Hi Libby – The Vedantic view of the “universe” is “creation” (Prakriti), the creation that we live in, that we’re children of; and so we operate by her laws. When a lot of the modern spirituality talks about the laws of the universe (law of attraction, law of karma / cause and effect, etc.), whether they know it or not, that’s what they’re obliquely referring to.
Does that help? I’d be happy to answer more questions as you have them. As for book recommendations – I LOVED the Untethered Soul (which is based on Vedantic concepts); anything by Pema Chodron if you want more of Zen / Buddhist recommendations, and I also like Eckhart Tolle’s the New Earth.
Inky – your comments always make me laugh 🙂 And Autobiography of a Yogi was one of my favorites too in high school.
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