 Though Śaṅkara dismisses empirical reality from the metaphysical standpoint of nonduality, the universe still possesses value in its identification with īśvara (usually translated as “God” or “Lord” for lack of a more suitable English term). Śaṅkara is ambiguous at times in differentiating īśvara from brahman, and uses several terms synonymously for both such as the “highest lord” (parameśvara); but he generally distinguishes īsvara as the lower (apara) brahman qualified with attributes (i.e., the universe), from the higher (apara) brahman that is absolute nonduality (BrSūBh 4.3.14). Following his readings of the Upaniṣads, Śaṅkara identifies īśvara as both the material and intelligent causes of the universe (BrSūBh 1.1.2). Īśvara emanates the universe through a cosmic causal power (māyāṣakti), and is the very process of becoming itself, a beginningless cycle of universe manifestation, sustenance, and dissolution. This process is an auto-cosmogony, making īśvara the material of the universe. As nothing but īśvara, the whole universe is sentient and self-aware. (See Ram-Prasad 2013; Comans 2000; Hacker 1995; and Warrier 1977 for further discussions of īśvara).