Śivasaṃhitā 5.213

The paradox that ignorance (ajñāna) is the cause (kāraṇa) of knowledge (jñāna) is dialectically fertile: the problem generates the search for the solution. Without darkness, light is not sought. Without saṃsāra’s suffering, liberation is not desired. The practice aims that this ignorance not «arise intensely» (bhṛśam) again: not its total elimination but its progressive deactivation.

Jñāna = knowledge/wisdom, kāraṇa = cause, ajñāna = non-knowledge/ignorance, notpadyate = does not arise (na + utpadyate), bhṛśam = intensely, strongly, pratyāhāra = withdrawal of senses from objects. The comparison with suṣupti (deep sleep) describes perfect pratyāhāra.

This jñāna-ajñāna dialectic was the central theme of debates between Maṇḍana Miśra and Śaṃkarācārya in the Advaita tradition. For the former, ignorance is real and must be actively destroyed; for the latter, it is a superimposition that dissolves by itself when knowledge arises. The Śiva-saṃhitā avoids this controversy by adopting a practical stance: correct practice prevents ignorance from resurfacing with intensity.