This entire universe is a reflection of consciousness; nothing else exists

Ābhāsa — reflection, appearance, a shimmer — is Vasiṣṭha’s preferred term for the world. Not māyā (illusion), not vyavahāra (practical reality), but ābhāsa: the way light appears on water. The reflection of the moon in the lake is not the moon, but it is not nothing either — it is a real appearance caused by real light falling on real water. The world is a real appearance caused by real consciousness falling on the surface of the mind. Remove the mind, and the appearance ceases; remove the moon, and the reflection was never there.