116 Sr7-Caitanya-caritamrta

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 (jivas)
and cosmic manifestation are effects of this cause. The cause being a fact, the
effects are also factual. They are not illusion. Safkaracarya has inconsistently tried
to prove that acceptance of the material world and the jivas to be by-products of the
Supreme Lord is an illusion because in this conception the existence of the material
world and the jivas is different and separate from that of the Absolute Truth. With
this jugglery of understanding, Mayavadi philosophers have propagated the slogan
brahma satyam jagan-mithya, 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 Safkaracarya, 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 mithyd, 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 Vaisnava philosophers say that the cosmic creation is not false but tem-
porary. 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. Sripada Ramanujacarya, however,
refers to a Vedic sutra, atma va idam agra asit, which points out that the supreme
atma, 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, Sripada Ramanujacarya quotes amantra from
the Jaittiriya Upanisad which states:

yato va imani bhutani jayante

yena jatani fivanti

yat prayanty abhisamvisanti.
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 connec-
tion Sripada Ramanujacarya 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
