Difference between Jeeva and Atman

Question

I have read in an forum that Jeeva means Soul or individual self. Typically it contains seven layers(koshas).It is the one who was shackled in prakriti(Maya). On death of physical body it gets new body.

Another is Atman or spirit, which lives in heart of each living being.It is an aspect or spark of god .

Rig Vedic quotes over here in wiki doesn't do good job describing and differentiating each term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Jiva_and_Atman

Could anyone give me proper quotes and descriptions ?

Answer 1

You should consult Taittiriya Upanishad part 2 which talks about the five Koshas surrounding the Atman. The five koshas are annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, Vijnanamaya and Anandamaya Koshas. These 5 koshas or sheaths are organised into two bodies the Sthula sarira or the gross physical body and the sukshma or linga sarira also known as the subtle body. It is the subtle body that survives death and is reborn. For example, Gita 15.8 says:

When he gets a new body or abandons an old one, the Jiva, the lord of the body, moves, carrying them (the mind and the senses) with him, as the wind carries smells from their seats (in flowers and the like).

The mind and the senses form the subtle body. The subtle body dies only after attainment of moksha. A description of Moksha which explains this is given in Mahabharata:

When men of knowledge, conversant with the rules of Yoga, become as fixed as a stake of wood, and as immovable as a mountain, then are they said to be in Yoga. When one does not hear, and smell, and taste, and see; when one is not conscious of any touch; when one’s mind becomes perfectly free from every purpose; when one is not conscious of anything, when one cherishes no thought; when one becomes like a piece of wood then is one called by the wise to be in perfect Yoga. At such a time one shines like a lamp that burns in a place where there is no wind; at such a time one becomes freed even from one’s subtle form, and perfectly united with Brahma. When one attains to such progress, one has no longer to ascend or to fall among intermediate beings. When persons like ourselves say that there has been a complete identification of the Knower, the Known, and Knowledge, then is the Yogin said to behold the Supreme Soul.

Mahabharata Santi Parva Section CCCVII

Answer 2

Mundaka Upanishad.:

द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परिषस्वजाते । तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभिचाकशीति ॥१॥

III-i-1: Two birds that are ever associated and have similar names, cling to the same tree. Of these, one eats the fruit of divergent tastes, and the other looks on without eating.

समाने वृक्षे पुरुषो निमग्नोऽनिशया शोचति मुह्यमानः । जुष्टं यदा पश्यत्यन्यमीशमस्य महिमानमिति वीतशोकः ॥२॥

III-i-2: On the same tree, the individual soul remains drowned (i.e. stuck), as it were; and so it moans, being worried by its impotence. When it sees thus the other, the adored Lord (Ishwara), and His glory, then it becomes liberated from sorrow.

Here the 2 birds are Jivatma (Individual Soul) and Paramatma (Universal Soul).

Tree- Maya/Illusion/World

Fruits- Material Desires.

So, in simple word, the verse means, in the material world 2 Parameshvara and Jiva remains together, where Parmeshwara remains independent of Maya and just witnesses everything but jiva remains stuck in Maya and experience both happiness and sorrow again and again means stuck in the cycle of life and death, till it realises the Parmeshwara. And after realising Brahman the Jiva becomes Brahman itself and gets moksha.

For more, you can see this answer of mine.

I hope this clarifies your queries.

Answer 3

This may go against the other answers, but there seem to be varying interpretations. Verse 3.13 of the Mandukya Upanishad says:

That the identity of Jiva and Atman without any difference, is praised and variety or multiplicity is censured that is indeed rational only thus, by assuming that Jiva is the creation of Maya.

The individual, or the deluded jiva consciousness, is in reality The Non-Dual Self. This truth it is said should be praised, meaning that this truth should be taught as a highest truth.

All understanding and action arising from the ignorance of duality should be censured because it is in error. This truth becomes clear and rational only when it is understood that individual consciousnesses cannot exist, individual existence can only be an illusion caused by Maya.

So one interpretation of the two says that they are both the same.