Selfishness is the only sin and the only source of death and when that is overcome there is no sin and no death
The jīva, as long as it maintains its individuality, is endowed with two faculties which are known as buddhi and prāṇa and of which all the powers possessed by it are only varieties. Buddhi stands for the principle of conscious life and prāṇa, for the principle of non-conscious life. We see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. We possess motor activity as a result of volitional impulse. All this is the result of our possessing buddhi. Again we inhale and exhale air; we digest the food we eat and the blood circulates through our body.
4/29/20242 min read
The jīva, as long as it maintains its individuality, is endowed with two faculties which are known as buddhi and prāṇa and of which all the powers possessed by it are only varieties. Buddhi stands for the principle of conscious life and prāṇa, for the principle of non-conscious life. We see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. We possess motor activity as a result of volitional impulse. All this is the result of our possessing buddhi. Again we inhale and exhale air; we digest the food we eat and the blood circulates through our body. All this non-conscious activity—not the less-necessary because it is non-conscious—is due to our possessing prāṇa. This is the fundamental significance of prāṇa although it is also used in a variety of other senses in the Upaniṣads.
All the senses and other vital organs, no doubt, function for the sake of the whole system and thus contribute to self-preservation. But over and above this contribution to the general well-being, these organs operate in a manner which cannot be regarded as ministering directly to the welfare of the whole. The eye, e.g., sees and thus protects the body from possible destruction which might arise in its absence. But this organ can attain special excellence in seeing, in virtue of which one's eyes are judged to be superior to those of another. This extra excellence ministers directly, not to self-preservation, but only to self-gratification. Again in the case of the sense of taste, the food that is eaten contributes to the upkeep of the body; but the organ of taste seeks its own gratification also. Prāṇa on the other hand, exhibits no such selfish propensities and all its functions are directed solely towards the maintenance of the bodily system as a whole. This entire unselfishness of prāṇa is utilised in an allegorical manner to impress the vast importance of leading a disinterested life in the Brihadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.
When the seeker succeeds in identifying himself with this principle, he becomes unselfish and therefore sinless and deathless. Selfishness is the only sin and the only source of death and when that is overcome there is no sin and no death. - Prof. Mysore Hiriyanna
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