In what sense is the world a dream? Advaita philosophy proclaims that the world is unreal (Jagat Mithya). What does it really mean? In which sense is it unreal?
Upon waking from a dream, the dream is seen to be unreal. Can it be realized inside the dream that it is unreal? What would that mean?
Who is the one who realizes and decides upon the reality and unreality of appearance? Isn't that entity itself a part of the world?
A fact of great significance is that the experiencer is the same in one's dreams as well as in one's waking life. It is another matter that dreams are easily forgotten, but I certainly say that "I" saw this in my dreams tonight.
So, the experiencer is separate from what is experienced. Whole worlds collapse and are created, the experiencer remains as it is. The worlds of dreams, and the waking-world replace one another in succession, but "I" remain.
It is also a mystical fact that while the worlds change, the experiencer goes and comes and yet remains the same. This is to say that there is an identity of the experiencer despite his temporary demise in deep sleep. This is the "impossible question". I have not found an answer to this question anywhere.
In that sense is the world unreal. It is part of the trinity of Experience (Experience, Experiencer and the Experienced), all of which vanish in deep sleep.
It is not unreal at the level of the body-mind. What I see is as real as my body and my mind. The trinity (triputi) comes into existence and vanishes as a whole. There is no experience without the experiencer.
So to go beyond the experiencer is the realization of its unreality. Only then the world is also seen as created and unreal. Only then one sees one world vanishing and another taking its place. What ceases to be, is unreal. The dream world as well as the waking world cease to be. What doesn't cease is the sense of Being. In deep sleep, this sense of Being alone remains. There is no experience. But something still remains. To go beyond that something is what spirituality is all about. Jagrat (waking state), Swapna (dream state) and Sushupti (deep sleep) all are unreal for the one who has truly awakened, because he sees their transitoriness, having gone beyond the final frontier.
That something, the sense of Being, is the Jiva-Gyan or Mool Agyan or Karana Shareer. These all are different names for the sense of "I am".
The normal person only believes that the three states are transitory.
Are you really aware when the waking world vanishes? When the dream begins and ends? To be aware at the moment of world-change is the experience of "Pari-chhinn", the experience of discreteness, of transitoriness.
Swami Brahm Prakash has said that this experience is possible when you sleep for the right amount of time, and when you meditate for long periods.
To repeat, At the level of experience, the world is real.
It is easy to wake from a dream at night. On the other hand, it is the greatest challenge of existence to go beyond experience.
Dream worlds come and go. The waking world, however, continues, even after an interruption. Why?
The vedanta doctrine of "Drishti-Srishti vaad" (Creation is concomitant with Experience) says that the world is created at the same instant as the experiencer. It is another way of asserting the concept of Trinity. But then, how can one reconcile with the evident continuity of the waking world? One boards a night train in the waking world, goes to sleep, the world vanishes, but in the morning one does reach one's destination in the waking world. How come?
I am unable to answer this question.