Nandikeśvara said: Great sages aver that all the living beings born of the fourteen different species are not different from Śiva possessed of the eight cosmic bodies. They say that the bodies of embodied beings are identical with the seven bodies of īśa.. The Ātman is his eighth physical body and is present in the bodies of all living beings. If you wish to attain welfare resort by all means to the eight-formed lord Aṣṭamūrti, the lord identical with all the worlds.