Laghustutih (vrittisameta) 252-255

…appear and disappear after the manner of a city in a mirror. And that very principle constantly shines within all beings as 'I am'. Even so, it does not shine in its own nature as a mass of consciousness and bliss, but only in the form of the void, the intellect, vital breath, and body: as the void in 'I am ignorant'; as the intellect in 'I am happy, I am unhappy'; as vital breath in 'I am hungry, I am thirsty'; as the body in 'I am fat, I am thin'. The cause of its manifestation in the absence of reality is māyā; the cause of its manifestation as its own self is śuddhavidyā. Bondage and liberation for this [soul] are due to these two: bondage is by māyā, liberation is by vidyā. In that regard, although the supreme lord is satisfied in experiencing the bliss of his own nature, when he desires to manifest his very self in the form of the phenomenal world consisting of words and objects, then [he is] Śiva.

That will of his is śakti, because his will is unimpeded. At that very time, Sadāśiva is [the lord] seeing the universe suddenly appearing within himself as if already real before, through śuddhavidyā as his very self, as 'I am this'. Īśvara is that same [lord] seeing through śuddhavidyā [the universe] as distinct from himself, as 'This is I', like the shadow of one's own body in well water; therefore, in these two states there is only the experience of the bliss of liberation. When, through māyā, he sees the universe and the lord of the universe as distinct from himself, then [he is] the puruṣa. Kāla is [the principle] appearing in him as the cause of the appearance of impermanence in that very [puruṣa], even though he is eternal. Kalā is the cause of his limited agency, even though he is the agent of all. Avidyā is the cause of his limited knowledge, even though he is omniscient. Rāga is

the cause of attachment to sense objects, even though he is unstained. Niyati is the cause of restriction, such that 'this is mine, this is not mine', even though he is omnipresent. This [group of tattvas] beginning with kāla and ending with niyati, along with māyā, is spoken of as the 'six cloaks' (kañcukaṣaṭka), because they contract the puruṣa. And this is the order of contraction: when again Īśvara, through his own māyā named prakṛti, resorting to the quality of rajas, makes the universe appearing as if distinct from himself separate in the sequence of mahat and so forth, then he becomes the creator, Hiraṇyagarbha. When, having entered into that very [universe] as the inner controller and resorting to the sattva quality of prakṛti, he regulates it, then [he is] Viṣṇu. When that same [lord], resorting to the tamas quality of prakṛti, withdraws it, then [he is] Rudra. Thus prakṛti consists of the three qualities.

That very [prakṛti], its qualities agitated by the lord's power called parā, in accordance with time and karma, creates mahat. Then [it creates] the principle of egoity (ahantattva). Then the ego (ahaṅkāra), having become [active], creates the five beginning with sound, the five beginning with space, the ten senses, and the inner instrument. There, first [it creates] the inner instrument consisting of the powers of will, knowledge, and action, called mind, intellect, and ego; then the sense organs which are the instruments of knowledge and action; then what is to be known and the effect,