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BRAHMANISM "Superimposition (adhyāropa) is the attribution of something unreal to something real.” 149
Having himself “become Brahman by knowing Brahman,” the guru understands that there is actually no duality of pupil and guru; in his teaching he is therefore living a double life. But he condescends to this, conforming to the illusory sphere of the manifold which surrounds him as a reflex, out of compassion, accepting again the attitude of duality because of the urgent desire for instruction on the part of the pupil who has come to himn. The illumined teacher descends from the transcendental state of being to our lower planc of empirical pseudoTcality for the benefit of the unenlightened. This is comparable to the gracious act of an Incarnation in the mythology of Ilinduism, when the highest God descends in the form of an illusory manifestation (Vismu, for example, as Krsna) for the sake of the release of devotees, or in the mythology of Mahāyāna Buddhism when a supramundane Buddha likewise descends. By this act the guru conforms to the dictum of the Vedic stanza: “To that pupil who has approached him with due courtesy, whose mind has become perfectly calm, and who has control over his senses, the wise teacher should impart truly the knowlcdge of Brahman through which one knows the imperishable Man (puruşa), who is truly-and-eternally-existent." 160
The simple yet paradoxical truth conveyed through the teachings of Vedānta is that Brahman, which is eternal being (sat), consciousness (cit), and bliss (ānanda), is absolutely "without-a-second" (advayan); which literally means that all these objects of experience, as well as the creative ignorance that brings them forth, arc fundamentally devoid of substantialitylike the snake seen in the rope or the silver in the mother-ofpearl. Reality, in the absoluie sense, is denied to them-denied 10 everything touched and scen, heard, sinellecl, tasted, thought
149 Ib. 31. 150 Mundaka Upanisad 1. 2. 13: cited in the Vedäntasara g1.
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| SR No. | 007309 |
| Book Title | Philosophies of India |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell |
| Publisher | Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd |
| Publication Year | 1953 |
| Total Pages | 709 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 34 MB |