Sri Adi Sankaracharya's teaching is summarised in the following verse.
ślokardhena pravakṣyami yadyuktam granthakoṭhibhiḥ |
brahma satyam jagan mithyā jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ ||
श्लोकर्धेन प्रवक्ष्यमि यद्युक्तम् ग्रन्थकोठिभिः।
ब्रह्म सत्यम् जगन् मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापरः॥
The above verse which is attributed to Sankara is found in Balabhodini.
Sankara summarises the teachings of crores of words and sentences into half a verse.
Brahman is the only satyam. The jagat is mitya. Jiva, the individual is none other than Brahman.
There is a vast amount of information available in internet today on this topic. This blog will make another attempt in explaining brahman, satyam and mitya as per the teachings of Swami Dayananda, Swami Paramartananda and Swami Omkarananda.
The words brahma satyam, jagan mitya should not be translated. Any translation such as "God alone is real, the world is unreal" will cause a great deal of confusion. Each word needs to be clearly described as per the traditional teaching - sampradaya.
All schools of philosophies analyse three entitites, which are I, the individual, this universe and Isvara - God. These discussions can be perhaps put in a table as below.
------------------------+--------------------+------------------
Jiva-I, the Individual | Jagat-the Universe | Brahman
------------------------+--------------------+------------------
Brahman | Mitya | Satyam
------------------------+--------------------+------------------
An entity can exist or does not exist. Mitya introduces a third state - a state which cannot be said as existence or non-existence. Swami Paramartannda uses the words - seemingly existent.
We all need to agree that I, the individual exists. Also it is apparent that this world exists. So what is this seeming existence?
The existence of God is one's individual belief. We shall use Isvara and Brahman consistently in place of God, from now onwards.
Isvara is the deity that a devotee worships. Isvara is the personal deity in the form of Siva, Vishnu, Vinayaka, Devi and so on.
We need to understand very thoroughly the concepts of Jiva, Isvara and Jagat.
The word Brahman does not denote Isvara. So the concepts that we need to understand are jiva, jagat, Isvara, brahman, satyam and mitya.
ślokardhena pravakṣyami yadyuktam granthakoṭhibhiḥ |
brahma satyam jagan mithyā jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ ||
श्लोकर्धेन प्रवक्ष्यमि यद्युक्तम् ग्रन्थकोठिभिः।
ब्रह्म सत्यम् जगन् मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापरः॥
The above verse which is attributed to Sankara is found in Balabhodini.
Sankara summarises the teachings of crores of words and sentences into half a verse.
Brahman is the only satyam. The jagat is mitya. Jiva, the individual is none other than Brahman.
There is a vast amount of information available in internet today on this topic. This blog will make another attempt in explaining brahman, satyam and mitya as per the teachings of Swami Dayananda, Swami Paramartananda and Swami Omkarananda.
The words brahma satyam, jagan mitya should not be translated. Any translation such as "God alone is real, the world is unreal" will cause a great deal of confusion. Each word needs to be clearly described as per the traditional teaching - sampradaya.
All schools of philosophies analyse three entitites, which are I, the individual, this universe and Isvara - God. These discussions can be perhaps put in a table as below.
------------------------+--------------------+------------------
Jiva-I, the Individual | Jagat-the Universe | Brahman
------------------------+--------------------+------------------
Brahman | Mitya | Satyam
------------------------+--------------------+------------------
An entity can exist or does not exist. Mitya introduces a third state - a state which cannot be said as existence or non-existence. Swami Paramartannda uses the words - seemingly existent.
We all need to agree that I, the individual exists. Also it is apparent that this world exists. So what is this seeming existence?
The existence of God is one's individual belief. We shall use Isvara and Brahman consistently in place of God, from now onwards.
Isvara is the deity that a devotee worships. Isvara is the personal deity in the form of Siva, Vishnu, Vinayaka, Devi and so on.
We need to understand very thoroughly the concepts of Jiva, Isvara and Jagat.
The word Brahman does not denote Isvara. So the concepts that we need to understand are jiva, jagat, Isvara, brahman, satyam and mitya.