Superimposition (Adhyāsa)
The rope mistaken for a snake — the single error at the root of all bondage.
Adhyāsa is 'superimposition': mistakenly projecting one thing onto another, as when a rope in the dusk is taken for a snake, or a shell for silver. Śaṅkara opens his great commentary by arguing that all our trouble begins with a primal confusion of this kind — superimposing the body and mind onto the pure self, and the self onto them. Liberation is simply the cancelling of this mistaken projection.
How it traveled
- UpadeśasāhasrīKālaḍi (Kaladi) · 710explains
Key passages(14)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
'Place this salt in water, and then wait on me in the morning.' The son did as he was commanded. The father said to him: 'Bring me the salt, which you placed in the water last night.' The son having l
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What is here (visible in the world), the same is there (invisible in Brahman); and what is there, the same is here. He who sees any difference here (between Brahman and the world), goes from death to
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