The Spiritual Heart

Sri Ramana Maharshi

D: Sri Bhagavan speaks of the heart as the seat of Consciousness and as identical with the Self. What does the heart exactly signify?

M: The question about the heart arises because you are interested in seeking the source of consciousness. To all deep thinking minds, enquiry about the 'I' and its nature has an irresistible 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 Centre, 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.

M: Yes, that is the centre of spiritual experience according to the testimony of Sages. This spiritual heart-centre is quite different from the blood propelling, muscular organ known by the same name. The spiritual heart-centre 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, 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 hear 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 a physical body comes to be made. 

Truly speaking, Pure Consciousness in 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.

(To be continued)