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QUESTION
7
Disciple: If these four -- mind, intellect,
memory, and egoity -- are one and the same, why are
separate locations mentioned for them?
Master:
It is true that the throat is stated to be the location
of the mind, the face or the heart of the intellect,
the navel of the memory, and the heart or sarvanga of
the egoity; though differently stated thus yet, for
the aggregate of these, that is the mind or internal
organ, the location is the heart alone. This is conclusively
declared in the Scriptures.
QUESTION
8
Disciple: Why is it said that only the mind
which is the internal organ, shines as the form of all,
that is of soul, God and world?
Master:
As instruments for knowing the objects the sense organs
are outside, and so they are called outer senses; and
the mind is called the inner sense because it is inside.
But the distinction between inner and outer is only
with reference to the body; in truth, there is neither
inner or outer. The mind's nature is to remain pure
like ether. What is referred to as the heart or the
mind is the collocation of the elements (of phenomenal
existence) that appear as inner and outer. So there
is no doubt that all phenomena consisting of names and
forms are of the nature of mind alone. All that appear
outside are in reality inside and not outside; it is
in order to teach this that in the Vedas also all have
been described as of the nature of the heart. What is
called the heart is no other than Brahman.
QUESTION
9
Disciple: How can it be said that the heart
is no other than Brahman?
Master:
Although the self enjoys its experiences in the states
of waking, dream, and deep sleep, residing respectively
in the eyes, throat and heart, in reality, however,
it never leaves its principal seat, the heart. In the
heart-lotus which is of the nature of all, in other
words in the mind-ether, the light of that self in the
form 'I' shines. As it shines thus in everybody, this
very self is referred to as the witness (sakshi)
and the transcendent (turiya, literally "the
fourth"). The 'I'-less supreme Brahman which shines
in all bodies as interior to the light in the form 'I'
is the Self-ether (or knowledge-ether): that alone is
the absolute Reality. This is the super-transcendent
(turiyatita). Therefore, it is stated that what
is called the heart s no other than Brahman. Moreover,
for the reason that Brahman shines in the hearts of
all souls as the Self, the name 'Heart' is given to
Brahman.* The meaning of the word hridayam, when
split thus hrit-ayam, is in fact Brahman. The
adequate evidence for the fact that Brahman, which shines
as the Self, resides in the hearts of all, is that all
people indicate themselves by pointing to the chest
when saying 'I'.
*"In
the hearts of all individual souls that which shines
is Brahman and hence is called the Heart" --Brahma-gita.
Copyright
Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, India.
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