The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c40.s8.11

v2.c40.s8.11

The description of the parts of the individual souls in the Upaniṣads is far from uniform or homogeneous. In the Sāṁkhya, as we have seen, it is a union of the individual spirit with the elements of intellect, individuation, mind, the five organs of intelligence and the five organs of action, and the subtle elements as well as the fine parts of the gross elements. In the Vedānta the position is not essentially different: the soul is the absolute enveloped in the Upādhis: in this case they are mind,³ the ten senses, the five breaths, which are the organs of nutrition, and the subtle body, that is the subtle parts of the elements which form the seeds of the body. In both cases there must be added the psychic disposition which causes the kind of rebirth and secures that rebirth, the Bhāva of the Sāṁkhya, the Karman of Çaṅkara.