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Teachings of Lord Chaitanya
clearly stated:  Yato va imani bhutani jayande . This clearly states that the Absolute Truth is the original reservoir of all ingredients, and this material world of the living entities is produced out of those ingredients.
Less intelligent persons who cannot understand the doctrine of by-products cannot grasp how this cosmic manifestation and the living entity are simultaneously one and different from the Absolute Truth. Without understanding this truth, if, out of unnecessary fear, one concludes that this cosmic manifestation and the living entity are false, by putting forward the example of mistaking a rope for a snake, as Sankaracharya does, or mistaking the oyster shell for gold, surely that sort of argument is simply cheating. The examples of mistaking a rope for a snake and the oyster shell for gold, mentioned in the  Mandukya Upanishad , have their different applications, and can be understood as follows: the living entity in his original constitution is pure spirit. And when a human being identifies himself with this material body, that is a case of accepting the rope as a snake, or the oyster shell as gold. The doctrine of transformation of state is accepted when one thing is mistaken for another. Actually, the body is not the living entity; and to accept the body as the living entity is the doctrine of transformation of state.  Every conditioned soul is undoubtedly contaminated by this doctrine of transformation of state.
This conditional state of the living entity is a diseased condition. Originally, the living entity and the Original Cause of this cosmic manifestation are certainly not in this state of transformation. But mistaken thoughts and arguments can overcome a person when he forgets about the inconceivable energies and activities of the Supreme Lord. Even in the material world there are many examples: the Sun is producing unlimited energies from time immemorial, and so many by-products result from the Sun; yet there is no change in the heat and temperature of the Sun itself. If the Sun can maintain itself in its original state of temperature—although it is a material product—in spite of producing so many by-products, then is it very difficult to understand that the Supreme Absolute Truth, in spite of His producing so many by-products by His inconceivable energy, is not changed at all? Therefore, there is no question of the transformation of His state.
It is learned from the Vedic literature that there is a material product which is called touchstone which, simply by touch, can transform iron into gold. The touchstone can produce an unlimited quantity of gold, and still the touchstone itself does not change its state. Therefore, to suppose that this cosmic manifestation and the living entities are false or illusory, as advocated by the Mayavadi philosopher, is ignorance. No sane man should impose ignorance