Heart is on the right side

Heart on the right side

In spiritual philosophy of India the Sages talk about the five stages of building a temple of self realisation. The first step is the foundation. If the foundation (भूमि) is weak the whole temple will collapse in no time. Therefore before going to the second stage of making a pedestal (पीठिका) for installing the idol (मूर्ति स्थापन) and infusing the vital force (प्राण प्रतिष्ठा) into it and to meditate (ध्यान) to attend confidence of SELF realisation one has to sincerely work on the foundation. 

Heart is the foundation on which from Earth to Sadasiva (the 34 elements of Kashmir Shaivdarshan) rest. Where is that screen of consciousness on which this diverse universe is manifested?Unless one enters into the abode of the heart, how would one dive deep into it and realise the Self as guided by the Saints and Scriptures. 

I would like to share one dialogue between Shri Raman Maharshi and a young man who had questioned him. 

“Raman Maharshi was asked by an educated young man: Why do you say that the Heart is on the right side? Where as the biologists have found it to the left! What authority you have? 

Maharshi said: Quite so. The physical organ is on the left; that is not denied but 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 the Sita Upanishad. 

Heart usually understood to be the muscular organ lying on the left of the chest. The Bible says a fool’s heart is in the left and wise man’s on the right. You cannot know it (Heart) with your mind. You cannot realise it by imagination. The only direct way to realise is to cease to fantasize and try to be yourself. When you realize it, you automatically feel that the Centre is there. This is the Centre, the Heart.

Again the young man enquire about the real location of the Heart. 

Maharshi said: The heart is used in the Vedas and Scriptures to denote the place from where the notion ‘I’ springs. Does it spring only from the fleshy ball? It springs within us somewhere right in the middle of our being. The ‘I’ has no location. Everything is the Self. There is nothing but the That. So the Heart must be said to be the entire body of ourselves and of the entire universe is conceived as ‘I’. But to help the practiser we have to indicate definite part of the Universe or of the Body. So this Heart is pointed out as the Seat of the Self. But in truth we are everywhere. We are all that is and there is nothing else. I hope you learn. Om Tat Sat!”

Unless we know the location of the Heart at right side the journey of spirituality or heartfulness won’t begin. 

The goal is experiencing absolute union, पर शिव समावेश । What is समावेश? ज्ञाता, ज्ञान, ज्ञेय, शून्य, निर्विकल्प बोध। making union of knower, knowledge, known, awareness-absolute consciousness without division, thoughtful awareness in which all disappear and only experiencing remains. 

We shall stay in ‘Right Heart’.

Punamchand 

27 July 2022

www.punamchand.com