Another media person: What is the difference between jiva and atma? God answers: I have already explained the difference; probably you have not listened to my speech. Any way this is worth repeating. Jiva is what you call as your soul. When it leaves your body, your physical body stops all its activities. All your karmas are embedded as a tiny particle in your soul. On leaving your present body, soul finds another body to spend the balance in your karmic account. The form of the body the soul enters is decided by the soul itself, duly influenced by your karmic account. So, your sufferings or otherwise, caused by your soul or jiva is only for the physical body. Now, you should be clear that you are responsible for your sufferings. Your atma is a part of my form residing in you as a very tiny form of light, which is self illuminating. Your soul gets light from your atma and carries it activities. Except being self illuminative, atma has nothing to do with your soul, karmas, actions, sufferings, enjoyment etc. Your atma is neither worried nor concerned about all this.

Though the atma does not get itself involved in your activities, it observes not only your actions, but also your thoughts. Without the light of the atma, your soul cannot function. Soul cannot exist without atma whereas atma does not need a soul to exist. Since atma is a miniscule form of mine, it is self illuminating. The miniscule form of mine that exists in your body is called jiva atma. This is so because this gives light only to a particular jiva. My absolute form is called para atma or paramatma. My paramatma form gives light to all individual atma forms in various living beings. Only from my paramatma form all beings are created. You are already aware that my prakasha form together with my vimarsha form is called as my absolute form or paramatma. This is the highest form of mine. So there is a lot difference between jiva and atma. As a matter of fact these two cannot be compared at all. When your jiva identifies the atma with in you, it is called self realisation. As said earlier, this process is not that easy. Jivatma is the miniscule form of mine located in every living being in this universe. Atma and jivatama are one and the same. Paramatma means God, from where jivatma originates. Jiva is your soul where all your karmas are embedded. (Next question follows)