Soul

===Jainism===
{{Main|Jīva (Jainism)|Vitalism (Jainism)}}
{{Further|Jain philosophy|Jainism and non-creationism}}
In Jainism, every living being, from plant or bacterium to human, has a soul and the concept forms the very basis of Jainism. According to Jainism, there is no beginning or end to the existence of soul. It is eternal in nature and changes its form until it attains liberation.

In Jainism, ''jiva'' is the immortal essence or soul of a living organism (human, animal, fish or plant etc.) which survives physical death.<ref name=jajinixxii/> The concept of ''Ajiva'' in Jainism means "not soul", and represents matter (including body), time, space, non-motion and motion.<ref name="jajinixxii">{{cite book|author=J Jaini|title=Outlines of Jainism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=54A9AAAAIAAJ|year=1940|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=xxii–xxiii}}</ref> In Jainism, a ''Jiva'' is either ''samsari'' (mundane, caught in cycle of rebirths) or ''mukta'' (liberated).<ref>{{Citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qN82XwAACAAJ|title=Gommatsara Jiva-kanda|first1=Jagmandar-lāl|last1=Jaini|year=1927|page=54}} [https://archive.org/download/sacredbooksofthe029558mbp Alt URL]</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Buddhism and Jainism |date=2017 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |isbn=978-94-024-0851-5 |editor-last=Sarao |editor-first=K.T.S. |editor-link=K. T. S. Sarao |series=Encyclopedia of Indian Religions |page=594 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-94-024-0852-2_100397 |editor-last2=Long |editor-first2=Jeffery D. |editor2-link=Jeffery D. Long |chapter=Jiva }}</ref>

According to this belief until the time the soul is liberated from the ''[[Saṃsāra (Jainism)|saṃsāra]]'' (cycle of repeated birth and death), it gets attached to one of these bodies based on the [[Karma in Jainism|karma]] (actions) of the individual soul. Irrespective of which state the soul is in, it has got the same attributes and qualities. The difference between the liberated and non-liberated souls is that the qualities and attributes are manifested completely in case of ''[[siddha]]'' (liberated soul) as they have overcome all the karmic bondages whereas in case of non-liberated souls they are partially exhibited. Souls who rise victorious over wicked emotions while still remaining within physical bodies are referred to as [[Arihant (Jainism)|arihants]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Sangave |first=Vilas Adinath |author-link=Vilas Adinath Sangave |title=Aspects of Jaina religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I8RUPwAACAAJ |edition=3
|publisher=Bharatiya Jnanpith |year=2001 |pages=15–16 |isbn=81-263-0626-2}}</ref>

Concerning the Jain view of the soul, [[Virchand Gandhi]] said
{{blockquote|the soul lives its own life, not for the purpose of the body, but the body lives for the purpose of the soul. If we believe that the soul is to be controlled by the body then soul misses its power.<ref>{{cite web|title=Forgotten Gandhi, Virchand Gandhi (1864–1901) – Advocate of Universal Brotherhood |url=http://www.all-famous-quotes.com/Virchand_Gandhi_quotes.html |publisher=All Famous Quotes |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921112719/http://www.all-famous-quotes.com/Virchand_Gandhi_quotes.html |archive-date=21 September 2013}}</ref>}}