Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/468

 45 2 The Sailkara Sc hoot of Vedanta [ CII. the experience of the world-appearance is not wholly a subjective creation for each individual, for even before his cognition the phenomena of world-appearance were running in some unknow- able state of existe.nce (sveJla adhyastasya sa1!lskiirasya viyadiid- yadhyiisaj{wakatvopapatte{l tatpratllJlabllavepi tadadhyasasya Pitr- vam sattviit k,rts1lasyiipz" vyavahiirikapadartlzasya ajfiiitasattvii.- OIzyupagamat). It is again sometimes objected that illusion is produced by malobserved similarity between the ground (adh£- !Iuina) and the illusory notion as silver in "this is silver," but no such similarity is found between the Brahman and the world- appearance. To this Vedanta says that similarity is not an in- dispensable factor in the production of an illusion (e.g. when a white conch is perceived as yellow owing to the defect of the eye through the influence of bile or p£tta). Similarity helps the pro- duction of illusion by rousing up the potencies of past impressions or memories; but this rousing of past memories may as well be done by ar!a-the unseen power of our past good or bad deeds. In ordinary illusion some defect is necessary but the illusion of this world-appearance is beginningless, and hence it awaits no other doa (defect) than the avidya (nescience) which constitutes the appearance. Here avidya is the only doa and Brahman is the only adhihana or ground. Had there not been the Brahman, the self-luminous as the adhihana, the illusory creations could not have been manifested at all. The cause of the direct perception of illusion is the direct but indefinite perception of the adhihana. Hence where the adhihana is hidden by the veil of avidya, the association with mental states becomes necessary for removing the veil and manifesting thereby the self-luminous adhithana. .As soon as the adhihana, the ground, the reality, the blissful self-luminous Brahman is completely realized the illusions dis- appear. The disappearance of the phenomena means nothing more than the realization of the self-luminous Brahman. The Definition of Ajnana (nescience). Ajf1ana the cause of all illusions is defined as that which is beginningless, yet positive and removable by knowledge (anadi- blta'llantpatve sati jjiiiJla1livartyatva1!z). Though it manifests itself in all ordinary things (veiled by it before they become objects of perception) which have a beginning in time, yet it itself has no beginning, for it is associated with the pure consciousness which