In Hinduism, Adhyasa is imposition of one cognition on the
other. It also means false attribution. Adhyaropa is another noun meaning the same
– the act of attributing falsely or through mistake. It indicates attributing,
through ignorance or through mistake, propertiesof one thing to another: for
example, mistaking a rope for a serpent in the dark.
The two words, adhyasa and adhyaropa, are used in Advaita
Vedanta to explain the existence of the sole reality of Brahman without any
multiplicity or plurality of objects of experience. In reality, the objects
have no tangible existence, according to the Vedanta view. They are only
appearances, super-imposed on the basic reality of Brahman, due to the veil of
maya (ignorance).
Vivarta is another word used to explain the apparent (and
not real) nature of objects of experience. Vivarta means an illusory form, an
unreal appearance caused by lack of proper comprehension by which the real
existent is not comprehended, but in its place, an unreal, imaginary, illusory
object is shown by our senses to exist. Thus, the snake is a vivarta of the
rope. Similarly, the world of objects of experience is a vivarta of Brahman, which
is the reality underlying the variety of objects of experience. This doctrine,
namely that only Brahman is real, all else being illusory, is called adhyasavada
or adhyaropavada or vivartavada. It is one of the most fundamental doctrines of
the Advaita Vedanta school. This extremely idealistic position of the Vedantins
regarding the nature of basic reality is opposed by other schools of Hindu
philosophy.
Adi Shankaracharya, in his commentary on Upanishads and
Brahma Sutras, argues that the dream-objects must be supposed to have some kind
of existence while the dream state continues. It is pratibhasika satta.
Similarly, the world of daily life also has a kind of existence called
vyavaharika satta. When that comes to an end through atmajnana (knowledge of the
self), there comes into being paramarthika satta (the transcendental existence)
in which the sole reality of Brahman is comprehended. That state is never
cancelled by any other state. In that state there is complete negation of
adhyasa, adhyaropa or vivarta.