World Is Mithya (False)

In this episode, we’ll discuss the often-quoted statement in Vedanta that the World is Mithya. The Sanskrit word mithya is translated as “unreal,” “false,” or “not real.” Some take the idea a step further and interpret it to mean that the world is an illusion—reasoning that if something is unreal, it must be illusory. 

But is the world truly mithya, is it false or an illusion? We experience the world “out there.” We interact with it every day, and the objects within it appear real and tangible. We can see them, touch them, examine them, and investigate them. The world contains countless objects—from tiny atoms to vast galaxies. So how can the world be unreal, or an illusion? Are all these objects unreal? Are all of them illusory? On what basis does Vedanta teach that the world is mithya?

Based on the teaching of Vedanta, we will try and explain what mithya really means.

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jayant@staminteractive.com

Transcript

In this episode, we’ll discuss the often-quoted statement in Vedanta that the World is Mithya. The Sanskrit word mithya is translated as “unreal,” “false,” or “not real.” Some take the idea a step further and interpret it to mean that the world is an illusion—reasoning that if something is unreal, it must be illusory. This often leads to confusion and misunderstanding. Here we will try and clarify what mithya really means.

But is the world truly mithya, is it false or an illusion? We experience the world “out there.” We interact with it every day, and the objects within it appear real and tangible. We can see them, touch them, examine them, and investigate them. The world contains countless objects—from tiny atoms to vast galaxies. So how can the world be unreal, or an illusion? Are all these objects unreal? Are all of them illusory? On what basis does Vedanta teach that the world is mithya?

If objects are described as mithya, then what are these innumerable things “out there”? What exactly are they, and what are they made of? To address this, we will organize the discussion into the following three sections:

1. What Is Real and Unreal?

2. Understanding Objects

3. Makeup of Objects

1. What Is Real and Unreal?

The classic statement taught by Adi Shankaracharya to understand Real and UnReal is: “Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya”—Brahman alone is Real; the world is unreal. It is widely quoted, but to grasp it properly we must first understand what Sat (or Satyam) means. Once Sat is clear, mithya becomes easier to understand.

What Is Satyam or Sat?

Sat means the Real. Dictionary meanings of “real” are not very helpful here, because Vedanta uses the term in a precise way. For something to be Sat, it must exist—without interruption—in all three tenses: past, present, and future. If you examine nature carefully, you will not find anything in the objective universe that satidfies this definition.

1. The universe is not Sat. Our universe began about 13.7 billion years ago; therefore it did not exist before that and cannot be Sat. Further, whatever is born must also perish. So Sat must be unborn—and therefore uncreated, so that it can be ever-existent.

2. Sat is uncaused. Whatever is born has a cause. You are born because of your parents, who were born because of theirs, and so on. Since Sat is unborn, it is also uncaused: nothing produces it. It simply is, always.

3. Sat is unchanging. If something changes in any way—subtly (for example, atoms shift) or dramatically (for example, planetary positions differ)—it is not the same as it was before. Therefore it cannot be Sat, because Sat is that which never changes.

From this analysis, Sat is that which is uncreated, uncaused, unborn, and unchanging. This leads to the next question: what is this Sat, and where is it to be found?

If you search for Sat among objects in the world, you will not succeed. Every object has a beginning and an end—an origin and a dissolution—so it does not meet the criteria for Sat. If Sat is not found “out there,” the only remaining possibility is that it must be discovered “in here,” within ourselves.

How does one look within? Here the teachings of Vedanta are essential. Vedanta says that Brahman—our innermost core—alone is Sat. In many of my episodes, we have referred to this inner core as the Bulb of Awareness. This bulb does not do anything except shine Awareness. This Bulb of Awareness is the substratum of the entire universe and, in that sense, the most fundamental “power” in existence. Please listen to the episode “Understanding Self-Awareness” to understand these powers of Awareness. 

This Bulb of Awareness was present in the past, is present now, and will be present in the future. It was present before we were born and will remain after we die. If the Bulb of Awareness within is the only Sat (the Real), then everything else—everything that appears “out there”—must be mithya, the unreal. In that way, the statement “jagat (the world) is mithya” is logically consistent.

Even so, it can feel difficult to accept. The world appears vivid and tangible: we see objects, touch them, and even dissect them, and they seem unquestionably real. So how are we to understand the claim that the world and its objects are unreal?

The next step is to inquire into what these objects “out there” truly are. When you examine them carefully, you may begin to see that they are, in a sense, memory objects rather than “live” or “now” objects.

Understanding Objects

Do we really live in a physical world made of “live,” “current,” or “now” objects? To answer honestly, consider this challenge: show me a truly “now” object in the world. Everything we see and interact with is, in a strict sense, a memory object—a dated version of what is there. There are no perfectly “current” objects available to us in ordinary perception, because every experience arrives through a finite delay.

Take the sun. The sun you see is not the live sun; it is the sun as it was about eight minutes ago. Light takes roughly eight minutes to reach us from the sun, so what appears in the sky is a “now minus eight minutes” sun—already time-stamped by the moment it reaches your eyes.

The same is true for everything else: The moon you see at night is a “now minus three seconds” version of the moon, because light takes about three seconds to travel from the moon to the earth. A plane in the sky is a “now minus 300 milliseconds” plane. The tree outside a window is a “now minus 10 microseconds” version of the tree, because light will take 10 microseconds to reach us.

This logic applies to every object in the physical world. It is impossible for anyone to directly know or interact with a perfectly “live” object “out there.” We relate only to memory objects—objects presented to us after a delay. And this applies not only to things, but also to people, animals, and every living being. For everything in the world, light takes a finite time to reach us; therefore, what we experience can never be a pure “now.” In that sense, the entire physical universe available to perception is made of memory objects.

This is a remarkable conclusion—logical, simple, and straightforward. And if objects are not truly “live” or “now,” then in a certain way they are mithya objects: unreal in the technical sense. They are memory objects—dated, dependent appearances.

From here, a deeper question arises: can these memory objects exist on their own, or are they dependent on something else? What is the substratum of these dated objects? What is the “content” because of which these memory objects appear?

Makeup of Objects

We have seen that what we encounter in the world “out there” are only memory objects—dated appearances rather than perfectly “live” objects. The next question is crucial: do these memory objects exist independently, or are they dependent on something deeper? In other words, what is their content, and what is the substratum on which they appear?

Science typically answers that objects are made of atoms and subatomic particles. Over time, physicists have identified many kinds of particles, yet the search for the ultimate foundation continues. This is often expressed as the quest for a “Theory of Everything”—a single underlying basis from which all phenomena in the universe can be explained.

But the substratum of these memory objects will not be found by searching only within the objects “out there,” no matter how much money or effort is spent. What is needed is a fresh approach—one grounded in the teachings of Vedanta.

Vedanta Perspective on Objects

A simple question: how do you know an object exists? The most direct answer is that you are aware of it. Because you are aware, you are certain it exists for you. Without awareness, the object does not “show up” at all.

From a Vedanta perspective, this means Awareness is the basic ingredient of every experienced object. Awareness must pervade the object-experience and “take on” the object’s apparent form, so you can be aware of that object fully. If you are aware of the tree outside your window, Awareness must illuminate the whole tree; if it illuminated only part of it, you would be aware of only that part.

So, we can describe an experienced object like this: Awareness is present, and an object-form is superimposed upon it, completing the experience of an “object.”

1. If you are aware of the car outside your window, it is because the form of the car is superimposed on Awareness.

2. If you are aware of music from a device, it is because the form of music (sound) is superimposed on Awareness.

3. If you are aware of the taste of chocolate, it is because the taste-form of chocolate is superimposed on Awareness.

Object-forms vary endlessly, but the content of every object-experience is Awareness. In this sense, Awareness is the substratum of all objects “out there.”

Vedanta illustrates this with the classic pot-and-clay example. Pots can be small or large, round or angular, but the substance of every pot is only clay. Forms differ; content is one. Another interesting fact is that the pot-form cannot exist independently—without clay there is no pot. In fact, if you search for “pot” apart from clay, you will never find it; you will find only clay.

This is exactly the relationship between Awareness and form. The world presents an immense variety of object-forms, yet the content of all these memory objects is Awareness alone. Here also, objects cannot exist (as experienced) without Awareness. And if you look for the object-form in isolation, you find only Awareness—just as clay is the sole content of pots.

Notice what this implies: Awareness, the substratum of all memory objects, is nothing but Sat. As discussed earlier, Sat is the Bulb of Awareness—ever-present, unchanging, and the “content” of every memory object. Object-forms are superimposed on this Sat.

So, the correct way to understand memory objects is this: the content of each object is Sat, while the object-form is mithya. The form has no independent existence; it depends completely on its content, which is Sat.

Correct Understanding of Mithya

So, the correct understanding of mithya is not “unreal” in the sense of being absolutely non-existent or “false.” Rather, mithya refers to that which does not have an independent existence and is dependent upon something else for its existence.

In the case of memory objects, their experienced existence depends upon Awareness (Sat). Without Awareness, no object can “show up” in experience at all. Therefore, Brahman (the inner core) is Sat, and jagat (the world) is mithya: jagat depends upon Sat for its existence.

I hope this episode has helped clarify the meaning of the term mithya. Mithya does not mean unreal or a mere illusion; it means that whatever is mithya has no independent existence and depends on Awareness, or Sat, for its existence—just as the form of a pot depends on clay.

If you’re interested in delving deeper into topics like this, we invite you to discover more in my book, Science Meets Vedanta, available on Amazon. Additionally, we now have a library of around 35 podcasts covering many different topics —feel free to browse through them at your convenience.

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