Question: Now, I would very much like to learn something about what the spiritual heart is like, and what connection it has with the other _chakras_ and with the Kundalini power. Also, how does the _ajna chakra,_ the centre between the eyebrows, affect the spiritual heart?

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, let us know the difference between the ordinary human heart and the spiritual heart.

The human heart is in the chest, a small muscle which the doctors can show us. The spiritual heart is something which a seeker sees, feels and grows into. The spiritual heart is vaster than the vastest. Right now Infinity is an imaginary concept for us. But when we discover our inner heart, our spiritual heart, Infinity is no longer imagination; it is reality.

The universe, the Universal Consciousness, the Eternal Consciousness, the Infinite Consciousness, Immortality, Divinity and so forth — where are they? They are all inside the spiritual heart. On the one hand this spiritual heart houses Divinity, Immortality, Eternity, Infinity; on the other hand it transcends everything. We use the term Transcendental Consciousness. Again, we speak of the ever-transcending Transcendental Consciousness. The Transcendental Consciousness, turiya, is the highest, but this Transcendental Consciousness is not static. It is also constantly being transcended. God is infinite, eternal and immortal. But all spiritual Masters know that God is also ever-progressing. God Himself is in the process of evolution. He is making progress, constant progress, in and through everyone, in order to establish perfect Perfection on earth.

When we think of the chakras, we think of them as being inside something — that is, inside the subtle body. Sthula sharira is the gross physical body. Inside this body is the sukshma sharira, the subtle body. And inside the subtle body is karana sharira, the causal body. These bodies are totally different, but they are all members of the same family. The subtle body at times operates through the physical. At times the causal body, which is in seed form, can operate in and through the subtle body and the physical body. Although the causal body is like a tiny seed, from this seed a banyan tree can grow. It takes a few years, but then the banyan tree bears thousands of fruits. The potentiality of the seed is infinite.

Mentally we will never know what Infinity is. It is all imagination. But there comes a time when imagination is transformed into reality. If somebody had once told me that there is somebody by the name of Sri Krishna Ganesan, until I had seen that person, he would have remained all imagination. But now I have seen you. Now you are a reality to me. According to the physical reality, you are perhaps 5’6” in height, but inside the physical reality is the inner reality — your teeming inner experiences. Some of these experiences are very high, very deep, and some are not. Again, some of these experiences are from this incarnation, and some are not. When I see the experiences only of this incarnation I see that you have had thousands of experiences. Now, who is holding these experiences? The soul or what we call the psychic being. In Sanskrit we call it chaitya purusha. This psychic being has gathered and kept the experiences of previous incarnations as well as of this one. The quintessence of all your previous incarnations has been preserved by the psychic being. Deep inside our existence, inside the soul, inside the psychic being, inside the mind, inside the vital, inside the gross physical, all these experiences are there. But when the doctors operate, or when they examine you, they cannot discover it, this inner wealth of yours. Why not? Just because this infinite inner wealth that you have can be seen only by something which is also infinite. Only Infinity can measure Infinity; only Light can measure Light. We may see something right in front of us, but in order to evaluate it we have to have something which is equally powerful or equally illumined.

Here the third eye comes into the picture. Let us say that the heart is Consciousness and the third eye is Light, although there is no actual difference between the two. The third eye or ajna chakra can annul or destroy the previous karma, it can expedite the present evolution, and it can bring to the fore the future wealth. The third eye has infinite Light, and at the same time is infinite Light; and the heart or anahata chakra possesses infinite Consciousness, and at the same time is infinite Consciousness. These two are eternal friends. Let us say that the infinite Light is a building, and inside it is the heart, which is the resident. But the next moment, the infinite Consciousness, which I am now calling the heart, can become the building, and the infinite Light, which I am now calling the third eye, will become the resident. Like this they constantly change. Now, if the third eye is not fully open, the spiritual heart cannot function properly. That is why we try to open the third eye. Now, in order to open the third eye, this physical body must undergo some transformation. Purity must descend. We have to control the senses. We have to have infinite patience. We want to reach the Highest sooner than at once, but we cannot reach it by hook or by crook. We are crying for Infinity and Eternity, as a child cries for candy or milk. The Eternal Child in us is also crying, but we have to have infinite patience. Sri Ramakrishna used to cry every day to the Supreme Goddess, Kali: “O Mother, come! Come and stand in front of me.” When the day had passed and the Mother had not come to him, he felt that the following day he would have to pray and meditate with more inner intensity. On the one hand, we must try our hardest to see our Beloved Supreme right in front of us; on the other hand, we have to feel that we are in the process of eternal time, and that we must have infinite patience. If we have infinite patience then the finite earthbound time expands itself into the infinite, or the infinite time enters into the finite.

God is omnipotent, not because He is larger than the largest but because this moment He can be the tiniest and most insignificant ant and the next moment He can be infinitely vaster than the ocean. Him we call God precisely because He can be whatever He wants to be: vaster than the vastest or tinier than the tiniest. Anoraniyan mahato mahiyan... The spiritual heart also has the same capacity. Although it is infinite, eternal and immortal, it can easily reside inside the gross physical heart. Again, it has the capacity to take the physical heart into its Vastness, into its Infinity, into its Eternity. At one moment the Infinite will separate itself from the finite; at the next moment it will welcome the finite into itself and become totally one with the finite. In the spiritual life, not only can the drop of water enter the ocean, but the ocean also has the capacity to enter into the tiny drop.

The spiritual heart is here [in the chest], here [in the forehead], everywhere. Because it is infinite, it pervades the entire universe. But although Consciousness and Light are inseparable, some spiritual Masters have seen Light before Consciousness, or Consciousness before Light. And the one which they see first, they feel is the Source of the other. It is like this. These two fingers are on the same hand. Suppose the name of this finger is Light and the name of this finger is Consciousness. If you see this one first then immediately you will say, “The Source is Light.” And you will see that Consciousness itself is inside this Light. But if you have seen the Consciousness finger first, then you will say, “The Source is Consciousness.” And you will see that Light is inside this Consciousness. Some spiritual Masters of the highest order see Consciousness first, while others see Light first. And depending on which they see first, they feel that the Source of everything is either Light or Consciousness. But a time comes when they see that both Light and Consciousness are inseparable. They go together, like the obverse and reverse of a coin. When I am buying something from you, if I give you a quarter, it does not matter which side is turned towards you. You accept it because you are sure that the other side is there, too. Whatever is required is there. So Light and Consciousness always go together.

Yes, we can separate them when we use our human knowledge, human wisdom. But when we use our divine wisdom, divine light, divine consciousness, we cannot separate the heart from the ajna chakra. They are complements, like husband and wife. We can say the third eye is the husband and the heart is the wife, since the heart usually is all sweetness and love, and the third eye is power and illumination-light. The wife’s main quality is softness, kindness, while the husband’s main quality is knowledge, wisdom and other mental things. But again, those who are very wise feel that the third eye is also the heart, for what else is the heart except that which gives us satisfaction? And what can give us satisfaction? Only Light! Only Light can give satisfaction. So if Light from the third eye gives us satisfaction, naturally we are dealing with the heart quality. What can give us a constant sense of wisdom? Wisdom comes only when we are deep inside the inmost recesses of our breath, inside our heart where Infinity, Eternity and Immortality play. To possess Infinity as our very own, to possess infinite Light and Bliss eternally as our very own — this is wisdom. So we can say that wisdom also comes from the heart. When we have the feeling of eternal wisdom, we feel that it comes from the heart. Like this the heart and third eye, the anahata chakra and the ajna chakra, go together. Like purusha and prakriti, God as the Father and God as the Mother, the heart and the third eye go together.

Now, about the connection of the heart with the chakras and the Kundalini power. There are six chakras. Starting at the base of the spine, they are: muladhara, svadhisthana, manipura, anahata, vishuddha, ajna. A seventh chakra, sahasrara, at the crown of the head, is not counted along with the other six, because it is not directly connected with them.

Kundalini power, you can say, is on the surface, absolutely on the surface of the spiritual heart. It is this way. On the surface of the sea are waves and all kinds of movement. When a child sees the waves of the ocean he is so fascinated. But an adult will try to go deep within the ocean to where there is quiet and calm, absolute tranquillity, for there he will get the greatest joy. The adult cares for the silent and eternal depths.

All the miracles that you may have heard of or may see are like the play of children in a garden. A child has the capacity to pick a flower or to pinch someone or to show how much strength he has by throwing a brick and doing all kinds of mischief. The Cosmic Mother observes the games of her children. Like an ordinary mother, she enjoys having her children playing around her. “My children can jump, they can run, they can throw,” she says. “Let us enjoy the game, this Cosmic Game.” But the Father feels that the children cannot go on playing all the time. They have to study sometimes, or they will remain fools.

When a child is playing he is getting joy, physical joy. But when he studies he gets another kind of joy, a joy which is deeper and more fulfilling. On the physical plane when somebody achieves something we appreciate him. If somebody does something great on the mental plane, we appreciate that person more. When somebody achieves something on the psychic plane, those who are in a position to appreciate him appreciate him even more. And when somebody achieves something on the soul’s plane, God’s plane, those who know of it appreciate him most of all. Maharshi Ramana did not care for study; Sri Ramakrishna did not care for study. There are many spiritual Masters who did not care for study. But all the scholars of the Western world should go and touch the feet of these illiterate men of infinite Wisdom. The higher, the deeper we go, the more convincing, the more illumining, the more worthwhile is the wisdom we get. In the spiritual realm, Kundalini power is like the achievement on the physical plane.

A mother feels that even if her son is sixty years old, he is still her young child, her baby. But when a father sees that his son is thirteen or fourteen years old, he immediately tries to give the son all his wisdom. He says, “You cannot call yourself a child any more. Tomorrow I may die and you will have to replace me and take full responsibility for all my jobs.” But the mother says, “No! No! No! I want my children to remain here with me.” Now I am not saying a word against the Mother. Only it is the Mother’s nature to regard Her sons as Her eternal children. The Father says, “Yes, you are eternal children, true, but you have to work for Me. You have to take the responsibility of the entire universe. Showing off and doing all these things is good for five years, ten years, twenty years, but it cannot last forever.”

The son of God, Jesus Christ, was on earth for thirty-three years, and only during the last three years of his life did he perform miracles. But do you think the world still adores and worships him because he could walk on water or cure people or resurrect a dead man? No, it is not because of his miracles that he is still worshipped, but because he brought down the Eternal Consciousness, the Infinite Consciousness within him. Ramakrishna performed practically no miracles, and there were many, many spiritual Masters who did not do miracles. They felt that performing miracles on the physical plane would be like acting in the capacity of a child in comparison to what they were capable of doing on the spiritual plane, in the heart’s region where infinite Peace, Light and Bliss abide.

The Father tells the child to go beyond the Cosmic Game. For it is only when one goes beyond the Cosmic Game that one will attain infinite Peace, Light and Bliss. The Father says, “You have to go beyond the Kundalini into a higher state of consciousness. First enter into the sushupti, the state of deep sleep. Then go into swapna, the dreaming state; then into jagriti, the waking state; and finally enter into turiya, the Transcendental Consciousness. And, My children, you can even go beyond that and remain in sahaja samadhi, a constant, spontaneous and dynamic oneness with Me on all planes of reality.”

The same Mother, the same cosmic Divine Mother who holds all the Kundalini power, who is the Kundalini power, is far, far beyond it. With Her aspect of the ever-transcending Beyond, She is mixing with Her consort, Purusha, Shiva, or the Absolute. With Her ever-transcending Consciousness, She is one with the Absolute. Again, with Her playful consciousness, She is playing with Her children in Her Cosmic Game. Kundalini power, and all the miraculous powers on earth, are fleeting, for Kundalini power is an earthbound power. But the Power of the Self is infinite, the Power of the Transcendental Self is infinite and immortal. The most important thing on earth for a spiritual seeker is the realisation of the Self, the awakening of the consciousness, for this is eternal. If somebody comes here and performs some miracle, we will be fascinated. But the moment we go home there will be nothing to sustain our faith in it. It seems to be all magic and trickery. And how long can we cherish the magician inside us or before us? But when somebody lifts up our consciousness even for a second or we ourselves do it on the strength of our intense aspiration, our faith in that experience lasts, because it is our own experience, our inner experience. Anything that lasts forever we need. It is Immortality, inner Immortality that we need, and this comes through the awakening and elevation of our consciousness.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Flame-Waves, part 3, Agni Press, 1975
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