The Pratyabhijñā school, founded by Somānanda and Utpaladeva, holds that the self is already Śiva and that what is needed is not to become him but to recognize it, as a woman might recognize, in a man before her, the lover she had heard of but never seen. Abhinavagupta’s commentaries made it central to Kashmir Śaivism.
Pratyabhijñā
Recognition: the Kashmir Śaiva teaching that liberation is recognizing oneself as Śiva.
Also: Pratyabhijna, recognition