 The awareness-existence principle is a principle about rationality: it says that a rational (prāmāṇika) agent—i.e., someone who doesn’t overstep the bounds of her evidence (pramāṇa)—cannot be sure that the object of her awareness exists if she is not aware of her own awareness. This is because in order to ascertain the existence of the object of her awareness, the rational agent will have to cite evidence for the existence of that object. But in the absence of any awareness of her awareness, she won’t be able to appeal to her own awareness as evidence for the existence of the object. As a result, she won’t be able to ascertain that the relevant object exists.