{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/brk/brk22.htm","path":"hin/brk/brk22.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/brk/brk22.htm","text":"Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911]\n\u00a7 19. The Subtle Body.\u2014According to the later Ved\u0101nta, the Soul in its wanderings from birth to birth is accompanied by the sense-organs and \"breaths\" as sums of potential faculties, and has for its vehicle the \"subtle body,\" s\u016bkshma\u015bar\u012bra. The latter consists of portions of the five elements in their higher suprasensual form, and thus is as it were a seed which on occasion grows by the accession of gross matter into a physical body.\nThere is no clear evidence for the existence of\nthis idea in the Upanishads until the mention of a linga (the term used in the S\u0101nkhya school for \"subtle body\") in B.A. IV. iv. 6; cf. Ka\u1e6dh. VI. 8, \u015avet. VI. 9, Maitr. VI. 10. For \u015aankara's view see especially on Brahma-s\u016btra, III. i. 1 f., IV. ii. 6 f. The \"subtle body\" adheres to the soul until it attains perfect enlightenment and release in Brahma; the souls which never reach this goal are always attended by it.","title":"Brahma Knowledge: Part I: The Subtle Body","type":"page"}