Śivasaṃhitā 1.58

Knowledge as a weapon that destroys its own enemy and then dissolves into itself. Ignorance (ajñāna) produces the phenomenal universe as a dream produces its images. Knowledge (jñāna) destroys ignorance as the light of dawn dissolves the darkness of night. But unlike other processes, here there is no residue: the Spirit-knowledge remains.

The equation ātman = jñāna (Spirit = Knowledge) is the core of Vedāntic identification. Ajñāna (ignorance, non-knowledge) as viśvakāraṇa (cause of the universe) is a radical assertion: the world has an epistemological, not ontological, cause. There is no independent matter that exists: there is an ignorance that projects the appearance of matter onto the screen of consciousness.

This identification of ātman with pure cognition (jñāna) distinguishes the Śivasaṃhitā’s position from dualistic schools. In Sāṃkhya, the puruṣa (spirit) is a conscious but inactive witness. Here, Spirit is not only conscious but its consciousness is active and destructive of ignorance. It is the fire of knowledge that the Upaniṣads mention as the sole agent of liberation.