Liṅga Śarīra

From Theosophy Wiki
Revision as of 21:50, 20 March 2012 by Pablo Sender (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Liṅga Śarīra is a compound Sanskrit word from liṅga (लिङ्ग), in this context interpreted as "mark", "image"; and Śarīra (शरीर) "body". In Theosophical literature this term is used to name the second (sometimes third) principle of the human beings. This is "the double" of the physical body, frequently called astral body by H. P. Blavatsky. This principle should to be confused with the Hindu Linga sharira, which is frequently used as a synonym for the Sūkṣma Śarīra, the subtle body that accompanies the individual soul in all its transmigrations and is not destroyed by death, till the individualized soul is finally merged in the Universal.

Liṅga Śarīra is a compound Sanskrit word from liṅga (लिङ्ग)


This term designates the döppelganger or the “astral body” of man or animal. It is the eidolon of the Greeks, the vital and prototypal body; the reflection of the men of flesh. It is born before and dies or fades out, with the disappearance of the last atom of the body.[1]

This subtle body "is composed of highly etherialized matter; in its habitual passive state, the perfect but very shadowy duplicate of the body; its activity, consolidation and form depending entirely on the kama rupa."[2]


Notes

  1. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 189-190.
  2. See Fragments of Occult Truth No. 1 at Blavatsky Study Center