Jīva
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Jīva (devanāgarī: जीव) is a Sanskrit word meaning "soul, life, vital breath". In Hinduism and Jainism, a jiva is a living being, or more specifically, the immortal essence of a living organism (human, animal, fish or plant etc.) which survives physical death. It has a similar usage to atma, "the cosmic self", although jīva denotes an individual 'living entity' or 'living being' specifically.
In Theosophy this word is frequently used as a synonym of the "life-principle" (prāṇa),[1] sometimes it refers to its source, the universal life,[2] and in other occasions to the Monad.[3]
Notes
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. V (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988), 111.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. X (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1980), 607, fn.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 238.
Further reading
- Jīva at Theosopedia