This material world is imitation beauty of the spiritual world, as much as the doll-girl is imitation of the real girl

Expressions researched:
"As the doll is imitation of a beautiful girl" |"Just like in some shop you see so many ladies and gentlemen are standing with nice dress" |"There are very, very beautiful women's dolls in the tailor's showroom, and nobody cares for it" |"doll-girl is imitation of the real girl" |"the whole material world is nothing but an imitation of the spiritual world by intermixture of earth, water, and fire"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

This material world is a combination of matter. Just like you have seen a nice girl's doll in the showcase of the shopkeeper's exactly just like a nice, beautiful girl. But that is imitation.

Lecture on BG 8.20-22 -- New York, November 18, 1966:

This is only imitation. This material sky and everything, whatever you see—all imitation, shadow. It is shadow. Just like in cinematographic picture you see the shadow of the real thing behind, similarly, this is only shadow. And in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ, yatra tri-sargo 'mṛṣā (SB 1.1.1). This material world is a combination of matter. Just like you have seen a nice girl's doll in the showcase of the shopkeeper's exactly just like a nice, beautiful girl. But that is imitation. Imitation. Every sane man knows, "Oh, this is imitation."

So whatever we are seeing here, beautiful, they are all imitation of the real. As the doll is imitation of a beautiful girl, similarly, yasya satyatayā nityāpi satyam eva abhipadyate. Śrīdhara Svāmī says, "Because the spiritual world is real and this unreal manifestation appears to be real, appears to be real, but it is not real, we can understand reality will exist; reality will not vanquish." That is... Reality means eternal. Therefore real pleasure, that is Kṛṣṇa. The material pleasure is temporary, not actual. Therefore those who are after reality, they don't take part in this shadow pleasure. Shadow pleasure, they don't take part. So Lord Kṛṣṇa says that yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati. That is reality. "When everything will be vanquished, that spiritual nature will continue to remain." That remains always.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

You mix the earth with water, and make it a nice doll, and put it into the fire and then color it. It will appear just like a very, very beautiful girl. But it is not the fact. Similarly the whole material world is nothing but an imitation of the spiritual world by intermixture of earth, water, and fire—and nothing else.

Lecture on SB 1.7.26 -- Vrndavana, September 2, 1976:

Just like modern civilized man, they are getting, suppose, so many machines, say, motorcar, a very useful vehicle. But wherefrom it is obtained? From the land. What is the motorcar ingredients? It is a combination of matter: earth, water, air, fire. You get iron, put into the fire and melt it, and then get the wheel. Similarly so many things. Tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayaḥ. Material civilization means tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayaḥ—exchange of fire, water, and earth—that's all. It is just like you see nice doll. What is this nice doll? Tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayaḥ. There is earth, water, fire. You mix the earth with water, and make it a nice doll, and put it into the fire and then color it. It will appear just like a very, very beautiful girl. But it is not the fact. Similarly the whole material world is nothing but an imitation of the spiritual world by intermixture of earth, water, and fire—and nothing else.

This bahu-rūpa is also reflection, but it is not real. That is the difference. Ivābhāti. Therefore it is called ivābhāti: "It appears like that." Actually it is not. Just like in some shop you see so many ladies and gentlemen are standing with nice dress.

Lecture on SB 2.9.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:

Prabhupāda: Yogamāyā means... Here, this is also Kṛṣṇa's exhibition of māyā, but it is temporary. In the another, spiritual world, that is also exhibition of Kṛṣṇa's māyā, but it is permanent. Here is a perverted reflection, we say. Just like shadow, shadow, the shadow of the tree in the water—everything is perverted, opposite. So that shadow is not the substance. The substance is there. On the bank of the river, that is really. Similarly the spiritual world is There also, everything is there. There are trees, there are fruits, there are flowers, there are men—everything is there, birds, beasts, everything. But they are all real. Here, bahu-rūpa. Bahu-rūpa means, which it is not reality. That, this bahu-rūpa is also reflection, but it is not real. That is the difference. Ivābhāti. Therefore it is called ivābhāti: "It appears like that." Actually it is not. Just like in some shop you see so many ladies and gentlemen are standing with nice dress. What is called that...?

Bali-mardana: Mannequin?

Prabhupāda: Mani?

Sudāmā: Mannequin. Like doll. In department store.

Prabhupāda: Department store. But they are ivābhāti; they are not fact. Ivābhāti. It appears like ladies and gentlemen and so many things, but they are not fact. Therefore ivābhāti. Iva means "It appears like that." It is not fact. But actually there are ladies and gentlemen. It is simply an imitation. So spiritual world, actually. And it is ivābhāti; it appears like that. But those who are fools, they are attached to this ivābhāti. If somebody goes, "Oh, here is nice beautiful woman. Let me embrace," that is foolishness. That is ivābhāti. That is difference. So therefore this very word is used, ivābhāti. Actually it is all matter. But they have been changed into different forms. The Māyāvadi philosophers, they say "It is ivābhāti. There is no form. Therefore make it formless." But our is that ivābhāti means there is form, but this is simply imitation.

Here the beauty is also false because it is material. Just like dolls. There are very, very beautiful women's dolls in the tailor's showroom, and nobody cares for it. Well, everyone knows this is false.

Lecture on SB 2.9.13 -- Melbourne, April 12, 1972:

Here the beauty is also false because it is material. A woman is very beautiful, but as soon as the spirit soul is gone, if somebody says that "You can take this woman at your house," nobody will like. Nobody will like, because the real thing is gone. It is false beauty. The same woman, beautiful, everyone is after this: "Oh, very nice woman." But as soon as the spirit soul is gone... Just like dolls. There are very, very beautiful women's dolls in the tailor's showroom, and nobody cares for it. Well, everyone knows this is false. Therefore Śaṅkarācārya said that "Why you are being attracted by this woman? It is simply lump of matter. It is a simply lump of matter." Everyone, it is in our experience that a lump of matter is standing, sometimes photograph of a nice woman, or the doll of a nice woman. Everyone knows that this is false. Nobody is attracted. So therefore there, there is nothing material. Everything is spiritual. The body is also spiritual. He is and everything... There is no distinction between body and soul. Everything is one. That we cannot experience now, but we have to get information from the authorized book.

1968 Correspondence

This material world is imitation beauty of the spiritual world, as much as the doll-girl is imitation of the real girl. So when the doll-girl is broken, it does not mean that the real girl is also finished.

Letter to Yadunandana -- San Francisco 13 April, 1968:

Regarding your questions, how material things dissolve, I may give you one example: Material manifestation is temporary, as it is stated in Bhagavad-gita, that material manifestation at times comes into being and it at times vanquishes. So, when material variegatedness vanquishes, it does not mean that spiritual variegatedness also vanquishes. Material variegatedness is perverted reflection of the spiritual variegatedness, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gita, that this material manifestation is just like a tree with the root upward. Roots upwards of a tree means it is reflection. So also in Bhagavatam it is stated like this, that the material world is a combination of earth, water, and fire; just like a beautiful girl made of earth, water and fire, standing in the window of a storefront. Similarly, this material world is imitation beauty of the spiritual world, as much as the doll-girl is imitation of the real girl. So when the doll-girl is broken, it does not mean that the real girl is also finished. Material manifestation is just like occasional cloud in the sky, so when the cloud disappears, the sky remains. Similarly, when the material world dissolutes, the spiritual world remains. Krishna and His Kingdom, the spiritual world, are eternal. We have to understand things in this method. That is Krishna Consciousness. Do not misunderstand that after the variegatedness of the material world being finished, everything becomes impersonal, that is nonsense. Try to understand Bhagavad-gita nicely. Your faith in the Christian religion is very strong, I can understand. So, when you want to convert Christians into Krishna Consciousness, you should understand first of all the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness. Without understanding the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness, if we try to convert Christians into Krishna Consciousness, it will be utter failure. We do not condemn any religion because the Bhagavatam says that the religious process is the best by which one can attain love of God. So we are teaching Love of Godhead, not any particular type of religion. Our Krishna Conscious movement is not a religious movement; it is a movement for purifying the heart. Modern civilization is defying the authority of the Personality of Godhead; the more a man advances in his material adventures, the more he becomes covered by the illusory energy.