As this ātman develops a self-consciousness it looks around and sees, in the words of S. Radhakrishnan – “The actual fabric of the world, with its loves and hates, with its wars and battles, with its jealousies and competitions as well as its unasked helpfulness, sustained intellectual effort, intense moral struggle seems to be no more than an unsubstantive dream, a phantasmagoria dancing on the fabric of pure being…” The author explains that this ‘fabric’ is like a ‘scrim’ (A thin canvas used on stage to both show the audience the back stage and at times to hide it, by using a clever display of light and colours). And this is also the cloak of Brahman, the Unknown, who has precipitated this worldly order-chaos dichotomy. “A dress serves two purposes – it hides and it displays”. This is the vāsyam referred to in the first line of the first shlöka of Īśavāsyopniśad :-

īśāvāsyam idam sarvam yat kim ca jagatyām jagat…

All this, whatsoever moves in this Universe, including the Universe itself moving, is indwelt or pervaded or enveloped or clothed by the Lord…