What is meant by "Brahma Satya Jagat Mithya" of Advaita Vedanta?

The great Advaita master Adi Shankara said “Brahma Satya Jagat Mithya, Jivo Brahmaiva Naparah”. It means Brahman (name of the Ultimate Reality) is the only Truth, the world is temporary transient and illusory, and there is ultimately no difference between the individual Self and the Brahman.

Jagat includes this world, the body, the mind, the ego-self and the thoughts. All the observable, knowable, understandable, cognizable things are Jagat. Advaita calls this Jagat as Anatman (Not-Self). The observer or the knower is Atman (Self).

Though we all are Atman (Self), we unfortunately are always associated and mixed up with Not-Self and hence we are called Jivas, meaning individual beings ignorant of Self. When one learns to discriminate between Atman (Self) and Anatman (Not-Self) and successfully learns to "be" or "exist" as pure Atman (Self) it is called Self-Realisation, instantly attains Moksha (Liberation) and the person is called Jnani (Knower of Knowledge) as the person has gained the Jnana (Self-Knowledge). According to Advaita Vedanta, Self-Realisation is the greatest treasure a human being can ever possess and attaining Self-Realisation is the goal of human life.

Mithya should not be interpreted as false as it means neither true nor false, temporary and has only Apparent Reality. The world cannot be false because we all clearly see and perceive it. Shankaracharya says that the world is not true either, because it is constantly changing and everything that the world has to offer is temporary, transient and impermanent.

Reality is the one that is never changing and exists at all times. Jagat is ever changing and sometimes it does not exist, it just vanishes. When we are in dream state or deep sleep state this entire waking Jagat is not present.

During the waking state, whenever we are intensely concentrating with 100% concentration then we exist as a pure concentrating entity such as while watching a movie, watching sports, playing sports, reading something interesting, listening ardently to a music we like, etc. During those moments when we are in a single pointed concentration, the Jagat vanishes, we lose our individuality and we exist as Pure Consciousness or Pure Concentrating Entity.

Another great example is when counting a bundle of currency everyone is in 100% single pointed concentration and cannot just afford any kind of lapse in concentration. At that moment one exists as a nameless, formless, Pure Concentrating Entity or Pure Consciousness or Awareness. The Jagat just vanishes as there are no other thoughts and consciousness of the body is also not there.

Hence the Jagat is called Mithya because sometimes it is present, sometimes it vanishes and then it comes back. It is not present at all times.

Using Viveka (reasoning and discimination) one has to realise that whatever pleasures the Jagat has to offer is fleeting and temporary.

• A fine dining experience gives us joy. Try doing it continuously for a few days and one would start nauseating.

• A trip to a nice resort is highly relaxing. After just a few days the charm of the place wears out.

• Eagerly awaited vacation trip to someplace, after hectic running around and visiting various tourist sites for days, finally the heart cries “Home! Sweet Home!!” and longs for the comfort of the home.

That’s why Shankara calls this world as Mithya which means anything in this world can only give temporary happiness and not permanent happiness.

We do not remember what we did at the same time yesterday, last month or last year. We do remember some incidents pleasant or painful if they had cast some impression on us. In both the cases, it is due to the ego, either it got flattered or it got badly hurt. If we develop the mental maturity and cast aside our ego, even such incidents also would fade away from our memory.

While dreaming, at that moment we believe it as real and it is called Pratibhashika Satya (Illusory Reality) created by one's own mind. When we wake up we realise it was just a dream and we forget the happenings in our dream instantly. The experience we have in the waking world also we do forget but slowly over the time. This is what is conveyed by the adage “And, this too, shall pass away”.

The temporariness, irrelevance, impermanence of everything related to the outer world and the similarity of the experience with the dream world is what made Shankara term the world as neither false nor real, has only Apparent Reality and is nothing but illusory projections of various names and forms over one single changeless Reality, Brahman. After Self-Realisation one does not give any importance to the Jagat apart from what is required practically to transact. That's why Jagat is called Vyavaharika Satya (Transactional Reality).

Interestingly Shakespeare also recognised the fleeting temporariness of this world by saying “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players”. For more details please read my answer to Why Shakespeare called this world a stage?

At the level of Paramarthika Satya (Absolute Reality), Everything is Brahman, Whole Brahmanda (Universe) is pervaded by Brahman, "Brahman alone IS and nothing else".

In saying “Jivo Brahmaiva Naparah”, Shankara is conveying that the realisation of the individual Self, Atman, Life Energy in its purest form (without the ego) is nothing but realising the Brahman, the Almighty Energy. The same opinion is echoed by the ancient Greek aphorism “Know Thyself” which is inscribed in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

These sayings assert that one learns more by studying oneself (Svadhyaya) by making the mind calm, quiet and directing the single-pointed concentration inwards and existing as nameless, formless, Concentrating Entity, Pure Consciousness, Silent Awareness, Chit Shakti (Sentient Energy), Atman (Self).