WISDOM OF THE HEART
Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni adores Bhagavan’s direct teaching as hridaya vidya, wisdom of the Heart. While defining happiness, Bhagavan clearly states, “When the mind merges in its source, the Heart, the Self, there is bliss, ananda.”
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Bliss is not a result of long and assiduous sadhana. It is there every moment the mind dips into the Heart. This happens naturally to all at all times. No one is excluded from the experience of bliss. The turning inward of the outgoing mind and merging it into its source, the Heart, is continuous sadhana.
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The Vedas compare the spiritual Heart to a fully blossomed lotus flower. Bhagavan, has amplified this fundamental Truth thus, “Each one of us is endowed with this spiritual Heart on the right side of the chest. The one on the left side is the physical heart. The spiritual Heart, in all of us, remains as a lotus bud in its inverted position – the petals are closely knit and are yet to open. Whenever the mind gets introverted and goes within, the inverted bud turns around and comes to its right position. This can be experienced as a soothing feeling of inner comfort by the seeker. When one pursues Self-enquiry and thus releases oneself from the grip of the mind, one petal of the lotus of the Heart opens. This gives happiness. This is the true spiritual experience.
Every time one takes a dip within and reaches this inner silence, one petal opens. The more the seeker takes a dip, the greater and vaster depths of peace he enjoys. For a fully realized being, the Heart lotus is fully blossomed and never reverts back to the bud state. All spiritual practices are aimed at opening up these petals. No external activities can open these petals. Only the inward quest of merging the mind in the Heart makes the Heart lotus blossom. Hence, a seeker should always plunge within, go within and dive within.”
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Meditation is a continuous, inward process. It should go on constantly. Praying to Bhagavan or one’s guru, either by taking his name or by having a glimpse of his comely form –even if it is only in the form of a picture – one should take the plunge within. One’s effort to plunge within activates the latent and inherent grace of the guru and opens up a petal of the Heart lotus. Effort and grace are thus, simultaneous. Both come to complete fruition in the Heart.
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Another name for the Heart is grace. Effort invoking this grace is the same as the mind merging in the Heart or the Self. This is hridaya vidya, the wisdom of the Heart.
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