July 10 2011 QnA 4

What is the difference between soul, atma, and jeeva? Are they the same?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Soul is the English word, Atma is Sanskrit. The root word of self is swa, swa means atma. Most of the English words, when you go into the root, you’ll find Sanskrit there.Swa means Self.Swa means Atma. Jeeva is the Self enclosed in the mind. It’s like the air enclosed inside a balloon. Jeeva has sukha –happiness,dukha-sorrow, sanghata- it has associations, chaitanya- it is conscious, dhrti. These are five attributes of the jeeva, the embodied Self. Sanghata- it has impressions of associations, it is conscious and dhrti, it upholds.