Śivasaṃhitā 1.84

The extraordinary power of māyā described from its most immediate consequences: suffering. The two forces—projection and concealment—are not abstract. They are experienced daily as the inability to see reality as it is (āvaraṇa) and as the compulsion to project unreal meanings onto what we perceive (vikṣepa). The result of both is duḥkha—the suffering that permeates saṃsāra.

Durantā (insurmountable, of extreme power, unconquerable) qualifies the combined śakti of vikṣepa and āvaraṇa: no ordinary effort can overcome them. Only direct jñāna of the ātman cuts them at the root. Duḥkharūpiṇī (of painful form, whose form is suffering) is the experiential aspect of this dual potency. The tattva (real principles of existence) and atattva (what is not a real principle) are produced by this dynamic.

The description of māyā as ‘of painful nature’ connects the Śivasaṃhitā with the Buddha’s First Noble Truth: dukkha (suffering, dissatisfaction) is the fundamental characteristic of conditioned existence. Both traditions agree on the diagnosis though they differ on the remedy: the Buddha proposes the Noble Eightfold Path; the Śivasaṃhitā proposes yoga and jñāna of the ātman. The starting point is the same: recognizing that something is fundamentally wrong with the ordinary condition.