ननु ग्राहकोऽयं विकल्पमयः विकल्पनं च चित्तहेतुकं सति च चित्ते कथमस्य शिवात्मकत्वम् ? - इति शङ्कित्वा चित्तमेव निर्णेतुमाहचितिरेव चेतनपदादवरूढा चेत्यसंकोचिनी चित्तम् ॥ ५ ॥न चित्तं नाम अन्यत् किंचित् अपि तु सैव भगवती तत् ।तथा हि सा स्वं स्वरूपं गोपयित्वा यदा संकोचं गृह्णाति तदा द्वयी गतिः कदाचित् उल्लसितमपि संकोचं गुणीकृत्य चित्प्राधान्येन स्फुरति कदाचित् संकोचप्रधानतया ।चित्प्राधान्यपक्षे सहजे प्रकाशमात्रप्रधानत्वे विज्ञानाकलता प्रकाशपरामर्शप्रधानत्वे तु विद्याप्रमातृता ।तत्रापि क्रमेण संकोचस्य तनुतायाम् ईश-सदाशिवानाश्रितरूपता ।समाधिप्रयत्नोपार्जिते तु चित्प्रधानत्वे शुद्धाध्वप्रमातृता क्रमात्क्रमं प्रकर्षवती ।संकोचप्राधान्ये तु शून्यादिप्रमातृता ।एवमवस्थिते सति चितिरेव संकुचितग्राहकरूपा चेतनपदात् अवरूढा - अर्थग्रहणोन्मुखी सती चेत्येन - नील-सुखादिना संकोचिनी उभयसंकोचसंकुचितैव चित्तम् ।तथा चस्वाङ्गरूपेषु भावेषु पत्युर्ज्ञानं क्रिया च या ।मायातृतीये ते एव पशोः सत्त्वं रजस्तमः ॥इत्यादिना स्वातन्त्र्यात्मा चितिशक्तिरेव ज्ञानक्रिया-मायाशक्तिरूपा पशुदशायां संकोचप्रकर्षात् सत्त्व-रजस्तमःस्वभावचित्तात्मतया स्फुरति - इति श्रीप्रत्यभिज्ञायामुक्तम् ।अत एव श्रीतत्त्वगर्भस्तोत्रे विकल्पदशायामपि तात्त्विकस्वरूपसद्भावात् तदनुसरणाभिप्रायेण उक्तम्अत एव तु ये केचित्परमार्थानुसारिणः ।तेषां तत्र स्वरूपस्य स्वज्योतिष्ट्वं न लुप्यते ॥इति ॥ ५ ॥
In plain words
But this perceiver is made of vikalpa, and vikalpa has the mind as its cause. While there is a mind, how can he have Śiva as his nature? Raising this doubt, he says, to settle what the mind is: Citi herself, descending from the level of the conscious, contracted by the knowable, is the mind. There is nothing else called mind; it is the Blessed One herself. For when she conceals her own nature and takes on contraction, there are two courses. At times, though the contraction has arisen, she makes it secondary and shines with cit foremost; at times with contraction foremost. Where cit is foremost: if, as a natural state, prakāśa alone is foremost, she is a vijñānākala; if reflective awareness of prakāśa is foremost, she is a knower at the level of Vidyā. Within this too, as the contraction grows thinner by degrees, she takes the form of Īśvara, Sadāśiva and Anāśrita. But when the foremost place of cit is won by effort in samādhi, she becomes a knower of the pure path, rising step by step. Where contraction is foremost, she is a knower of the void and the like. This being so, citi herself, in the form of a contracted perceiver, descending from the level of the conscious, that is, turned towards grasping objects, contracted by the knowable, that is, by blue, pleasure and the like, contracted by both contractions, is the mind. And so: "The knowledge and the action that belong to the Lord, towards things that are his own limbs, are, with māyā as the third, the very sattva, rajas and tamas of the bound one." In these and the words that follow, the Pratyabhijñā states that the power of citi, whose nature is freedom, appearing as the powers of knowledge, action and māyā, shines in the state of the bound one, through the height of contraction, as the mind whose nature is sattva, rajas and tamas. For this reason, since one's true nature is present even in the state of vikalpa, the Tattvagarbha hymn says, with the aim that it be followed: "And so, for any who follow the highest reality, the self-luminosity of their own nature is not lost there."