 Following his reading of the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, Śaṅkara likens the universe’s unmanifest state to īśvara in a cosmic state of deep dreamless sleep. Manifestation occurs when īśvara, as the intelligent cause, visualizes the universe through memory of past universes. This projective ontological capacity of īśvara is analogous to an individual’s process of dreaming. Dreaming utilizes memory to project a dream world that is not separate from one’s mind (BṛUBh 4.3.10). The universe is similarly an effortless manifestation of īśvara’s knowledge, and possesses no existence apart from īśvara. The universe’s ongoing manifestation is concurrent with īśvara’s perception of it like the dreamscape is concurrent with the dreamer’s perception. The universe’s very existence depends on īśvara knowing it, for īśvara’s knowing is its very projection into objective existence.