Page 23 - Hinduism

CHAPTER III
JIVA
The study of the Jīva or the Ātman holds a central place in Hinduism. Hinduism insists on the sacredness of life and the solidarity of all Jīvas. The ātman is to be reflected on and realised before God or Paramātman is reflected on and realised. The ātman is different from the body made of prakṛti and its 33 elements. It is different from the gross body consisting of the five elements, namely, earth, water, fire, air and ether, known as the pañcabhūtas. It is not the five prāṇas and is more than life. It is not the five sense organs, namely the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue and the organ of touch. The ātman is to be distinguished from the subtle body or sukṣmaśarīra, consisting of manas, buddhi, citta and ahaṅkāra or the mind, reason and egoity. Hinduism regards the mind and reason as part of the body and the ātman as different from the sukṣmaśarīra and the sthulaśarīra or mind-body. The bodies come and go but the ātman never changes and it is eternal or nitya. It is beyond birth and death and beyond all mental changes, like the waking state, dream and deep sleep. It is a changeless entity by itself.
The Jīva is thus different from its quality of jñāna or consciousness. The jñāna or quality undergoes changes and not the substance or ātman. In the jāgrat or waking state, the Jīva is conscious of the
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