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TULSI-PRAJNA Jan.-March, 1992
physical substance is eternal; it can neither be creared nor destroyed. A soul animates a particular organism and manifests itself in various vital functions of a living organism. They can be classified into ten groups, called prāņa (vital force or bio-energy).
(1) Ayuşya prāņa--ability to keep alive for a predetermined lifespan which maintains the unity of the body and soul; when it terminates, death occurs.
(2) Svāsocchvása prāņa-ability to breathe-an essentially vital function for continuing life.
(3) Sarira-bala-vigour of the physical body as a whole.
(4) Vacana bala or bhāṣā-bala-ability of vocal expression, both articulate and inarticulate.
(5) Manaḥ-bala-ability to think.
(6) to (10) Indriya prāṇamability of utilising the perceptive power of each of the five sense-organs.
Now it is not difficult to see that any of these psychic faculties (prāņa) is of no empirical use without its physical counterpart called paryāpti (bio-potential). This means that only a samjñi pañcendriya organism (five-sensed organism with brain) is possessed of all the ten prānas, while the lower ones will be possessed of less. Thus, in a one-sensed organism, such as a plant, only four prānas, which is the bare minimum, could be active and manifested, viz. āyusya prāna, svāsochhvāsa prāna, sarira-bala and only one indriya prāna, that of touch. All the rest would be dormant. It should be remembered that faculty of communication (bhāsā-bala) is possessed by two-sensed and higher orgnisms.
There is much evidence that bodies of all living organisms on earth from plants, bacteria, jellyfish (the simplest of animals that has a nervous system) to apes and humans, all use the same DNA Code and similar amino-acids. And yet, no two organisms are totally identical. True, that all members of a particular sub-species would possess the same genetic code but the genes, themselves, would vary from member to member. This is because, the genes are not only hereditary but are also significantly influenced by the karman of the individual member. Thus, while the general behaviour of all the members of a species would be the characteristic one of the species, it would infinitely vary from member to member, This is because, though humans alone appear to have consciousness or minds distinct from their bodies, each and every living organism, also, has a non-material soul associated with a material body. The
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