“My Heart, Your Heart” … this
is the theme for the World Heart Day this year, which happens to be today. This
means to not only look after our own hearts but also of our loved ones.
It’s important to lead a
healthy lifestyle, not only as individuals, but also make sure that people we
care about do the same.
This is what our Vedas also
expound.
“Tat tvam asi” is a mahavakya in the
ancient Sanskrit texts of the Upanishads. It translates as “I am that” and
means that “You and I are same” or “your heart and my heart are one”.
Whenever we point to our own
self, we put our hand on our heart; we also put our hand on our heart
when we say “I love you from the bottom of my heart”.
Does the consciousness reside
in the celiac plexus (manipura chakra) or thymus plexus (anahata chakra)?
We do not know. Manipura chakra is associated with fire and the power
of transformation. The Anahata Chakra manifests unconditional love, forgiveness
and patience.
Our ancient scriptures and the
Bible say that the heart is the size of a thumb and it is in the heart that our
consciousness (soul) resides.
- In Svetasvatara
Upanisad (5.8, 5.9). " Soul is the size of a thumb, bright as the
sun, when coupled with conception and ego. But with only the qualities of
understanding and soul, it appears the size of the point of an awl. This
life is the hundredth part of the point of a hair divided a hundred times,
and yet in it is infinity". Here the sruti is speaking
metaphorically, because actually the soul is atomic in size. Therefore in
the next verse (Svet. U. 5.9) the soul is compared to a fraction of the
tip of a hair. These comparisons are meant to indicate that the individual
soul is atomic rather than all-pervasive.
- According to Vedanta
Sutra, the idea that God resides in the physical heart the size of the
thumb is for the sake of conceptualization during meditation, and is thus
a metaphorical description. The size of the thumb refers to the size of
the human heart. God is in reality all pervading and atomic at the same
time.
- Atharva Veda: the soul is a particle
of God.
- Jain metaphysicists refer to it as of
varying sizes, small in a child, big in adults and old people and very big
in elephants.
- Nemi Chandra in Dravya
sangrah -2: soul
is characterized by knowledge and vision, has the same extent as its own
gross body.
- Katha
Upanishad (1.2.20): Spirit, the size of a thumb "angush
matra", is the inner soul, always seated in the heart of creatures.
Katha Upanishad Part Fourth XII. The Purusha (Self), of the
size of a thumb, resides in the middle of the body as the lord of the past and
the future, (he who knows Him) fears no more. This verily is That. The seat of
the Purusha is said to be the heart, hence It “resides in the middle of the
body.” Although It is limitless and all–pervading, yet in relation to Its
abiding–place It is represented as limited in extension, “the size of a thumb.”
This refers really to the heart, which in shape may be likened to a thumb.
Light is everywhere, yet we see it focused in a lamp and believe it to be there
only; similarly, although the life–current flows everywhere in the body, the
heart is regarded as peculiarly its seat.
- Garuda Puran: Ultimately, the soul,
which is not more than the size of a thumb, reluctantly comes out from the
body as the attachment with the world exists even after his.
- Gaudiya acharya Sri
Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Govinda Bhasya commentary on the Vedanta
Sutra. (1.2.7, 1.3.24-25.): During meditation Paramatma does appear to the
yogi or devotee as a localized form in his heart, but in general Paramatma
is all-pervasive and all-knowing.
- Unknown: According to some Vedic
scholars the soul enters the human form like 4-8 weeks after conception,
like when the fetus is the size of a thumb.
- Bhagavad Gita 15.15: I (soul) am seated in
everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge, and
forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to known. Indeed, I am the compiler
of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas."
- Vedanta Sutra II,
6,17: 'The person of the size
of a thumb, the inner Self, is always settled in the heart of men. Let a
man draw that Self forth from his body with steadiness, as one draws the
pith from a reed. Let him know that Self as the Bright, as the Immortal'.
- Swami Muktananda, Play of
Consciousness, p.85: The whole body is like a lotus which has four
petals of four kinds, colours, and sizes....The first is the gross body,
its colour is red. The second petal is the subtle body, in which we sleep
and experience dreams. It is the size of a thumb, and its colour is white.
The third petal is the causal body. It is the size of the tip of third
finger, and its colour is black. The fourth petal is the supracausal body,
which is as small as a sesame seed. Its colour is blue.... It is very
brilliant; it is the foundation of sadhana; it is the highest inner
vision."
- Matthew 5;8: Soul resided in the
heart: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
When we meet somebody and form
a relationship with another person, we go through five stages: Euphoria,
reaction, adjustment, liking and loving.
The stage of euphoria
is due to release of phenylethylamine, dopamine and norepinephrine. Dopamine
makes them feel good and norepinephrine stimulates the production of
adrenaline, which makes the heart beat faster. The stage of reaction
is based on release of adrenaline and noradrenaline.
Adjustment is the balance of all
hormones. Endorphins and serotonin abound in the stage of liking.
The endorphins or opiate-like peptides calm and reassure with intimacy,
dependability, warmth, and shared experiences. The last phase is the real
spiritual love or the state of ‘rasa’, where your emotions are
one with the other. This is “made for each other” and denotes a parasympathetic
state of mind.
Only the beta-blockers have
been proven to reduce mortality in heart disease. They block the
sympathetic response of the body and convert it to
the parasympathetic state, the relaxed state.
The parasympathetic state can
also be achieved by doing parasympathetic exercises, which are healing, e.g.
progressive muscular relaxation, yoga, pranayama, shavasana (also called
kayotsarga, which means total relaxation of mind, body and speech with
self-awareness) and meditation by thinking differently, thinking opposite and
thinking positively.
A parasympathetic state can
also be achieved by neutralizing the noise of attachment, expectations and
desires or going through these, but bypassing them.
Increase in physical activity
is recommended for a healthy heart. A long walk not only offers physical
benefits, one also gets the benefits of nature as one’s inner stimuli are
exposed to the outer stimuli during the parikrama. The proximity with nature
helps in the inward spiritual journey and shifts one from the sympathetic
(disturbed) to parasympathetic (relaxed) mode described by lowering of blood
pressure and pulse rate.
Dr KK Aggarwal
Padma
Shri Awardee
President Elect Confederation of Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania (CMAAO)
Group
Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications
President
Heart Care Foundation of India
Immediate Past National President IMA
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