In plain words
objects are perceived things, or, for consciousness, objects [of perception]. 'The seer, however, is not seen [by another]' — when form becomes the seen, the eye is the seer; when the eye becomes the seen, the mind is the seer; when the mind becomes the seen amid the functionings of the intellect, the witness-consciousness alone is the seer. No one whatsoever can see this witness. The entirety of what is perceived is the Ātma itself; the body is not the Ātma, because it is known [as an object], just like a pot and such [objects]. Everything that is not the Ātma is merely something seen, like the illusory appearance of silver in mother-of-pearl — nothing more. The Ātma exists for its own sake; the world of objects exists for the sake of another. The world is not, by itself, possessed of [independent] existence; it, having originated from Brahman, depends upon Brahman alone [for its existence]. Therefore it is a lesser truth than Brahman. Just as an illusion fashioned by a magician for others does not trouble the magician himself, so too this world, because it has been fashioned by Brahman, does not trouble Brahman — this comes to be known.
That the world's three states [waking, dream, deep sleep] seem to have a connection with Brahman is a delusion, like the appearance of a snake in a rope. We cannot call Māyā non-existent. The rope that was seen as a snake — as soon as that [snake-]appearance subsides, one knows it is not a snake, but the world does not, in that same way, vanish. The appearance of the world is indescribable. That is to say, it is comparable only to itself — that is the sense. We cannot describe it as either non-existent or existent. The world is said to be of a nature distinct from both the real and the unreal; it has not been said to be non-existent.
Since it exists for some time, the world is of an existent form. Since it does not exist at all times, it is of a non-existent form. An object is true only until it is contradicted as not being that object. In the transactional state, the world is not negated as not existing. This is the transactional; its own form is Satya itself. In its manifold forms, the world is unreal. Śaṅkara too holds that the world is Māyā. Other than Brahman, which is the substratum established in absolute reality —