The Illustration Of The Snake

The Vedantin likes to give the illustration of the snake and the rope.

- Swami Satyapriyananda

There is something on the ground and a person out of ignorance and perhaps also due to poor lighting, mistakes it to be a snake. He yells, shrieks, his heart palpitates, he looks for a stick, and cries out for help until he is assured that it is just a mere harmless rope. The frightening and intimidating world is only Brahman devoid of action.

There is also the other Vedantin view that what lies ahead is really a snake and one, in all his foolishness, thinks that it is merely a rope. He goes to handle it, despite being cautioned that it is a snake, gets bitten and there is no end to his plight. That is the harm in seeing Atman in Anatman; it brings about grief, affliction, misery, fear, calamity, and every other negative result.