Śivasaṃhitā 5.174

Meditation on the relationship between jīvātman (individual soul) and Paramātman (supreme soul) as «I» and «Am» is a mahāvākya (great sentence) practice: «Aham Brahmāsmi» — «I am Brahman». The mind that penetrates this identity deeply does not think it but becomes it. The thought that recognizes its source dissolves into it.

Līna means dissolved, absorbed, merged (lī = to dissolve), jīvātman is the individual soul (jīva = living being), Paramātman the supreme soul (parama = supreme). The methods of adhyāropa (superimposition) and apavāda (negation) are the classical Vedantic technique: first one’s identity with Brahman is superimposed, then everything that is not Brahman is negated.

This verse integrates two traditions: tantric Śaiva laya (dissolution of mind into Śiva) and Advaita Vedanta identity of jīva-Brahman. The Śiva-saṃhitā is among the first texts to make this synthesis explicitly, anticipating the yoga-vedanta current that would characterize Indian spirituality of the 18th-20th centuries.