Guest (4): Is this world a real place? Is this world a real place?

Prabhupada: What do you mean by real?

Guest (4): According to what you were saying, it’s illusion.

Prabhupada: Yes. Illusion, illusion in this way, that what you take it as a fact, but it is something else. It is not fact. Maya. Maya means ma-ya: “It is not this.” Just like you are thinking that you’ll be happy in this material world by adjustment, but you’ll never be. That is called maya. So whatever you are struggling for, that is illusion.

Guest (4): If this is an illusion, then why is it here? What’s it doing here?

Prabhupada: Illusion is a temporary existence. This is also explained in the Bhagavad-gita, bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg 8.19]. It comes into existence, just like cloud. Of course, we Vaisnava philosopher, we do not say actually illusion. We say temporary. Actually we say temporary. Anitya. Anitya. The exact word is anitya. Anitya means… Nitya means eternal, and anitya means temporary.

(Exchange after Conway Hall lecture — September 15, 1969, London)