Jīva means a living being. In Vedānta it is the individual soul, the self as it appears limited by body and mind and caught in saṃsāra. Advaita holds that the jīva is Brahman appearing under the limits of ignorance; Viśiṣṭādvaita that it is a real mode of Brahman; Dvaita that it is eternally distinct from God and dependent on him.
Jīva
The individual living self, bound by karma and ignorance, which takes birth again and again.
Also: Jiva, jivatman