Evolution of love

THE HEART IS THE SELF

‘Call IT by any name..’

"The Heart of which I speak is non-physical and is only on the right side. It is my experience, no authority is required by me. Still, you can find confirmation in a Malayalam Ayurvedic book and in Sita Upanishad."
- Talks

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, the 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 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.

M: 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 means), whether you are awake, asleep or dreaming, whether you are engaged in work or immersed in samadhi.