> > Its like maya in vedanta, which makes the stick > > appear to be a snake, an overlay over reality, > > a *superimpostion*. (Did anyone ever hear this > > word by a neo-advaita teacher?) > > Vaj: > Yes, but it is rather rare. > Just about everyone on the planet, whether 'neo' or not, knows that the "superimposition" doctrine is the cornerstone of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta.
Shankaracharya explains the genesis of ignorance and our perception of the plurality of things in terms of superimposition, what Maharishi called 'identification'. The classic example is the rope-snake metaphor: In the night you see a snake; in the light of day you realize what you thought was a snake was but a coiled-up rope. Likewise, the horns on a hare; a sky-flower; or fool's gold. The perception of a plurality of things where there is only one thing, is a superimposition. For example, the analogy of the "space in the pot" - the point being that there is only one space inside or outside the pot. It is a superimposition to think that there is a 'pot' with different spaces inside and out, when in reality there is just one space everywhere. That's the difference between relative ignorance and absolute knowledge. Read more: 'A Companion Encyclopedia of Asia Philosophy' By Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam Routledge, 1997
