Jivatma refers to the individual soul or consciousness of a person. It is made up of two parts - the Atma and the Jeev. The Atma is the same in all people as it represents our connection to the divine consciousness. The Jeev is unique to each individual and represents our causal body containing our karma and experiences from past lives. This Jeev component is what gives each soul its individual tendencies and distinguishes one soul from another. Enlightenment involves realizing that even the Jeev existence is an illusion due to Maya. Upon death, those who have reached enlightenment and detached from their Jeev will achieve moksha by merging completely with the divine consciousness.

1. Jivatma- what does it mean?
1/4/2015
In English we address the
consciousness essence of man as
soul. So the question that comes to
many is if that be the case, then
how come we are all the same and
considered to be similar to our
creator. I.e. we are all supposed
to be similar and at the same time
are very different and have our own
individual tendencies which we
carry thru many lifetimes.
The original Sanskrit word helps us
understand this better. Soul or
Atma is our consciousness-essence
and for a manifested individual it
is called as Jivatma. Jivatma is
made of two words, Jiv (or Jeev)
and Atma.
The “Atma” part of the Jivatma, is
the microcosmic representation of
the macrocosmic divine
Consciousness. It is the same in

2. essence and so at this level we are
all the same.
Then what makes each one of us
unique in our soul journeys is the
Jeev part. If you have read the
article onour numerous bodies then
you understand that we carry all
our karmas and samskars (i.e.
karmic memory impressions) in our
Causal body.
This causal body makes up the Jeev
part of the Jivatma. Since each one
of us have had different
experiences and our interpretations
of life scenarios and resulting
actions have been different; we
each have our individual Causal
body and in this way are an
“individual Jeev”. The word Jeev in
its most literal sense means a
“living form”. Such a living form
or Jeev is our basic individual
identity.
When we speak of cleansing our
karmas and learning our lessons, we

3. are basically working on this part
of ourselves. As we progress, we
come to the stage of
“Enlightenment” which is nothing
but true understanding that even
this existence of “Jeev or Life-
Form” exists because of the
delusion of Maya (what maintains
the manifestation of separateness
and duality).
At this point one is truly aware of
the Atma aspect of one’s being.
I.e. one is truly aware of our
“Atmic Self”- this is nothing but a
microcosmic drop of the macrocosmic
Consciousness.
But till one is living a physical
life, Enlightenment is as high an
energetic state one can be in-
since without letting the body go,
which includes the Causal form and
Jeev aspect, one cannot truly and
completely merge in the macrocosmic
Consciousness.

4. This requires not just the
awareness of one’s Atma but also
detachment from one’s “Jeev-self”.
If one has reached that stage of
realization, then at the end of
that lifetime, their Jeev would
drop off! I.e. their Causal body
along with its karmas and samskars
would get dropped off and their
Atma, their very essence will merge
with the macrocosmic
Consciousness. This is called
moksha. It is ONLY after moksha
that one will not be entangled with
any further cycles of birth and
death- since there is no “jeev-
karmic causual body” creating the
need for further births (and
deaths)!
What I have observed is there are
several folks who reach
Enlightenment in their lifetime and
continue on their “Soul Energy
(Atmic) journey” for further
understanding and awareness of
their Cosmic self. Such folks are

5. at higher energy states than of
Enlightenment, but since they still
have their physical life-form, it
is imperative that they continue to
lead their lives with non-action,
i.e. without incurring any karma or
creating any further karmic
samskars. If they are able to do
so, then at the end of that life-
time they can reach Moksha. In
case, they incur karma or get
caught in any delusions of the
Maya, then their causal body will
not drop off at death and will
continue with their Atma- leading
to further cycles of birth and
death.
So, along with understanding one’s
true nature of “Consciousness” it
is important for us to lead our
life in non-action: i.e. action
which does not incur karma or
create any forms of “attachment”!
We will address this concept of
Non-Action in another post.

7. Please note that the above is
merely a pictorial representation
to show how an individual soul
(Jivatma) is made of Jeev and Atma.
It is NOT to indicate that any
particular physical side or
proportion is Jeev or Atma.