Who Are You? - Swamy Yogananda Saraswati

Around the age of seven, Sankara left his native village of Kaladi (now in Kerala) to reach Omkarnath on the banks of the Narmada where the great sage Sri Govindapada lived in a cave. Before taking Sankara as a disciple, the sage asked him, "Who are you?" A question so simple in appearance, but to which the young Sankara answered with ten stanzas of a very deep import.

In this work, famed as the Dasasloki, or "The Ten Stanzas," Adi Sankara reveals his innate knowledge of the Self by expounding the real meaning of the pronoun "I" in the light of Vedanta.

Conforming himself to the renowned Vedantic process of negation, the Acharya refutes one after another all the wrong ideas and the false doctrines about the Self. When the non-Self is completely eliminated by proper inquiry, that which remains in the ultimate state is the true Self whose nature is eternal, pure, conscious, free and non-dual. And that Self is verily Brahman.

Superimposition and Denial

In accordance with the traditional method of Vedanta, the transcendent Truth is revealed by means of superimposition and its subsequent denial. At first, the Self is described as the animator of the body, senses and mind, as though the psychosensory system pertained to it, but later it is defined as free from all that and attributeless.

So, in the beginning, it is necessary to ascribe an attribute to the Self in order to establish its existence, and afterwards one should go beyond all the limitations and attributes in order to realize the true nature of that existence.

Main Topic of Vedanta

Superimposition (adhyaropa) and its subsequent denial (apavada) constitute, therefore, the main topic of Vedanta. This is what Sankara wanted to establish early in Dasasloki and this is what he has well unfolded later in his introduction to the Brahmasutras which can be summarized as follows.

Even though the Self and the non-Self are as much opposed as light and darkness in their nature, yet due to ignorance, which is nothing but wrong knowledge from a lack of discrimination, everyone superimposes one’s own Self, which is the subject, on the non-Self, which is the object, and conversely that which is not the Self but the object on the Self which is the subject. This is how false identification takes two forms with the notions "I am this" and "This is mine."

False Notions

In fact, all the activities in the relative world rest on these false notions—that is, on the mixing up of the true with the false. This is the confusion between the nature of the Self, which is Pure Consciousness, and that of the non-Self, which is perishable matter.

So superimposition (adhyasa or adhyaropa) is misleading appearance, in the form of memory, of a thing already perceived somewhere, but in a place where there is something yet altogether different. It is the appearance in something of characteristics which are alien to that thing, just like the appearance of silver in the mother of pearl or the appearance of two moons under an optical illusion.

Object of ‘I’ Thought

Although the inner Self, which is verily the subject, cannot be compared to an object of perception held as another object, still it is the object of the "I" thought and its perceptibility is immediate. It is, therefore, possible to superimpose the object which is the non-Self on the subject which is the Self, just as children superimpose concavity and blueness on space which is not an object of perception, which is not concave and which is colorless, but which they term nevertheless as the "sky".

Sages call this superimposition avidya or ignorance and say that the ascertainment of the reality by means of discrimination is vidya or knowledge. This being so, the reality of the Self is never touched either by the qualities or the defects pertaining to the non-Self which is superimposed on it.

A Form of Ignorance

Besides, all activities comprising means and ends, and all scriptures dealing with injunction, prohibition and liberation, start after taking into account the mutual superimposition of the Self and the non-Self, this form of ignorance which makes for false identification with others or with the body, the senses, the mind, the intellect and the ego.

Doer and Enjoyer

This inborn superimposition is experienced by everyone. It is beginningless and endless. And as consisting in wrong knowledge, it produces the feeling of being a doer and an enjoyer. So it is in order to eliminate this source of evil and to attain knowledge of the oneness of the Self that the study of Vedanta is undertaken.

As a keen knower of tradition, Acharya Sankara intends to show through his works and his commentaries that such is verily the aim of all the Vedanta.

Some people think that if Brahman is an established reality, it is not necessary to seek its knowledge, and if on the other hand it is not self-evident, it is impossible to know it. To this, it is said that Brahman is eternal, pure, conscious and free by nature, and that it is omniscient and omnipotent.

Self of All

Moreover, its existence is proved as being the Self of all, for everyone is conscious of existing. None feels "I do not exist." And the Upanishads assert that the Self is Brahman.

Again, some others think that if Brahman is established as the Self, then it is already known and so it is not necessary to seek its knowledge. No, there is the necessity to inquire, says Adi Sankara, because of the conflicting ideas on its nature.

Differing Perceptions

Ordinary people and the materialists maintain that the Self is nothing but the physical body characterized by perception. Others say that the sensory organs endowed with awareness are the Self. Still others, that it is the mind. Some Buddhists hold that consciousness is momentary and others that there is no Self at all, but the void.

The followers of Nyaya and Vaisesika say that the Self is different from the body, that it undergoes transmigration and is the doer and the experiencer. The philosophy of Sankya considers that the Self is a mere experiencer and no doer.

The Yoga school holds that by reason of his omniscience and omnipotence the Divine is different from the Self. And, lastly, Vedanta proclaims that the Divine is verily the Self of the individual who undergoes transmigration.

Vedantic Liberation

There are, thus, many conflicting opinions which are based either on reasoning or scriptural passages or their semblances. Accepting any of these doctrines without a proper examination deprives one of the highest good and leads to loss. On the other hand, studying the Vedantic teachings in the light of reasonings that are consonant with Vedanta leads to liberation.

Knowledge is Key

That is why Adi Sankara says further that liberation from the bondage of ignorance comes only by knowledge. And true knowledge is ever the same, as it is resting on the real. Now the Supreme Reality is that which does not change.

So, no conflict is ever possible, as far as right knowledge is concerned. But it is unavoidable with self-contradictory theories derived from personal reasoning or imagination. Moreover, how could any discursive knowledge be right when its content is never the same?

Therefore, the Upanishadic revelation, which is eternal, which is the very breath of the Eternal and whose content is the eternal Truth, is the only source of knowledge which is complete and unfailing.

© Tattvaloka (November, 2000) published by Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamigal Education Trust of Sri Jagadguru Sankaracharya Mahasamsthanam, Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri 577 139, Karnataka. Reprinted with permission.

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