10 Spirituality Studies 9-2 Fall 2023 aversions, attachments, hopes and fears, so these are the limitations with which we start this journey and the obstacles that will constantly confront us as we travel back inside towards our destination. The stronger our viṣaya-vāsanās, the slower our progress will be, but the most effective means to weaken these vāsanās (Sa. “inclinations”) is to patiently persevere in this practice of self-investigation. When our viṣaya-vāsanās and consequent attachments are strong, they will impede our efforts to be self-attentive, but if we sincerely want to overcome all these obstacles, we will persevere in our efforts, and thereby we will gradually weaken and eventually overcome them entirely. Therefore however weak our efforts to be self-attentive may be, provided we persevere in making as much effort as we can, it is certainly possible for us thereby to overcome all our viṣaya-vāsanās and attachments, as Bhagavan says in the first sentence of the tenth paragraph of Nāṉ Ār?: “Even though viṣaya-vāsanās, which come from time immemorial, rise in countless numbers like ocean-waves, they will all be destroyed when svarūpa-dhyāna [note: self-attentiveness] increases and increases” [7]. There are other means by which we can gradually weaken our viṣaya-vāsanās, and of all such means the most effective is meditation on a name or form of God with wholehearted love. However, the true “form” or svarūpa of God is ātma-svarūpa, the true “form” or real nature of ourself, so meditating on nothing other than ourself, “I”, with the understanding that God is what exists and shines within us as “I”, is the best way of meditating on him, and is not only by far and away the most effective means by which we can weaken our viṣaya-vāsanās, but also the only means by which we can eradicate them entirely along with their root, namely ego, as Bhagavan implies in verse 8 of Upadēśa Undiyār: “Rather than anya-bhāva [note: meditation on anything other than oneself, particularly meditation on God as if he were other than oneself], ananya-bhāva [note: meditation on nothing other than oneself], in which he is [note: understood to be] I, certainly is the best among all” [8]. As Bhagavan often used to say, even a little effort made in this path of self-investigation (which is what he referred to in this verse as ananya-bhāva, “meditation on what is not other”, is more effective in weakening our viṣayavāsanās than a huge amount of effort made in any other path, so rather than wasting our time and effort in trying to practise any other “means” (Sa. sādhana), it would be wise for us to devote as much time and effort as we can to trying to hold fast to self-attentiveness. What is the meaning of the heart in the teachings of Bhagavan? How does it relate to the pañca-kōśa teaching? There are three prānic granthis that are important in the hatha yoga tradition, while Bhagavan emphasizes the hṛdaya-granthi (cit-jaḍa-granthi). What is the difference between the yoga and jñāna perspectives? There are several words in Tamil that mean “heart”, and as in normal language, Bhagavan uses such words in a variety of different senses, so in each case we need to understand the sense according to the context. In normal language “heart” can mean the physical organ, the seat of emotions, affections, or the will, and in Bhagavan’s teachings it can also mean the mind, particularly the mind in the sense of ego, which is the root and core of the mind, and in its deepest sense “heart” means ātma-svarūpa (Sa. “real nature of ourself”), which is ourself as we actually are. “Heart” means the core, centre or inner part of anything, and the core of our emotions is our will, the core of our will is ego, and the core of ego is ātma-svarūpa, so ātma-svarūpa is the innermost core or heart of everything. If we consider our experience, the heart or centre of all that we experience is ourself as ego, because as ego we are the experiencer of whatever we experience, and since ego is the adjunct-conflated awareness “I am this body”, the heart or centre of ego is ātma-svarūpa, which is the pure awareness “I am”, so ātma-svarūpa is the ultimate heart, and hence
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