Jiva
Jiva ( Sanskrit जीव jīva , lit. life) or Jivatman is the individual self or soul in Indian philosophy . It denotes the Atman , which gives life to the physical and subtle body. The jiva is not the mental sense of the self, which was constructed by nature for its time-limited purpose, but is superior to nature, above birth and death. This individual self is considered to be the eternal, true being of the individual, who is not born and does not go through any evolution . Rather, it directs individual birth and evolution.
The relationship between Jiva, God and the world is described differently by the individual philosophical schools:
The Advaita-Vedanta of Shankara claims in its monistic teaching that the Jiva has no real being, since the divine is indivisible. For this doctrine, the Jiva is identical with God, but ignorance, desire, karma etc. prevent people from recognizing this.
For the followers of the teaching of Ramanuja , which is called Vishishtadvaita (qualified monism), God possesses the individual souls (Jivatman) and nature as qualities (Vishesha). So they are real, but they have no independent being.
In the teaching of Madhva , called Dvaita-Vedanta ( dualism ), there are three eternal entities that work together in world events:
- 1. the omnipresent God (Paramatman);
- 2. the infinite multiplicity of individual souls (Jiva) and
- 3. Nature ( Prakriti ) from which everything inanimate develops in evolution.
See also
swell
- Helmuth von Glasenapp : The philosophy of the Indians. An introduction to their history and teachings . 4th edition. Kröner Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-520-19504-6 (Kröner's pocket edition; Vol. 195).