HEART: A TREASURE TROVE

The Upanishads say our deepest desires aren't for objects in the phenomenal world but for the realisation that Atman is with Brahman, or the Supreme Self. In a way, our innermost longing or desire is for Atman (Self), of Atman, by Atman, and in Atman. We unknowingly seek this Sat-Chit-Ananda, or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, every moment; however, we often overlook it due to a veil of ignorance that clouds our perception with Anrita (untruth), obstructing our ability to see things as they truly are and preventing us from realising our true Self. That veil of ignorance propels us to move outward as sense perceptions drive us towards the visibility dimension of the eye that is considered as real. However, we often fail to recognise the true reality that is hidden from our senses. The sense organs perceive information only within the limits of space, time, and causation. We tend to consider the perceived visibility as real, as per the delimitation of our compass of perception. We tend to operate, think, and desire within the compass range of our sense perception, and beyond is pure imagination. But the question is, can the perception of our sense organs discriminate between the real and the unreal or eternity and ephemerality? The question emerges: do the sense organs, under the mind's control, initially gravitate outward to experience pleasure within their compass range without making any distinctions, and does this perceived pleasure hold any true value in the pursuit of Ultimate Freedom? Sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda aptly says the more you move outward, whether in a controlled or uncontrolled manner, the more you engross yourself in the whirlpool world of problems. It is you only who decides to move outward and nobody else. It is you only who, through the veil of ignorance, overlooks the inner world of the treasure trove of the heart that lays out a seat for Atman, or Self, self-luminous, all-pervading, uncaused, and the infinity of infinitude. The more you meditate with dispassion, detachment, forbearance, and equanimity in a state of opposites, the more you are elevated to move inward and realise Atman. It is the state of Sat-Chit-Ananda, or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. That is the state of Ultimate Reality to relish Full Freedom, or the state of liberation from attachments, duality and ultimately from birth and death.

  1. Outline
Parama-Dhyana, or Supreme Meditation, is on your Atman, true Self, as "I am Brahman alone" (Tejo Bindu Upanishad, 6.32-33), which is Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam-Brahma, or "Brahman is Truth, Knowledge, and Infinity" (Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1); or Brahman as Sat-Chit-Ananda, or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (Tejo Bindu Upanishad, 6.29). Brahman, or Supreme Self, is Sachchinmaya, Ultimate Reality, or Absolute Existence, and is to be meditated upon as eternal, pure consciousness and boundless, limitless bliss. That meditation, Tejo-Bindu Upanishad (1.1-12), proclaims should be upon Tejo-bindu, or the seed of spiritual light that is Atma, or Self, of the universe, seated in the heart, the size of an atom, quiescent, gross, subtle, and also beyond these qualities. The Upanishad says that meditation is difficult to meditate on, as Atman is excruciating to perceive, the emancipated one, imperishable, and daunting to attain. However, the Upanishad suggests simultaneously that meditation is a possibility for those whose food is moderate, anger is subdued, they are detached from phenomenal attachment, they are dispassionate, they maintain steadfastness, they have no sense of "I" emanating from psycho-physical structure and processes, and above all, that practitioner has given up his egoism and has no love or lust for anything. Avarice, delusion, fear, pride, passion, anger, sin, heat, cold, hunger, thirst, thought, and fancy do not exist in him. The practitioner puts himself under non-transactional self-control by practising Yama (forbearance), Niyama (religious observance), Tyaga (renunciation), Mouna (silence) according to time and place, Asana (posture), Mulabandha, seeing all bodies as equal, the position of the eye, Prana-samyamana (control of breath), Pratyahara (subjugation of the senses), Dharana (concentration), Atma-Dhyana (Self-meditation), and Samadhi (absorption)—these are spoken of as the parts of Yoga in order (Tejo-Bindu Upanishad, 1.15-16). The indestructible seat of meditation is without Upadhi (designation, or title) void and also non-void and beyond the void and is abiding in the heart. That seat has three faces, three gunas (qualitie), and three dhatus (that which holds, elements or foundation) and is formless, motionless, changeless, sizeless, and supportless. There is neither meditation nor meditator, nor the meditated, nor the non-meditated. 'I am Brahman alone,' so says Tejo-Bindu Upanishad (1.36), and is without any support. This Dhyana, or meditation, is the giver of supreme bliss. It, according to sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda, is a self-evolution of consciousness in all directions, in quantity as well as in quality. While quantitatively this implies the expansion of its perspective of comprehension, qualitatively it implies the deepening of its comprehension, going to the root of its very rise in the activity, so that in the gradual rise of consciousness to its ideal or goal it moves in a twofold direction, outwardly and inwardly, quantitatively and qualitatively, comprehensively and also intensively. It is the stage of realisation that when a cause is subject to changes, it as an effect must also have its cause. When the cause ceases to exist in truth, the effect perishes through right discrimination. Then that substance, or principle, which is beyond the scope of words, remains pure.

  2. Scriptures
The scriptures aver that Atman, or Self, is the subtler of the subtlest and is located within the heart cave of the body. The sense organs controlled by the mind tend to move outward to relish what comes out from the state of opposites in the phenomenal dimension. Due to Avidya, or ignorance, the mind cannot comprehend or realise that the golden treasure is located within the city of Brahman (Chāndogya Upanishad, 8.1.1-5). Never fear that old age will invade that city of Brahman; never fear that this inner treasure of all reality will wither and decay. This inner Self acts as a bridge or boundary that connects the mortal and immortal worlds, allowing one to transcend the limits of good and evil deeds.  This city of Brahman knows no age when the body ages; this world knows no dying when the body dies. This is the real city of Brahman; this is Atman, or Self, free from old age, death, grief, hunger, and thirst. In Atman, or Self, all desires are fulfilled. Atman, or Self, desires only what is real and thinks nothing but what is true. In this context, people follow orders and become reliant on their country, their land, or the desires of others, which leads to unfulfilled desires and meaningless efforts, both in this life and the next. Those who die without knowing themselves or their desires are not free in this life or the next. But those who leave here knowing who they are and what they truly desire have freedom everywhere, both in this world and in the next (Chandogya Upanishad, Easwaran Digital Library). The Chāndogya Upanishad (8.3.2–3) teaches that true desires, though obscured by Anrita, or untruth and worldly ignorance, are realised within Atman, or self. The Upanishad explains that the term "hridaya" (heart) is derived from "hrdi-ayam", or "Here inside is He."
The Upanishad describes Atman as the innermost core, lying beneath layers of the physical body, breath, mind, and intellect. Just as people walk over buried treasure without knowing it, all beings daily enter the "Brahman-world" during deep sleep but do not discover it due to unreality. The Upanishad states that Atman is the golden treasure within the heart in the city of Brahman. It does not matter whether for the living or the dead; they are ultimately fulfilled by reaching the inner Self (Atman), where true desires (satyah kamah) lie hidden. The Upanishad metaphorically highlights the Hiranyanidhi (golden treasure) analogy to illustrate that humans unknowingly live in the proximity of divine bliss, just as someone might walk over a hidden treasure without knowing its location. People do not experience the joy of the Self because they are covered by Anrita (untruth, falsehood, or ignorance), leading to a daily unconscious, temporary union with Brahman during deep sleep, yet they miss the conscious, permanent realisation. The Upanishad emphasises that liberation is not a distant goal but an internal reality obscured by mental misconceptions that require spiritual knowledge to uncover.
Katha Upanishad (I-2-20) explicitly states that Atman is smaller than the smallest and greater than the greatest and is set in the heart-cave of all creatures. Atman is described as being "hidden in the cave of the heart", as described in Katha Upanishad, and must be realised there through meditation, which brings liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The core of Upanishadic teaching is that this inner Atman is identical to Brahman, or Cosmic Self, the universal, supreme reality. The Mahavakyas, or the Great Sayings, profound aphorisms from scripture, posit the essential identity between the Ātman (inner spirit or self) and Brahmān (Absolute Existence or Supreme Being): (i) (i) (i) “Prajñānam Brahma”, Aitareya Upanishad (3.3), Rig Veda, refers to "Consciousness is Brahmān"; (ii) “Ayam Ātmā Brahma”, Mandukya Upanishad (1.2), Atharva Veda, refers to "This Self (Atman) is Brahman"; (iii) “Tat Tvam Asi”, Chāndogya Upanishad (6.8.7), Sāma Veda, refers to "Thou art That"; and (iv) “Aham Brahmāsmi”, Brihadāranyaka Upanishad (1.4.10), Śukla Yajur Veda, refers to "I am Brahmān". The Mahavakyas succinctly say Reality is one that may be “Prajñānam Brahma”, "Ayam Atmā Brahma", "Tat Tvam Asi", or "Aham Brahmāsmi". Consciousness is Brahmān. The scriptures refer to the heart as not physical: It is the "spiritual heart" or centre of awareness. It is the locus of Consciousness: Atman is the "light of lights" that shines in this cavity of the heart. It is the goal of meditation: the search for the Self ends in this inner space.

  3. Remarks
Sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda's commentary on Chāndogya Upanishad comments that there is no such thing as 'other world' for that person who has realised Atman. It is because Atman that locates in hriday (heart) is the golden treasure house. If the Self-realised one wants to see someone, say a forefather in the other world, he can see him at once.  Just as this world is not, the other world also is not. There is only one thing, which is commensurate with his own Being. This distance does not prevent us from seeing them. Distance is ruled out here on account of the identity of the object with our own Self. The forefathers in the other heavens also can be seen at once the moment his will projects itself in that fashion. All these desires in our hearts are really distorted forms of the manifestation of consciousness in some way or the other. It is the great universal Being seeking expression in various types of experiences in this world. All thoughts, all desires, all aspirations, whatever be the functions of the psyche, are movements of consciousness towards Self-realisation,asserts Swami Krishnananda. The space within the heart, he elaborates, is actually a capacity to fulfil a desire. It is the power of the vision to find out where the object of desire is and what connection the object has with one's own self. The lack of this vision in respect of the object of desire is the impediment which acts as an obstacle to the fulfilment of the desire. Desires are really the visions of consciousness which act in different ways, in different levels of experience. When, due to the locking up of consciousness in a particular level of experience, it cannot visualise what is outside it or beyond it, then it becomes difficult for it to come in contact with the objects of its desires. If only one were to dive into the ocean of one's own heart, Swami Krishnananda elucidates in his commentary on Chāndogya Upanishad, one would see there everything that one cannot even dream of in one's mind. All those who have died since ages, millions and millions of years ago, and all those who have not yet come into being at all but are to manifest themselves now or in the ages to come—all these forms are capable of being perceived in one's own heart. But in this world this is not experienced, because this is a world of physicality and intense bodily awareness. On account of this, everything seems to be scattered hither and thither, as if one thing has no connection with the other thing, while really in the heart of all things can be discovered the treasure of the whole universe wherein you find the entire population of the cosmos right from the time of creation till the time of dissolution. He elaborates with an example to illustrate this. It is something like people walking over a treasure and not knowing that there is a treasure underground, says the Upanishad. Someone might have buried some treasure-trove under the earth and many people may be walking over it without knowing that a big treasure is underneath. Similar is the case with us who carry treasures in our own hearts. In our own selves, all these are contained. But we cannot have entry into them on account of the absence of the awareness of the fact that they are there. The consciousness of this fact is repelled by the very existence of interest in something else. We stumble upon the treasure every day. We fall upon Truth and contact everything, everywhere, in all our experiences—past, present and future-throughout the various incarnations we take, but we cannot know that we are coming in contact with it, just as subtle, etheric waves and light waves may be passing through this very hall in which we are seated but we cannot know that they are passing. These waves are of high frequency. Neither that which is too low in frequency nor that which is very high can be comprehended by us who can experience only a particular range of frequency. Thus it is that we ourselves do not know what we contain in ourselves. It is impossible to know this great treasure by a projection of the mind outwardly, because it is seated within the heart of things. It is not external. As a matter of fact, it is the search we make externally that is the obstacle in knowing that which is within one's own self. Things do not exist as externals. They are not exclusive. In fact, everything is inclusive. The knowledge of this internal connection is denied by the very desire to see things externally. Thus we see that the contradiction that arises on account of the desire which projects itself through the senses in respect of the externality of things prevents the knowledge of things as they really are, asserts sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda.

- Asutosh Satpathy