| The natural
limitations of the soul caused by Avidya are called Upadhis. They are simply the physical
and mental conditions under which we have to work in this life. Their exact analysis is a
matter of science, of physiology and psychology. According to our ancients, the soul of
man is enclosed in two bodies-the gross body and the subtle body. The gross visible body
is made up of various elements and has the various organs of action and perception. It is
cast off by the soul at what we call death. But
the destruction of this physical body does not bring freedom to the soul. For even after
death the subtle body containing the subtle organs of action and perception, the mind, the
intellect and the vital breaths encloses it. The soul wanders through the mazes of births
and deaths always with this psychic equipment, its course being determined by the moral re
actions of its thoughts and deeds on earth. Till the constituents of the subtle body, which
are imposed upon it by avidya or ignorance, are removed by means of vidya or spiritual
insight each soul imagines that it is separate from other souls and separate from God.
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