Maharshi's Gospel - [87] - repost

[Guest guest]

The Heart Is the Self

 

 

 

D. Sri Bhagavan speaks of the Heart as the seat of Consciousness and

as identical with the Self. What does the Heart exactly signify?

 

Maharshi: The question about the Heart arises because you are interested

in seeking the source of consciousness. To all deep-thinking minds, the

enquiry about the "I" and its nature has an irresistable fascination.

Call it by any name, God, Self, the Heart, or the Seat of Consciousness,

it is all the same. The point to be grasped is this, that Heart means the

very core of one's being, the center, without which there is nothing whatever.

 

D. But Sri Bhagavan has specified a particular place for the Heart within the

physical body, that it is in the chest, two digits to the right from the median.

 

 

Maharshi:

Yes, that is the center of spiritual experience according to the testimony of Sages.

This spiritual Heart-center is quite different from the blood-propelling, muscular

organ known by the same name. The spiritual Heart center is not an organ of the

body. All that you can say of the Heart is that it is the very core of your being: that

with which you are really identical ( as the word in Sanskrit literally signifies*),

whether you are awake, asleep, or dreaming, whether you are engaged in work or

immersed in samadhi.

 

 

D. In that case, how can it be localized in any part of the body?

Fixing a place for the Heart would imply setting physiological

limitations to That which is beyond space and time.

 

Maharshi:

That is right. But the person who puts the question about the position

of the Heart, considers himself as existing with or in the body. While

putting the question now, would you say that your body alone is here

but you are speaking from somewhere else? No, you accept your

bodily existence. It is from this point of view that any reference to a

physical body comes to be made.

Truly speaking, pure Consciousness is indivisble; it is without parts.

It has no form and shape, no "within" and "without". There is no "right"

or "left" for it. Pure Consciousness, which is the Heart, includes all, and

nothing is outside or apart from it. That is the ultimate Truth.

From this absolute standpoint, the Heart, Self, or Consciousness can

have no particular place assigned to it in the physical body. What is the reason?

The body is itself a mere projection of the mind, and the mind is but a poor

reflection of the radiant Heart. How can That, in which everything is contained,

be itself confined as a tiny part within the physical body which is but an infinitesimal,

phenomenal manifestation of the one Reality?

But people do not understand this. They cannot help thinking in terms of the

physical body and the world. For instance, you say, " I have come to this asrama

all the way from my country beyond the Hymalayas." But that is not the truth.

Where is a "coming" or "going" or any other movement whatever, for the one,

all-pervading Spirit which you really are? You are where you have always been.

It is your body that moved or was conveyed from place to place till it reached this

asrama.

This is the simple truth, but to a person who considers himself a subject living in

an objective world, it appears as something altogether visionary!

It is by coming down to the level of ordinary understanding that a place is

assigned to the Heart in the physical body.

* Heart : Hrdayam = hrt + ayam = Heart am I