---
type: Concept
title: "Jīva"
description: "The individual conscious being — Ātman conditioned by its embodiment through Māyā — not the soul."
tags:
  - metaphysics
  - vedic-psychology
  - Vedanta
  - non-translatable
darshana:
  - Advaita Vedānta
  - Bhāgavata
not:
  - term: "Soul"
    why: "The Abrahamic soul is created, judged once, and destined for eternal heaven or hell; Jīva is uncreated, ultimately identical with Brahman, and transmigrates."
    instead: "Keep Jīva untranslated; gloss as Ātman conditioned by embodiment."
  - term: "Individual soul"
    why: "Reifies the jīva as a permanently separate entity; it is Ātman appearing conditioned by Māyā, not a distinct substance."
  - term: "Person"
    why: "Names the body-mind personality; Jīva is the conscious being wrongly identified with that personality."
  - term: "Living being (biological)"
    why: "A biological category; Jīva is a metaphysical status (embodied consciousness), not an organism classification."
related:
  - /concepts/atman.md
  - /concepts/brahman.md
  - /concepts/maya.md
  - /concepts/karma.md
  - /concepts/samsara.md
  - /concepts/chitta.md
timestamp: "2026-06-18"
okf_version: "0.2"
---

# Jīva

**Not:** Soul, Individual soul, Person, Living being (biological)

## What It Actually Means

Jīva is [Ātman](/concepts/atman.md) as it appears when conditioned by [Māyā](/concepts/maya.md) — the conscious being as it experiences itself while embodied. Jīva is not a separate entity FROM Ātman; it IS Ātman, but identified with a body-mind complex due to ignorance (*avidyā*).

> **All jīva-s are ātmā-s. Not all ātmā-s are jīva-s.**

Two categories of jīva:

| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| **Nityamukta-s** | Eternally free ātmā-s — never conditioned, engaged in sevā of Bhagavān in the transcendental realm; include avatāras |
| **Baddha-s (jīva-s)** | Conditioned ātmā-s caught in material bondage — *anādibaddha* (beginninglessly bound), but their bondage has an end |

### The Structure of Jīva (Figure 8)

The jīva is not just the body or the ego. Its full architecture:

```
ĀTMĀ (central flame — pure consciousness)
  └── surrounded by: Buddhi · Ahankāra · Manas · Chitta
        └── ANTAḤKARAṆA (inner instrument complex)
              └── SŪKṢMA ŚARĪRA (subtle body)
                    ├── Jñānendriya-s (cognitive instruments)
                    └── Karmendriya-s (active instruments)
STHŪLA ŚARĪRA (gross/physical body)

Chitta → Karma (accumulated impressions generate future karma)
```

The jīva forgets its true nature and wrongly identifies with the body, manas, and buddhi. It superimposes bodily characteristics (gender, nationality, religion, age) on the Ātmā. **All social conflicts ultimately trace back to this misidentification.**

## Why "Soul" Fails

"Soul" in Abrahamic theology is a created entity distinct from God, subject to judgment, destined for eternal heaven or hell after ONE life. Jīva is not created, is ultimately identical with Brahman, is not judged by an external authority, and transmigrates through countless lives. The two concepts share almost no structural features.

## Audience Metaphor

Jīva is like a wave that thinks it's separate from the ocean. It has a shape, a size, a location, a birth moment, and a death moment — all real at the wave level. But at the ocean level, it was never anything other than water. The wave's "liberation" isn't becoming the ocean — it's recognizing it always was.

## Citations

1. [Vivekacūḍāmaṇi](/references/vivekachudamani.md) of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya
2. [Brahma Sūtras](/references/brahma-sutras.md) 2.3.43–53
3. [Bhagavad Gītā](/references/bhagavad-gita.md) 15.7 — "The Jīva is an eternal fragment of Myself"
4. Rajiv Malhotra, *Sanskrit Non-Translatables* (2020)
