How can Gaudapaada say that creation is unborn when it was present in front of him in reality?

[Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami; kindly answer the following question. At Your Divine Lotus Feet-anil

Gauḍapāda mentions about this endless chain of causes and finds fault with the inability of finding the ultimate cause of creation and due to this, he proposed the theory of unborn creation or Ajātivāda (Jātāt ca jāyamānasya, na vyavasthā pradṛśyate, Ajātaṃ jāyate kiñcit, Ajātiḥ prakṛtistataḥ). He means that this creation is not created at all, which means that this creation is a total unreality!

Referring to the above divine knowledge preached by You; how can Gauḍapāda say that creation is unborn or Ajāti? Infact creation is very much felt by Gauḍapāda as it was present in front of him in reality. Or is he referring to the creation having no birth (starting point) by stating like this? Kindly clarify.]

Swami replied: He meant that the creation does not exist at all since it was not born at all because ‘nothing’ is never born. A poet thought of some peculiar plan, which was totally new. Once the plan entered the brain of the poet, the plan became real because it is associated with the awareness of the poet and awareness (modification of inert energy in a functioning nervous system) itself is a reality since it is part of the world. But, before entering the brain of the poet, the plan is totally unreal. Once the plan entered the awareness of poet, the plan gained the reality of awareness and became real. Goudapada thought that the unreal plan can never become real because a totally unreal horn of the rabbit can never become real. But, when you imagine the horn of the rabbit, it becomes real since it is amalgamated with the awareness which is real. Hence, the horn of the rabbit is unreal, but the thought of the horn of the rabbit is not unreal though it is not gross but subtle. The horn of the rabbit will not become gross since the horn will not be born on the head of the rabbit. This is the logic of the world in which also, the horn of the rabbit could become real and subtle. In the case of the omnipotent God, the horn can be born on the head of not only one rabbit but all the rabbits in the world.

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