ABSTRACT
Advaita Vedānta's tradition of reflection on perceptual illusion arises out of a concern with mukti, a “liberation” or “salvation” that is conceived as a radical change of awareness, thus as a “mystical experience.” Developing the teachings of the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgītā, Śaṅkara (circa 700 a.d.) and his followers try to articulate a world view that would explain the possibility of this mystical state and show it to be the summum bonum (paramapurusârthā). It is problematic whether any Advaita philosopher, even the great Śaṅkara himself, is a “mystic philosopher,” that is, one who attempts to describe his own mystical experience and to theorize therefrom. But convinced that a kind of experience, albeit a mystical experience, is the most important matter in life, the Advaitins try to formulate a comprehensive theory of experience (anubhava) that would conform to their soteriological views. Above all, it is the topic of perceptual illusion that forms the bridge between the Advaitins' soteriology on the one hand and their theory of experience on the other. The relation of the salvific experience to our everyday experience is viewed as analogous to the relation between veridical and delusive sense perception. 1
