Vedic Yoga and the Spiritual Heart 

The heart (hridaya) is the seat of the Self or Atman in Vedantic thought. Realization of the Self in the heart is the main Vedantic formulation of Moksha or liberation. The Upanishads laud the Self in the heart in many verses and make it the object of many vidyas (ways of knowledge). So do many other Vedantic texts up to modern times. When we refer to ourselves we point to the heart. Compared to the heart, the mind is just our computer system where we hold our information, not our real consciousness or self-identity.

Yet the heart is not just the seat of the Self; as such, it is also the source of all the main aspects and faculties of our entire nature as embodied souls. It is the seat of the mind (chitta) as the Yoga Sutras indicate. By this is meant not the outer mind but the inner, core or source mind, the source of all our karmas and samskaras. The heart is similarly the source of Prana or our life energy, the force that animates our various bodies from birth to birth, not merely as the breath but as the power behind all that we can do or think. The heart is also the ultimate source of speech and when we speak truly we speak from the heart.

The heart is the source of our entire being. All our different faculties are like different rays branching out from the central light of the heart which is like the Sun. All our energies are conduits of the energy of the heart, however far they may wander from it. In deep sleep we return to this inner light for peace and renewal, showing that we cannot remain apart from it even for a day.

Yet the heart is not just the source of our individual existence (Atman). It is also our place of unity and connection with the cosmic existence (Brahman). It spreads not just through our entire individual beingness but throughout the entire universe. In the heart resides our main connection with the Devatas, the great cosmic powers, the Gods and Goddesses which rule the universe, its evolution and its different planes of existence. Each one of our individual faculties arising from the heart has its corresponding cosmic Deva ruling a corresponding power of nature and the greater universe. The sun, the moon, the stars, the earth and all aspects of the cosmic creative force dwell within the heart.

This heart or hridaya is obviously not the mere physical organ. Nor is it simply the heart center, the anahata chakra of the subtle body, though it is closely related to it. This heart is the core of our being, which is the core of Being itself. The heart is where we experience our own self-being and through it contact the nature of all things. This hridaya could be better called the ‘spiritual heart’ in distinction to the physical and subtle heart centers.

          The following is a beautiful prayer of consecration to heart from the Krishna Yajur Veda (Taittiriya Brahmana). It is still commonly chanted in ashrams and temples today, though not everyone contemplates its true meaning. It is often included in the greater Rudram chant sacred to Lord Shiva. It consists of a consecration of all of our faculties, along with their cosmic counterparts, into the heart and the Supreme Being within that. In this way, this heart prayer reconstructs the Cosmic Person (Purusha), the universal Self that is our true Being and is the Brahman, the being of the entire universe. Only when we place the cosmic powers into our individual faculties can we return them to our true heart that is universal.

          Such a consecration in the heart is true Pratyahara in the Yogic sense, withdrawing all our faculties for the highest meditation. It is the reintegration of our scattered energy and attention into the Supreme Self, which is the supreme Yoga, the Yoga of the spiritual heart. It can be performed as preliminary to or along with Self-inquiry in order to make it more effective. It can be done along with any other Yoga practices as well. I have added a short commentary to make this ancient Vedic prayer more relevant to the modern reader who may not understand the underlying Vedic concepts.