| The physical body itself is often regarded as an atom in the
body of the human kingdom, and in this case the Kundalini energy, localized as it is
supposed to be in a center at the base of the spine, would be a positive nucleus, with the
other atoms of the body regarded as electronic in nature. The vital body, or body of
ether, is the medium [101] for the expression of the life soul, that sentient vivifying
duality which we call prana. This dual energy has two positive centers in the vital body
and consequently in the physical - one in the heart, where feeling and sentiency are
claimed to be centered, and another in the head where the mind and the spiritual
consciousness find expression.
Dr. Rele
says that "Prana proper is located between the larynx and the base of the
heart."
"The heart more than the head occupies the attention of the thinkers of the
Upanishads. It is there that the vital breaths reside. Not only the five pranas, but also
eye, ear, speech, and manas originate from the heart. The heart and not the head is the
home of manas; and the former therefore is the center also of conscious life. In sleep the
organs of the soul remain in the heart, and there also they gather at death; 'through the
heart we recognize forms,' through the heart we recognize faith, beget children, know the
truth, on it speech also is based, while the further question on what the heart is based
is angrily rejected. Not the organs however alone, but all beings are based upon and
supported by the heart; and even setting aside the actual definition of the heart as
Brahman, it is yet the empirical home of the soul, and therefore of Brahman: - 'here
within the heart is a cavity, wherein he resides, the lord of the universe, the ruler of
the universe, the chief of the universe.' The heart is called hridayam, because 'it
is he' who dwells 'in the heart' (hridi ayam, Chand. 8.3.3.), small as a grain of rice or
barley; an inch in height the purusha dwells in the midst of the body, as the self of
created things in the heart." [102]
- Deussen, Dr. Paul, The Philosophy of the Upanishads, pp. 286, 287.
"Similarly numerous passages in the later Upanishads celebrate Brahman as
'implanted in the cavity of the heart.' The identity of the atman in us with the atman of
the universe is expressed by the tat tvam asi of Chand. 6.8-16, and also by the etad
vai tad, 'in truth this is that,' of Brih. 5.4, which is probably an imitation of the
other. The same formula is found twelve times in Kath. 4. 3-6. 1, in a prose passage
appended to the verses. The highest bliss, according to Kath. 5. 14, consists in the
consciousness of this thought. We quote in this connection only Kath. 4.12-13:
An inch in height, here in the body
The purusha dwells,
Lord of the past and the future;
He who knows him frets no more, -
In truth, this is that.
Like flame without smoke, an inch in height
The purusha is in size,
Lord of the past and the future;
It is he today and also tomorrow, -
In truth, this is that.
- Deussen,
Dr. Paul, Philosophy of the Upanishads, p. 170.
As here the
purusha is compared to a smokeless flame, so in imitation of this passage, in S'vet. 6.
19, it is likened to a fire whose fuel is consumed; while in S'vet. 5. 9, the contrast
between the atman within us and the atman in the universe is pushed to an extreme:
Split a hundred times the tip of a hair,
And take a hundredth part thereof;
That I judge to be the size of the soul,
Yet it goes to immortality. [103]
The description of the atman as a smokeless flame in the heart has been developed in
the Yogi Upanishads into the picture of the tongue of flame in the heart, the earliest
occurrence of which is perhaps Mahan. 11. 6-12."
- Deussen, Dr. Paul, Philosophy of the Upanishads, p. 171.
The Scriptures are full of references to the fact that Atman, the self, is found in the
heart, from whence it expresses itself as the life principle through the medium of the
blood. The soul nature, or the rational mind and the self-conscious individual expresses
itself in the head and from that position governs the nervous system:
"It has now been proved, that the highest centers are located in the cortex of the
brain, where knowledge of action and sensation is manifested. These centers are both
receiving i.e. sensory; and directing i.e. motor, and have their subsidiary centers in the
two large swellings called the basal-ganglia in each hemisphere of the brain. They are
known as thalamus and corpus striatum. The first one is auxiliary to the chief sensory
center and the second one auxiliary to the chief motor center in the cortex of the brain.
Normally, the auxiliary motor centers are more or less under the control of the will...
The Yogi is concerned with the subsidiary nerve centers in the thalamus. The normal
function of the thalamus is to receive sensations from all parts of the body, which are
relayed to it through the spinal cord, before they reach the chief center.
As this is the highest reflex center in the brain and as all impressions ascend to it,
it is called the Udana-prana. The last relay in the cord, from which it receives impulses,
is from that portion of the cord, [104] called the Bulb, which is on a level with the root
of the nose. Udana-prana is, therefore, said to rule the portion of the head above this
point.
The Yogi, by a conscious control over the Udana-prana, suppresses all incoming and
outgoing sensations into it, and this is necessary to prevent the distraction of the mind
which he is anxious to control."
- Rele, Vasant G., The Mysterious Kundalini, p. 70.
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