self enquiry #29

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Question: In that case, how can it be localised 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.

 

Sri Ramana 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 indivisible, 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 ashram all the way from my country beyond the

Himalayas'. But that is not the truth. Where is `coming' or `going'

or any 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

ashram. 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 buy coming down to the level ordinary understanding that a

place is assigned to the Heart in the physical body.

 

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Question: How then shall I understand Sri Bhagavan's statement that

the experience of the heart-centre is at the particular place in the

chest?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Once you accept that from the true and absolute

standpoint, the Heart as pure consciousness is beyond space and time,

it will be easy for you to understand the rest in its correct

perspective.

 

Question: The Heart is said to be on the right, on the left, or in

the centre. With such differences of opinion how are we to meditate

on it?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: You are and it is a fact. Dhyana (meditation) is

by you, of you, and in you. It must go on where you are. It cannot be

outside you. So you are the centre of Dyana and that is the Heart.

 

Doubts arise only when you identify it with something tangible and

physical. Heart is no conception, no object for meditation. The Self

remains all alone. You see the body in the Heart, the world is also

in it. There is nothing separate from it. So, all kinds of efforts

are located there only.

 

Question: You say the `I'-thought rises from the Heart-centre. Should

we seek its source there?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: I ask you to see where the `I' arises in your

body, but it is really not quite correct to say that the `I' rises

from and merges in the Heart in the right side of the chest. The

Heart is another name for the reality and it is neither inside nor

outside the body. There can be no in or out for it, since it alone is.

 

Question: Should I meditate on the right chest in order to meditate

on the Heart?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: The Heart is not physical. Meditation should not

be on the right or the left. Meditation should be on the Self.

Everyone knows `I am'. Who is the `I'? It will be neither within nor

without, neither on the right nor on the left. `I am'- that is all.

Leave alone the idea of right and left. They pertain to the body. The

Heart is the Self. Realise it and then you will see for yourself.

There is no need to know where and what the Heart is. It will do its

work if you engage in the quest for the Self.

 

Question: What is the Heart referred to in the verse of Upadesa Saram

where it is said, `Abiding in the Heart is the best Karma, Yoga,

Bhakti (devotion) and Jnana (knowledge)?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: That which is the source of all, that in which

all live, and that into which all finally merge, is the Heart

referred to.

 

Question: How can we conceive of such a Heart?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Why should you conceive of anything? You have

only to see from where the `I' springs. That from which all thoughts

of embodied beings issue forth is called the Heart. All descriptions

of it are only mental concepts.

 

BE AS YOU ARE

David Godman