Not many of us can call upon a pure heart. A pure heart reflects a pure state of being but, like virtually everything else inside, there is always a mixture. I say virtually, because, much deeper within, there is an entity, the evolving soul, whose contents are truly unalloyed and pure. It is the psychic presence. This is the summit, yet most profound part of our being. In fact, it is much more than a part: in reality, it is the whole. The rest is somewhat of a confusion and a stew. We must reach out to this presence if we are to bring out anything sincere and pure in our nature. We must orient our consciousness inside, invoke the inner consciousness to emerge and open to the descent of higher forces from above.
So, we try to build a connection with the psychic centre and refer all our movements, both inner and outer, to this presence. This is truly a conscious transition. This is our Inner Guide and Teacher who alone has the capacity to instil harmony and purity over all our being. Gradually, over time, a bridge develops and expands with the progressive development of our inner being, the latent truth behind our instrumental nature. The inner must be allowed to act upon and remodel the outer. We observe everything with an inner lens. Every thought, impulse and motivation should be offered to the inner Presence. Every semblance of outer expression, all that rises to the surface, should also be offered to the Divine. Ultimately, everything must be offered to the inmost being, our psychic centre. This is the culmination of a true and conscious sacrifice.
Our Contact with the Mother
This is the practice of Integral Yoga and there are no shortcuts. However, we have our own relationship with the Mother. We begin with sacrifice, but our destination is always surrender. Once cemented, it obliviates all difficulties. When we orient ourselves inside, we orient towards Her. When we remember the Divine, we remember Her. When we offer any movement, good or bad, we offer it to Her. She is the channel for our love and devotion and She becomes the source and object of our surrender.
The rest is up to our personal effort and aspiration. However, in the midst of this heaving and struggle, once we start giving ourselves to Her, She assumes control of our entire practice and saadhanaa. Once we respond to her call, there is no room for coincidence. Everything becomes synchronised. We invoke her Presence and her Force and descent upon descent floods through our being, always working for transformation and providing the final seal for our purification. In the meantime, every circumstance, however dolorous it may seem, dovetails with the intent for progress. Everything, bar none, becomes just another aspect of her Grace.
Such is the backdrop of Integral Yoga practice and the purification of our heart has to be seen in context with the purification of our entire being. It is swept along in the progress of our saadhanaa. Here is a brief reflection on the particular considerations that should be heeded and observed with the heart.
The Heart and the Psychic Presence
The heart is an outpost of the soul, a halfway-house between our inner divinity and our instrumental nature. It catches and radiates something of the light and presence of the psychic presence. More than any other part of our nature, it releases a flicker from the radiance of the soul itself. Its very location, a mere thumbnail in front of the psychic being and its calling as the chosen channel for higher emotions and love, make it the most auspicious part of our nature. Our search for the psychic presence begins from the heart:
“Look into the depths of your heart and you will see there the Divine Presence 1.”
It guides us through simplicity and through the ardour of its aspiration. A pure heart is a steady guide. It is disinterested and free from ego and attachment. It provides a brilliant armour for life and shields us through its very softness and sweetness. In its softness lies an unrelenting faithfulness to the Divine. It is not weakness, but full of trust and resolve. A sincere heart contains no duplicity and pretension. “The guidance is in your heart. Go ahead according to your inspiration 2.”
The Mother here, is conveying the heart as an authentic guide. However, her counsel should be understood in context, because it is directed at someone whose heart and nature had reached a certain stage in evolution. The guidance is not universal, because it is very evident that an impure heart can lead us to very dreadful and shadowy corners. This entity has many gradations and its purity will generally, though not invariably, reflect that of the rest of the individual nature itself.
Follow Your Heart?
There has for long been a popular saying and theory that we should always follow our heart. It has almost become a message of convenience. “What is your heart telling you?’, we are often asked. However, we should be wary of blindly following our emotions and offering our love in line with its sudden promptings and impulses, because a confused heart can lead us down the darkest alleyways. There is always the danger of vital contamination and not all hearts are exempt. The Mother Herself has said that the heart has “wings”1. In the pristine purity of the heart, this is certainly a universal truth, but it cannot be applied to all hearts. It depends upon the sincerity and simplicity of the actual entity itself.
Let us reflect on these sublime words, “A simple and faithful heart is a great boon 3.” A simple heart will be a good guide in our darkest days. But often, in our darkest days, the heart usually gets hopelessly tangled and self-obsessed. It can even sink down to the mire. Our heart needs to be pure, resolute and strong.
The heart is a part of the higher vital and so, is often prone to fallibility itself. There is no other part of our being which has to pass through such turmoil and anguish. As an entity, it is often vulnerable to the shocks of the surface life. How many of us can claim this level of immunity in our hearts? We hear of those who die from a broken heart. Nothing holds on more tightly to pain than a broken heart. A heart can be misled and confused, blinkered by dazzling and false lights. So, what is it in us which really brings it down?
The heart is an instrument and, if it is not worked upon, it will lapse into ignorance and disharmony like the rest of our nature. It simply falls into disrepair. It requires our presence. If not, the heart will be distorted by the ego and ransacked by the lower levels of the vital. The lower vital takes great pleasure in rising up and stealing all its booty. It can also be sat upon and suppressed by the ordinary mind. It faces limitation and restriction from both sides. It channels and stores a love which can be reversed and downgraded into bitterness and hate.
An Impure Heart
An impure heart is rife with duality; it lives in perpetual disarray and agitation and cannot find peace. Its love is a disguise for attachment and consequently bound with restriction and dissatisfaction. Indeed, it has great difficulty discerning between love and attachment, because it gets so wrapped up inside its own personal dramas. A disinterested heart is rare indeed. Instead, it cannot truly align itself when confronted with emotional entanglements. It lacks the durability and stamina required to resolve such issues. It is open to emotional manipulation and all types of other mischiefs. It is prone to sentimentality and sometimes offers misguided sympathy where it is totally inappropriate.
In short, it finds it difficult to step back and observe its own shortcomings and attachments, because it gets so engrossed in its own storyline. The heart needs to expand way beyond all that. Look at what your heart expects from the world! What does the heart expect from the people who inhabit it? Can they offer anything at all? Does your heart live in expectation? Should it expect anything at all? What is there to expect? What is the true aspiration of your heart? Can the heart answer these questions with both conviction and truth?
Do you ever muse about the well-being and destiny of your own heart? Observe it now. Try to make it transparent and just look at it disinterestedly: just as it is. Don’t identify with it. Don’t try to change it; leave that to a higher power. Identify with the inner presence instead and keep your station above the heart. Summon your inner consciousness and survey the heart. Observe and enquire into it. Wherever you see tangles or shadows, just offer them to the Mother. Without judging, just see them as they are and offer them at her feet. Open to her descending Force. Breathe and call her name within your heart. Ask Her to enlighten and refine this heart. Ask Her to make it a good guide. Ask Her to make it strong and loving. Ask Her to attach it exclusively to the Truth. Step back and observe the response. Experience the difference and engage in life once more with a renewed and transformed heart.
