Concept of Jiva, Ramanuja

Concept of Jiva according to Ramanuja is limited or anu. According to Ramanuja Brahman has chosen to associate himself with a particular place or time, for the purpose of encouraging spiritual meditation on him. This nature is consistent with his compassionate disposition. It is the jiva that is the knower in reality. Jiva undergoes change as a knower only extrinsically. The atman essentially is unchanged and the change is brought about by Karma.

According to Ramanuja all jivas are provided with all necessary apparatus that is required for the performance of actions and the enjoyment of the fruit. The individual who is conditioned by this apparatus of the powers of faculties acts freely. The Lord is the individual`s existential support who allows this action to be realized.

According to Sri Ramanuja, the soul is the doer and the experiencer. It is coextensive since one`s experiences are the result of one`s actions. Thus experience of one`s actions does not oppose the immutability of the soul. Ramanuja defines karma as meritorious or unmeritorious. The doer is morally responsible for his actions. Selfless actions that are performed with pure love of God do not bear material fruit.

Sri Ramanuja considers the jiva responsible for his actions. Sri Ramanuja firmly says that in release or in bondage, the jivas are identical yet numerically different. The essential characteristics are consciousness and bliss. However they are incapable of inter-communicating their experience of personal identity as experience. This knee jerk experience is self-distinguishing for each jiva.

In the state of Moksha, the atman is no more the subject of external limiting factors. The atman in the company of the blessed one exists in loving and blissful unity with the central focus of that company. The liberated atman continues as an identifiable person.

However, as the liberated atman shares the all-knowingness of God, the liberated atman is not ignorant of the experiences of which it was the subject during its samsaric pilgrimage. The liberated atman is blissful. It sees the good and the bad, the triumphs and failures of its past as shift and summated in a healing vision.