This Is No Secret –Joy Kapur
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The completion of this
book is a small miracle in itself. It is a product of constant
inspiration from my older brother Dr. Kanwar Krishan Kapur, without
his helpful hints, his immense patience, his cheerful prodding, his
untiring stamina and his ever scintillating optimism; this book
would not have seen the light of the day.
My heart-felt gratitude to Dr. Sushil Chandra, for his help in the editing process and provided his uncanny insights, his meticulous attention to detail and wisdom in deciphering the Vedic knowledge of the ancient Indian seers. He has been very kind and generous to write a Foreword to this book. I admire his disarming simplicity and humility born of wisdom.
My deepest gratitude
to the gracious copy-editing help from Monica Munjal and for being so
helpful, just like her dad Mr. Krishan Munjal.
A special note of
thanks to Sarna Keswani, who deserves my heart’s gratitude because
it is she who kept me going and provided care, faith and moral
support in the completion of this book. Thank you Sarna from the
bottom of my heart, for your patience, understanding, support, love
and all you did to make this book a reality.
Thanks to the lessons
I learnt from my mother, the late Mrs. Rampiari Kapur and for her
dedication, unconditional love and silent prayers and who lovingly
labored all her life to make us what we are today. My heart goes out
with gratitude to those who are no more with us today like my dear
uncle R.S Kundan Lal Kapur, Dr. Dev Nath Ghai & my sister Vimla
Ghai and my cousin Mr. Tilak Raj Khanna.
Words are not enough to express my gratitude for those who consistently support me and the ones whose constant guidance I treasure most include my younger brother Mike Kapur and his wife Prabha Kapur and my adoptive brother Abdul Suleman and his wife Zarine Suleman. I owe much to the wisdom, clarity and spiritual insights of Naina Singh.
My heart-felt thanks
to my good friend Dr. Naras Bhatt and for his very insightful book on
Heart and stress disorders.
I do not have the
right words to express my deepest gratitude for true friends Gretchen
and Lawrence Eisenberg.
I wish to thank all of
my friends who want to remain anonymous and those who bring light to
my world the likes of Sunita and Shree Nichani, Raju and Chandru
Jagtiani, Sonia and Jai Sainani, Meenu and Kishan Tejwani, Pushpa &
Mohan Shahani, Krishana and Ram Kirpalani, Aruna and Vinod Sood,
Neelam and Sarabjit Thakur, Renu Nagdev, Shirley Balwani, Aunti
Shantiji, Anita, Deena and Air Marshal Satish Inamdar, Anita &
Kamal Gunsagar, Kusum & Suren Gupta, Anita & Ram Vij, Vinoo &
Pyare Khanna, Usha & Suresh Belani, Poonam & Satish Bhutani,
Mr. & Mrs. M.L. Handa, Mr. Mrs. Madra, Mr. & Mrs. T.S.
Khanna, Mr. & Mrs. Krishan Munjal, Mr. & Mrs. Vishwa Sharma,
Mr. Mrs. Peter Sahjani, Mr. and Mrs. Gurdip Gujral and Shobha and
Ashok Dadlani.
My very special
gratitude for Maira Shafqat ( maira15@hotmail.com)
for her graciousness and for her god-gifted talents to design the
cover of this book. And thanks to Sasha Sanders, Kathleen Walker and
Caroline Williams for being what they are…they spread light
wherever they go.
Last but not the
least, my two sons Ravi Kapur and Rishi Kapur, who deserve special
thanks for their unconditional love and support and who are a
constant source of joy, bliss and inspiration in my life.
I will be failing in
my duty if I didn’t mention that my greatest gratitude and
indebtedness belongs to the country of my birth…India. (Yes, my
heart belongs to India!). My life and living has been molded by the
teachings of Vedanta (the greatest scriptures of Indian tradition,
the Vedas and the Upanishads). This book is a drop from the Infinite
wisdom contained in Vedanta philosophy and my humble tribute to the
timeless wisdom of the ancient Indian seers. My heart-felt salute is
to the genius of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, who brought out the wisdom
(“to diffuse knowledge and dissipate ignorance”) contained in the
Vedas to the world.
The following
statement is borrowed from Hu Shih (1891-1962), Ambassador of China
to the U.S. with a slight change: “India conquered and dominated
China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a
single soldier across her borders and will conquer the entire
world spiritually (minds & hearts) during the next 100 years.”
(The words in italics are mine).
Joy Kapur
August 8, 2008
San Francisco, Ca
INTRODUCTION
It is almost impossible to capture the richness and the beauty of the idea contained in this book within the confines of one book or thousand books. This is the essence of my own thinking and reflection, based on my spiritual studies from various sources of knowledge and the wisdom of the ancient seers in the last forty years or so of my life. It will be more appropriate to say that it is a product of my new awareness or call it the gift of grace that I have been able to put together multi-faceted ideas about the “Heart” in a new frame of light. We hear about the heart everywhere, whether it is in a romantic tune or about love from the heart or emotions emanating from the heart or somebody singing about his or her broken heart. Contrary to the popular belief that it is the brain that does everything and that it is mind or the brain that is the seat of consciousness; we now know that it is the heart, not the physical but the spiritual heart that is linked to the source of infinite intelligence.
Since ages, in every culture and every religion, much has been written about the heart metaphorically. As per the wisdom of the ancient Hindu seers, Greek and Buddhist scholars; heart is the seat of human consciousness. Here are the lines from Rig Veda (X129), written more than 3,000 years ago”:
“In the One arose Love,
Love the first seed of the Soul
The truth of this the sages knew
Found hidden in their hearts,
Seeking therein the essence of wisdom,
The sages found that bond of union
Between the known & the Unknown.”
Mankind
has reached the highest expression of life or perhaps coming close to
the ultimate states of human evolution when it comes to emotions,
feelings, perceptions and subtler or higher realms of consciousness.
The natural laws of the universe are coaxing the humanity to seek the
oneness, the unity and the harmony in the hearts of everybody and
everywhere by rising above any barriers of divisiveness and
separateness.
To
introduce the book , I would like to add a few quotes
Dr. Carl Sagan, (1934-1996) famous astrophysicist
"
The idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an
infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is only in the
Vedas in which the time scales correspond, to those of
modern scientific cosmology (age is billions of years). A
millennium before Europeans were willing to divest themselves of the
Biblical idea that the world was a few thousand years old, the Mayans
were thinking of millions and the Indians billions."
Albert
Einstein (1879-1955) physicist.
"When
I read the Bhagavad Gita and reflect about how God created this
universe everything else seems so superfluous. "
Robert
R. C. Zaehner (1913-1974) British historian of religion.
" The sacred books, the Vedas, claim, 'Truth is one, but sages call it by different names.' If only all the rest of the monotheistic 'book' religions, had learned that lesson, all the horror of history's religious wars could have been avoided. Which other book has its God say, as Krishna does in the Bhagavad Gita, 'All paths lead to me.' ?
Prior to 9/11, USA has been the most abundant nation in the history of mankind with its emphasis on democracy, knowledge, scientific research, wisdom and spirituality. People like Buffet, Gates and Oprah are leading us to restore that feeling of abundance, generosity and spirituality again. Ramakrishnan, Viveknand, Mahesh Yogi hand more recently Chopra have tried to enlighten us with the teachings from the East. My humble attempt here is to go even higher and deeper to bring that message to the whole world. I seek your help in doing so.
The heart is far more than a mere organ that pumps blood all day long, it is a generator of information energy and its cells are storehouses of info-energetic memories. Heart is a feeling, thinking, receiving and communicating organ having spiritual powers.
Heart is the most sophisticated internal cosmic antenna, capable of receiving and remitting healing rays, through thoughts, feelings and prayers in the form of positive vibrations. This not based on some heresy or some old man’s tale or hunches, it is based on self-knowledge, wisdom and discernment and qualities of head and heart.
It is your thoughts and passions deep down within your heart that determine who you really are and your core passions and what you will become based on knowing first and then implementing those passions through a plan of action. When we know what we are deep down in our heart, it is easy to go about following what we love and loving what we do.
All our desires, ambitions, fears, loves and passions reside in embryonic form in our heart-center. We are naturally attracted to whatever we secretly harbor in our heart’s DNA, and whatever we harbor with passion has the potential to manifest and sprout in our lives. The heart through its morphogenetic field attracts what we really put out in the cosmos through our thoughts, feelings and heart-soaked vibrations. It depends on your obsession or involvement in a certain project or discipline that contributes to your success.
Love, perhaps the most ennobling human emotion, is directly connected to the source of the heart…it is connected to the very source of the Universe where things emanate from nothing. There lies the greatest source of energy, infinite in nature and capable of doing things that are impossible for the average folks. There lies the gift of Infinite abundance, infinite wisdom, where in a miraculous ways, men material and resources all line up to be at your service, at beck and call, without struggle. All you need is to learn how to connect with that infinite source in fulfilling all your desires, your fondest dreams, without lifting a finger so to say.
Your life is your journey of your mind’s inward gaze into the wisdom of the heart and through this knowledge to experience the awakening process of unity and non-duality, to uncover and follow the inner urges and the longings of your heart and to become your best spiritually.
I feel deeply grateful to the ‘Invisible Finger’ that prompted me to write this book…and my humble aspiration is that this book will touch at least a billion hearts around the planet and the ideas contained in this book that had such a transforming effect on my life will equally touch the lives of those who would read the following pages. This is not my knowledge but a modest attempt to bring out and spread India’s ancient wisdom to the world.
Joy Kapur
FOREWORD
I was fortunate to have reviewed the manuscript of this scholarly book written by Mr. Joy Kapur. This book shows an approach to modify our life in a very integrated way. Mr. Kapur indicates his brush with the infinite before he started writing this book. Most of us mortals are not so fortunate as to have that experience in this life. For those who are not very happy about their daily life and are looking for an approach to get in touch with divinity, this book is a must read. He basically develops three themes. First of all, this book is non-sectarian. It does not preach any religion and does not ask anyone to change his or her church or place of worship. It talks about oneness of humanity.
His numerous quotations are from world literature. He even talks of world peace and shows way to achieve it by transformation of the heart. His second theme is that our pure heart is at the center of our spiritual development. Our body is our temple. He defines spiritual heart as separate from physical heart and suggests its integration with what he calls super mind. Super mind is higher than lower mind, which is what mostly we use every day. Once this integration between super mind and spiritual heart happens, it leads to development of compassion, love, kindness, fearlessness, generosity and other noble feelings in the person.
True knowledge is realization of divinity that is within each one of us. True tranquility is that of mind anchored in the spiritual heart. The third theme is that we have the power within us to change our lives. We really don’t need any temple or church to achieve that integration between our spiritual heart and super mind. He outlines step by step approach to uniting heart with the mind, which leads us from mundane life to more peaceful and purposeful life. Some talk the talk and walk the walk but it is another thing to walk the talk and still get up after every fall, still have the same faith and trust in the higher power. This book shows us how.
Those who decide to read this book may find their views on life altered for the better. It is a serious study and needs time to assimilate it in life.
Dr. Sushil Chandra
JOY KAPUR (Bio-data)
(A published poet, an artist at heart, restaurateur by profession and a life-long student of spirituality, mystical poetry and a seeker of the mysteries of the Unknown)
Armed with eight dollars and a Masters in English Literature, J. Kapur came to America in 1967 with truly little more than a shirt on his back. While studying for his MBA at San Francisco’s Golden Gate University, Kapur worked in the evenings in a restaurant. After completing his MBA, his career began at Channel 2-KTVU, before opening string of 8 restaurants in Bay Area & owns Maharani Restaurant in San Francisco. He had short stints in real estate and as a stockbroker. He has been a lifelong student of metaphysics and his outlook on life is innately spiritual.
He has written poetry books and has been articles on food and spiritually oriented topics. His most notable works;
“The Divine Perfume of Love” an anthology of 108 mystical love poems, published in 2001 by IUniverse. Com.
‘Deck of Heart’ is another of his work, a collection of 54 poems on a deck of playing cards.
‘Be My Valentine’…a collection of 54 valentine-love poems and 54 paintings.
‘Love Poems from the Heart’… poems of the heart from the heart.
His current book: “This is no Secret”
His notable quotes:
“When human love becomes pure it transcends to divine love…love becomes religion and the beloved becomes god.”
“True love is being utterly alone in the stream of truth or cosmic consciousness. It is being completely aware and living life to the fullest.”
“What the world needs is shift from our hearts…a new consciousness responsive to the challenges of the new millennium.
“The most powerful and potent force lies in your heart. It is your heart-held intentions that give you indefatigable energy, stamina and will, the heart’s way to reach your goals, whether it is to attract love, wealth, health or knowledge.”
“The light that allows the mind to function comes from the heart.”
“Once you get anchored in the purity of the heart, meaningful coincidences and synchronistic events start showing up in your life.”.”
CHAPTER 1
HEART IS THE CENTER OF UNIVERSE
(Awakening the infinite potential of your heart)
It is no secret that the Heart is one of the most important physical parts of human anatomy and positively the most vital psychic center in our bodies. Hridaya Chakra or Heart-center is different than the physical heart that regulates the blood circulation; without which the physical body will come to a stop.
Heart is called Hridaya in many Indian languages and is derived from the Sanskrit word Hridayam (hrit+ayam) which means, “This is the CENTER”. This heart center is not only of the physical body but also the heart of the scriptures. It is spiritual center of the body…synonymous with various terms like Heart-cave, Aatman, Abode of intuitive wisdom, Seedless trance, Home of inner-silence, *Tenth Gate, the Fourth State or *Turiya Avastha.
Guru Nanak called it “Sahaj guphaa mahi aasam baandhyaa…” (“In the cave of my heart, I have obtained a seat, I hear the unstuck melody of bliss there and I am in ecstasy.”)
Heart is the center in our physical body and the whole body vibrates around it just like the solar system revolves around the sun. We come to life with the first breath or with the first beat of the heart on this planet and will die our physical death with the last breath or the last heartbeat. If life is a miracle of all miracles, greater miracle is mind and brain; greater than that is the heart that encompasses the whole universe, like the drop that contains the ocean. The heart contains the divine spark that connects all human beings through feelings and emotions. It is this capacity for feeling that knows the pains and joys of others that comprehends the basic nature of reality through direct intuition. Heart is where life is, it is where the feelings develop, it is where life happens…in short it is through the nurturing heart that the human beings radiate life, love, feelings, emotions, good will, music, art, culture and play of consciousness. Without its benign touch, life is not worth living; without it there would be no difference between humans and most of the lower species.
HEART & DIVINE CONSCIOUSNESS
Patanjali writes in his book, the Patanjali Yoga Sutras, that the success of an aspirant depends upon the means they adopt: mild, medium or intense; mild belongs to the physical body, medium is covered by the mental energies and the intense is connected with the heart or the spirit.
Life should not be measured by the length of one’s stay on this planet, rather by the depth and the amount of the riches one shows from the heart. It should not be measured by the learning or intellectual prowess or wisdom; it is the heart that holds the power… it is the heart that is the source of all knowledge, wisdom and intuition. It is the heart that is the bridge between the individual and universal consciousness. The seers of Upnishadas said eloquently: “Ishwara saravbhutnam hridayas tishthati.” (All pervasive divine consciousness resides in the heart of each individual)
HEART—OUR SPIRITUAL CENTER
The ancient seers of India knew that there are seven psychic centers or Chakras or energy centers…these Chakras have their biological counterparts. Each Chakra plays its important role in maintaining good health, life and energy. Heart Chakra is the fourth Chakra from both ends. That is why it plays a double role in creating the real you consciously. The first four are spiritual centers belong to the gross physical body the last four belong the subtle body or mind. The fourth Chakra plays a double role as bridge between the physical and the subtle.
“The heart of the scriptures is not the fleshy heart. It is the mysterious divine substance which is sentient, which feels, which is filled with sublime sentiments and higher emotions, and which is the seat of the Lord.” Wrote Swami Sivananda.
HEART & TRANSFORMATION
This spiritual Heart center is the fountainhead of all human emotions. Sometimes we try hard to listen to the silent language of the heart. Heart is the only divine antenna and through its electro-magnetic field ,it is directly connected to the morphogenetic field of universal intelligence, and to each and every living organism and its conscious pulsations can be monitored, directed and sent at will to any and everybody on this planet and beyond. It takes a highly spiritual and transformed human being to know and tune into the potencies and the mysteries of the heart.
HEART—THE COSMIC ANTENNA
It is said about Mahatma Gandhi that before starting a new movement he would go on fast. His idea of fasting and meditating was to purify and focus his entire energies, physical, mental and spiritual (especially the spiritual) to the task in hand. In spite of the lack of TV, radio and other means of mass communication, he could electrify the whole country with his spiritual powers. Sometimes without informing anybody he would reach another city by train, he would find hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets and waiting to greet him. He had the power to touch and move millions of hearts with the power of his heart instantly.
Internationally famous spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy said so eloquently:
“…It is not the size of the arm that makes the man; it’s the size of the heart that makes the man.”
The process is no secret, it starts at being aware of it vast potential…though intangible, but not in our usual three dimensional world view, that is why it takes patience, grace and an altered state of consciousness to know and feel its benign touch.
Heart is the most powerful cosmic antenna that has the ability to receive or remit messages around the world instantly faster than the speed of light. Heart is the seat of intuitive wisdom, the conduit to Universal intelligence and fountainhead of all emotions. Through heart you are instantly connected to this invisible power and energy, infinite in scale and magnitude.
It is probably one of the most powerful tools in the hands of those who have the good fortune to know its humungous potential and how to use or misuse. It is the only divine gift accessible to each and every one equally…the gift that must be cultivated, nurtured, harnessed, strengthened and adored with passion, clarity and wisdom and utmost faith, stemming from the heart.
HEART---A POWERFUL FORCE
Heart is the most
powerful inner force that must be reckoned with, it is an unlimited
source of passion, creativity and inspiration. Real adventure begins
from the heart, it is where you decode the purpose of your life on
this planet and it is where real transformation happens. Heart has
the ability to develop control over sense organs; it is where you
re-illuminate your love and your relationships in your life. It is
the direct link to the universal birthing cradle of the cosmos…it
is where you have the capacity to be instantly in touch with anybody
or everybody in the world. It is where you experience unimaginable
bliss and ecstasy. The thoughts that are imbued with the energy from
the heart are more powerful and have the capacity to change anything
in this world.
It is the same power that made Michael Phelps the greatest swimmer of all time winning 14 gold medals in two Olympics. Once you know it, and you have tried and decoded the message from your heart and
start putting faith in this invisible source of energy, a tremendous
transformation will take place in your life, your life will change . . .you will know and understand that there is nothing impossible in this
world.It is the same force that pulsates in every beat of our heart and it is the same force that connects us with the whole universe. It is the
same force that puts colors on the chameleon or the flowers or
fragrance in the roses, make the earth move on its axis, rotate the
planets on a fixed path, create all the insects and, animals and plant
kingdom . . . at the same time feed every cell of our body. And most
of us think misguidedly, it is we who mould our own destinies or we
have the choice to do what we
want to do. Yes, we do put the food in
our body. Who does rest of the things . . . from digesting to feeding
one hundred trillions of cells of our body, without our lifting a finger?
PATH OF THE HEART (Heart Awareness)
Once you are on this path of heart-awareness, you are guided moment-by-moment, step-by-step by an invisible force that does not fail you. All it asks of you to show implicit faith and integrity from the purity of your heart and to pursue the path of the heart. The only way to access this limitless source of energy…the energy of love, is to get anchored into it every moment of the day. It is this heart center that not only heals you but heal others as well. Abandon your feelings of isolation…get connected to this Infinite source—the infinite energy of love. Heart has the power to control your health, your wealth, your relationships and your destiny. Negative emotions from the heart can manifest into disease and positive emotions can heal and rejuvenate you. Once you become centered in the heart you become very aware of its infinite potential and this awareness makes to get in tune with your body and everybody around you.
Mind without the heart is like an empty vessel making much noise. Mind by its very nature has a tendency to be effervescent and it gravitate towards whatever it contacts, which makes it restless and jumpy like a monkey. Mind can be taught to merge with the purity of the heart, or the purity of the intent in of heart.
Intention is powerful particularly after it has been culled by the mind and sifted through the heart. Without the benign touch of the heart and without a positive consciousness brought to it, mind can be destructive, particularly when it is used in the name of religion or some fanatical creed or an ulterior selfish motive. Mind is like the cloud and heart is like the blue sky. Cloud can never stain the sky however dense it may be.
Nobility of intention is not a product of the mind or intellect. Nor is it a mechanical process, or a product of the machine. It is also not a numbers thing or a random theory of isolated occurrence or some fate or destiny. It is directly connected to the source of the heart. It is connected to the source of the Universe where things emanate from nothing. Therein hides the greatest source of energy, infinite in nature. That energy makes it possible for people to be capable of doing things, which are impossible for others to do.
HEART—THE ABODE OF TRUTH & LOVE
“As the man thinketh in his heart, so is he, spiritually, mentally and physically.” Solomon wrote (Proverb 23.7)
The findings of science are not contrary to the spiritual truths propounded by the seers of Vedanta…science has not evolved far enough to find that both the paths lead to the same truths. It was Swami Vivekanand, who said that the higher truths come through the heart, not the head, and that in a conflict between head and heart; the heart should be given preference. Though he possessed gigantic intellect, he confirmed his intuitive revelations by reasoning and thinking. Science has validated the existence of the morphogenetic field of love connected with the heart and this energy is many times more than what comes out of the mind or brain and what ancient seers of India knew intuitively.
Mind is conditioned by its own limitations and cannot have a balanced perspective. Mind can be trained, not only to carry out day-to-day chores of daily life but it can be taught to merge with the consciousness of the heart and with its subtle invigorating touch. Mind or intellect has to be sharp enough to know its own limitations. Wisdom sustains life but heart nurtures it. Heart has to play a more vibrant role in the affairs of the mind to achieve more balanced and harmonious results. Sometimes we need insight more than the whip of the intellect; sometimes we have to listen to yearning of the heart and its silent whispers of compassion and kindness. As the mind starts attuning itself with heart, and gets focused and at the highest point of one pointed concentration…it turns to spiritual energy…it turns into yearning…yearning of an infant for his mother or of a devotee for a mystical union with the divine. This yearning is not from the physical or mental plane; it is from the eternal springs of the heart…it springs from the silence of the heart, the womb of infinite creativity, music, art and all sciences. At this point what the poets call the “mystical peak”, Infinite finds a way to reach the heart of the individual consciousness of the seeker and give an aspirant a glimpse of the infinite.
Heart is the seat of consciousness, the abode of love… not of the mental or physical kind and not of the business kind of give and take. Heart does not expect anything in return, it only believes in giving and giving without expecting from the heart. As they say, true love is unconditional, and love that is based on giving, makes the giver feel good from inside for the sheer joy of giving. There is no manipulation of any kind from the lower contriving mind, when heart is involved. True love has this quality of divinity, quality of synchronicity, quality of abundance that defies description…it multiplies and comes back many-fold what you are giving, whether it is tangible or intangible, so long it springs from the nobility of thoughts.
HEART & TRUE AWAKENING
True love has power of this pure energy hidden in the heart, and the heart-anchored person can easily tap into it and transmit this power at will. It is like being connected to a dynamo of energy, while the mind dissolves into the heart and merges with the purity of higher consciousness. The only way we can attain that unity is by the anchoring of the mind in the heart, thus creating a new mind, call it the super-mind, awakened to the purity and the humanizing touch of the heart. This would create a newer understanding and unity, based on compassion and purity and the realization that we are all tiny slivers and part of the whole. We are all part of the divine intelligence that permeates this universe, connected at the heart-level. We are one, and the common link that unites us together runs straight through the hearts.
ONENESS THROUGH THE HEART
We are one…we are one family…this understanding is inborn in us; it is our primary consciousness…we are born with. It is part of our 5 billions of years of evolutionary journey on this planet; to live, to strive, to grow and to understand the universe but the final understanding is from the heart. We grow and develop different levels of consciousness, we go through series of awakenings and we evolve to love, to nurture, to protect others and join others in the common goal for the welfare of all mankind and feel one with the universe.
Once we feel one with the universe, we become one with this Universal Energy, which stimulates the body and brain or human consciousness via this unknown Primordial Transcendental power. This is the same feeling of oneness that unites us all together on this planet, it is same bond that unites us at the heart level; and it is not clouded by the limits of the lower mind or the narrow boundaries of caste, creed, color, sex, national origin or other politically or fanatically motivated biases. It is only when we get completely anchored in the heart that we can access and interact with this energy. It is about the time that the awakened among us to steer the mankind towards a global village concept before we destroy ourselves through technological advances. We have to learn to accept and respect all forms of life on our planet, not just cats, dogs, cows or elephants.
In one of his poems, Jalaludin Rumi the great mystic from Iran, shows his intuitive insights into the theory of evolution:
“The world is like a dream
The dust of many crumbled civilizations
We began our march as minerals
We emerged into the plant life
And from there into the animal state
And then into being human
Always we have forgotten our former states
Except in early springs
When we slightly recall being green again
And how the baby leans towards the breast
Turning instinctively without knowing the secret
Humankind is being led along an evolving course
Through this migration of intelligences
And though we seem to be sleeping
There is an inner wakefulness that directs the dream”
Life lays dormant in minerals, exists in plants, moves in animals and blossoms, dazzles and sparkles in humans. It is through the heart that life blossoms into a creative genius, it through the heart that he dazzles the world with his brilliance and again it is through the heart that he sparkles like a gem, be it Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein or Martin Luther King Jr.
It is in the heart…in it lies the gifts of infinite abundance, beauty, peace, eternal bliss and infinite wisdom. The universe is abundant in the myriad ways it speaks to us and how we express ourselves to others. All we need is to learn how to connect with that infinite source in fulfilling all our desires and our fondest dreams, and then, in miraculous ways, human beings, material and resources all appear effortlessly line up to be at our service. The quantum level of creation is the embryonic silence, the silence of the heart. In that silent beat of the heart is the cosmic womb of creativity, the egg of all creations.
When a person gets anchored in his and her heart chakra or heart center, he or she begins emanating a quality of integrity, of compassion, of empathy, of helping others, developing a kind of discipline that slowly becomes a part of his or her mode of thinking. What we sow, we reap it back. When we have inner peace and serenity, we infect others with the same kind of peace and serenity. When we love others unconditionally, it not only makes others feel good and loved, but they reciprocate in the same way and will make us feel good and loved. If this cycle keeps on growing, it will invariably touch everyone on this planet with feelings of love and harmony and oneness. This experience of love, harmony and oneness is not of the intellect but of the heart.
It is mentioned so eloquently in Katha Upnishad:
To him who sees the Self
Revealed in his own heart
Belongs eternal bliss
To none else, to none else…
To him who sees the Self
Revealed in his own heart
Belongs eternal peace
To none else, to none else!
Heart is like a receiver, like a television set…it has the capacity to receive thought waves from around the planet, from different sources, enabling it to communicate with everybody at the same wave length by the intuitive powers inherent in the heart and at the same time it is directly linked with the universal energy which is the source of everything in this universe, more like a giant cosmic television station.
All of us have to find our center, our own heart-center, as everything and everybody in this world is centered in the heart. There is no other world and no other life than this. We are the God living in our own heart. Own up to ourselves by getting anchored in the purity of our own heart. We need to anchor ourselves in this new consciousness, deep within our hearts, creating a new kind of thinking, based on compassion, generosity, empathy and self-less service, responsive to the challenges of the new age and it all starts from the heart. Life should not be measured by the number of breaths we take but by the number of moments we live from our heart-center, with harmony, peace and serenity…and this is no secret!
Chapter 2
MY BRUSH WITH THE INFINITE!
(The Quantum Events of the Heart)
A great mystic once said so profoundly:
“Of what avail is the open eye if the heart is blind.”
Yes, most of my life, I admit I have been blind, though I have been searching without any clue to what I was looking for!
Is the world an illusion?
Who is telling this and to whom?
One who has never tasted mangoes cannot tell how they taste.
The last twelve years my life stretched behind me like an empty abyss. The persons most close to me were the ones who had driven away from me; the ones I thought were close to my heart, wanted rather to be close to my possessions, sense satisfaction became more and more unsatisfying; and was ephemeral to say the least.
I was like an empty vessel making much noise but had nothing to show for content.
I was looking for bliss without knowing the meaning of it. I was trying to enjoy life without first knowing what I really wanted. I started to question myself:
“What do I desire the most?”
“What is that which burns in my heart?”
“What is that really stirs me?”
“Why have I been so restless?”
”What is the purpose of my life on this planet?”
“What is my calling?”
“What kind of legacy am I going to leave behind?”
There was this “truth”, this “inner voice” that was always trying to make itself known by its silent beat in my heart. I did not know that “truth” and “truthful living” are not the same. I wanted my life to be guided by truth, but I did not know how. My limited mind or lower mind did not know the difference. My life was completely out of whack, to say the least.
I thought of the words of Jesus: “Know thy truth and truth will set you free”.
The more I delved on it the more it started making sense.
I was reminded of the words of Guru Nanak:
“Truth is higher than everything; but higher still is truthful living”.
I was living a very conditioned life; conditioned by society, by my upbringing, conditioned by my heritage, conditioned by my education and conditioned by my own conditioning. I was looking for sense-satisfaction, I was searching for so called love…in the mundane world; I was looking for serenity and peace without knowing its origin or eternity; in short I was searching for everything that happened to be of ephemeral nature. I was living a very un-integrated life, to say the least.
I was living with a consciousness that was steeped with dead memories which I had gathered right from my childhood.
In my search for myself or my Infinite-self, I stumbled upon my poetic muse; call it a gift of grace or call it serendipity or call it extreme sensitivity of being in love with love.
I heard that “inner voice” one night while deep in sleep. I woke up and looked around and saw no one except myself in that room. I thought I was losing my mind or hallucinating. Was it hallucination? It was not…it was real…it was not coming from outside…it reverberated in my inner ears. It happened again and again in the form of a note or lyric until I grasped the meaning and it stopped. I realized this sound was not coming from an outer source but from within. It emanated from the heart and went to the “inner ears” before it erupted as a sound that I could hear. The message was loud and clear. My mystical muse started manifesting through my pen in the form of mystical poems*.
This was my first brush with the Infinite.
It was the start of my own inner mystical transformation.
I started writing verses…without really thinking from my mind…it was more of a spontaneous overflow of “something” from a mystical realm. It dawned on me that perhaps the mystical poets of the past like Rumi, Omar Khayyam, Kabir, Mira Bai, Iqbal to name a few, also wrote or sang under some mystical spells, and some of them would burst into spontaneous singing. I remembered the following mystical experience in Rumi’s words:
“I am the mist of the morning
I am the vibration of the evening
I am the breath of the flute
I am the spirit of the man
I am the soul in all things”
I felt humbled and grateful for my cosmic kinship to this mystical belonging at the heart level.
Yes, I became a conduit in the hands of an Unseen Power working through me, guiding me, coaxing me, illumining me, daily, in anything I did or think of doing in a way I cannot explain in words or language. The understanding is wordless; it can only be the result of a personal experience that transforms; not coming from any intellectual knowledge, just a sense of deep conviction that I developed through the understanding from the heart. This mystical language can be developed if the longing of the heart is strong and pure enough. This is the same music that comes from the silence of the heart after the mind that has endured much turmoil and finally gets anchored in the purity of the heart. Some who practice Nada Yoga* can also hear this sound from their right ear all the time. One can pick up subtle melodies floating in the cosmos around them at will. I personally believe and know the value of some of the Vedic mantras, and how they have changed my life, my body, my voice, my heart and my spirit awakening. When I am writing verses…I am in sheer bliss…a state of something that has no opposite. Indeed the Sanskrit mantras and their chanting have a mystical creative and healing ability.
The poetic muse sprang itself right from inside of my heart…my muse was born amidst the ecstasy of pain and hurt. I knew my marriage was on the rocks because of my addictive nature…addiction to the world of senses and my quest for the Unknown. The conflict between my inner and outer self was tearing me apart. My verses were a result of my anguish to do the right thing…I was going through a period of transition and silent introspection in my heart. This mystical voice that resides in every heart but can get easily drowned into the mendacity of everyday existence and in the grip of baser senses. All it needed was the purity and the silence of the heart. I found my muse! I realized that my verses had a mystical unity of the One without a second.
When the human consciousness disappears into the divine consciousness or merges with it and becomes one…it gets a glimpse of the peace of eternal life. Our life is essentially divine…there is no difference between humanity and divinity, though it is a long and arduous process for a person steeped in baser senses to uncover his or her own divinity. The ego-based mind fails to know this. The mind, pursuing the externals can never be satisfied because they are temporary in nature. Only when the aspirant realizes the futility of the chase, he or she turns inward and comes in tune with divine consciousness that dwells within his or her own heart, his or her life starts radiating the pure, spontaneous, integrated and graceful life. He or she feels joy, peace, truthfulness, kindness, patience and all those moral codes the society is trying to impose on citizens through laws; these come naturally to the aspirant.
I started to see this world with this new consciousness; sort of a miracle; cannot be explained or described; it can only be alluded to. How can you explain the ripening of a mango or the turning of grape into the wine? How does a rose get its fragrance? It was the beginning and awakening of my own spirituality by diving deep into inner realms of consciousness.
And then I had my second “Open Heart Surgery”…I was technically dead for a few minutes, so I was told, when the “blue code” was turned on at the San Francisco’s Kaiser Hospital. After a few days or so, when I came back to my consciousness; I had glimpses of a realm beyond the senses or the sense-world. I kept slipping in and out of consciousness. Was I dead, alive or dreaming? I found myself hovering from an elevation way above and got a glimpse of next plane or my next abode, stunning view with scintillating blue and green lights…dazzling and mesmerizing to say the least. I was completely at peace…I lost all fear of death. A voice told me telepathically: “My time hasn’t come yet to be the part of this plane”. I realized there were other planes far beyond our physical dimensions, beyond space and time, where the laws of physics don’t matter, and there are subtler inner planes of consciousness, where there is more peace and tranquility and those are far beyond the understanding of the Hutchins and the Dawkins of the world.
I believe there are some life-transforming moments in our lives…it was one of those moments that I felt connected to something from ‘beyond’. I knew, then and there, that it was not my time to go…I saw a new consciousness emerging from the ashes of the old ego-based personality. I experienced a new me, in a new relationship with not only myself but with everybody around me, I felt a complete sense of peace in the pursuit of the Unknown. I knew my future and my course of action…it was slowly dawning on me. Yes, I found the meaning of life. Why me only…the whole world…the whole cosmos is looking for a meaning of life. I was developing the intense pleasure living every moment to the fullest, one moment at a time. I became fearless and developed a sense of invincibility or of immense inner security. I could read people’s faces, their inner thoughts and their subtle inner realms, though each one of us possesses the same faculty to some extent.
That was my second brush with the Infinite. I realized that time and space belong to this plane of human consciousness and all our attachments and beliefs are concepts of the mind and have no meaning to the ever pure consciousness. We are all one, one with the universe (uni-verse). We all come out of the same mystical essence called Prana or Shakti or Elan vital, Chi or just call it universal energy. Our mind, body and intellect are only barriers to know our real self; but they can be made to experience the spiritual ecstasies; and once you know how to mould and transform them, they are marvelous tools to comprehend totality.
When we remove the filters of our minds, the Unseen Power is there before us not only in that moment but always, and is part of each and every one hundred trillion cells of each human being.
The scientists among us believe in the theory of ‘cause & effect’, but there are some events that occur without a cause, though we believe in our ability to be the cause of events or the first step towards becoming or finding our place in the universe. Still we need grace, otherwise why some succeed and others don’t, in spite of the hard work.
My third brush with the Infinite was more miraculous than the first two. During a wonderful and thrilling spell in my life, I developed a tremendous passion to paint, especially painting hearts. I virtually painted a million hearts, and kept painting on any piece of paper or canvas I could find around me and each heart I painted came out in different colors and hues. My friends could not understand my fascination with the “Hearts”…including myself.
One evening while sitting on my table in my restaurant, in San Francisco; I was deeply engrossed in painting; with canvas, paints, brushes etc., and using restaurant’s white dinner plate filled with water to thin the paint. Suddenly without my knowledge, a speck of paint fell from my brush (soaked with red paint) into the water in the white plate; I looked in the plate and found that speck of paint that fell from my brush, turned itself into the most beautiful and perfect heart I have ever seen, etched deep down in the water at the bottom against the backdrop of the white plate.
Could a human hand paint a perfect heart in water?
I was speechless; I was breathless…I was stunned…who could paint that perfect heart in water? Was it some kind of a sign or a clue or was it just a coincidence?
What was it trying to convey? There was indeed, a miracle in that moment.
Yes, it was. It was a moment greater than life. Perhaps, there are some life-altering moments …after those, life is never the same. I was lost in that moment…it was a call from the Infinite. I was ecstatic…I was grateful. That was a synchronistic clue, a clue I knew that was going to change my life forever.
Yes, it was no ordinary coincidence. My outer world came to a standstill.
In that moment I traversed the longest journey of my life and perhaps the shortest distance; from my head to my heart.
I saw in that painted heart…shaped perfectly in pink color, against the backdrop of white dinner plate; I saw the glimpse of eternity and its timelessness, a hint of Divine Intelligence beckoning me to understand what it was trying to convey in the mystical language of the heart. Call it a miracle, call it synchronicity, call it coincidence or call it an act of destiny. I have no way to explain this mysterious phenomenon; it could be a random occurrence, a scientist friend told me, as there is no logical explanation for it.
“Nothing happens without a reason…there are no coincidences in the universe…the universe is always giving clues to those who understand. You need to open the eyes of your heart to see miracles all around” (my philosopher friend Shree Nichani’s words)
It was the illumination of the heart by the heart with “The Heart”, in certitude of the divine light and guidance.
Why the heart? What synchronicity…perhaps synchronicity is a quantum event of the heart! I became extremely aware of the synchronistic relationship between mind, body, heart and spirit.
I got my answer. The Infinite chose me…I felt humbled and grateful. What else is there to say? I found eternal abundance and bliss in the wealth of that moment. I felt connected with something greater than myself.
Call it a “déjà vu” moment. The defining moment which makes all the difference in the world around you…call it the most transforming moment of my life.
I realized why I was put on this planet!
My heart instantly knew what my mind was trying to grasp for years. I found in that instant “my calling”, my goal in life, the glimpses of a higher-self; that I have been seeing in fragments all my life. I found my truth. My journey had begun but my search was over. In that moment, the Infinity rendered itself to me in my own language, what my inner self was searching for ages. I found my answers…I uncovered something greater than life. A certain sense of purpose dawned on my consciousness. I sensed a certain distinct harmony. Trivialities of daily existence started to lose their grip on me. Something was beckoning me to embark upon my spiritual journey and show the world that it is through the heart that one can manifest one’s heart’s desires. I knew I found something…my quest for the Unknown had ended. Since then I have been seeing the cosmic signs and clues on every bend. The miracles are all around us but we need the “awakened eyes” (the eyes soaked in the inward gaze into the heart) to see them. The thrill and joy of knowing the Unknown!
I am beginning to believe that I have the good fortune of knowing Infinite’s presence around me all the time; I feel Its presence wherever I go and whatever I do, in each moment, in every thought, in every deed, it emanates from each cell of my being.
The essence of any religion is not worshipping, rituals or chanting, it is more of finding the path, it is unfolding of one’s own unique quest of an inner personal relationship with the divine…it is the catching of the “Unseen” in its own splendor; it is knowing the mystical peak or the dawning of heart’s wisdom, it is the understanding of the working of the “Invisible” force and accepting life as it unfolds, like a child, in complete surrender, with or without the use of intellect. The ultimate reality cannot be described or apprehended in terms of common language or in scientific terms. Certainly the scientists will not find in any laboratory with the help of gross scientific instruments.
I found my truth, my true religion, the religion of mankind and the glue that holds the world together. I felt I was one with the same force that puts fragrance in the flowers, makes the planets move, and takes care of living beings…every animal, each insect and plant, and the same energy pulsates in every beat of our hearts. I realized the power of Consciousness with its dual aspects, static and active. The active sends out its vibrations though hides out its identity from our perception behind the form it creates.
I found my answer. It was a call from Beyond. It was a mystical clue, not a random occurrence but an invitation of forming a personal relationship with this Unseen Power, a synchronistically significant coincidence that was a clear message from the non-local realm, which made Itself visible, and was telling me to give this message to the world. It was a message of the “Heart” by the “Heart” to everyone with a heart, from the Universal love “Heart” Itself.
Even the writing of this book, it will be more accurate to say: “It is writing itself” I became a conduit in the hands of an Unseen Power. The words were handed out to me in spells that lasted for many days and weeks and sometimes 10 hours at a stretch. It changed my life that I cannot express in words. I hope the same knowledge changes yours. All of us are connected to this electro-magnetic field of the heart but a few know how to make this energy flow in our lives, as there are many negative and stressful events that dissipate this energy from our bodies.
This unseen source steers me through when I start to stumble or when I try to put my little ego-self into it. I realized why I was put on this planet and that was the day when my whole life fell into place, in sync with my divine destiny. I felt as if I was in one with the same power that holds the cosmos together, when things happen, not of your own doing but through another invisible power, some unseen intelligence. I had to wait a lifetime to write this book or rather to become the person who could write this book.
I felt a certain resonance with Tagore’s words:
“…my life’s empty flute waits for its final music, like a primal darkness before the stars come out.”
I have become a conduit to give this message to the world. I wanted to shout at the top of my voice:
FOLLOW YOUR HEART!
Heart is the seat of Consciousness. We have the power within us to awaken and reshape our minds through our hearts and stir the same within our fellow human beings. Follow your heart…we are tied and bound together at the heart level in unity, peace and harmony…and this is my humble message from the bottom of my heart.
Obviously this Is No Secret!
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*The result was my first book titled: “The Divine Perfume of Love”, a collection of 108 poems, published in year 2000, by IUniverse.com
CHAPTER 3
I HAVE THE HEART: THEREFORE I AM
(KNOW THYSELLF: FROM YOUR HEART)
What is life…a span of human existence between two dates; (b & d) birth and death! Life is just a tiny bubble on the ocean of life. Sufficient to say: we are born with a death sentence! The fact is that neither life nor death is in your hands.
Born with a death sentence!
Who dies?
The body or the mind or the “I”
Who dies when we breathe our last?
Is it the heart that breathes the last breath?
Who am I?
Why are we born?
Why do we have to die?
What is the purpose of our lives on this planet?
Where is our true homeland?
Where do we come from?
What is life?
How do we give meaning to our lives?
What are we… physical, mental, emotional or spiritual beings or something else?
Why do we have to suffer?
Why do we fall sick?
What is good, what is bad?
Is there a higher power called God or some other Invisible force?
How do we develop a more meaningful lifestyle and relationship with others, with our family, with our lover or with our fellow beings on this planet?
How to know that Invisible Power some call it God, Allah or Ishwar?
Mankind has been struggling with the same kind of questions and ideas since ages. I truly respect and honor all those Holy Scriptures and all the saints, scholars, philosophers, poets and prophets who have pondered over these questions. I have had the good fortune of being inspired by all those masterminds of the past and who have shown light to my own path. Some of the ideas or words came to me and are written under inspirational spell during a period of intense meditation in my life. Life is a continuous process of discovering, deciding, shifting and fine tuning your focus on who you are. The rules you followed yesterday are not the same you will follow today or tomorrow. The knowledge strewn on these pages is not mine; I have become a conduit for a spiritual message to the world in the simplest possible way in the light of today’s realities.
The world exists because I was born…but the fact is the world existed even before I was born.
How about the famous Cartesian saying: “I think therefore I am.”
I can perceive the world because I can think or I have a mind. Without the mind would there be any world?
It does not exist. Or does it?
I have the senses, and the mind cannot function if there were no senses to help the mind. Mind operates through them. What good is that mind if I did not have the senses to decipher the world? It is the senses that are the first way to know everything and which help the mind to make sense of the outer world.