Our Fundamental Error - Part 5 of 11

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Comparison with our own situation

 

The analogous statement that Shankara uses is 'I am a sa.nsaari', i.e. one

who is subject to the cycle of birth and death. He could just as well have

said 'I am a person' or individual. Here, 'I am' is the general part and is

true. It refers to a conscious and existent being. It is 'uncovered'. There

is no doubt in our minds that it is true; we need no external means of

knowledge to verify it. 'A sa.nsaari' (or 'a person' etc.) is the particular

part and is unreal, like the snake. In this case, the truth of the situation

is covered over, rather than projected, but is just as unreal. That we 'are'

(sat) and that we are 'conscious' (chit) is known from the general part.

What is hidden in the particular part is that we are bliss (aananda) (or

unlimited, complete, infinite etc.). In its place, we perceive unreal

aspects such as misery, limitedness, incompleteness etc. This error is the

cause of all our suffering. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary

to apply the torchlight of Vedantic knowledge to reveal the real particular

part - not 'I am a sa.nsaari' but 'I am Brahman'.

 

Mixing of real and unreal

 

When a mistake of this type occurs, what is happening is that a real part

and an unreal part are getting mixed up and this is effectively how Shankara

defines adhyaasa - the mixing up of real and unreal. In the case of the rope

and snake analogy, the error can be viewed as a 'misperceiving of the rope'

or as the 'superimposition of a snake' or as 'the mixing of part of a real

rope and part of an unreal snake'. When we say "there is a snake", 'there

is' is the general part, which could be viewed as belonging to the rope,

which is real, while 'a snake' is the unreal, mentally projected, particular

part. The mixing up of real and unreal effectively creates a third entity

that is partly real and partly unreal.

 

When someone refers to the 'snake', he does not realise that there are two

aspects, one real and one unreal. If he says, "there is a long snake", the

adjective 'long' in fact refers to the rope, which is real whilst, if he

says, "there is a poisonous snake", the adjective refers to the unreal part.

 

Similarly, when someone says, "I am a shopkeeper" (or whatever), he does not

realise that the attribute 'shopkeeper' refers to the unreal part. He does

not know that there are two parts, only one of which (I am) is real. In the

mind of the ordinary 'person' these two things are mixed up and a single,

false, jiiva is created. It is this mixed-up jiiva who is striving for

liberation. The purpose of the Brahmasuutra is to enquire into the nature of

the jiiva, by directing the knowledge of Vedanta so that we can discard the

unreal part and become established in the knowledge of the real part. When

this happens, realisation takes place and sa.nsaara is dissolved as

unreal. ……end Part 5