I have been reading Gaudapada's Mandukya Karika, mostly the fourth chapter, and one example in it has stayed with me.

When a burning stick is moved in a circular motion, it creates the appearance of a circle, a line or other shapes. But none of these shapes actually exist. There is only the firebrand in motion. The shapes are an appearance created by that movement.

Gaudapada draws a parallel with our experience of reality. What we perceive as multiplicity, change and creation may be no different. We mistake appearances for independently existing things. Consciousness does not produce a world of separate realities. Rather, the appearance of separation arises through the way we experience it. This is central to his doctrine of Ajātivāda, the view that nothing is ever truly born or created.

I am not saying nothing exists. I am not saying pain is fake, or people do not matter. The fire still burns your hand. My point is smaller than that.…