Is this something else your religion taught you? It’s another thing that just happens not to be a fact.
I dont find anything even remotely connected to the concepts of Vedanta.
Mine is not religion to begin with. to term something as “Religion” you need to have single prophet and Holy book to begin with. Sanatana Dharma is way of life.
So, according to Vedanta, the Universe has always been in existence?
If so, this is contrary to the scientific evidence.
You don’t get to redefine religion, either. You have a religion, just like every other religion that claims that they aren’t religion, they are TRUT*H**.
Vedanta on Creation.
31 As dreams, illusions and castles in the air are viewed, so is the tangible universe viewed by the wise, well versed in Vedanta.
32 There is neither dissolution nor creation, none in bondage and none practicing disciplines. There is none seeking Liberation and none liberated. This is the absolute truth.
Yeah, but those are your facts, not her’s. 
Just like Atheism is Religion you mean?
Why do you make assumptions? According to Vedanta Universe as we see is not absolute reality.
If you mistook rope as snake in darkness, does snake existed always? No. With the help of Light, you would find snake never existed except in your mind.
As usual you and your misjudgment.
What does “absolute reality” mean? Why would I believe in any sort of reality that is separate from that which I can directly experience?
So Vedanta says the universe does not exist? I don’t understand.
Vedanta says universe exist as long as you are in the state of duality, As long as there is no light, you would see snake. Once there is light of Enlightenment you would find that snake never existed in the first place.
For a dreamer, dream is real unless he wakes up.
I sincerely believe Swami Sivananda’s articulation of three states of reality would be of much help.
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Subjective Reality, Objective Reality and Absolute Reality
Waking experience is a perception. Dream experience is a memory. As perception precedes memory, waking precedes dream. Whereas waking experience is independent of dream experience and its effects, dream experience is the result of the impressions of waking experience.
There is a kind of order or system in the waking experiences, at least more than in dream. Every day, the same persons and things become the objects of waking experience. There is a definite remembrance of previous day’s experiences and of survival and continuity of personality in waking experience. The consciousness of this continuity, regularity and unity is absent in dream. Dream is not well ordered, while waking is comparatively systematic.
Dream is less real than waking, in as much as the direct contact with the external world of waking experience is absent in dream. Though there is an external world in dream also, its value is less than that of the world in waking. Though the form of the dream world agrees with that of the waking world, in quality, the dream world is lower than the waking world.
Space, time, motion and objects, with the distinction of subject and object, are common to both waking and dreaming. Even the reality they present at the time of their being experienced is of a similar nature. But, the difference lies in the degree of reality manifested by them. The Jiva feels that it is in a higher order of truth in waking than in dreaming.
That the waking world has relative reality does not prove that it is real in the absolute sense. From the standpoint of the highest reality, waking experience also is unreal. As dream is transcended in the state of waking, the world of waking too, is transcended in the state of Self-realisation.
Dream is apparent reality. Waking is relative reality. Turiya or Brahman is absolute reality.
Waking is the reality behind dream. Turiya is the reality behind waking.
From the point of view of Turiya, both waking and dreaming are unreal. But, waking, taken by itself in relation to dream experience, has greater reality than dream. To a certain extent, as Turiya is to waking, so waking is to dream.
Dream is no dream to the dreamer. Only by one who is awake, dream is known to be a dream. Similarly, waking appears to be real to one who is still in the waking state. Only to one who is in Turiya, waking is devoid of reality. Waking is Deerghasvapna, a long dream, as contrasted with the ordinary dream which is short.
There are degrees of reality in the experiences of the individual. The three main degrees are subjective, objective and absolute. Dream experience is subjective. Waking experience is objective. The realisation of Atman or Brahman is experience of the absolute reality. The individual is the subjective being in comparison with the objective world. The subject and the object have equal reality, though both these are negated in the Absolute.
These are a bunch of unsupported claims (many of which I can’t make heads or tails of). Why whould I accept any of this?
I could say “reality is a wisp of a memory”. Why would I expect anyone to accept it?
Dreaming state is reality to the dreamer is not claim, it doesnt need any support to begin with. In waking state you discard the dream state as unreal, You never question, how the dream objects were created, do you?.
Thing which does not exist in the beginning and end , does not necessarily exist in the middle. For anything to be real it should be eternal.
So we are in some kind of meta-dream, and through enlightenment we wake from this meta dream state to see the real-reality?
Kind of like waking up from the matrix, seeing there is no spoon/ snake.
I don’t understand this sentence, particularly the words “is not claim”.
They were created in my unconscious mind.
This doesn’t make sense to me. Many (and most) things exist, but only temporarily. I have tomato plants on my patio – they will grow tomatoes that will exist for a short time until I eat them. There is no eternal tomato, but tomatoes are still real. Tomatoes did not exist at the beginning, and they will not exist at the end, but they still do exist now.
“You’ll have to take my word on this.”
Woah!
Well, Matrix movie is actually based on Advaita Vedanta.
"The perception of an object is unreal, because objects are creations of the mind. An object has got a particular form, because the mind believes it to be so. In fact, objects of both the dreaming and the waking states are unreal.
Anything that has got a form is unreal. Forms are special modes of cognition and perception. They are not ultimate. In waking, there are physical forms; in dreaming, there are mental forms. Anyhow, all are forms only, limited in space and time. A form lasts only so long as that particular mental condition lasts. When there is a different mental condition, the forms of experience also change. This is why the form of the world vanishes when Self-realisation is attained."
Infact, Matrix movie ends with a theme song which contains Vedantic Verse.
Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |
Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |
Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||
Meaning:
1: Om, Lead us from Unreality (of Transitory Existence) to the Reality (of the Eternal Self),
2: Lead us from the Darkness (of Ignorance) to the Light (of Spiritual Knowledge),
3: Lead us from the Fear of Death to the Knowledge of Immortality.
4: Om Peace, Peace, Peace.