Artwork by Shally Dhiman
AVIDYĀ: THE ROOT-CAUSE OF ALL EVIL!
All seeking and suffering is due to “mis-taking” the apparent ego-entity–the “me-notion” to be our real self. All evil (अनर्थ) anartha, proceeds from it. Adi Śaṅkara makes it very clear in Adhyāsa Bhashya, his introduction to Brahma-Sutras, as follows: सत्यानृते मिथुनीकृत्य ‘अहमिदम्’ ‘ममेदम्’ इति नैसर्गिकोऽयं लोकव्यवहारः The natural human tendency of mixing up the unreal with the real based on self-identification in the form of “I am this” ‘अहमिदम्’, “This is mine” (‘ममेदम्’)
Śaṅkara calls this “mis-taking” or “mixing-up” as adhyāsa—superimposition— and equates it to avidyā—metaphysical ignorance: तमेतमेवंलक्षणमध्यासं पण्डिता अविद्येति मन्यन्ते: This superimposition is considered by the learned to be avidyā, nescience. [Trans., Gambhirananda, p. 3]
Sri Śaṅkara avers that it is to remove this inveterate human tendency of superimposition and to establish the oneness of the Ātman that the study of Vedānta is undertaken: अस्यानर्थहेतोः प्रहाणाय आत्मैकत्वविद्याप्रतिपत्तये सर्वे वेदान्ता आरभ्यन्ते : It is “to eradicate this source of evil and in order to acquire the knowledge of the unity of the Self, is begun a discussion (after the study) of all the Upaniṣads.” [Ibid., 6]
Like a true scientist, Śaṅkara analyses this adhyāsa step by step and in a most objective manner taking our day to day experience as the grist for his mill.
WE ARE PRIOR TO WAKING, DREAMING AND DEEP SLEEP
When we wake up, consciousness arrives. In that consciousness, we perceive body, mind, and the world. What we fail to notice is that the body, mind, and the world are “mere appearances” in the consciousness. Of course, we existed “prior” to the sleep state giving way to the waking state/consciousness and prior to the perception of body, mind, ego, and the world as such.
This is a fact no one can deny.
These appearances come and go. We can verify this in our own daily experience—anubhava. When the waking state gives way to the dream state, the me-notion of the waking world with its time-space, causality and the rest disappears. A new dream world in with its own dream body-mind-senses-space-time-causality manifests itself. And in the deep sleep, even the body-mind-world (s) of both the waking and dream states disappear completely. Do we disappear? No! We continue to exist in and through all the states and beyond—as the Changeless, Eternal, Conscious Principle—Kutastha, Nitya-Chaitanya.
A common person thinks that I am in the world or I am within the states. A person with correct understanding knows that the states and the world appear within me, in my true svarūpa, real nature! This person knows that the body-mind-ego that are subject to coming and going—and hence impermanent—cannot be our real nature. They are mere appearances within the states.
Taking these “appearances” to be real and assuming ourselves to be separate selves, is the root cause of all seeking and suffering. In other words, the identification with the body-mind in the form of “I-thought” is the root-cause of much of our psychological and emotional suffering. While much of the physical pain is unavoidable, most of the emotional pain is totally optional.
Our true nature is prior (अग्रयं) to these appearances (me-notion and the world) and hence is unaffected (असंग) by them. In Chhāndogya Upaniṣhad 6.2.1, Uddalaka enlightens his son and disciple, Svetaketu, making a great statement: सदेव सोम्येदमग्र आसीदेकमेवाद्वितीयम्: In the beginning, dear boy, this was Existence alone, one without a second. [V. Panoli, trans., p. 560]
Body, mind (and the ego notion dependent on the body-mind), and the world “appear” as objects to me within the states (waking and dreaming) and disappear (in the deep sleep). They come and go. Whereas I, as experiencer or substratum of these states, do not come and go. I am not conditioned by these states or the contents of the states either. Hence, I am not conditioned by time-space-causality. I am limitless—ananta. This is the most important point to bear in mind in the study of Vedānta.
When one is able to see within oneself that I am not the body-mind-senses complex that I take myself to be but the Conscious, Changeless Principle in which the body-mind-world appear, the compulsive ego notion gets subsumed within the all-embracing Self and all seeking and suffering comes to an end. And one has the foretaste of the state called by the sages as self-realization: “It is the realization of oneself and the entire world as one Consciousness that is known as realization of Truth.” [Sri Atmananda, Atmadarshan, ch. 4]
Without understanding these vital points, the spiritual practice is like rowing the boat, while it is fastened to a pole.
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