Ramana.The heart is the Self #2

[Guest guest]

D: But Sri Ramana 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.

 

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 in 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.

 

M: 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 that you are speaking from somewhere else? No, you

accept your bodily existence. It is from this point of view that any

reference to the 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 stand point, 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 dont 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

Himalayas. " But that is not the truth. Where is a " 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 you body that moved or was conveyed from place to place till it

reached this asrama.

 

This it the simple truth, but to a person who considers himself a

subject living in the 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.

 

 

The Teaching of Ramana Maharshi.. Shambala