Sarvadarshanasangraha 8.1-2

8.1

atrāpekṣāvihīnānāṃ jaḍānāṃ kāraṇatvaṃ duṣyatīty aparituṣyanto matāntaram anviṣyantaḥ parameśvarecchāvaśād eva jagannirmāṇaṃ parighuṣyantaḥ svasaṃvedanopapattyāgamasiddhapratyagātmatādātmyo nānāvidhamānameyādibhedābhedaśāliparameśvaro ’nanyamukhaprekṣitvalakṣaṇasvātantryabhāk svātmadarpaṇe bhāvān pratibimbavad avabhāsayatīti bhaṇanto bāhyābhyantaracaryāprāṇāyāmādikleśaprayāsakalāpavaidhuryeṇa sarvasulabham abhinavaṃ pratyabhijñāmātraṃ parāparasiddhyupāyam abhyupagacchantaḥ pare māheśvarāḥ pratyabhijñāśāstram abhyasyanti/

Here, dissatisfied because the causality of unconscious things devoid of expectation is defective, seeking another doctrine, proclaiming that the emanation of the universe occurs solely by the will of the supreme Lord, asserting that the supreme Lord—whose identity with the inner self is established by one's own consciousness, reasoning, and scripture, who possesses difference and non-difference regarding various means of valid cognition, objects of valid cognition, and so forth, and who possesses freedom characterized by not depending on another's gaze—manifests entities in the mirror of His own self like reflections, and accepting mere recognition, which is accessible to all, novel, and free from the trouble and distress of external and internal conduct, breath-control, and the like, as the means to higher and lower attainments, other Māheśvaras study the Pratyabhijñā treatise.

Other Māheśvaras are dissatisfied with the views set out in the Śaiva system as erroneous in attributing to motiveless and insentient things causality (in regard to the bondage and liberation of transmigrating spirits). They therefore seek another system, and proclaim that the construction of the world (or series of environments of those spirits) is by the mere will of the Supreme Lord. They pronounce that this Supreme Lord, who is at once other than and the same with the several cognitions and cognita, who is identical with the transcendent self posited by one's own consciousness, by rational proof, and by revelation, and who possesses independence, that is, the power of witnessing all things without reference to aught ulterior, gives manifestation, in the mirror of one's own soul, to all entities[1] as if they were images reflected upon it. Thus looking upon recognition as a new method for the attainment of ends and of the highest end, available to all men alike, without any the slightest trouble and exertion, such as external and internal worship, suppression of the breath, and the like, these Māheśvaras set forth the system of recognition (pratyabhijñā). The extent of this system is thus described by one of their authorities—

8.2

tasyeyattāpi nyarūpi parīkṣakaiḥ —

Its extent also has been described by examiners: