“There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in your heart.” So says the Chandogya Upanishad.
To many the experience of the heart is emotional rather than luminous. That is because our energy field has to support our egoic and embodied nature as well as our connection to our higher soul.
The egoic part of self, sometimes termed the false self, is generally more associated with the mind. Higher intuitive awareness and pure light does not naturally flow in the mind. We have to bring it in through our energy body, and then the light of illumination gives us direction as to how to proceed in life. The primary connection with Source is through the energy field, and the secondary effect is consciousness that the mind can comprehend, which manifests as thought.
The role of the brilliant light shining in our hearts is to help us to outgrow the old limiting egoic consciousness such as unworthiness or inadequacy, and become free to explore more of who we really are. The Divine lives in our heart. When the heart is approached from ego, or holding onto ideals of separateness, lack or vitriol, we may find ourselves in contact with the Divine as Rudra, the fierce aspect of Shiva, or his consort, Kali. Termed the dark goddess, Kali is the essence of all, pre-existing the light. Divine as this face of the infinite might be, there may be some head lopping (ego-ectomy) needed before we recognise it. Even when she strips us of our egoic justifications and ideation, Kali holds us close to her, as signified by the skulls which garland her neck and adorn her belt. She watches over us always.
Each of the chakras has a portion that is for the maintenance of our Earth life self, but always in the background, the boundless potential of higher, deeper awareness exists perhaps unnoticed.
We are more than the body and mind. We are more than our emotions. We are timeless and filled with wisdom, love and at the core of our heart, the stillness pulls us back into remembrance of our true selves.
The heart chakra is the natural and easiest of the portals through which we can connect with the inner light as well as the love aspect of the higher soul. This part of the heart is beyond the emotional body. It taps into the Eternal body of light. Here it is peaceful, and a profound place of refuge for the spirit.
The stillness that we find in the heart then activates our crown chakras, as well as the capacity to expand into lovelier facets of life and awareness. Eventually we experience the exalted state of realisation ‘Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma’ – All is one, All is Divine, or All of this is Brahman (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14).
