In
Hinduism and
Jainism, a
jiva (, , alternative spelling
jiwa; , , alternative spelling
jeev) is a living being, or more specifically, the immortal essence or soul of a living organism (human, animal, fish or plant etc.) which survives physical death. It has a very similar usage to
atma, but whereas
atma refers to "the cosmic self",
jiva is used to denote an individual "living entity" or "living being" specifically. To avoid confusion, the terms
paramatma and
jivatma (also commonly spelled
jeevatma) are used.