Shaiva Upanishads (A Critical Study)
by Arpita Chakraborty | 2013 | 33,902 words
This page relates ‘The Potential Soul’ of the study on the Shaiva Upanishads in English, comparing them with other texts dealing with the Shiva cult (besides the Agamas and Puranas). The Upaniṣads are ancient philosophical and theological treatises. Out of the 108 Upanishads mentioned in the Muktikopanishad, 15 are classified as Saiva-Upanisads.
1.16. The Potential Soul
That individual soul is as subtle as a hairpoint divided and sub-divided hundreds of times. Yet he is potentially infinite. He has to be known.
[...] Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad V.10
He is neither female, nor male, nor neuter. Whatever body he assumes, he becomes identified with that. By desire, contact, sight and delusion, the embodied soul assumes successively various forms in various places according to his deeds, just as the body grows nourished by showers of food and drink. The embodied self chooses many forms, gross and subtle, based on the qualities belonging to himself, to the actions, and to the mind. The cause of their combination is found to be still another. Realizing Him who is without beginning or end, who creates the cosmos in the midst of chaos, who assumes many forms, and who alone envelops everything, one becomes free from all fetters.[1]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Ibid V.9-13.