"It is a matter not requiring any proof that the object and the subject whose respective spheres are the notion of the 'Thou' (the Non-Ego) and 'the Ego', and which are opposed to each other as much as darkness and light are, cannot be identified. All the less can their respetive attributes can be identified. Hence it follows that it is wrong to superimpose upon the subject - whose self is intelligence, and which has for its sphere the notion of the ego - the object whose sphere is the notion of the Non-Ego, and the attributes of the object, and vice versa to superimpose the subject and the attributes of the subject on the on the object." Sankara here begins with a characteristically apophatic movement of thought. It is pertinent to note here that the subject and the object have their own respective spheres. And the two inhabit, in a manner of speaking, absolutely separate realms/domains. Simultaneously and paradoxically, in a remarkable movement of analogical/cataphatic thought, where 'Thou' is the Non-Ego and Ego is the Self, this likening of the Universal Self to the subjective ego Sankara executes a union of cataphatic and apophatic thought to imagine his notion of the highest transcendent reality. "The subject is the universal Self whose nature is intelligence (cit); the object comprises whatever is of a non-intelligent nature, viz bodies with their sense-organs, internal organs, and the objects of the senses, i.e. the external material world. The object is said to have for its sphere the notion of the 'thou' (yushmat), not the notion of the 'this' or 'that' (idam), in order better to mark its absolute opposition to the subject or Ego. Language allows of the cordination of the pronouns of the first and the third person ('It is I', 'I am he who' &c.; ete vayam, ime vayam asmahe) [Buber with reference] The Ego and the Non-Ego, the subject and the object, the Self and the 'Thou' in Sankara exist in a relationship of separation and mutual opposition or contrariness or contradistinction such as light and darkness and are not to be mutually identified. It is at this point of contadistinction that apophasis proper begins in Sankara's exegesis of the Vedanta Sutras for the absolute separation of the transcendent from the worldly is at the heart of the apophatic method of theology. The former cannot be inferred from the latter. In other words, the attributes of this finite world or the creation can never be applied to the transcendent. The experience of the world cannot lead us to the transcendent for nothing of this world is adequate to an understanding of the tanscendent. Therefore, all attempts at an attribution o the latter is futile. It is simply incomprehensible, undescribable and ineffable. Notwithstanding the obvious apophaticism of Sankara, he also paradoxically characterizes the transcendent as intelligence ans 'Sachchidananda' - truth, consciousness and bliss. The resolution of this apparent paradox would be explicated later.
Therefore, the superimposition or adhyasa of the object, which is but a creation of the sense organs, is the attribution of the human element to the divine and thus destroying in the bud, in a manner of speaking, any possibility of a true and faithful realization of the transcendent. An enlightened recognition of what is Self and what non-self is critical to the enlightenment project of Sankara. The non-self is the object and the Self the universal subject and an absolute division rules between the two that can only be transcended by a realization of the nature or truth of this self or Brahman and its identification with the Atman. It is through the false identification of the Ego with the Non-Ego that the mind's attachment to the Non-Self is produced, which, in turn, cause the production of Klesas and Sankharas or Sanskaras or Dharmas or Dhammas that bind the soul to the world by originating the Sansara (Ref).
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