The Two Levels of Reality (Pāramārthika & Vyāvahārika)
Three grades of the real: the absolute, the everyday-reliable, and the merely-apparent dream.
Advaita resolves the tension between 'only Brahman is real' and the obvious reality of the everyday world by distinguishing levels of reality. From the absolute standpoint, only the non-dual Brahman truly is. From the conventional standpoint of ordinary life, the world and its objects are entirely real and behave reliably — real enough to live and act by. And below that is a third grade: things that are merely apparent, like the snake seen in a rope or objects in a dream, real only while the error lasts. Liberation is the shift to the absolute standpoint, at which the lower grades are seen through.
Key passages(16)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)