Commentary

This statement presents avidya, ignorance, as the superimposition of the non-Self upon the Self, a mistaken identification that produces the experience of agency, suffering, and transmigration. The concept of adhyasa is the foundation of Shankara's argument in the introduction to his Brahma Sutra commentary, where it serves as the starting point for the whole system. Eliot Deutsch explains that superimposition is the hinge between the non-dual reality of Brahman and the apparent multiplicity of empirical life. Paul Hacker's account of Shankara's theology (1950) emphasises how the idea allowed him to affirm the reality of scriptural teaching while explaining the origin of error. Richard King shows the concept's relation to Buddhist theories of illusory perception, which Shankara reworked for his own purposes. Sengaku Mayeda's analysis of the Upadesasahasri confirms that the notion of superimposition underlies the method of instruction in that text. The idea is central to Shankara's own writings, and its formulation here follows the structure he gives it.