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Śrī-Caitanya-caritāmṛta
Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” In this verse it is indicated that Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is the original cause, and the living entities ( jīvas ) and cosmic manifestation are effects of this cause. The cause being a fact, the effects are also factual. They are not illusion. Śaṅkarācārya has inconsistently tried to prove that acceptance of the material world and the  jīvas  to be by-products of the Supreme Lord is an illusion because in this conception the existence of the material world and the  jīvas  is different and separate from that of the Absolute Truth. With this jugglery of understanding, Māyāvādī philosophers have propagated the slogan  brahma satyaṁ jagan-mithyā , which declares that the Absolute Truth is fact but the cosmic manifestation and the living entities are simply illusions, or that all of them are in fact the Absolute Truth and that the material world and living entities do not separately exist.
It is therefore to be concluded that Śaṅkarācārya, in order to present the Supreme Lord, the living entities and the material nature as indivisible and ignorant, tries to cover the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He maintains that the material cosmic manifestation is  mithyā , or false, but this is a great blunder. If the Supreme Personality of Godhead is a fact, how can His creation be false? Even in ordinary dealings, one cannot think the material cosmic manifestation to be false. Therefore Vaiṣṇava philosophers say that the cosmic creation is not false but temporary. It is separated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but since it is wonderfully created by the energy of the Lord, to say that it is false is blasphemous.
Nondevotees factually appreciate the wonderful creation of material nature, but they cannot appreciate the intelligence and energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is behind this material creation. Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya, however, refers to a  Vedic sūtra ,  ātmā vā idam agra āsīt , which points out that the supreme  ātmā , the Absolute Truth, existed before the creation. One may argue, “If the Supreme Personality of Godhead is completely spiritual, how is it possible for Him to be the origin of creation and have within Himself both material and spiritual energies?” To answer this challenge, Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya quotes a  mantra  from the  Taittirīya Upaniṣad  which states:
yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante yena jātāni jīvanti yat prayanty abhisaṁviśanti.
This  mantra  confirms that the entire cosmic manifestation emanates from the Absolute Truth, rests upon the Absolute Truth and after annihilation again reenters the body of the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The living entity is originally spiritual, and when he enters the spiritual world or the body of the Supreme Lord, he still retains his identity as an individual soul. In this connection Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya gives the example that when a green bird enters a green tree it does not become one with the tree; it retains its identity as a bird, although it appears to merge in the greenness of the tree. To give another example, an animal that enters a forest keeps its individuality, although apparently the beast merges in the forest. Similarly, in material existence, both the material energy and the living