Jagat Mithya — The World Is Relatively Unreal
Jagat Mithya (the world is Mithya — relatively unreal) is Advaita's famous teaching that is often misunderstood as claiming the world doesn't exist — it means the world has no existence independent of Brahman.
The Advaita summary statement Brahma Satyam, Jagat Mithya, Jivo Brahmaiva Na Para ('Brahman is real; the world is Mithya; the individual self is Brahman itself, not different') contains one of the most misunderstood teachings in Indian philosophy. 'Jagat Mithya' does not mean the world doesn't exist, is a hallucination, or should be ignored. Mithya means 'dependent reality' or 'secondary reality' — something that exists but not independently, like a wave that exists but not independently of the ocean. The world is real as an appearance within Brahman, but has no reality independent of Brahman. This is the crucial distinction: from the absolute standpoint, only Brahman is real; from the conventional standpoint, the world is real (water quenches thirst even for the enlightened). The practical implication: the Jnani (liberated one) lives fully in the world but knows that its apparent separateness from Brahman is Mithya — he sees Brahman in everything.
Brahma Satyam, Jagat Mithya, Jivo Brahmaiva Na Para — Brahman is real; the world is Mithya; the individual is Brahman itself.
Philosopher Michael Dummett's anti-realism — the view that reality is not mind-independent but constituted by our epistemic capacities — shares a family resemblance with Jagat Mithya: both deny that the world has a reality entirely independent of the knowing consciousness, though for different philosophical reasons.
Vivekachudamani