Nonduality"
Nonduality.com Home Page

 

Nonduality Salon (/ \)

The Self, Maya, and the Heart: The Fundamentals of Non-Dualism, page 3

These quotes state that the all pervading Self, as Brahman, is situated in the Heart, and from there light the body and the mind. To gain some clarification about the relationship between the Heart, the Self, and Maya, I've also quoted from the Sri Ramana Gita, which focuses on jnana or enquiry into the Self. (As an analogy, the Heart is to the body like the singularity of a Black Hole in the Universe. It represents the substratum, ground or basis behind all appearances.)

"The 'I'-thought is said to be the root of all thoughts. In brief, that from which the 'I'-thought" springs forth is the heart. (verse 3)
"The heart is different from the blood circulating organ. 'Hridayam' stands for Hird 'the center which sucks in everything', and ayam, 'this', and it thus stands for the Self. (v 5)
The location of the Heart is on the right side of the chest, not at all on the left. The light (of awareness) flows from the heart through the sushumna (para nadi*) to Sahasrara (thousand petalled lotus in the brain). (verse 6)
"From there it flows to the entire body, and then all experiences of the world arise.
Viewing them as different from the Light, one gets caught up in samsara. (verse 7)
"The Sahasrara of one who abides in the Self is nothing but pure Light. Any thought that approaches it cannot survive. (verse 8)
"The universe is nothing but the mind, and the mind is nothing but the heart. Thus, the entire story of the universe culminates in the heart. (verse 12)
"The notion that the seer is different from the seen is only in the mind. For those that abide in the Heart, the seer and the seen are one. (verse 19)
Sri Ramana Gita, Ch V, p. 26-27


It becomes apparent from reading all these Gitas that they all state that it is only due to lack of enquiry into the nature of the "I"-sense in the body and mind that the True identity of one's self as the Self, with the all pervading, causeless, Brahman is not realizes.
Once this enquiry is made the (para nadi) nerve referred to in the above quote from the Katha Upanishad, begins to resonate or pulsate "I as I" or "I, I, I, I, ..." versus the constant grasping of attention to "I-this", "I-that", and so forth with each rising thought.
To paraphrase, when the sense of "I" becomes localized through single enquiry, the nerve referred to begins to radiate incandescently, and the whole body is outshined in a blaze of living Light, having no more separation from the all pervasive Brahman. (This is similar to matter that blazes when sucked into a Black Hole.)
In the chapter concerning the vision of God in His Universal Form, Krishna tells Arjuna, after revealing to him essentially what He, as the Self of all, Witnesses, states:

"Neither by study of the scriptures, nor by austerities, nor by alms giving, can I be seen....
But by single minded and intense devotion, that Form of Mine may be completely known, and seen, and entered into..." Bhagavad Gita, p. 97

Krishna further states concerning the various methods of devotion that:

"Certainly, all these are noble: But the man of discrimination [between Self and not self*], I see as my very Self. For he alone loves me because I am Myself: The last and only goal of his devoted heart." Bhagavad Gita, p. 72 [*my italics]


In the Sri Ramana Gita the points regarding this subject - the knot between the Self and the body/mind, and their final break were made in the most concisely to the point manner, as follows:

"The nexus of the body and the Self is called the granthi (knot). It is only by this connection with the Self that one is aware of the body. (verse 3)
"This body is insentient. The Self is pure awareness. The connection between the two is deduced through intellect. (verse 4)
"Enveloped by the defused light of pure awareness, the body functions. Owing to non-apprehension (of the world) in sleep, (swoon) and so on, the location of the Self has to be inferred. (verse 5)
"Even as the subtle forces like the electric current pass through visible wires, the light of awareness flows through a nadi (nerve) in the body. (verse 6)
"The effulgent light of pure awareness, taking hold of a center, lights up the entire body as the Sun illumines the world. (verse 7)


This is page 3. Go to page
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Nonduality"
Nonduality.com Home Page