The Secret Cave of the Heart

The Cave of the Heart - The Mind in the Eastern Orthodox tradition of Hesychast contemplative prayer.
by Mother Mary

For an introduction to Hesychast prayer see Mother Mary's previous article, 'Prayer of the Heart' in the Newsletter, February 2010.

In many religions the mountain is a powerful spiritual symbol that reaches upwards to a summit that has been called 'the place of truth'[1]. The cave, within the centre of the mountain, is hidden and secret. In Sanskrit, the word guha denotes cave, but it is also applied to the cavity of the heart and the heart itself.[ 2]

The Word

The Greek word Logos, or Word, was used in pre-Socratic philosophy to mean the source of the principle governing the cosmos. In Biblical Judaism it represented the creative power and medium of God's communication with the human race. There is a wonderful hesychast symbol in the Biblical story of the Lord appearing to Elijah at a cave entrance on Mount Horeb. Fleeing persecution, Elijah escaped to the desert mountain where he spent the night in a cave. The word of the Lord came and told him to stand on the mountain because the Lord was about to pass by. Then a powerful wind 'tore the mountains apart', but the Lord was not in the wind. Then there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. A fire followed, but the Lord was not in the fire.

'After the fire came a gentle whisper. W hen Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.' [3]

Elijah found the Lord not in powerful signs but in the hushed,

gentleness of a whisper (hesychia means silence or stillness). In the New Testament Gospel of St. John, the Logos, becomes the creative Word of God (which is God) and incarnate in Jesus. According to Orthodox tradition, Jesus was born in a cave and it is the earth that offers up this sacred womb -like birthplace for the living Word.

'Today the Virgin gives birth to him who is above all being, and the earth offers a cave to him whom no one can approach. Angels with shepherds give glory, and magi journey with a star, for to us there has been born a little Child, God before the ages.' [ 4]

The Mind

Orthodox theology makes a distinction between three activities of the Mind. The highest is the Intellect ( nous) which understands divine truth through a personal experience of God in the depths of the Heart; the Reason ( dianoia) is the logical faculty that uses words to analyse, reflect and draw conclusions; the Thoughts ( logos mi ) ar e pr ovok ed by t he dem ons an d l ead t o t empt at i on t o destructive action. St. John of Cronstadt wrote 'the Intellect is the servant of the heart, which is our life; if it leads the heart to truth, peace, joy and life, then it fulfils its destination, it is the truth; but if it leads the heart to doubt, disturbance , torment, despondency, darkness, then it does not fulfill its destination and is absolutely false.' 'it is necessary to purify this source of life, to kindle in it the pure flame of life, so that it shall burn and not be extinguished; and shall direct all thoughts, desires and tendencies of the man through all his life.' [5] 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.

The story of Elijah shows us important prerequisites for meeting the Lord. Elijah withdrew alone to a quiet, safe place. He was not tempted to respond to impressive, powerful signs and but instead waited until he heard the Lord in the sound of a small whisper. In obedience to God, he covered his face, 'You cannot see My Face; for no man can see My face and live' [ 6] In Biblical language, the face symbolizes the essence, and we are taught that although

God's essence is beyond our comprehension, we can experience God's energies. These elements of solitary withdrawal and the practice of obedience and discernment are advised by many teachers of hesychast prayer. How can we train our minds to quieten down, be obedediant, and not to respond to temptations when we live busy, noisy lives with many responsibilities and no chance, or no inclination, to withdraw to a remote hermitage? The Fathers have taught that when distracting thoughts arise we should turn immediately to prayer.

'Prayer is by nature a dialog and a union of man with God. Its effect is to hold the world together. It achieves a reconciliation with God.' [7] 'The beginning of prayer is the expulsion of distractions from the very start by a single thought [ 8]; the middle stage is the concentration on what is being said or thought; its conclusion is rapture in the Lord.' 'Make the effort to raise up, or rather, to enclose your mind within the words of your prayer; and if, like a child, it gets tired and falters, raise it up again. The mind, after all, is naturally unstable, but the God who can do everything can also give it firm endurance.' [ 9]

The Thoughts

Temptation is not a sin until we respond to it with thoughts and actions that fragment and separate us from God and other human beings. The Hol y Bible teaches us that sin is when 'your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you' [10]. In Greek sin ( hamartia) means 'failure to hit the mark', 'to go astray' or, ultimately, 'failure to achieve the purpose for which one is created' [ 11]. W hat is necessary to still our response to temptation is not so much to withdraw to isolation, but to quieten the passions and heal our soul. There is no short cut or easy exercise for this; it is a lifetime's work. How do we begin? As the biblical quotation suggests, we begin with repentance and loving forgiveness, and we begin again and again. When a Desert Father was asked what he did all day he answered, "I fall and rise up, I fall and rise up". In Greek, the word for repentance, or c hange of h ear t ( met ani oi a ) i s t he s ame as t hat f or pr os tr at i on; t he

prayer that we make by bowing down in body, mind and soul, touching the earth and rising up afresh. The watchfulness that enables us to see our errors is similar to Buddhist watchfulness and meditation on cause and effect. In our healing we are helped by three Orthodox sacraments (communion, confession and anointing with oil) and before each sacrament there are prayers for the healing of body and soul. In a talk[ 12] given in Indianapolis several years ago, Fr. Meletios [ 13], Abbot of an Orthodox monastery in California, said,

'The automatic stream of thoughts is necessarily bad because all those thoughts tend to buzz like a bunch of bees around two themes, and one is desire, and one is fear.... But there is a positive aspect of the Mind which I have to stress is God given, and is beautiful and that is when we use our Minds. So it is one thing when we use our Minds and another when our Minds use us. W hen we use our Mind we are actually in the process of procreating with God. W e are acting in a God like manner.... The logos mi ar e t he s our c e o f all s in. . . Ever yt hi ng t hat ' s s i nf ul wil l s t ar t with a little thought - with a tiny, tiny, tiny feeling of discomfort. That's all it is. That's where it starts...Every sinful action starts a s a feeling of discomfort as we try to plug the feeling with an action...Over time, this stream of thoughts builds into a sort of clump...and gradually the clump gets bigger and bigger, and it becomes the story of you.... It's a story of you that is the pu ppy who can't quite get to the food bowl. It's the story of you who never quite gets the right job, or is never quite dealt well by his family...and this is what I think in Orthodox terms we can safely c all ego. The ego is a c lump of logos mi s t uc k t oget her . '

Fr. Meletios then suggested that monastics are given the opportunity to live without fear, as they do not need their ego within the safety of the monastery. Outside the monastery and church we are not free to live ego -less lives because we are unprotected from others who do not hold the same values. He said that is why we need monastics, not only because they pray for us as we do our daily work, but also because they try to realise an egoles s lif e of love. ' Somet imes you c an go t her e ( a mo nas t er y ) and receive special healing for your special brokenness...they just

heal by love. There's nothing esoteric, nothing weird about their life. They just love.'

The Cave

Some years ago I was blessed to stay at the Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai, Egypt. Two monks invited me to join them on a pilgrimage to the cave hermitage of St. John Climacus [ 14], five miles into the desert. When we arrived at the cave, the young English monk beckoned me to enter alone, and then left to sit on a large rock in the desert valley. Inside the cave I could see nothing; it seemed infinitely dark. I turned to look at the entrance, but could only see a white sheet of brilliant, morning light. Gradual ly my eyes adjusted and I could see a low stone shelf, rather like a bed, and I went to sit on it. I had never experienced such silence before. I could only hear my body breathing and my heart beating. After an unknown time, a loud, scratching sound burst into the silence and made my heart jump. It was animal and nearby, but what was it? A lizard? a snake? I had read that the Desert Fathers made friends with lions...surely there were no longer lions in Sinai? Within three rapid thoughts I was deciding I was in danger and should leave, and I was also angry because the special silence of this saint's cave had been broken. The logosmi were certainly at work here! Then a shaft of light revealed the source of the disturbing and frightening noise. I saw a small an t busily moving a tiny grain of rock along the stone shelf. I smiled and relaxed, but it took some time repeating the Jesus Prayer [ 15] before I regained concentration.

The solitary life is a quiet and simplified life that removes much temptation and stimulation. As the story of the ant suggests, small things gain greater significance and bring great joy. However, the solitary life itself does not dispel temptation and vice. It i s a life t hat has been c alled t he ' f r ont line of bat t le' wit h t he logos mi because the social interaction that often masks our ills is removed and our deeper spiritual conflict is exposed. This confrontation is why it is so important to have the help of an experienced spiritual guide and why the solitary life is not recommended for the young

novice. This can also apply to home life.

'W atch yourselves - your passions, especially in your home life, where they appear freely, like moles in a safe place. Outside our home, some of our passions are usually screened by other more decorous passions, whilst at home there is no possibility of driving away these black moles that undermine the integrity of our soul' [16]

The Story of Humility

'Love and humility make a holy team. The one exalts. The other supports those who have been exalted and never falls' [ 17] .

Humility is called the greatest and most difficult virtue to acquire. It is the last step on the ascetic path that leads us to the entrance of the cave of the Heart. In the article on hesychasm in the previous newsletter I recounted two similar Buddhist and Christian teachings on the Middle W ay. Here I conclude with two very similar Buddhist and Orthodox stories about humility.

The True Sound of Truth [ 18]

A devoted Buddhist meditator, after years concentrating on a particular mantra, had attained enough insight to begin teaching. A few years of successful teaching left the meditator with no thoughts about learning from anyone; but upon hearing about a famous hermit living nearby, the opportunity was too exciting to be passed up. The hermit lived alone on an island at the middle of a lake, so the meditator hired a man with a boat to row across to the island. As they shared some tea made with herbs the meditat or asked him about his spiritual practice. The old man said he had no spiritual practice, except for a mantra which he repeated all the time to himself. The meditator was pleased: the hermit was using the same mantra he used himself -- but when the hermit spoke the mant r a al oud, t he me di t at or was hor r i f i ed! "W hat' s wr ong?" as k ed the hermit. "I don't know what to say. I'm afraid you've wasted your whole life! You are pronouncing the mantra incorrectly! " "Oh, Dear! That is terrible. How should I say it?" The meditator gave the correct pronunciation, and the old hermit was very grateful, asking

to be left alone so he could get started right away. On the way back across the lake the meditator, was pondering the sad fate of the hermit. "It's so fortunate that I c ame along. At least he will have a little time to practice correctly before he dies." Just then, the meditator noticed that the boatman was looking quite shocked, and turned to see the hermit standing respectfully on the water, next to the boat. "Excuse me , please. I hate to bother you, but I've forgotten the correct pronunciation again. W ould you please repeat it for me?" "You obviously don't need it," stammered the meditator; but the old man persisted in his polite request until the meditator relented and told him again the way he thought the mantra should be pronounced. The old hermit was saying the mantra very carefully, slowly, over and over, as he walked across the surface of the water back to the island.

The Three Hermits [19]

An Orthodox bishop was traveling by boat with pilgrims from Archangel to the Solovetsk monastery. On the way he heard that on an obscure little island there were three old hermits that had spent their entire lives trying to save their souls. The bishop became intrigued and implored the captain to stop the ship so that he could visit them. The captain reluctantly agreed and dropped anchor near the island. The bishop was then placed on a boat and with a group of oarsmen sent ashore. The three hermits were dressed raggedly with long white beards to their knees. In total humility they welcomed the bishop, making deep bows. After he blessed them he asked them what they were doing to save their souls and ser ve God. They replied that they had no idea how to serve God. They just served and supported each other. The bishop realized that the poor hermits didn’t even know how to pray, since all they did was lift their arms up toward heaven and repeat, "Three are Y e, three are we, have mercy upon us." The bishop thought it his ecclesiastical duty to teach the illiterate hermits the Lord’s Prayer. They, however, were poor learners and required a whole day of instruction. But lo and behold! During sunset as the boat l eft the island all the passengers saw a sight in the distance that filled them with fright. The three hermits were running on water as if it were dry land. W hen they came by the side of the ship they

implored the bishop to remind them of the Lord’s Prayer because, poor fellows, they had already completely forgotten it. The bishop crossed himself in awe and told the hermits to continue their own prayers, for they had no need for instruction. Then he bowed deeply before the old men and asked them to pray for him as they turned and ran back across the sea to their island. And a light shone until daybreak on the spot where they were lost to sight.

'The Lord is so holy, so simple in His holiness, that one single evil or impure thought deprives us of Him. Hence i t follows that the saints are all light; they are all one fragrance, like the light of the sun, like the purest air. Lord, grant this simple holiness to me also! ' [20]

Mother Mary, St. Sunniva Skete, Fetlar, Shetland Isles, ZE2 9DJ, U.K.

oOo

1. Réne Guénon, The Mountain and the Cave, www.studiesincomparativereligion.com

2. René Guénon, The Heart and the Cave, published on above website.

3. 1 Kings: 19:9 Holy Bible NIV

4. St. Romanos the Melodist, Nativity Kontakion

5. St John of Cronstadt, The Education of the Mind, A Treasury of Russian Spirituality

6. Exodus 33:20 Holy Bible NIV

7. St John Climacus, Prayer, The Ladder of Divine Ascent , Paulist Press, 1982

8. Ibid. W hich might mean the repetition of a single phrased prayer

9. Ibid.

10. Acts 8:21-22 Holy Bible NIV

11. Glossary, Philokalia, Faber & Faber, 1984

12. Life as a Mystery a talk given in 2008 at an Orthodox chur ch in Indianapolis, USA. This is an edited transcription. The complete talk can be heard on Ancient Faith Radio website at: http://ancientfaith.com/specials/archimandrite_meleti os_webber

13. Fr. Meletios also has a podcast 'Jottings from a Holy Mountain' on Ancient Faith Radio. He has written two books: 'Steps of Transformation' 2003, 'Bread & W ater, W ine & Oil' 2007, both published by Conciliar Press

14. St. John Climacus was a ...century hermit and Abbot of St Catherine's Monastery, Sinai. He wrote The Ladder of Divine Ascent, a very influential book on hesychast ascetism.

15. The Jesus Prayer in its short form is the repetition of 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me'. It is a prayer that can be practised anywhere, but the classic pose is seated alone on a low stool, in a quiet place, with a lowered head and no icons or candles. Sometimes a knotted woollen or wooden beaded prayer rope is used and traditionally monastics are giv en a rope that the Abbot or Abbess used the night before their tonsure.

16. St John of Cronstadt

17. St. John Climacus

18. http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/meaning-of-om-manipadme-hung.htm

19. A story told by Leo Tolstoy and published in The Story and its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction , Ann Charters, ed., New York; St. Martin’s Press, 1987, also in The Mountain of Silence by Kyriacos Markides, Doubleday, 2002

20. St. John of Cronstadt

Cave of the Heart
The reference to the 'cave of the Heart' has several interpretations. However, in simple terms, in some ancient yogic schools the 'cave of the Heart' is called the 'seat of the soul' in the body. This has precedent in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita. Teacher anadi dissects this cave into several layers: personal, psychic or energetic, and spiritual, i.e., the soul, and deeper still, the 'beloved' or the 'creator.' [The Hindus might say Atman and Paramatman]. St. Augustine called it imtima mea, the 'inward dwelling,' a 'shared bedroom,' a 'closet of intimacy,' an 'abyss,' and asked, "whose heart is seen into?" However, there is also reference made, in the Vivekachudamani of Sankara, to the 'cave of the intellect, buddhi,' or buddhi guha, and also guha hitam, or 'the secret abode of the infinite'. There appears to be a close connection between these two caves. In Kaballah they mention the mothering, discriminative intelligence of the heart (Binah). Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon said that 'the head and the heart are not water-tight compartments.' Even modern research suggests that the heart has its own nervous system, is an organ of perception and memory, and is in close communication with the brain. (1) In ancient Egypt the god Ptah created the world from the 'imagination of his heart,' [similar to PB's 'presence of the World-Mind in the heart'] and Islamic philosopher Ibn Arabi also taught that to imagine is an ability of the heart. So we must then also think somewhat 'imaginatively' when considering this mysterious topic. Buddhi, in Samkhya terminology, is similar to the yogic vijnanamaya kosha, or the intellectual sheath. Some say that here in the cave of buddhi is where one finds the Atman, others say that Brahman is found there ( "buddhau guha yam brahmasti"). Advaitists generally consider them both to be pure consciousness, so when Atman is realised, Brahman is also. The Upanishads say 'knowledge of Brahman is the same as 'becoming Brahman' (brahmavid brahmaive bhavati) whereas Sankara said that 'knowledge of Brahman' leads to the 'experience of Brahman' (anubhava avasanamn brahma vignanam ). We will not argue yes or no on these points. Sankara, the great jnani (as well as bhakta and tantrist), in his Vivekachudamani, wrote: "In the cave of the intellect is the Brahman, which is neither existent nor non-existent, the transcendental non-dual Truth. One who dwells in this cave, becoming one with the Truth, for him there is no more entry into the bodily cave," (2) The process of finding the Brahman for Sankara and the advaitists is an epistemological one, where the five sheaths are analyzed to extract the Truth; it is often mistakenly understood to be an ontological 'peeling of the onion' to find the Self essence underlying them. But the non-dual Truth includes the sheaths and is not an 'essence' underlying or deep within them. Such is more often the yogic interpretation of the five sheath doctrine. Sankara didn't mean the methodology of 'neti, neti' ('not this, not this') to be taken ontologically, that is, as negating the not-Self, but only as an epistemological exercise in order to affirm by investigation what is the Self. This is how it was presented in the Tittireya Upanishad, one of the sources for Sankara's teaching. Each succeeding level of investigation includes the previous one, until none are seen as other than the blissful nature of the self. There are no references in this Upanishad that consider them in any way as ‘not real.’ The vision is wholistic, not eclusive. Ramana Maharshi, modern master of the Heart, would frequently quote scripture saying that 'the Self is always shining in the intellectual sheath.' In Samkhya philosophy, generally adopted by the yoga schools, buddhi being the closest upadhi, or 'limiting adjunct,' to Atman, is the filter of the light of the Atman to the mind and senses. Buddhi creates the 'I'-thought or ego, and the 'luminous reason' (susksma buddhi) is the means to enlightenment, while the undeveloped buddhi is the proximate cause of our ignorance and identification with the ego-I. When we do not know ourself as Atman, we mistake ourself to be the 'shining ego in the buddhi.' The shining nature of buddhi, being easily mistaken for the light of the Atman, means that only discriminating knowledge can get us out of this predicament. This means, strangely enough, that the buddhi must discriminate itself out of existence, in a manner of speaking, to get out of its own way. When the 'buddhi gets enlightened, Self-realisation takes place,' according to Swami Ranaganathananda. anadi calls this the second level of enlightenment: awakening not only to the experience, but to the understanding of the experience as well. And further, out of the meeting of intelligence and sensitivity, which produces the understanding, comes the fruit of the understanding, which is the appreciation of the

experience. The heart is involved. This is an added dimension over and above the experience itself. Now, here's where the Advaitic reasoning gets a little confusing. We won't try to solve the problem of how the ever-free Self or Atman becomes deluded by its very own adjuncts or bodies (koshas), etc., that is too great a task at this point. While the Upanishad considers the Buddhi to be closest to Atman, in between Buddhi and Atman lies undifferentiated Maya. In yoga they sometimes refer to this - in the microcosm - as the anandamaya kosha or bliss sheath. This is equated by Swami Ranganathananda with the causal body, also in the heart, and which is active in deep sleep. During sleep, the vignanamaya kosha, the sheath of knowledge or intellect, lies dormant in seed-form, and there is thus no knowing possible. The bliss sheath is active, yet being of the nature of maya, the undifferentiated, is veiled by tamas, and one has no actual direct experience of bliss while sleeping. One can only infer such a quality upon awakening by saying, 'I slept soundly,' etc. The Mandukya Upanishad says that Turiya is what recognizes the state of deep sleep, but only when we are in the waking state. This point is debated: some say there is no awareness during ordinary deep sleep, while others say that Mind or the Self is always aware; this is similar to the dilemma faced in the Tibetan tradition with the dawning of the 'emptiness-luminosity' at the point of death, everyone experiences it, but most pass into unconsciousness almost immediately]. Some contemporary teachers of 'consciousness' say we are actually aware of the experience or quality of sleep, while we are sleeping, but is this reasonable? Are we, prior to enlightenment, aware of anything during sleep, or are we essentially deconstructed in the absolute unconsciousness? In other yoga schools, they equate the causal body with the 'bliss sheath in the heart.' Swami Yogeshwaranand Saraswati writes: "A stream of rays pertaining to the life-force arises from the bliss sheath (the causal body in the heart) and goes to the astral body (manomaya and vijnanamaya koshas in the brain) and from there to the physical body." (3) Ramana said it was the Heart itself whose light went upwards to the head and then into the bodily centers below. He spoke of the light of the moon (sahasrar) being the borrowed light of the sun (the Heart). Yet, as mentioned, in the bliss sheath the intellectual sheath lies dormant during sleep. Even though the bliss sheath is the closest to Atman, it has no way of reflecting the intelligence and inherent self-shining nature of the Atman . Only the intellectual sheath, the vijnanamaya kosha , or Buddhi, can do so, and it can do so only in the waking state. The bliss sheath, being the causal body of the soul and of the nature of the primal Undifferentiated, is characterised, paradoxically, by 'darkness and vacuity,' inasmuch as it is covered by the veiling power of tamas. The so-called bliss sheath is so fine, like a delicate silken covering, that it is said to be almost an integral part of the soul. Since the bliss-sheath is embedded in the other sheaths, in waking life one can have positive experiences that give one a feeling of bliss. But there is no 'knowing' in the human body without the vijnanamaya kosha. The 17th century Hindu saint, Sri Samartha Ramadas, in his treatise on gnana yoga, Atmaram, said, "The bliss-attainment of a yogi is maya." (quoted in The Notebooks of Paul Brunton) This makes sense inasmuch as the bliss sheath is an initial product of maya itself. The bliss is really from the Soul, but the jivatman (vijnana-maya-atman, or the jiva in the intellectual sheath) co-opts it for itself. Now here I am stepping beyond the limits of my theoretical knowledge, but will try to explain to the best of my understanding. In Sant Mat, where they mystically try to peal off these sheaths one by one by merging with the creative logos in the form of the luminous sound current that permeates all creation, they finally reach a stage where the Soul has shed the physical, astral, causal (in their school the manomaya kosha or manas) and the super-causal body (vijnanamaya kosha) and is now only vested with the extremely fine anadamaya

kosha or bliss sheath. However, the soul is now macrocosmically also in a region known as Maha Sunn, a void which separates the created from the Uncreated worlds, and which is said to be characterized by dense darkness which the Soul cannot penetrate without the help of the Satguru, whose roots are in Sat, or the realms of Truth. The soul at this stage has shed mind, ego, and intellect, and can do no more for herself. This dense darkness of Maha Sunn (which even saint Kabir mentioned) seems to correspond with the "darkness and vacuity" of the causal body or bliss sheath mentioned by Ranganathananda. For the saints, the 'heart-lotus' in the body is at 'the seat of the soul' between the two eyebrows, not in the heart center. [This is also the focus of attention in the waking state; in dreams attention is said to go down to the throat, and in deep sleep to the navel]. Even so, Sant Kirpal Singh would sometimes point to his chest and say, "the Master reside here." This same double reference is found in the Gita where Krishna says "I am the Heart in all Beings," but the yogi is also to meditate "with the mind in the heart, and the lifeforce in the head, established in concentration through yoga." He is encouraged to die that way, too. The same is held in Tibetan Buddhism where the yogi is exhorted to go out through the crown of the head. The only way I can reconcile these apparently different positions is by taking a non-spatial, non-bodily oriented point of view of the highest realisation in these particular paths. Then the awakening at the heart and the third eye would only indicate separate awakenings within the total I Am. But I'm not sure they would all agree with this assessment. All schools, whatever the tradition, are in agreement that the human form in the waking state is the precious circumstance where enlightenment can occur. As Christ said, "work while it is day, and not at night, when no man can work." Or one can just assume there is no-doer, and take his chances. 1. Stephen Harrod Bruhner, The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature (Rochester, Vermont: Bear & Company, 2004), p. 71, 81-87 2. Vivekachudamani, verse 266 3. Yogesh Satyeswaranand Saraswati, Science of Soul (New Delhi, India: Yoga Niketan Trust, 1987), p. 238

Upanishadic Mysticism and Meister Eckhart
Some Parallels
Br. Wayne Teasdale
from Bulletin 54, October 1995

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The key to understanding, and indeed to practicing the Upanishadic or Hindu tradition, as well as that of Christianity, is interiority, inner experience or contemplation. Interiority means dwelling in the depths of one’s being in the mystery of the Divine Presence as the spark that gives us awareness, our consciousness that we are. India discovered millennia ago the secret of the guha, or the “cave of the heart. ”. India’s great sages, who were really spiritual pioneers on the frontiers of ultimate awareness, stumbled upon the secret of the heart’s cave, a “place” of total solitude from the world, the external reality of the marketplace.

Through contemplative forms of meditation these sages culled the depths of the heart, the deep subjectivity of the inner life, and found the incomparable treasure of spiritual wisdom, the knowing of which comprehends all things, while the ignorance of which is the worst form of poverty. They gained insight and experience on how all reality holds together at the center of being in the cave of the heart. They knew that the reality dwelling in the guha was the same as the reality pervading and sustaining the universe and all worlds. The first ultimate mystical discovery they made concerned the reality of the Divine itself. They came to the awareness that Brahman, the Godhead IS Consciousness. This is a revolutionary insight. Rather than an anthropomorphic notion or image of God, a god in human form, the Indian sages had deep realization of the Divine as consciousness. How did they come upon this insight? They certainly didn’t just invent it; it was a gift to their inner world of the heart. This was a very important mystical discovery. It suggests the way the universe holds together in divine thought, in consciousness itself. As profound as this inner perception of the Divine was, as ultimate as it was in experience, there was more to know. The Divine Consciousness external to us was also present within the secret spaces of the heart in the eternal Atman, the Self. This Self, this Atman was one with Brahman. This Self is Brahman. That’s the second great discovery the sages made. The transcendent reality out there is the same reality in the very depths of the heart, in the hiddenness of subjectivity. Eckhart speaks of these same kind of discoveries and realities. He says, for instance, that “the eye by which I see God is the same eye by which God sees me.” How is that possible since God does not have form, and certainly doesn’t have eyes?! Well, obviously the eye is a metaphor for something else. Let us substitute the personal pronoun I for eye, and see where it leads us. Thus we have: “The “I” by which I see or know God is the same “I” by which God sees and knows me.” That’s better, or closer to the meaning, but I think we can do better than that. Let’s interpret the personal pronoun “I” as a metaphor for consciousness, and then read it again. It would go something like this: “The consciousness by which God knows me, and sees me, is the same consciousness by which I know and see God.” I believe that’s Eckhart’s meaning. Like the sages of India, the rishis of India’s ancient forests, mountains and deserts, Eckhart also knew that the human self, the spirit in us, participates in the divinity. He knew from his own inner experience that the inner reality of the soul-spark is one with God. He could then declare: there is something in the soul, or in us that is essentially “uncreated and uncreatable.” That presumably is the Atman or the atman that participates in the larger identity of the Atman, the Self. India’s incomparable mystic sages then realized that they were It; they were God, or as the Upanishads put it: “That art thou.” That which is the very essence or being of all things, it is That which we are. That is like saying we are God. India’s mystics said that as well: “I am Brahman.” Eckhart was able to make that utterance too. As he puts it: “I am God. You are God. But God is not me, and God is not you.” What this all means is that we live in a wonderful state of intimacy with the Divine, and that is something of what St. Paul meant in Acts when he says: “In Him we live and move and have our being.” We are called to divine childhood in God, to be a son or daughter of Divine Love Itself. We are made for this Love, for we come from Love; are sustained in Love, and we will return to Love at the end of our earthly journey when our earnest hope, our longing will be satisfied in the vision of God and the enjoyment of His great loving presence in endless intimacy.

The other side of Eckhart’s statement, however, tells us, paradoxically, that though we subsist in and are destined for this intimacy with the Source, we do not and cannot possibly exhaust it. The Divine is always beyond us in its mystery and fullness of being. We cannot but be in the Godhead, for nothing can exist outside it, but it is definitely greater in its fullness of being than any or all of us. As Acts put it: “In Him we live and move and have our being”. There is no other way for us to be. But it does not say: “In Him we are equal to Him and the same as God”. That distinction in the end is crucial because some mystics have been accused of making this sort of identification. To do so is neither true nor wise, but rather the greatest expression of conceit. It is easy to imagine how some mystics may fall into this kind of claim of total identity with the Divine Essence; but it is ultimately an empty declaration because they cannot sustain existentially that statement. No person has equality with the Divine, though all of us are essentially identified with It. It cannot be otherwise for us, for the Ultimate grounds us in being and consciousness, and our existence springs forth into reality and life from the living vitality of the source. Intimacy with God in the mystical life does not give us the right to make pure identity claims, and if we do, we will come up against the contrary in our inner experience. Indeed the spirit will teach us humility through a profound humiliation, and to bring us to the inner realization that God is always beyond. We can have deep intimacy with the Divine, but we cannot erase the difference. The Divine Mystery always calls us beyond ourselves into Itself, and we are ever on the journey deeper into this mystery of the One without a second.

There is a little known addendum to the Jewish Torah that describes the Secret Chamber of the Heart. And then there is that amazing quote from the Upanishads.
If someone should say to you: "In the fortified City of the Imperishable, Our body, there is a lotus, And in this lotus a tiny space: What does it contain that one Should desire to know it?" You must reply: "As vast as this space without Is the tiny space within your heart: Heaven and earth are found in it, Fire and air, sun and moon, Lightning and the constellations, Whatever belongs to you here below And all that doesn't, All this is gathered in that tiny space Within your heart."

My assignment for this article was to research these ancient texts, and try to find someone who would discuss them with me. I was diligent in my quest. I talked with rabbis, alchemists, hermeticists, and Hindus — and kept receiving the same answer. They knew about it. They would not talk about it!

They were more than willing to describe the process that takes place in the heart chakra — how we can focus there for profound resolution of the polarities within our being. But as Drunvalo points out, that's "not it." The Sacred Space in the Heart is not about the heart chakra.

The Balancing of Polarities
The hermeticists I talked with discussed in detail God's Law of Harmony and what would occur when the heart-chakra steps were followed as given in the Emerald Tablets (under the title "Operation of the Sun"). A very nice rabbi explained how the sephira of the Tree of Life are all balanced at the central heart chakra. But he was forbidden, he said, to discuss the Secret Chamber. Hindus told me about Anahata — again, the fourth chakra, the heart center. It is the place, they said, in which attachment falls away and compassion begins to arise. It is symbolized by the six-pointed hexagon and represents the energy of air. The mantra AUM is associated with this place. The Anahata is the Great Chakra vibrating simultaneously in the hearts of all beings. It is the seat of the soul. But, alas, it is not the Secret Chamber that Drunvalo has discovered and that the studies at HeartMath have affirmed. Hindus told me that male and female can come into perfect union in the heart chakra. Kundalini then travels through the spinal column, and its fiery light will illumine the soul. And this, finally, will awaken the Secret Space in the Heart. But what is that space? Where is it? They would not say. One alchemist said to me, "It is a secret that cannot be discussed. It happens only after bringing together Fire and Light in the heart chakra. Fire represents the impulses of the ego, and Light, the impulse of the soul; they must be brought together in the heart chakra in the middle of the Tree of Life, between the right and left column. Only after that may the secret be found." All of the explanations and techniques were like that. They involved allegory and symbolism. They were about the reconciliation of the opposites of human nature within the chakra or energy centers — the bringing together of mind and emotion. This, they all said (becoming impatient) adequately summarized many volumes of literature on the subject. I would have to be content.

Describing the Indescribable
Finally, it occurred to me that the people I'd contacted so far could not talk about the Secret Space simply because they had never found it themselves. Their own intricate

directions and explanations had not led them to it. The Sacred Space in the Heart is a secret only because it's something that cannot be described in words. It can only be experienced. It's like the story in that famous little book called Flatland, where a two-dimensional creature has a dream of physical, 3D reality and spends the rest of his life trying to explain to his friends that there is such a thing as "up." But since his reality is like a map — flat, two-dimensional — whenever he says "up" his friends hear "north." "No!," this Flatland creature exclaims, "I mean 'up but not north.'" But they hear, "north but not north." Of course, they assume he's lost his mind. The volumes of truth that detail the steps into the Secret Chamber of the Heart can only hint at what we may find there. The words "love" and "compassion" and "gratitude" all have opposites. But these words have no meaning in the heart, where duality and opposites cannot exist. Having visited this Heart Space ourselves, how can we say with any hope of being understood that there is a Love that is not "love." What happens to us in the Secret Space of the Heart happens, as Howard Martin of HeartMath observes, in the fourth dimension — outside of duality. You can't "bring it back."

Sharing the Heart Space
Having realized that I was trying to get people to describe the indescribable, I finally contacted someone who had words to share with me that may really help you in your own search for the Secret Space in the Heart. He was a Yogi at a hermitage, a man with an exclusive telephone number who did not want his name mentioned. He agreed with me that the Heart Space was indescribable, that it could only be experienced. He knew what I now knew: that we could only discuss the heart in terms that might or might not lead readers themselves to discover the hidden chamber. Our interview was not going to give anyone more "information" than that. But at the same time, as we spoke, we could feel that special place in each other's heart. A harmony flowed between us. He realized he really wanted to talk to me. I reciprocated this feeling. There was a quiet spaciousness between us. He asked me how I would describe my own experience of the Heart Space, and I said, "It is like watching a movie, and my life is on the screen. When I enter the Heart Space, it becomes just light emitting from the projector with colors and movement that take

place on the screen. I know when I am there that the things I thought were real are not — that I am the Light and not the movie." He laughed and said, "I like it. What else?" "It changes everything," I said. "Your entire perspective changes. The disharmony falls away when you achieve it. A harmony and balance begins in your life that changes all of your perceptions." He responded, "That's an important piece of it. When you find it, when you begin to have a glimpse of it, your whole world will change. But that is just the beginning. Understand that when you have found that place, you have only just begun to live in a different way. The change happens little by little. It doesn't happen all at once. Don't forget to tell your readers that, because it is important." I laughed and said, "It makes me happy to talk to you about this. It's restful to do so. Is there more that you would add?" And he said, "I believe if only more of us could find this place, we would achieve harmony between ourselves and between countries. The entire planet would be at peace." It really was a wonderful experience, talking with this man. There was a feeling between us that, again, cannot be described. It was as though we were in the Space of the Heart together. I asked him what final thoughts he would like to leave with my readers. He said, "Please tell them about the Great Mystery of it. Don't forget to tell them that it means searching for a mystery. Part of finding the secret is knowing that it is a mystery. It should always be treated as a mystery. "In this time of great spiritual and analytical knowledge, the not-knowing is a part of the knowledge that will help you travel there. If you meditate on the mystery within, the notknowing, you may find the way. "Even if it were possible to describe the heart place, it would ruin the mystery. And then it could never be found."

Katha Upanishad
In the secret cave of the heart, Two are seated by life’s fountain. The separate ego drinks of the sweet and bitter stuff, Liking the sweet, disliking the bitter, While the supreme Self drinks sweet and bitter Neither liking this nor disliking that. The ego gropes in darkness, While the Self lives in light. So declare the illumined sages and the householders Who worship the sacred fire in the name of the Lord. May we light the fire of Nachiketas That burns out the ego, and enables us To pass from fearful fragmentation To fearless fullness in the changeless Whole.
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