Dear Didi,
You use the word projected many times. I am a teacher and suppose I am teaching students in a class. If you say that I have projected the classroom students’ walls, benches, my own body, etc., then it may mean 2 things: The first is the entire image projected by me as a projector projects movies in a cinema hall, or the projection refers to the labeling which I do, like good student, bad student, my school, etc. What does the word ‘Projection’ refer to in Advaita? Is it the 3d movie or my mental commentary?

Answer:

All of it is an imagination, my dear Janaka, says Ashtavakra. Not just the Dream is a Dream, but the Waking is a Dream too. Not just images, sounds, smells, touches, tastes, but also thoughts, feelings, and sensations are all illusory or Mithya.

Let me explain the word ‘Mithya‘. Just like a mirage is apparently real, but not independently real, similarly, in Advaita Vedanta, the Waking, Dream, and Deep Sleep worlds are termed as Mithya or that which is apparently real, but not independently real.

When you dream, you cannot pick and choose in the dream scene whether this item is real, while its interpretation is an illusion. The entire Dream World, with the Dream Character and Dream Objects, is but a mere illusion. One cannot say that the dream objects are real and the interpretation of the Dream Objects is illusory. All is but ONE illusion.

Similarly, all of the Waking is a projected imagination. Not an ounce of Truth is there in the Waking other than the invisible background of Awareness on which all is projected.

When one dives deeper into self-inquiry, one realizes that:

• • There is only the backdrop of the NOW and a single arising in any given instance.
  • The arising appears and disappears immediately; nothing stays.
  • Memory creates a fudged story and holds onto it.
  • It believes in a story of continuity where there is none.

That is why it is termed as ‘Mithya’. Observe the projected illusions and arrive at the Truth through Direct Seeing. Keep chugging!