Would creation still be real to the soul, even if God had not granted reality to creation?

[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on March 27, 2021, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]

[Śrī Anil Antony asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! God has granted absolute reality to the world, so that He can get entertainment from it. Granting absolute reality to the world brings it to the same level of reality as God Himself. But even without granting this status of absolute reality to the world, the world would still be real for the soul. After all, the soul is part of the world and so, the world must be as real to the soul as itself, in any case.]

Swāmi replied: There is confusion between the word of reality used in the case of God and in the case of soul regarding the world.

1) For the soul:- The unreal world is real for the soul. In this statement the word real is not in the original sense of reality. With respect to soul only the world is real. The soul being a part of the world can’t be real while its whole (the world) is unreal. Hence, for the unreal soul (part), the unreal world (whole) must be real in experience as well as logic.

2) For God:- God is the absolute reality granting His absolute reality to the world for the sake of His real entertainment. In this way, the world is real for God. This word “real” mentioned in this statement is not real in the original sense because the world is unreal if the absolute reality of the world is withdrawn by God.

Hence, the word reality used for the world in the case of God and soul have different original senses. The reality of the world for God is not the original sense of reality whereas the reality of the world for soul is the original sense of reality even though both world and soul are unreal in the original reference of God.

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