Is superimposition the same as ignorance, or is it the effect of ignorance? The Bhaamatee school is in the first camp, the Vivarana school in the second. Both schools are accepted in Vedanta. Why should one insist on the methodology? All differences are out of ignorance, so even the difference between ignorance and superimposition is out of ignorance. Yet, they help the advancement of the intellect. The indication of ignorance is concealment (aachhaadakatva), which means hiding the true nature of an object. The indication of ignorance is the counter cognition of an object's true nature. There is no cognition during deep sleep, and therefore no superimposition, but ignorance does remain. That is why the self, even it it stays alone, does not get uncovered. In the waking state, both ignorance and superimposition remain. In Vedanta philosophy, they are called veiling and concealing (aavarana and vikshepa). In the Maandukya Kaarikaa, they are called "agarahana" and "anyathaagrahana". The various kinds of ignorance and superimposition are well-known in literature. Avidyaa and maayaa, moolaavidyaa and toolaavidyaa. The ignorance belonging to the individual soul is avaidyaa, and that belonging to Ishvara is maayaa. The concealer of the pure awareness is moolaavidyaa and that of the object-continuous (vishayaavichchinna) awareness is toolaaavidyaa. Not knowing the self as brahman is kaaranamoolaavidyaa and knowing the self as an individual soul is kaaryamoolaavidyaa. Not knowing the snake as snake is kaaranatoolaavidyaa and knowing ti as a snake is kaaryatoolaavidyaa.
The types of superimposition - object, knowledge and relationship - have been explained earlier
Ignorance contains the cause of misfortune, and superimposition, the vision of misfortune (anartha roopataa). Both ignorance and superimposition are removed through science (vidyaa). The ascertainment of the true nature of an object is science. In the case of the self, the true nature of the self and its ascertainment (conclusive knowledge) happen in one stroke. This is because the self is of the nature of knowledge. "I alone am the self illumined awareness and I alone am the knowledge of this" - this Vedantic knowledge is called science. Through science, ignorance is removed and this removal is not different than the substratum of this ignorance, which is brahman. There is no state of ignorance removal. Just like the breaking of a pot is not different than clay, the removal of ignorance is not different from brahman, which is of the nature of knowledge.
Superimposition is neither in the self nor in the not-self. It is in the intellect only. It also is born of non-discrimination, therefore it is removed through discrimination.
Science only removes ignorance, it does not cause the dealings of life to disappear. There is only rearrangement of the intellect. It is not the nature of knowledge to change the object, it can only remove the ignorance of an object. Conclusively knowing the real nature of the self and world as they both are, this is science.
So my brother! Think on this - what has climbed and on which it has climbed, you are not that. You are free! You think of yourself as a landowner, wealth owner, body owner, sense owner, mind owner (vaalaa). Then how will you be free of the joy, sorrow and bondage of land, wealth, body, sense and mind? You have yourself put all these in a sack and become the owner of the sack (gudadee). You have collected a rock from here, a stone from there and become a land owner. You have to only remove the "owner" here. Decide this once and for all. Even if you know your self as brahman once, then ignorance will not return even if the body remains. In fact, the intellect will laugh, because whenever you will say "I am the body", then the intellect will immediately say that "this is fake". The intellect always takes the side of the truth. If you say a million times that a watch is a diamond, the watch will never become a diamond because your intellect has accepted its true nature as a watch. The intellect that is predisposed to superimposition is deluded, is injured. And superimposition that is agreeable to the intellect is only non-binding, since its illusory nature is properly understood.
Take the wise man who has learned the truth. Illusory doership, illusory action, illusory result of action and illusory enjoyership, any of these, jointly or separately, cannot bind him. This is because that entity which is not bound by nature, which is free from affliction, can never leave its nature, even if it appears counter to its nature. In other words, even if it appears that it is bound in a certain time, it always stays non-bound and free from affliction. By nature, the self is ever-pure-aware-free. Therefore, even if it is perceived as the individual soul and the world, it is not at all affected by their characteristics. Can a rope seen as a snake become poisonous? Can it gain the ability to bite someone? When the superimposed entity is illusory, even the substratum is perceived as illusory. Therefore the perceived characteristics, pros and cons, of the superimposed do not have even a trace of relationship with the substratum.
Your self is wonderful. It does not have space but in which space, like in a dream, is vibrating. It can never come in the realm of time but in which time, like in a dream, is vibrating. That which does not get affected by the pros and cons of an object, but in which objects, like in a dream, are vibrating. Such a substratum are you! Self illumined brahman! Asparsha Yogi are you! These are non-existent objects. Like a ritual in a dream does not gain merits, and a wrong action in a dream does not incur sin, in the same manner, these merits and sins of the waking state do appear but they have nothing to do with your non-obstructed reality. Temporarily accepted merits and sins are not real (maane hue).
The Buddhists say that an object stays as it is. Space is not cut by a sword. Light does not die if we close our eyes. Similarly, that which the intellect knows as truth cannot be obstructed (falsified) by any action, instrument or result.
If you stay for four hours in a misunderstanding, in a dream, and stay for one minute in an accurate understanding, does not your misunderstanding or dream go away? It does go away. In the same manner, you may have been ignorant at some point, but if you experience brahman even for a second, you will be free forever! This is because even if there are millions of superimpositions, all of them are out of ignorance, they do not have even a trace of relationship with your brahman-nature.
O God! What a weird situation. What is seen is not the real thing, and what is the real thing seems to be known but is not known.
The birth and death of the body, the effort of the senses, the hunger and thirst of the vital forces, the mental desires and fancies, the decision and indecision of the intellect and its accuracy and inaccuracy, all this is perceived, that is why there is no reality in any of these. Their existence, perception and happiness is not your existence, perception and happiness. It is the reverse. It is your existence-consciousness-bliss-nature alone that is appearing as their existence, perception and happiness, as an adjunct. That is why stay above duality (nirdvandva). All these cognitions of maayaa cannot touch you. You cannot stay camped in the world as a ghost, and the world cannot contact you as a witch. This is an absolute statement of fact : the characteristic pros and cons of the superimposed cannot enter into the substratum, and the reality, knowledge-nature and bliss-nature of the substratum cannot enter into the superimposed. That is why stay easygoing. This is the result of discrimination and by not having it alone does superimposition of one on the other happen. In other words, the superimposition of the characteristics of the not-self upon the self, and the superimposition of the characteristics of the self upon the not-self, happens by man due to ignorance.
No comments:
Post a Comment