Jiva is a Sanskrit equivalent of the word soul.
In incarnate state, jiva is attached to a material body. It lives in the body and perceives the world with the help of the body’s organs of sense; it thinks with the help of the body’s brain. This is why it is so difficult for incarnated people to disidentify themselves — even mentally — with the body and the mind (manas in Sanskrit).
When the material body dies, jiva continues to live in non-material spatial dimensions: some live in the eons of hell, some others live in paradisiacal abodes. This depends on in what state of the consciousness one got used to live during the incarnated life.
See also:
External links: