Hrudaya - heart

Lesson 11 HRUDAYA

The place where prana is coming from is called ‘hrudaya’. Source of prana is ‘atma’ soul.‘atmanah prano jayate’ Atma bodha says even though prana is everywhere it reflects only on clear places. In the same way it reflects in the pure spot between our eye brows. That is called the cave of intellect ‘ buddhi guha’ . It is in the brain above the pituitary gland in the shape of a triangle. It is group of nerves called hypothalamus. That is where life is born. Breathing, heart beat etc life activities start from there. In the mother’s womb when the embryo is formed head develops first, then rest of the body.
The place that has formed first is important, life goes there, just like a tree bringing all nutrients and water to its root. We need more blood supply to hypothalamus. If the blood supply is becoming less, then we feel more hungry and more thirst. If the blood supply stops then life leaves and it is called death. If the root is destroyed, tree dies. So this hypothalamus is called hrudaya. So sruti says prana and mind have to reach that hrudaya. According to B.G 8-10 attain the Supreme Lord by entering prana between eyebrows via pranayama.

People are getting mislead and imagining hrudaya somewhere else and meditating. Actually the organ heart is also called hru
daya. It is from where the blood flows, so it is also called hrudaya. This is gross hrudaya. The one in the middle of eye brows is subtle hrudaya. Both of these are connected with nerves. In mantra pushpam it is said that ‘adho nishtya vitasyante nabhya muparitishtati’ hrudaya is behind the bottom part of central bone in the chest, xyphy sternum. This is below brian and above belly button ’nabhi’. There the hrudaya lotus is folded and turned downwards. In that lotus Paramatma, universal spirit becomes vaishwanara, and digests different kinds of food. Prana comes downward through exhalations and reside in the gross hrudaya.

Prana expands through the entire body as vayu or prana. This vayu that is spread all over the body tries to reach the original place in between the eyebrows. These areas where the prana is travelling through is called the six chakras ’shat chakras’. Prana traveling downwards creates the panchabhutas. Sri Shivananda Paramahamsa said these chakras are nothing but the changes that occur in the mind in sadhana.

In the yogic anatomy there three subtle nadis ida, pingala and sushumna. If the body tatwa is predominantly water the left nostril is active, if it predominantly fire tatwa right nostril is active, they frequently interchange. A yogic practitioner churning the respirations move the vayu up and down from mooladhara to brahma randhra and vice versa. Agni is created that moves the prana upwards elongating respirations. Ida and pingala balance thereby prana moves upward through the sushumna. This starts from the hrudaya mantra pushpam talking about.

According to Katopanishat there are 101 nerves at the hrudaya kamal. One of these is going upwards, if one goes upwards through this nerve they become immortal, ’amrutatva’. Both men and woman have two ‘dhatu’s called ‘rajas’ and ‘retas’. Rajas is at the hrudaya, area of the sun, makes the red blood from the food we eat not due to iron and himoglobin. Retas or ‘sukla’ is being created between eyebrows at the moon area, then moves down wards in men.

The blood and sukla solidifies with pranayama becomes ‘ojas’ then ‘tejas’. Param Sadguru called it ‘rasamani’ Nagarjuna yogi said ‘urdhva pindam’ during the union of men and women it becomes ‘adho pindam’ and creates the worlds.

Yogam is needed to move prana upward from the hrudaya kamala to the subtle hrudaya between the eyebrows. Then sahasrara lotus blooms says mantra pushpam. One has transformed into Universal Spirit.

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