Nonduality Salon (/ \)

The Self, Maya, and the Heart: The Fundamentals of Non-Dualism, page 2.

Again, as long as the mind is outward bent, the individual soul takes itself for the body/mind and accumulates impressions about itself in relation to a perceived and separate world. The mind then tries to coordinate and correlate all it sees into a cohesive composite of impressions it holds to be its identity. At a certain point, though, it begins to become apparent that knowing, comprehension, understanding, or knowledge about one's world, be it within one's mind or apparently outside, is coming from within and is not separate, as one is otherwise conditioned to believe. This insight into how we actually know or perceive leads to the conclusion that the impressions we've made of the world are actually each individual's projected idea about it, and not one universally accepted truth. The question arises, "Can these changing thoughts, impressions be all there is, all that I am, all that the world is?" The sages of the Upanishads are asked this question by those seeking permanence in their otherwise "transient" lives.

"To many it is not given to hear of the Self. Many, though they hear it, do not understand it. Wonderful is he who speaks of it. Intelligent is he who learns of it. Blessed is he, who taught by a good teacher is able to understand it" Katha Upanishad, p. 17

"Veiled in my Maya, I am not shown to many. How shall this world bewildered by delusion recognize me, who am not born and change not." Bhagavad Gita, p. 73

"The Heart" - Hridayam
The Heart is the Self. The sages of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and several other Gitas I found all refer constantly to the identity of the Heart and its location with the all pervading Self. Significantly, the location of the Heart is intuited or inferred by everyone, as it is the very place we all point to when we say "I". The realization of the Self in or as the Heart is said to sever the relationship between the Self and the out going mind forever, such that the relationship between the "I" and the thoughts and actions of the body are realized never to have been. At once, attention to the waking state of consciousness ceases, and the enquirer remains egoless, abiding in and as the Heart, observing impartially all states of consciousness as one emanation, as stated below:

"The ancient, effulgent being, the indwelling spirit, subtle, deep-hidden in the lotus of the Heart, is hard to know. But the wise man following the path of meditation, knows him and is freed alike from pleasures and pain." Katha Upanishad, p. 17-18

"Smaller than the smallest, greater than the greatest, this Self forever dwells within the hearts of all." Katha Upanishad, p. 18

"I am the Atman (Self) that dwells in the heart of every mortal creature. I am the beginning, the life span, and the end of all." (Krishna to Arjuna)
Bhagavad Gita, p. 88

"The devoted dwell with Him They know Him always There in the Heart Where action is not" Bhagavad Gita, p.59

"Both the individual self and the Universal Self have entered in the cave of the heart, the abode of the Most High, but the knowers of Brahman and the householders who perform the fire sacrifices see a difference between them, as between sunshine and shadow."
Katha Upanishad, p. 19

"That being, who is the power of all powers and is born as such, who embodies himself in the elements and in them exists, and who has entered the lotus of the heart, is the immortal Self." Katha Upanishad, p. 21

"That being, of the size of a thumb, dwells deep within the heart. He is the lord of time, past and future. Having attained him, one fears no more. He, verily, is the immortal Self."
Katha Upanishad, p. 21

"Radiating from the lotus of the heart, there are a hundred and one nerves. One of these ascends towards the thousand petalled lotus in the brain."
Katha Upanishad, p. 24

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