SB 10.14.22:
“By an illusion created by the Lord the universe appears
to be real, although it is not, just as miseries we suffer in a
dream are only imaginary.”
As I’ve heard the material world is real, but temporary. How to understand the verse above from Bhagavatam that it only appears to be real, but is not? Achintya-bhedaabheda-tattva (simultaneously real and non-real), subjective reality or in the sence that being temporary it is much less real than the eternal spiritual world for the eternal soul seeking eternal bliss?
My understanding is that matter, or maya-sakti, sure exists, but the manifestations of matter are in constant transformation; just like you can't deny the existence of clouds or steam, but the various rabbits and horses that you see in the clouds don't really exist.
The mayavadins (Sankaracarya) say "Brahma satyam, jagan mithya"--Brahman is real and the world is illusion. Sankara created the idea of vivartavada--that because Brahman does not possess sakti, it therefore undergoes transformation into the world of sense objects that we are familiar with. Gaudiya Vedanta disagrees with this view, and puts forth the concept of sakti-parinamavada, that it is the maya-sakti of Brahman that transforms into the world. The maya-sakti is real and eternal, and the world is real and eternal in the sense that it is eternally manifesting again and again in an endless cycle. The world is unreal, however, (as Syama mentioned) in the sense that the forms we see do not last-- the five basic elements are constantly being rearranged into the six different sense objects. Sense objects do not last, but the sakti that constitutes them does.