Jiva

Jiva (Sanskrit: जीव, IAST: jīva), also referred as Jivātman, is a living being or any entity imbued with a life force in Hinduism and Jainism. The word itself comes from the Sanskrit verb-root jīv, which means 'to breathe' or 'to live'. In these traditions, the jiva is a metaphysical idea that has been explored in important texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads. Each branch of Vedanta talks about the jiva and its relationship with other spiritual ideas in different ways. In simpler terms, thinking of the jiva as similar to the idea of a soul in other belief systems can help understand its importance.

Described in the scriptures

The jiva, meaning the soul or self, is a key idea in many important religious texts. Books like the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads talk about the jiva as something eternal and lasting forever. For example, the Bhagavad Gita says the soul is not destroyed even when the body is.

In the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, the jiva is compared to a small part — even smaller than a piece of hair divided many times. It also describes the jiva and the Paramatma as two birds on the same tree, with one enjoying the tree’s fruits and the other watching.

The spiritual teacher Swaminarayan explained in Vachanamrut that the jiva is like a tiny, immortal spark of awareness. It lives inside the heart and uses our senses and mind to experience the world, while still being separate from the body.

Vedanta

Vedanta is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy. It gets its ideas from important texts called the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita, which together are known as the Prasthantrayi.

The Advaita Darshan, or non-dualist school, teaches that only one thing really exists: Brahman. In this view, everything else, including our souls or jivas, seems real but is actually an illusion called maya. Jivas are like reflections of the true self, or atman, in a mirror of ignorance.

Other schools, like the Dvaita Darshan, see a clear difference between jivas and God, while the Vishishtadvaita Darshan says jivas are both different from and part of God. Each school uses different ideas and stories to explain how jivas relate to the world and to the divine.

Similarities with other Schools

The idea of jiva shares some important ideas with other schools of thought. In Samkhya and Yoga, jiva is similar to puruṣa, as both are part of a dualism — a belief in two separate but related parts. Just as Samkhya talks about puruṣa and prakriti, Jainism discusses jiva and ajiva. Both jiva and puruṣa are also thought to be many in number.

The Nyaya school also has some similar beliefs. It teaches that the jiva is eternal and feels the results of its actions through karma, and may experience reincarnation. However, Nyaya believes that consciousness only happens when a jiva connects with a mind, and that true liberation means being free from suffering.