Sankaracarya's Vivekachudamani 406

न ह्यस्ति विश्वं परतत्त्वबोधात्

सदात्मनि ब्रह्मणि निर्विकल्पे ।

कालत्रये नाप्यहिरीक्षितो गुणे

न ह्यम्बुबिन्दुर्मृगतृष्णिकायाम् ॥

na hyasti viśvaṃ paratattvabodhāt

sadātmani brahmaṇi nirvikalpe |

kālatraye nāpyahirīkṣito guṇe

na hyambubindurmṛgatṛṣṇikāyām ||

(Sankaracarya's Vivekachudamani 406)

Even before the realization of the Supreme Truth, the universe does not exist in the Absolute Brahman, the quintessence of Existence. No snake is ever truly seen in a rope* in past, present or future, , nor a drop of water ever really seen in the mirage.

*Snake-rope analogy: This is a standard Vedantic illustration to explain the existence of the perceptible world. Vedanta postulates three levels of reality: real, unreal, and not-real. The reality is that which exists in all three periods of time: past, present, and future. It is called ‗sat’ or, simply, the existent. It cannot be sublated during any of these three periods of time. A prime example of the real is the Self, our essential Natural state. In contrast, the unreal is that which cannot be observed to exist in any of these three periods. It is called ‗asat‘ or, simply, non-existent. Some examples of unreal are a square circle, a hare‘s horn, a sky-flower. Then there is an intermediate state between real and unreal called not-real, something that is observed or seen sometimes but not at all times.

Not-real has a special status in being that it is not absolutely really like the Self nor it is absolutely unreal like hare‘s horn. This is where snake rope analogy is employed. In the dark, a rope appears to be a snake and evokes fear in the mind of the onlooker. However, when in the proper light, it is seen as a rope, the fear disappears. So, the snake seen in the rope both exists (during the period of improper lighting) and ceases to exist (during proper lighting). Here we see the operation of both the avarna-sakti (concealing power—due to darkness) and vikshepa sakti (projecting power—mind‘s projection of snake in the rope). However, the snake cannot appear to exist without the rope being there as its substratum or basis, as its adishthana. Hence the snake is neither real nor unreal. It is called mithya in Advaita. One should be careful, however, not to translate it as illusion or illusory. It is real for a person in fright and unreal for a person who has seen its reality as a rope in the proper lighting.

Thus, the snake is aropita, superimposed, on the rope which is the adishthana, the substratum. In the same manner, says Vedanta, this perceptible world that appears to be real is superimposed on the Brahman, the ultimate Reality. It subsists until the light of Self-knowledge dawns. See below, verse 407.