The Cave of the Heart

[django]

Who knows that which is hidden in the Heart's secret cave, he cuts here and now, my dear, the knot of ignorance (Mundaka Upnishad).

This is a journey where our Mind descends to the cave of our Heart, the very centre of our being where our relationship with God is born.

Heart is called Hridaya in Indian languages. It is derived from the Sanskrit word Hridayam (hrit + ayam), which simply means "this is the center". Thus, the Heart of the Gurbani is not physical; it is Spiritual. It is the Divine or Spiritual Center, which is essentially synonymous to various other terms such as Aatmaan, the cavity of Intellect, the cave of Intuitive Wisdom, the cave of Intuitive Poise, the faculty of Intuition, the cave of Celestial Bliss, the Celestial Home, the inner Home, the cave of Silence, the cave of deep Samaadhi, the cave of the body, deep or Sunn Samaadhi, Sukh-Aasan, profound or seedless trance, absolute void, Sahaj or natural state of inner Being, Tenth Gate, Chauthaa Pad or fourth state, Turiyaa Avasthaa, Tenth Gate (Dasam Duaar), Conscious Principle, Eternal Essence, the city of Baygumpuraa or Brahmpuraa, Sachkhand, Truth, Light, the Kingdom of God, the Ultimate Resort of the Self of all, and so on.

https://www.gurbani.org/articles/webart97.htm

[Shivani Devi]

Namaste.

That is beautiful, Django.

Ātma hŗdaye
Hŗdayam mayi
Aham amŗte
Amŗtam anāndam brahmāni

Translation:

My true nature is the heart. The heart is my true nature.
I am the bliss of the heart. The Heart that I am is the unending bliss of Oneness.

In the core of our being, there exists a tiny cavern, like a sacred grotto. In the middle of that, burns the eternal flame, the Atma Jyoti...the Jyoti se Jyoti, the light of all lights, it is the Atma Lingam.

In some people, this flame is quite tiny...so fragile and wavering, as if a stiff breeze could blow it out, but nothing extinguishes it - it is part and parcel of Brahman. For others, the flame is like an all-consuming forest fire, creating its own weather patterns around it...most of us are somewhere in between.

Meditate on the cave within your heart...find the light of the soul existing there.

Others (like me) often compare the heart to an ocean of love - hridayam prem sagara - and relate stories of how such an ocean becomes churned by positive and negative influence, bringing forth the bliss of soma (the nectar of divine awareness) or the poison of detrimental emotions leading to dis-ease, separation and distance...and then I am like "So, I heard you like to drink this all up, my dear Lord Neelkantha...go for it".

[django]

The "cave of the Heart", the Spiritual Center, is the seat of Realization or the Realization itself. Experiencing oneness with It is to transcend the psychological ego. It is the source from which thoughts (mind) arise, on which they subsist, and where they subside. Thus the Heart-center is the nucleus of all.

ਸੁੰਨ ਸਮਾਧਿ ਗੁਫਾ ਤਹ ਆਸਨੁ ॥ ਕੇਵਲ ਬ੍ਰਹਮ ਪੂਰਨ ਤਹ ਬਾਸਨੁ ॥ ਭਗਤ ਸੰਗਿ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਗੋਸਟਿ ਕਰਤ ॥:

Sunn samaadhi guphaa tah aasan. Keval brahm pooran tah baasan. Bhagat sang prabh gost karat:

One (who has the Divine Treasure of the Naam) sits in the cave of Sunn Samaadhi (the state of complete Stillness, spiritual Silence; the state devoid of Mayaic thoughts or wanderings, etc.); there the unique, perfect God dwells (in that Heart-Cave or Heart-Home). (The heart in which this Divine Treasure is awakened) God holds conversations with (those) devotees (i.e., those devotees Realize God)

[Heart]

"The hearts wisdom … It will speak to you if you listen to it. Its unwritten words are unspoken, yet they can be clearly heard through a state of love and compassion’ Heart

[blossomingtree]

Originally Posted by django

ਸੁੰਨ ਸਮਾਧਿ ਗੁਫਾ ਤਹ ਆਸਨੁ ॥ ਕੇਵਲ ਬ੍ਰਹਮ ਪੂਰਨ ਤਹ ਬਾਸਨੁ ॥ ਭਗਤ ਸੰਗਿ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਗੋਸਟਿ ਕਰਤ ॥:

Sunn samaadhi guphaa tah aasan. Keval brahm pooran tah baasan. Bhagat sang prabh gost karat:

One (who has the Divine Treasure of the Naam) sits in the cave of Sunn Samaadhi (the state of complete Stillness, spiritual Silence; the state devoid of Mayaic thoughts or wanderings, etc.); there the unique, perfect God dwells (in that Heart-Cave or Heart-Home). (The heart in which this Divine Treasure is awakened) God holds conversations with (those) devotees (i.e., those devotees Realize God)

These are true words i.e. reflective of truth, and nicely captioned.

May I enquire to source, dgango, so that I may educate myself as to its tradition?

BT

[django]

Originally Posted by blossomingtree

These are true words i.e. reflective of truth, and nicely captioned.

May I enquire to source, dgango, so that I may educate myself as to its tradition?

BT

Sorry BT, I only saw your post today, this was from https://www.gurbani.org/articles/webart97.htm all about the cave of the heart as referred to in the Hindu tradition, and the authors commentary on these scriptures.

[django]

"In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart."

- Mahatma Gandhi

So true

[django]

Originally Posted by Shivani Devi

Namaste.

That is beautiful, Django.

Ātma hŗdaye
Hŗdayam mayi
Aham amŗte
Amŗtam anāndam brahmāni

Translation:

My true nature is the heart. The heart is my true nature.
I am the bliss of the heart. The Heart that I am is the unending bliss of Oneness.

In the core of our being, there exists a tiny cavern, like a sacred grotto. In the middle of that, burns the eternal flame, the Atma Jyoti...the Jyoti se Jyoti, the light of all lights, it is the Atma Lingam.

In some people, this flame is quite tiny...so fragile and wavering, as if a stiff breeze could blow it out, but nothing extinguishes it - it is part and parcel of Brahman. For others, the flame is like an all-consuming forest fire, creating its own weather patterns around it...most of us are somewhere in between.

Meditate on the cave within your heart...find the light of the soul existing there.

Others (like me) often compare the heart to an ocean of love - hridayam prem sagara - and relate stories of how such an ocean becomes churned by positive and negative influence, bringing forth the bliss of soma (the nectar of divine awareness) or the poison of detrimental emotions leading to dis-ease, separation and distance...and then I am like "So, I heard you like to drink this all up, my dear Lord Neelkantha...go for it".

I read through this thread again today, and today I understand the truth and beauty of your post, thankyou Shivani Devi. This part in particular

In the core of our being, there exists a tiny cavern, like a sacred grotto. In the middle of that, burns the eternal flame, the Atma Jyoti...the Jyoti se Jyoti, the light of all lights, it is the Atma Lingam.

In some people, this flame is quite tiny...so fragile and wavering, as if a stiff breeze could blow it out, but nothing extinguishes it - it is part and parcel of Brahman. For others, the flame is like an all-consuming forest fire, creating its own weather patterns around it...most of us are somewhere in between.

Meditate on the cave within your heart...find the light of the soul existing there.

To find the light of the soul so much pain and sorrow has to be felt first, and so much faith is needed to bear all that pain because the light is hidden from our view, but I now know it is there, and just a little bit further to go.

It really is a light, and it really is there

Originally Posted by django

Who knows that which is hidden in the Heart's secret cave, he cuts here and now, my dear, the knot of ignorance (Mundaka Upnishad).

This is a journey where our Mind descends to the cave of our Heart, the very centre of our being where our relationship with God is born.

I'm going to say a gi-normous thank you for that Djang, you've been the unwitting harbinger of a great synchronicity. It puts a lot of things into so much perspective.

[django]

Glad to have been an unwitting help Greenslade :)