The theory of Adhyasa in the Brahma Sutras

( It is our pleasure to present this short note on Adhyasa on the eve of the Guru Purnima. Guru Purnima marks the birth Anniversary of Veda Vyasa or Badarayana who is also considered to be the author of Brahma Sutras along with Mahabharata, the 18 Puranas, Bhagavat Gita and Adyatma Ramayana. He is also the first who had transcribed the Vedas.)
The essence of all scriptures is - एकं अद्वितियम नेहा नानास्ति किंचन - there is only one without a second. The Absolute existence is but One and that I am that. I am that One which is birth-less, changeless and ever Tranquil. The relation between the Individual soul and the Universal Soul in the Anubandhya Chatustaya is that the Jiva( individual soul) is undifferentiated from the Absolute Soul. The Upanishads states thus- तत त्वम् असी - thou art that.
Now, the question is, if the scriptures says so, why and how do we see this difference? How is that possible that such a variation is experienced as real in our day to day routine. We see that there is a complete contradiction to what the scriptures say and that what we experience though our senses in the material world. But, because truth is one, and if it is true, it cannot contradict experience.
To make things clearer, Sankara documented the theory of Adhyasa or super imposition before commencing into the commentary of the Brahma Sutras. According to Him, this deviation of experience or the duality is due to Maya or illusion. In the waking, dreaming state etc though we see this plurality yet it disappears once the real Knowledge is manifested. This wrong perception is due to the effect of Maya or ignorance. The moment the Self is being associated with the waking, dreaming and the sleeping state and an obvious consequence of association with its experiences as our own, the Self appears to be an individual entity. The cause of all duality is because of the ignorance in identifying the Real from the unreal and as a result seems to be connected with the qualifications or Adjuncts viz. The body, senses mind etc. Body, senses, mind, intellect or the ego are but impositions on the attribute less Self which is without any adjuncts. This unreal association of the Self makes it appear to be the doer or the enjoyer whereas the fact is- it is always beyond. Being immortal and birth less, it appears to be going through birth and death, being attribute less, it appears to have qualities and enjoy the happiness and suffer the miseries of the material world.
Brahma Satya Jagad Mithya, Jiva Brahmaiva Na Parah.
This is how Sankara explains the phenomenon of super imposition. Mithya is a word which doesn't imply to something which is non- existent. Mithya is referred to something which does exists but cannot be correctly identified. Like the famous example of the Advaita Vedanta regarding the rope and the snake. Here rope is the real existence and snake is super imposed on the rope. When I see the super imposed snake, though snake is unreal but its existence depends upon the existence of the real rope. Hence, by the right knowledge of the snake, we can come across the Knowledge of the reality, here, the rope. Hence, due to super imposition or Adhyasa, the Self is identified to be having name and form.
Therefore, we can easily come to the conclusion that the identification of the Self with the body,mind,intellect etc is only due to the superimposition or Adhyasa. All the miseries of finiteness and relativity starts with the perception that I am the body, mind etc. Our birth, death etc are all but due to this false notion. Because of Adhyasa, one though omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent seems to be bounded by the strings of time, space and causation. Hence, the only way to get liberated from the mundane existence is to get rid of the false notion of I through true knowledge. The knowledge of oneness with the Absolute is the only way to pass beyond death and miseries. As the upanishads declare - ( Asabdam Asparsham Arupam Avyayam, Tatha Arasam..........Nicayya Tat Mrtyumukhat Pramucyate) - one becomes free from the jaws of death by knowing the one that is soundless, touchless, formless, undiminishing and tasteless.
When the Self is realized, the phenomenal world disappears instantly. When by listening to the Mahavakyas from the Guru and then engaged into the inquiry of the Self through comprehension and discrimination, one realizes the Self, He goes beyond all modifications or superimpositions. This reverse process by which we become one with our real nature leaving behind all the transitory existences is called Adhyaropa or Apavada. Thus Apavada is a process by which the existence of snake completely dilutes into the existence of rope and remains as a rope henceforth. The explanation of Sankara that the world is maya or illusion has given this philosophy the name of Mayavada or Anirvachaniya Khyativada( the doctrine of apparent modification of Brahman into the phenomenal world)