GF: I Ask you something: when you recommended to me the Sweetness of the Heart, did you perhaps also mean something at the “mithya level”, that is, an attitude of clemency, of forgiveness of the jiva towards that child who grew up with so many voices of Diminishment in his head?
S: Yes. Any dealing with the jiva persona is at the mithya level because you are the Self, Satya, the one who knows the child and its history, and the ‘adult’ and its story of psychological/physical suffering. To have and maintain ‘sweetness of heart’ requires compassion for the entity that was/is trapped in the suffering that mithya—the hypnosis of duality—imposes on the mind. When the heart is open and the sweetness is there, it broadcasts a frequency just like a radio does.
The human heart is much more than just a pump. It is not a passive receiver of instructions from the brain and central nervous system. It is an independent processing centre that makes its own decisions, modulates its own behaviour, and sends far more information to the brain than it receives from it. When the brain is injured and the connection between the brain and the heart is severed, the heart does not stop beating.
It is the first organ in the human embryo to form – at three weeks it is already there, long before the brain or any other organ forms. It is the only organ that starts to function so early in gestation. The heart is its own authority, and does not wait for the brain to tell it to beat, there is no brain at that early stage. As our scientific instruments for measuring these subtle wave lengths improve, strong emerging evidence suggests that the heart can and does perceive events that haven’t happened yet. In addition, many credible accounts are emerging of heart transplant patients who have vivid experiences that have no context or bearing in their prior life history, and can only have ‘belonged’ to the heart of the person who donated it.
Though the heart is co-dependent on the brain and the functioning of the whole system, it is actually, a ‘mini brain’ on its own. It has its own neural system called the intrinsic cardiac nervous system. In fact, it has 40 000 neurons, its own independent nervous system that can learn, sense, and remember without input from the brain. It is the heart that broadcasts 90% of the conversation between the heart and the brain.
It has an electromagnetic field 5 000 times stronger the brain’s—a field measurable up to 3 metres from the body and detectable by other brain waves in the vicinity. We are always broadcasting what is going on in the heart/brain axis, positive or negative, whether we like it or not, want to or not. Just as someone with a dark and impure mind and heart makes us feel instantly uncomfortable, when you are around someone who has a pure heart and mind, you are strongly attracted to them. These people can substantially shift the frequency of an individual, or a room. It feels good to be on the receiving end. It gives people ‘shaktipat’, which in Sanskrit means ‘transfer of energy’.
Unfortunately, this is often associated exclusively with people who are gurus, or ‘enlightened’, another spiritual misnomer. While it lifts your frequency for a while, it will not last as you cannot hold onto someone’s else’s purity of heart and mind. You are the Self regardless of the state of your heart or mind, but anyone who has a pure heart and mind will radiate a higher frequency because their minds are so sattvic. Lower frequencies are the domain of rajas and tamas in control of the mind. All the same, being more sattvic does not make anybody special.
This is why every major religion and spiritual tradition, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam—identify the heart as the seat of the deepest human knowing. While they may be speaking metaphorically or metaphysically, like the brain, the heart is an organ science is only recently fully understanding. Yoga calls the heart the hrydaya, and although we like to think that it is located physically in the human heart, it is really not located anywhere.
It appears in the ‘heart cave’, ‘located’ in the Causal Body. It means the essence, or ‘that without which a thing is not a thing’, like sweetness is the essence of sugar; sugar cannot be sugar without sweetness. It means that the true essence of everything is Consciousness. So when you bring the mind’s attention to it, you are focussing on the bliss of the Self. The trick is not to objectify the bliss but to know it as your true essence.
While the heart, whether we are talking about it physically or metaphysically, is an object known to you, the Self, it needs to be purified and prepared for self-inquiry, much like the mind. We tend to equate the heart with feelings, and while there is truth to that, purity of heart is not about feelings per se. A pure heart is necessary for a pure mind, and to have either requires cultivating sattva. We do this by applying vigilance to every thought and feeling that takes up residence in the heart and mind, and negating negative thoughts and feelings as they arise. We must be ruthless about this because uncontrolled tamas attracts more tamas very quickly, as does rajas.
Cultivating ‘sweetness of heart’ which always includes gratitude, makes us feel good because we like ourselves (and everyone else) more. Life becomes grim when there is no sweetness and no gratitude available. A pure heart also gives rise to peace of mind, sattva. And while feeling good, peaceful, sattvic, is not moksa, it is the springboard for it. Freedom from those voices of diminishment and the whole jiva program, will not occur in a heart or mind run by tamas and rajas.
So yes, pay attention to your heart as much as your mind, from the perspective of the Self. Do not allow those voices to be your judge and jury. Press the OFF button, one thought at a time. Vigilance is the price of freedom. When a bad thought or feeling pops in the mind, disidentify with it, do not hesitate. Apply karma yoga and it over to Isvara to take care of. Do not let it take hold. It may be hard work at first, when it comes to hardwired bad thoughts and feelings. They will tend to keep coming back.
But every time apply karma yoga, take a stand as the and in the Self, the witness, and disidentify with the experience and experiencing entity, we reduce the pressure of the vasanas, and those awful inner demonic voices, a little bit more each time.
What price freedom?
Much love
Sundari
