JIVA

Jiva is the Atman (higher consciousness) identified with its coverings, called the sheaths, which are the mind, body, senses, etc.  The Atman, in the jiva state, experiences birth and death, pleasure and pain, and the other opposites of the relative world.  Jivatman is another term for jiva.

Most people are in the jiva condition, and remain so for many lifetimes. 
  
Over time, the Atman realizes that the sheaths are not who it really is, and it yearns for what is missing.  This leads to its revelation that what is absent is Brahman, God.  What the Atman does not yet know, however, but is destined to know, is that it is one with Brahman, that Brahman is its source.
 
Finally comes the day when it is able to proclaim, “I am He,” “I am That,” “I am Brahman.”

This is moksha, liberation.  No more will the Atman be reincarnated, no more wandering aimlessly through lifetimes, no more suffering.  A drop of mist returning to the ocean from which it was born, is the traditional metaphor for this occurrence.

As for the person, the individual, the sheaths of mind, body, etc. in whom this drama has played out, he or she can only stare in wonder, waving from the shore.