[Advaita-l] Why is jagat mithya?

[Shrinivas Gadkari]

How is Brahman so difficult to understand? You may say Brahman cannot
be described because Yato Vaco Nivartante. This is true for Nirguna
Brahma but Saguna Brahma is easy to understand. That is why Sruti is
saying Sahasra Sirsha and all that to explain Saguna Brahman. Even a
child can understand if you say God is everywhere. The approach of
Mayavada is more difficult to understand because you are asking a
student to go against his natural feeling.

If there is a pot in front of the student. You can explain using Sruti
why it is Mithya. But another way is you can explain that Pot is Sat
only. That Sat is the same everywhere. It is appearing in different
names and forms. Now it is appearing as Pot. There it is appearing as
Table. Etc. Not necessary to use Mayavada at all.

The Sadhana effort is needed to see the same Sat in different names and forms.


Regards

-Venkatesh

-------------------------------------
Namaste Shri Venkatesh,

Here is one approach to understand this topic, see if this appeals you.

1. In the same way, as a snake is imagined/ projected from a rope, the
   jagat is the "projected form" of an underlying reality which we
   call brahman.

2. So, we have two spaces here, S_br (the underlying reality - brahman), 
   and S_pr (the projected, apparent reality - jagat).

3. Every object/ event in the space S_pr, has a corresponding counter 
   part in the space S_br. So, in this sense, ** and only in this sense **,
   S_pr is called mithyA. But the counterpart of every object / event in
   space S_br is NOT mithyA.
   
4. What a seeker is expected to do is - repeatedly apply the 
   anvaya-vyatireka nyAya to understand this play between the spaces 
   S_br and S_pr. (This is one interpretation of shloka 2.9.36 from 
   bhAgavata - this is the last shloka in catuH-shlokI bhAgavata.) 
   - by anvaya-vyatireka, here, we mean: when there is smoke (object or
   event in S_pr), always, there is fire (counterpart in S_br).
      
hari om.

Regards,
Shrinivas