Abstract

According to the post-Śaṅkara commentators of Advaita Vedānta—and modern scholars alike—the pratibimba-dṛṣṭānta (reflection analogy) is a metaphor/model that illustrates the nature and the relation between the singular brahman and the multitude of jīvas. Svāmi Saccidānandendra Sarasvatī’s (SSS) hermeneutics contests the employment of the dṛṣṭānta as an “explanatory device” on the grounds that it (a) reifies the dṛṣṭānta, and (b) contradicts the basic task of Upaniṣads as a pramāṇa (instrument/ means) to know brahman: that of negation of ignorance. Contrarily, his hermeneutics demonstrates—through a rigorous application of the method of adhyāropa (deliberate superimposition) and apavāda (subsequent retraction)—that within Śaṅkarācārya’s prasthānatrayabhāṣya, the dṛṣṭānta serves (solely) to counter the erroneous notion that brahman suffers/transmigrates, and in his Upadeśasāhasrī, it is used to carefully distinguish the Self and not-Self. In both cases, its purpose fulfilled, it stands rescinded. Adhyāropāpavāda has hitherto not been recognized/employed as a method of hermeneutical analysis; it is SSS’ unique and important contribution. In this article, I use the pratibimba-dṛṣṭānta as an exemplar to demonstrate how any—and every—construct of Advaita Vedānta can—and according to SSS, must—be read/analyzed according to the method of adhyāropāpavāda to preclude its reification.