Śivasaṃhitā 2.47

The verse identifies the root of cognitive error: not a mere logical failure but something embedded in vāsanā, the latent impressions that permeate the mind through repeated experience. The term unmūlana («uprooting») evokes pulling a plant out by its roots, emphasizing that this error does not dissolve through intellectual reasoning alone but requires deep and sustained work.

Vāsanā (literally «fragrance», «residual scent», from root vas, «to dwell», «to permeate») designates subliminal traces left by past experiences, partial equivalents to saṃskāra. Bhrāma (error, illusion, confusion) shares a root with bhrānti and bhraman (to whirl, wander). Unmūlana (eradication, uprooting) combines ut (upward) with mūla (root), creating a botanical image of complete extirpation.

This verse offers a profound psychological insight: illusion persists not through abstract ignorance but through the density of accumulated conditioning. In yogic practice, this justifies the need for sustained, repeated techniques — abhyāsa — to undo entrenched patterns, beyond any merely intellectual grasp of non-dualism.