The Heart is another name for Reality

[Guest guest]

The Teachings of Bhagavan, Sri Ramana Maharshi in His own Words:

 

D: Why do we have a place such as the heart to concentrate

on for meditation?

 

B: Because you seek true Consciousness. Where can you find

it? Can you attain it outside yourself? You have to find

it internally. Therefore you are directed inward. The

Heart is the seat of Consciousness or Consciousness

itself.

 

I ask you to observe where the 'I' arises in your body,

but it is not really quite correct to say that the 'I'

arises from and merges in the chest at the right side. The

Heart is another name for Reality and this is neither

inside nor outside the body. There can be no in or out for

it, since it alone is. I do not mean by 'heart' any

physiological organ or any plexus or nerves or anything

like that; but so long as a man identifies himself with

the body or thinks he is in the body, he is advised to see

where in the body the 'I' - thought arises and merges

again. It must be the heart at the right side of the chest

since every man of whatever race and religion and in

whatever language he may be speaking, points to the right

side of the chest to indicate himself when he says 'I'.

This is so all over the world, so that must be the place.

And by keenly watching the emergence of the 'I' - thought

on waking and its subsidence on going to sleep, one can

see that it is in the heart on the right side.