‘yathaartham sarva vigyaanam’ (yathaartha khyaati)
In VA vedaanta, there is no place for mithya. Every gyaanam is yathaartha or as-it-is and thus true.
1. Now, the question raised would be: is bhrama (illusion) also satya? Like Seashell is mistook as silver due to it’s shine. Is that also true?
Yes. That is also true. We have already studied panchikaranam. After Panchikaranam, all the bhootas have proportions of all the other bhootas as well. The rajat is already present in a seashell due to panchikaranam. Due to some upaadhis (like sunrays), the parts of tejas silver tattva are seen, and the parts of prithvi seashell aren’t seen.
What we have seen is true only since silver is undoubtedly present there. But since, the rajat is available in very small quantity after panchikaranam, Vyavhaara isn’t possible.
2. What about water seen in the desert? Is that also true? If that’s true, why can’t we drink that and remove thirst?
The water seen due to illusion is also true since water is present in prithvi, as a result of panchikaranam. Due to upaadhi, like the refraction of light or the shine of sunrays, etc., the water is seen there.
Why is water not always seen in Prithvi? It is because upaadhi is not always present. Whenever upaadhi is present, water is visible in prithvi. But since it is present in extremely small amounts, vyavhaara of water i.e. drinking and removing thirst is not possible.
3. The rope is misunderstood as a snake at night. Is that also true?
Yes, that is also true. The gyaana that was observed is true. The shape of the rope is similar to a snake. The attributes of the rope which are different from the snake were not observed due to darkness. Thus, there is a lack of observation in some parts.
If it was false, then why wasn’t there an illusion of an elephant for a rope? Moreover, the rope was visible as a lying snake only. Did anyone see it lifting its hood or moving like a snake? The gyaana which is obtained from limited observation, i.e., qualities of rope similar to snake, was not false but true only. Once light is thrown, we get the complete observation and illusion vanishes.
Conclusion
The bhrama, or illusion, is also yathaartha gyaana.
Note:
Swapna is also true, not an illusion. Paramaatma creates momentary objects for the anubhavam of that jeevatma only and for that time only, as per their karma. Thus, swapna gyaana is also to experience the karma of a jeevatma.
Lot of concepts are here to be understood like akhyaati, anyatha khyaathi, anirvachaniya khyaati etc. These are not in the scope of this book.
However, to note, we have yathaarth khyaati in VA.
Ramanujasiddhantam 