With this teaching of the Veda in mind, the revered Commentator raises the question, ‘But in what sense do we mean that perception and the other secular means of knowledge, together with Vedic tradition, belong to those in the realm of ignorance?’ And he replies: ‘What we say here is this. Without self-identification with the body and senses expressed in the feelings “I” and “mine” there can be no empirical knower, and so the processes of empirical knowledge cannot begin’ (B.S.Bh I.i.I, intro.) Here it is clear that the revered Commentator quotes no authority to prove that the play of the means of empirical knowledge belongs only to those in the realm of Ignorance. (pg. 52 ‘The Method of the Vedanta’ by Sri Swami Satchidanandendra)
What I take from this is that even when adhyasa/superimposition ceases to be a factor, as in the case of a jnani/enlightened person, the world continues to appear to him as it does to anyone. Perception continues to be normal but the substratum of pure consciousness that is the basis of all manifestation is known to be the reality.
Sri S.S.S. continues:
So if he (Sankara) is able to state flatly that the power of making use of the means of knowledge does not arise without self-identification with the body and its organs, such a statement must rest on universal experience.
