Does a soul have any gender?

Question

Normally we consider Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh as the Supreme God and as stated below all souls are part of this Supreme soul.

yathā sudīptāt pāvakādvisphuliṅgāḥ sahasraśaḥ prabhavante sarūpāḥ tathā'kṣarādvividhāḥ somya bhāvāḥ prajāyante tatra caivāpi yanti [Mundak Up. 2.1.1]

Meaning Just like from a well blazing fire shoots forth thousands of sparks, so from God arise beings of different kinds and goes back to it again.

My Question: All Supreme souls are male, so are all souls that enter human body male?

Part 2

If not then are there any chances that a soul which was part of female body in previous birth is part of male body in the next birth, which may or may not lead to confusion? As a part of female body soul gains certain karmas and as inhabitant of male body different karmas, so does this add up to some confusion as karmas pile up?

Good Qn. Potential duplicate: What is a soul? Does it exist in all living things?. If soul is Atma then, there is no difference between 2 souls, as it's in absolute oneness. If soul is a Purusha (individual consciousness or Buddhi), even then it doesn't relate to a gender. — iammilind, Jan 25 '18 at 02:26
Quite related: What and how many forms of Spirit (आत्मा) are considered? — iammilind, Jan 25 '18 at 02:33
@Rickross no it's not same qn, there is a difference between the two. — Just_Do_It, Jan 25 '18 at 13:05
OK but from my answer there, u must be already knowing that the soul does not have a gender.. the same verse is used here too.. from the SwetaswataraUp..@Just_Do_It — Rickross, Jan 25 '18 at 17:11
First, you are confused between the Supreme Soul mentioned in the verse as akshara, ie, Brahman, which has been translated as God there. You need to note that this Brahman, Supreme Soul, is a different concept from the Ishwara, or a Personal God. Various schools have different interpretations of the relation between the Brahman and Ishwara. — SMJoe, Jan 26 '18 at 14:51
Advaita school considers Brahman as genderless, even void of personality (nirguna) . Other schools equate Brahman with Ishwara and hold that Ishwara is genderless (to be more accurate, sexless) in that he has no carnal desires and hence no sexuality. — SMJoe, Jan 26 '18 at 14:59
as per tattvada Jiva/Soul have gender, atma swabhava associated with it,only paramatma dont have gender. — Prasanna R, Dec 27 '18 at 17:45

score 16 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:59

16

No, the self doesn't have gender, it's just a body which has gender.

According to Shwetashwatara Upanishad:

नैव स्त्री न पुमानेष न चैवायं नपुंसकः ।
यद्यच्छरीरमादत्ते तेने तेने स युज्यते ॥ १०॥

V-10: He is neither female, nor male, nor neuter. Whatever body he assumes, he becomes identified with that.

Another translation from Vidyaprakash:

The Jiva is not female, nor male nor neuter. Whatever body it assumes, it becomes filled with that body.

It's also recommended to forget such things in the path of Yoga by Swami Vivekananda on his work Rajayoga:

A man who wants to be a perfect Yogi must give up the sex idea. The soul has no sex; why should it degrade itself with sex ideas? Later on we shall understand better why these ideas must be given up.

edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:59

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answered Jan 25 '18 at 00:59

Pandya

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"He" (male gender) should be translated as "That" to avoid the obvious self contradiction. I would translate as flowing: "Neither woman, nor man, and not even genderless; Whichever body is assumed, the same is identified with 'That'". – iammilind Jan 25 '18 at 02:42
@iammilind Yes, I noticed it while quoting translation from celextel. Thinking to add translation from vidyaprakash. – Pandya Jan 25 '18 at 10:28
@iammilind, No. the same verse is there in tamil prabandhams. HE is not man, HE is not woman, HE is not ali. here he refers to parama-purusha, not ordinary purusha. There is self contradiction only if you equate HE and man. – ram Jan 26 '18 at 03:25
@pandya sloka 20 says about paramatma not jiva – Prasanna R Dec 27 '18 at 16:28

score 8 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:59

"All Supreme souls are male, so are all souls that enter human body male?"

No. All souls that enter in human body are not male because soul doesn't have any gender.

Listen to me as I speak of that highest of the high. Himself liberated from the several kinds of taste and scent, and sound and touch and form. He is incapable of being grasped by the senses, unmanifest, without colour, the One, and He has created the five kinds of objects for His creatures. He is neither female, nor male, nor of the neuter sex. [Mahabharata, Shanti Parva, SECTION CCI]

Brahma hath no sex,--male, female, or neuter. It is neither sorrow nor happiness. It hath for its essence the past, the future, and the present. [Mahabharata, Shanti Parva, SECTION CCL]

@RakeshJoshi It must be Brahman. I think it's typo. – Triyugi Narayan Mani Jan 26 '18 at 12:06 — Triyugi Narayan Mani, Jan 26 '18 at 12:06

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 26 '18 at 07:29

No it does not have.

As already answered here:

Naiva stri Na PumAnesha Na ChaivAyam Napumsakaha |

[The Soul or Brahman or the Self] is neither female, nor male not even a Kliva or a sexless being.

ShwetAshataropanishad 5-10

Similarly, Lord Shiva says in the Tantras the same:

Neyam yoshinna cha pumAn na shando na jadah smritah|

It is not a female, neither a male, nor even the Kliva or the gender-less.

Navaratneswara Tantram.

Does a soul have any gender?

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