As per advaita, jivas are nothing but Linga sharira or sookskhma sharira. This has been explained to me by user Pradip Gangopadhyaya before. But I need to know how are jivas created.
Advaita believes that the jiva (which is linga sharira or sookshma sharira) stops existing upon videha mukti. So if there's an end for the jivas, there must be a beginning too for the jivas.
Are jivas (sookshma shariras) created out of pancha mahabhutas or something else? ... If advaita doesn't deal with this topic then I'm sure that Samkhya philosophy must have discussed about the formation of the subtle body. An answer from a Samkhya perspective wouldn't be bad.
Please give a detailed answer, in a step by step manner, like which element existed first and what emerged from it and later which element was finally responsible for the formation of the subtle body.