When Advaita Vedānta says that the world is mithyā, what is its implication?

Correct option is D

Correct answer: d World is neither existent nor non‐existent, but different from both.
​Introduction: ​In Advaita Vedanta, the concept of mithyā (falsity or illusion) defines the ontological status of the empirical world, placing it in a unique metaphysical category.
​Information Booster: · ​ Anirvacanīya (Indescribable): The world is described as sadasadvilakṣaṇa, meaning it is entirely different from both absolute existence ( sat) and absolute non-existence ( asat).
· ​ Not Absolutely Existent: The world cannot be absolutely existent ( sat) because it is constantly changing and is sublated (subsided/cancelled) upon attaining liberating spiritual realization ( brahma-jñāna). Only Brahman is absolutely real.
· ​ Not Absolutely Non-existent: The world cannot be absolutely non-existent ( asat) like a complete impossibility (e.g., "the horns of a hare" or "a barren woman's son") because we physically experience, interact with, and function within the world daily.
· ​ The Mithyā Status: Because the world falls into neither extreme, its status is defined as an objective appearance that is ultimately sublated by higher truth, making it a relative reality.
​Additional Knowledge: · ​ World is absolutely non‐existent: If the world were completely non-existent ( asat), it would never appear to us in the first place, and our daily actions ( vyavahāra) would be impossible. Advaita does not reduce the world to a total blank or nothingness ( śūnya).
· ​ World is absolutely existent: If the world were absolutely existent ( sat), it could never be negated, changed, or transcended. This would contradict the non-dualistic realization that only Brahman is eternal and immutable.
· ​ World is both existent and non‐existent: This position is logically contradictory under classic Indian epistemology, as the same entity cannot simultaneously possess mutually exclusive attributes of absolute reality and absolute unreality in the same sense.