If the world appears 100 percent real to God, how can He make it unreal to perform a miracle?

[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on March 13, 2021, in which several devotees participated. The questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]

[A question asked by Śrī Bharat Krishna.]

Swāmi replied: I have already explained that perfection is the inherent quality of God. While He is getting entertainment from the world, He maintains perfect ignorance of the Self, so as to get perfect entertainment. Creation is relative reality. This relative reality has two sides. It is inherently unreal, but God has granted it the status of absolute reality for His entertainment. When God wants to perform a miracle, He effortlessly overcomes the self-imposed ignorance and realises Himself. At that time, He withdraws the granted absolute reality of that particular portion of the world where He wants to perform the miracle. That portion of the world alone becomes unreal allowing His divine miracle. The Veda says that God crosses boredom with the help of His self-ignorance (avidyā) and gains His original nature by realisation (vidyā), whenever necessary to perform a miracle (Avidyayā mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā, vidyayā’mṛtamaśnute…—Veda).

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