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At the core of my meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy's philosophy is an invitation; an invitation to live life in the heart rather than the mind. The heart is that point we can feel the core of our being - when we say me, we generally point at the middle of our chest, and so naturally this is a great place to start our journey of self-discovery. More importantly, the heart is the place where we feel our connectedness with other people and the world - the phrase 'my heart goes out to him' says it all, I think. On the other hand, the mind tends to build a wall of ego-concepts separating us from the rest of the world. As Sri Chinmoy says: "The mind tries to possess. The heart just expands and, while expanding, it embraces."

Another important difference between the mind and the heart is the way they see the world. The mind generally tries to take an idea and break it down into classifications and concepts, stripping it into something easily digestible. However the heart aspires and expands into the vastness that idea embodies. The heart also embodies a sense of newness and fresness, whereas the mind can become very jaded with seeing the same things over and over again. "When the sun rises, the mind will not care to look at the sun because the mind feels that it is the same old thing. Whether the sun is coming out of the water or out of the clouds, the mind does not care. But the heart is waiting for the sun. The heart says, "When will it come? When will it come? When will it come?" The heart's eagerness always sees newness in everything."

So how does one go from living in the mind to living in the heart? The first step is learning to still the mind through meditation. Sri Chinmoy suggests that "You must direct your full, intense concentration on the heart. You must feel that you are not the mind. You have to feel that you are growing into the heart. You are only the heart and nothing else." But how do you know whether you are really meditating on the heart or just imagining things? "If it is your real heart, then you will get a sense of satisfaction, pure satisfaction. If it is the mind you may also get satisfaction, but immediately you will also get something else and that some thing else is doubt. Your experience will be attacked by other thoughts: "How can I have this kind of satisfaction? I am so bad, I am so impure, I am so ignorant. This morning I told a lie and yesterday I did something very wrong, so I cannot have this kind of satisfaction." When that kind of idea comes, then you will know that your experience was from the mind..But once you get an experience from the heart, immediately you feel your oneness with it. When you see something with the heart, you get joy and immediately you are one with it."

The next step is learning to listen to the inner messages that come from the heart. We all have a unique purpose to fulfill here on earth, and listening to the heart ensures that we can take the right decisions that will put us on the road to fulfilling that purpose. Much of our stress and unhappiness comes from the fact that our mind imposes its own idea of the way things should be - this picture is often an unrealistic one based on the expectations of other people or society.

It invariably turns out that, even though following our heart's calling might lead us down different paths according to our own unique temperament, our heart's sense of connection and empathy with our fellow man ultimately makes us realise that we can only be truly fulfilled by making others happy.

Delight and self-giving
Were born at the same time
And will always live
Together.
- Sri Chinmoy

(photo by Abedan at Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries)

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