What is the difference between Paramatma and Jivatma?
Is my soul a spark of God, a part of God, or God itself mistaken for something smaller? Hindu philosophies answer this differently — and the debate has produced some of India's greatest thinkers.
The verse
Two words
Jīvātmā is the individual self — the soul that lives in a body, experiences, acts and is reborn. Paramātmā is the supreme Self — God, or Brahman, present in all beings. The Bhagavad Gita says the Lord dwells in the heart of all beings (18.61).
Two birds on one tree
The Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.1) gives the classic image: two birds sit on the same tree. One eats the fruits, sweet and bitter; the other only watches. The schools of Vedanta read this image in three very different ways…
The journey continues for members
- Three readings
- Agreement beneath the debate
- For life today
Sources
- Mundaka Upanishad — 3.1.1–2
- Bhagavad Gita — 13.22, 18.61
- Brahma Sutra commentaries — Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva