Mithya

Mithya

Reality by Howard Duncan
Reality by Howard Duncan

I’ve written before about how our dominant guna (quality) determines how we see the world.

When Tamas (inertia) is dominant, we experience the world as solid and real. This is how most people see the world.

Through spiritual practices and such, the rajas (fire) guna can become dominant. We shift into transformation. Then the world seems to be illusory. The not-self.

Further along, sattva (purity) guna rises and with it comes refinement of perception. Then the world comes to be seen as Lila, the Divine play. We recognize the hand of God behind world events and perceive the energies of nature in action.

However, after the Brahman shift (or in Refined Unity), we go beyond the gunas. Then the world comes to be seen in a hybrid way. We recognize the world is not real in-and-of itself, but it expresses reality and is non-separate from reality, so it has that reality. We can say it’s an appearance of reality and has a purpose.

“The world is unreal
Only Brahman is real
The World is Brahman”
– Shankara

Recently, I ran into an old quote by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on this topic:
There is a word in Sanskrit, they say “mithya”. “The world is mithya”. Mithya means, it’s neither real – because real means permanent – nor unreal – unreal means [that] which doesn’t exist.

That which has eternal existence and that which doesn’t exist. The world is neither of the two. Neither real nor unreal – what it is? It is mithya. That means it has its existence, but that existence is not permanent.

That is why the more exact word for the world will be “mithya.” It has its existence, which is not permanent. To say that the world is an imagination is just not right… not right. Because it has a very solid concrete existence. (laughter)
– Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 1967

Different framing offers another perspective.
Davidya

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14 Comments

          1. Lynette

            So why do spiritual teachers speak more of Maya? This is the first time I heard of Mithya. It will be less confusing to people like us if they explain the world is Mithya.

            1. Hi Lynette
              Maya is a valid teaching and is the reality of that rajas stage. It can also be valuable for monks. However, it’s come to be explained as reality and has been overemphasized, to me.

              This is more of the overemphasize on renunciation and a history when it was harder to get to sattva when the world was so “thick.”

  1. Eira

    Lovely post.
    Theres a joy even in a word that encompasses both the various levels of manifest existence as well as the knowing of its non-existence/never-did-exist at the same time.
    If that makes any sense..!
    Stephen encapsulated it beautifully.

  2. Peter W Goodman

    Thank you David!
    For the simple but very profound explanation.
    Ah … the Beauty of Shankara.
    And the final section of the post … Mithya … from our dear Maharishi.

    My heart expands and explodes into Silence.

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