April 2016 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami— अध्यास (adhyāsa)

The sanskrit term adhyasa is used extensively by Indian philosophies especially vedanata and more particularly the advaitins. Patanjali also uses the term adhyasa in the course of his yoga teachings. What is adhyasa? Adhyasa is aasa with the prefix adhi. Yogis are very familiar with aasa  which is to place something. The root “aas” leads to the familiar term “Asana” that is to place something, like the way one places oneself  as in padmasana or lotus pose in which one places oneself on the floor with the legs crossed. Or keeping the ankles one on top of the other as in Siddhasana or crossing the legs with one knee on top of the other as in gomukhasana. Then with the prefix ni it become nyaasa meaning 'placing something permanently‘. And we are familiar with the term 'vinyasa (vi+ni+aasa) which would be placing something differently within prescribed parameters.

Adyasa (adhi+Asa) is a term used frequently by vedantins especially the advaita school. The prefix 'adhi' would mean putting something upon another indicating dominance on the object on which it imposes. 'adhyasa' is commonly translated as 'super-imposition'. Patanjali uses this term in one of his sutras

śabdārthapratyayānaṁ itaretaradhyāsātsaṁkaraḥ.' 

With respect to an existing object there are three aspects, the object itself (artha), its name or sabda, like cow in English of 'gow' in Sanskrit and the  mental formation of the object called pratyaya or cittavritti. These three are distinctly different. There is confusion (sankaraH) because normally a word, its intended object and mental impression or idea conveyed  are superimposed (adhyasa) on one another . The Yogi with unwavering (aviplava) concentration (samadhi/samyama) is able to distinguish the three aspects and contemplate on one of the aspects of  the object, the word signifying the object,  the metal impression or the object itself.. 

The same approach is taken up by the vedantins and yogis with respect to oneself. The main  refrain is that invariably one superimposes the self on the non-self. How is it possible, we have a clear distinction between you and I.  I know who I am and know you as distinctly a different  entity with different characteristics and there is no question of either superimposing me  on you, nor you on me, the object and the subject. It is like superimposing light on darkeners and darkness on light which all of us know is impossible. But what is the superimposition these darsanas are talking about.

All creatures intuitively consider the body as the complete self and roam about the world to get what would give happiness (sukha prapti) and avoid what would give unhappiness (duhkha nivritti). There is no difference between an animal and  human being in this regard,-- I would like to spend time with a friend and avoid a foe. A cow would approach a person who would have some green grass in his hands and offering to the cow but run away from some one with a raised stick in hand. 

According to the various nivritti philosophies there is superimposition of the real self on the body and a superimposition of the body on the real self, What is this real self? Here is a simple discussion

The Guru and the disciple chant a peace sloka

Guru: Let us try this simple approach, What are you doing now

G: What are you experiencing?

G: There are two 'I' s in your statement, which I is the real I

G See, the first ‘I’ experiences everything that is going on in the mind or citta. It does not undergo any change any time. That being, that which experiences,  is the subject, nothing else is subtler than that. I am the subject, the awareness. 

G: The second 'I' that which acts, is considered as the self or ‘I’ by all creatures. but that ‘I’ is part of what is experienced by the first I, and hence part of the object itself. It is made up of various aspects of the material world. According to Yogis this 'self' or what is seen as the 'self' is made up of the three gunas, five bhutas, 10 indriyas, three internal organs as mind, ego and the intellect. What we consider as ourselves is really an object and the real self is pure unwavering consciousness.

G In one way the superimposition of consciousness or awareness on the body complex explained earlier is adhyasa. The human body that moves around due to the pranas does not have awareness but appears to have consciousness. According to these darsanas, none of the 24 tatwas in the body has consciousness. All the cells in the body including the brain cells do not have consciousness and the awareness is not a product of matter or prakriti either. They explain, by following a step by step discussion, that consciousness can not be a product of matter.

So superimposing consciousness on the body/mind complex is the adhyasa

G:Yes. The atman or the pure awareness which should be called as the real self or I, the first ‘I’ in your statement has no body or mind and none of the prakritic tatwas like matter. However we consider the Self to have a body mind etc and thereby superimposing the body/mind complex on the unvarying awareness as the self as all creatures do all the time

G Yes in this regard there is no difference among animals, human beings or even divine beings. But this adhyasa can be removed say the samkhyas yogis and vedantins. The samkhya karika, the Yoga sutras the upanishad have this-- the removal of adhyasa as their main teaching. The tool that is available but only to human beings is samadhi/samyama. With intense concentration the yogi is able to see the difference between the self and the body as clearly as I am able to see the difference between I (subject) and you (object). 

D If the goal of all these philosophies is to bring home the truth about the self then why are there so many philosophies and so many texts.

G; There are subtle differences among these darsanas but this is the main theme. We may talk about the differences  on another occasion. There is agreement in all of them that there is superimposition or adhyasa of the self on the non self and vice versa.

G: By study, then analysis and deep contemplation, the procedure is well documented by Patanjali in Yoga Sutras. In Yoga the drisya atma or what is considered erroneously as the self which however is not the self is said to be made of 24 tatwas of prakriti as I explained at the beginning of this discussion. The Yogi first develops the capacity for deep unwavering concentration and applies to himself or whatever is commonly considered as oneself. The contemplation goes on step by step in four stages. The first stage is the contemplation  on the physical or gross body made up of the 5 bhutas. Then the yogis concludes that the physical body is not the self, that adhyasa is removed. Then he/she gets into the next layer the subtle layer, the subtle body (sukshma sarira) and concludes that the subtle body is not the self. Then the buddhi tatva which alone helps to understand and considered it as the non self as something having no consciousness. Then finally he contemplates on the permeating three gunas or mula prakriti and removes the last layer of adhyasa. What remains is the pure self, the real self and with that the multi layered adhyas is removed

G; The samkhyas do not give the details of practice but they also give a similar approach. By contemplating on the 24 prakritic tatwas one is able to conclude without an iota of doubt that the real self in not the body, the body is not of the self, I do not exist in this body (na me naaham naasmi iti apariseshah)

G;. Because there were many teachers and students with different capabilities and different questions. So they go about explaining the ultimate reality about the self in so many different ways. In Taittiriya upanishad, they consider the human body/mind complex as made up of five layers or kosas and try to remove each one of the adyasas to be able to directly see the true nature of oneself. The Mandukya upanishad considers the three states of the mind, the waking, the dream and then the deep sleep states all of which are only experiences of the true self and help the abhyasi transcend all the three stages of experience and reach a fourth unique state called turiyaa state in which  all the adhyasas or superimposition on the real self are removed. The Bhagavat Gita reminds that the same unwavering consciousness experiences different sages of life, childhood, adulthood, old age and life beyond.

G Superimposing the illusory Universe on the never changing brahman is the mega adhyasa according to the advaitins