Spirit soul—Jīva (jīvātmā)-the living entity, who is an eternal soul, individual but part and parcel of the Supreme Lord.Prabhupada ›Glossary›-S-›Spirit soul-Jiva Spirit soul-Jiva (jivatma)-the living entity, who is an eternal soul, individual but part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/glossary/s/spirit-soul-jiva-jivatma-the-living-entity-who-is-an-eternal Previous: Sparsas-the consonants in the Sanskrit alphabet. Next: Sphotavada-Also known as Sabda-tattva, Sphotavada is the philosophy of a metaphysical school of Sanskrit grammarians that goes back to one Sphotayana, whose followers include Bhartrhari and Jayanta Bhatta. The famous Karma-mimamsa philosopher Madana Misra also accepted the Sphotavada doctrine, though other teachers of Mimamsa opposed it. Accordingly, there is a continuum of vibration (ekam eva yad amnatam), which is partless (akhanda) and unbroken (akrama), which becomes manifest in sounds (dhvani) or syllables (varna). The sounds and syllables are not important. They are used as aids to achieve meditation upon the underlying continuum, where the indivisible unit of meaning (sphota) is realized through sabda-purva-yoga. When the sphota is realized, liberation is achieved in the monistic absolute. Clearly, this is a form of Mayavada philosophy. Interestingly, Saṅkaracarya rejected the sphotavada of the grammarians. Yet he accepted the basis of the Sphotavada philosophy, which is the sabda-yoga of Patanjali. In his Prabodhasudhakara 13.144, Saṅkaracarya wrote, When one's essential nature is contemplated upon for a moment or half a moment, then the subtle sound called anahata is heard in the right ear. In 148 he explained further: If the mind is completely absorbed for a long time in that Light comprised within the subtle sound, it is surely not slated for the bondage of worldly existence again. Many modern forms of mysticism and meditation can be traced to this doctrine: Transcendental Meditation, Radha-Soami Satsang, Kirpal Singh Satsang, and so on. The subtle sound sought in these systems is the egoistic sound at the root of material existence. Beyond this, however, is the pure name (suddha-nama), which cannot be extracted from the akasa by sabda-yoga, but which must be received from the pure devotee of Krsna. What these sabda-yogis really seek is explained by Krsna Himself: "I am the sound in ether. ... Of vibrations I am the syllable om. ... Of letters I am the letter A, and among compound words I am the dual compound. ... Of poetry I am the Gayatri mantra." (Bg. 7.8, 10.33, 10.35) Hence, they seek Krsna but He is to be known only by pure devotion (bhakti-yoga). See Mayavada philosophy.