SELFISHNESS comes into existence owing to the tendency of the desires to find fulfillment in action and experience. It is born of fundamental ignorance about one’s own true nature. Analysis of selfishness Human consciousness is clouded by the accumulation of various types of impressions deposited by the long course of the evolution of consciousness. These impressions express themselves as desires, and the range of the operation of consciousness is strictly limited by these desires. The sanskaras or impressions form an enclosure around the possible field of consciousness. The circle of sanskaras constitutes that limited area in which alone the individual consciousness can be focussed. Some of the desires have mere latency of action, but others can actually translate themselves into action. The capacity of a desire to find expression in conduct depends upon the intensity and the amount of the sanskaras connected with it. To use a geometrical metaphor, we might say that when a desire passes into action, it traverses a distance which is equal to the radius of a circle describing the boundary of the sanskaras connected with it. When a desire gathers sufficient strength, it projects itself into action for getting fulfilled.

        The range of selfishness is equal to the range of