सङ्गीतरत्नाकर: प्रथम भाग (शार्ङ्गदेव - स्वरगताध्याय सविस्तार व्याख्या व अनुवाद सहित)

28 Treatment of Svara
(iii) सूक्ष्मशरीरम्
, तेषामस्त्यपरं पुनः ।
सूक्ष्मं लिङ्गशरीरं तदामोक्षादक्षयं मतम् ॥ ८ ॥
सूक्ष्मभूतेन्द्रियप्राणाऽवस्थाऽऽत्मकमिदं विदुः ।
(iii) The subtle body : 8b-9b
They are also possessed of another subtle body¹, which
is considered to be indestructible² till emancipation³,
and is known to be made of the (essence of the five great)
elements⁴, the senses⁵ (indriya-s) and the vital⁶ breaths in
their subtle⁷ form. (8b-9b)
The physical gross body is obviously subject to decay and is
destroyed in course of time; how then, is the individual reborn in
another body ? Anticipating the question, the author declares that an
individual, apart from his physical body, is possessed of another subtle
body that is made up of very fine matter which is not directly perceived
by our senses, since it constitutes the very essence of the five elements
etc. This (thought) body, so to say, is ideal and transmigrates from one
birth to another. But even this subtle body is destroyed at the time of
liberation which is the state of unconditioned intelligence or pure
consciousness.

1. Liṅga śarīra is the subtle body which endures the death of the
   physical body and becomes responsible for a new birth.
2. Indestructible in the relative sense; for it lasts as long as there
   is craving in any form, and craving is caused by nescience
   which is dispelled by right knowledge. When the individual
   is free from craving, he no longer is held in this body and
   becomes one with reality.
3. Ad. ed. reads tadā mokṣād etc. instead of tad-āmokṣād etc.
4. That is earth, water, fire, air and ether.
5. ‘K’ enumerates only sense-organs, while ‘S’ also includes the
   five motor organs known as karmendriya-s and the mind, under
   the import of the word indriya of the text.
6. Five types of the vital breath spoken of later in this Section.
7. Subtle form is that which is imperceptible by the senses.
   Section 2 : The Genesis of the Human Embodiment 29
   (iv) सृष्टिसंहार-प्रवाहः
   जीवानामुपभोगाय जगदेतत्सृजत्यजः ॥ ९ ॥
   स आत्मा परमात्मा च विश्रान्त्यै संहरत्यथ ।
   तदेतत्सृष्टिसंहारं प्रवाहानादि संमतम् ॥१०॥
   (iv) The cycle of creation and destruction : 9c-10
   The unborn¹ one creates this world for the enjoyment²
   of the individual beings; and that Ātman,³ the universal self,⁴
   Having stated what the nature of reality is, and the relationship
   of reality as a whole with the fact of individual beings, now the author
   proceeds to relate the nature of phenomenon, the fact of the ephemeral
   world and its relationship with its substratum, the timeless being, the
   causeless which is unborn. Whereas the phenomenon is essentially
   transitory (that is, it comes into being, continues for a certain time and
   returns to its source), the source, the reality is causeless, beyond time,
   eternal. The phenomenon of the world is created out of the measureless
   eternity and is dissolved back into it. Such is the relationship of the
   unmanifest and the manifest, which is beginningless, an eternal play
   of the Lord.
8. Being eternal the cause of creation is causeless. The Skt. word
   aja of the text literally means ‘unborn’ and is a familiar
   epithet of Brahman in the vedāntic texts.
9. Why does the creation take place ? For the enjoyment of the
   individual beings that constitute the creation. The creator
   has no motive; so creation is a spontaneous movement. The
   Skt. word bhoga is neutral and includes all experience, pleasant
   as well as painful. Thus, it is the individual beings who are
   involved in the duality of opposites in experience, for the
   creator, creation is sportive action.
10. That Ātman, refers to Brahman, the unborn. The word Ātman,
    by itself stands for reality behind all experience; and is in this
    sense synonymous with the word Brahman. However, when
    the word jīva is prefixed to it, it refers to the individual being,
    and when the word parama is prefixed to it, it means the
    universal being, God.
11. Paramātman is the super-self. Ātman with reference to the
    individual beings that are conditioned by nescience indicates
    the substratum of reality that sustains the illusion of individu-
    ality; while with reference to the creator it indicates the sub-
    stratum of reality supporting the entire phenomenon. Thus,
    Paramātman is the supreme self, i. e., the self of all the beings.