Tree of Jiva and Atman

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The Tree of Jiva and Atman appears in the Vedic scriptures predating current Hinduism, as a metaphysical metaphor concerning the soul.

The Rig Veda samhita 1.164.20-22, Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.1, and Svetasvatara Upanisad 3.20, 4.6-7, speak of two birds, one eating fruit, and one merely watching the source of feelings inside the tree, perched on the branch of a tree which signifies the body.

The first bird represents a Jiva, or individual self, or soul. She has a female nature, being a sakti, an energy of God. When the jiva becomes distracted by the fruits (signifying sensual pleasure), she momentarily forgets her lord and lover and tries to enjoy the fruit independently of him. This separating forgetfulness is her maha-maya, or enthrallment, spiritual death, and constitutes the fall of the jiva into the saha world of material birth, death, disease and old age.

The second bird is Atman, or Paramatman, an aspect of God who accompanies every living being in the heart while she remains in the material world. He is the support of all beings and is beyond sensual pleasure.

[edit] Other mentions

In Fundamentalist Christianity, Jiva, Atman, and the tree, have inevitably become connected with Adam and Eve and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In such connections, Jiva and Eve are identified due the similar translations of their name - both mean roughly alive. Conversely Adam is associated with Atman as the names sound similar. Fundamentalists may thus identify the metaphor as a corruption of a biblical account although there is no evidence of mutual influence. Paramatman is not fallen although he "must" react to jiva's actions as a permitter and a witness.