salyavin808: > The universe as I understand it would disappear > for sure, but that's just my limited experience > and opinions in my head... > >From what I've read, Shankara based his teachings on his Adi Guru, Gauda, who taught 'Ajativada', or the doctrine of 'no-origination'.
According to Gaudapadacharya, there is no creation, no dissolution; no coming forth, no coming to be; nothing moves here or there; there is no change. The first human spiritual idea was that there was a One 'beyond' the physical world - the notion that there were many came much later, when people were confused and began pluralistic metaphysical specualtion, attempting to confuse the people. Everything but the One is an illusion. The One is the only Reality. The One can only be experienced in transcendental consciousness. Most TMers understand that in the waking state we also appear to move, to see doors and tables, we consult with our friends; in the waking state we can run and jump. The realization of non-origination, and the absence of an individual soul-monad, is all you really have to understand. You don't need to be a learned pundit to understand that things don't really move hither and thither, and events are an appearance only, just like an illusion or things and events seen in a dream. We all have dreams, and we all understand the dream state - in dreams we appear to move, to see doors and tables, and we consult with our friends; in dreams we can run and jump. "For those well versed in the Vedaanta the world is like a city of Gaandharvas, an illusion." - Guadapada. Work cited:: S. Vidyasankar: http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/ad_faq.html Read more: 'The Secret of the Three Cities' An Introduction to Hindu Sakta Tantrism by Douglas Renfrew Brooks University Of Chicago Press, 1990
