adhyAsaM punditAH avidyeti manyante.  He does not suggest any other cause (like mUlAvidyA) for the sarvalOka pratyaksha, naisargika, svAbhAvika lOka vyavahAra.  Sri SSS quite clearly says any talks about kAraNa-kArya comes under the orbit of  adhyAsa only and adhyAsa is not an act or a dealing to argue it should occur at a particular time.  The purport of adhyAsa bhAshya is of the form of misconception to be understood as beginningless i.e. mithyA pratyaya about Atman is beginningless.  By nature alone (svAbhAvika) such a misconception exists in the minds (antaHkaraNa) of people and not that it is a ‘certain’ thought that has ‘originated’ at any particular point of time.  For this reason alone, it has been said adhyAsa is mithyA pratyaya rUpaH ‘like the misconception’.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar