[Advaita-l] 'Beings that are unthinkable should not be subjected to reasoning"

[Michael Chandra Cohen]

from: SSSSji Mandukya Rahasya Vivrtti

*Karika 2.19*, "Thus, **ekatvaṁ** (unity)  is misconceived through these
endless entities. Beginning with life-force - this is the māyā. Of that
divine being, by which he himself Is deluded."


*SSSS (abridged)*: In the state of uncertainty, the Self, like the rope, is
misconceived through endless entities beginning with life-force, in ways to
be explained and others implied by them. Yet it has been stated that there
is determination that this is one and non-dual.

In the reading "anantais tu," although these misconceptions are endless,
this Self is one alone misconceived through all these, yet remains as
non-dual - this is how the determination of Self should be explained.

Here an objection is raised: How can that which is one alone be
misconceived through these endless entities characterized by worldly
existence, even though it is eternally free from worldly attributes? In the
rope-snake example, snakes etc. that exist somewhere else are superimposed
elsewhere. If a real snake had never existed anywhere, the illusion of it
could not have occurred even on the rope. For illusion means either the
cognition of something where it is not, or seeing something that exists in
one place as existing in another. What is cognized where it is not, like
snake etc., exists somewhere else and is superimposed on rope etc. What is
seen elsewhere, like water etc., exists in its own place and is
superimposed on the desert etc. due to defect in the instrument of
perception - this is undisputed.

But nowhere has anything that doesn't exist anywhere in any way been seen
superimposed somewhere else. Yet here you say that life-force etc., which
have no existence anywhere either in the Self or elsewhere, are
superimposed on the Self. How can this be reconciled?

The response: This would be true if we were establishing the illusoriness
of entities and the oneness of the Self solely through the force of the
rope-snake example. *But this matter is not determinable through mere
reasoning [**tarka-mātra**], such that the fear of contradiction with
reasoning would be meaningful, because its nature is unthinkable
[**acintya-svabhāva**]*. As tradition states: "Beings that are unthinkable
should not be subjected to reasoning" (Mahābhārata 5.12).

This truth is established through scripture and verified by experience
[**anubhava-avasāyya-āgama-samadhigamya**]. For no one fails to experience
the Self as the mass of consciousness [**prajñāna-ghana**] unified in deep
sleep. Nor does anyone fail to experience the false misconceptions in dream
and waking states through that very Self established in its nature as
consciousness.

Therefore, just as a rope is misconceived as snake etc., the one Self alone
is misconceived as having the forms of Prājña etc. in all three states
[**sthāna-traya**], even though these superimposed limiting adjuncts
[**vikalpopādhi**] of misconception have no possible existence apart from
the Self. For what is experienced cannot be invalid.

Then how to reconcile the appearance of things that can have no possible
existence elsewhere in the Self that is eternally pure, conscious, free,
and non-dual? Listen. This is the māyā of that divine Self, just as a
magician's māyā makes the perfectly clear sky appear as if filled with
flowering trees with leaves. Similarly, this māyā of the divine being makes
that which exists alone in its own nature, unborn, immutable, and perfectly
pure appear as if limited by the aggregate of effects and instruments, as
if connected with action, actor and result, and as if transmigrating in the
manifold world different from itself. (tr: Chatgpt)