Shankara Said…

I have frequently mentioned the quote:

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

This statement is accurate, but Jerry Freeman pointed out that there is no evidence Shankara ever put it quite this way.

Another related quote he mentioned:
“Brahma satyam jagan mithya, jivo brahmaiva naparah.”
This passage is typically translated, “Brahman is the only truth, the world is unreal, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self.”

However, as Jerry observed, “jagan mithya” does not mean “The world is unreal.” “Mithya” means “existing and not existing simultaneously,” or alternately, “neither existing nor not existing.”

This is a Brahman Consciousness perspective. “The truth is, the world both exists and does not exist simultaneously; individuality both exists and does not exist simultaneously.” Brahman is inclusive, it exists and does not exist both. It expresses (saguna) and is unexpressed (nirguna) both. Thus, anything in and of Brahman is the same.

I wouldn’t translate jiva as individual, although that’s not wrong. For clarity, jiva is the point value of consciousness, arising to have a specific perspective of the whole. Jiva is non-separate from Atman, like a wave rising from the ocean. It’s the discerning intellect that then distinguishes self from other, giving rise to the I-sense or ahamkara. That’s the source of our experience of being individual and separate.

Thus, we can translate the quote as:
Brahman is real (the truth)
The world is both real and unreal (like Brahman).
Jiva is Brahman

This leaves out the phrase that the world is Brahman. Even the mahavakyas (great sayings) don’t mention this. We assume non-separateness because it has been the experience since the Unity stage.

Jerry goes on to mention that the only place where Shankara wrote a related phrase is in the 20th sloka of the Vivekachudamani (The Crest Jewel of Discrimination), but without the last line. In other words, Shankara himself wrote:
Brahman is real (the truth)
The world is both real and unreal (like Brahman)

It seems someone added the last line to close the loop, rearranging and adapting it a bit in the process, giving us:
“The world is unreal
Only Brahman is real
The world is Brahman”

Mithya is indeed a better understanding. While seeing the world as unreal can be a phase in our process, if this is seen as “the truth”, we can get identified with it, creating a barrier to a more inclusive view.

The primary mahavakyas refer to I, Consciousness, Atman (the Self), and the Divine as being Brahman. This relates to the way Unity stage evolves into Brahman stage. We grow from knowing ourselves as these things into Brahman.

Asmita (I identify with, possessive, mind), Ahamkara (I am, intellect), and Jiva (point of consciousness, Atman), have all already been resolved into the cosmic by Unity stage. This is why these are not mentioned at this point.

However, this does not mean those things no longer exist. Rather, they progressively shift from being who we experience ourselves as being into functions that allow us to continue to operate in the world and the cosmic.

In Brahman stage, we recognize that the world is an appearance, but one with a purpose and function. It has a reality, but not the reality it once seemed.
Davidya