[Advaita-l] Who is this Angustha Parimana Purusha?

[Shashwata Shastri]

Pujya Pad Shyam ji,
Namaste

Thank you for the excerpt. It cleared my maximum doubts.

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Shashwata Chowdhury

On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 1:54 AM, shyam subramanian via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> The following is an excerpt from Advaita Sadhana where His Holiness Kanchi
> MahaPeriyavar presents the esoteric knowledge of the inner heart in great
> detail
>
> Hari OM
>
> Shri Gurubhyo Namah
>
> Shyam
>
> 38: Inner Organ and Heart
>
>
>
> Even though the word ‘inner’ (*antaH*) is there in ‘Inner Organ’ (*antaH-
> karaNaM*), in stead of looking inside it is always turned outside. It is
> termed ‘inner organ’ because it is subtle inside and not concretely visible
> from outside like arms, feet, eyes, nose, etc. Its subject matter is the
> dualistic world and dualistic experiences. Generally it is so with all
> jIvas. It thickens by the dirt of experience and stays like the dirty and
> greasy stain attaching itself to cooking vessels. This is a matter of the
> inner organ.
>
> The heart that I speak of, on the other hand, is again not the physical
> organ on the left side of the chest of the human body. Nor is it the
> anAhata-chakra, located in the dead centre of the chest, in the suShumnA
> nAdi that is within the spine. This heart is indeed the location of the
> very Atman.
>
> Of course it is true that the Atman is permeating everywhere in such a way
> that there is no space for ‘space’ and so no ‘location’ to be specified for
> the Atman. The words ‘sarvaM’ (all) and ‘vyApakaM’ (permeation) both need
> for their meaning the concept of space, but it is true that space itself is
> subsumed by the Atman as to be nowhere. However, for the mind
> (antaH-karaNaM) which is always drawn towards duality, to be turned to
> non-duality by the Grace of God, and towards meditation of the Atman, it
> needs some kind of a prop, at least mentally. For this reason if one
> attributes a form or qualities to the Atman and makes it totally ‘saguNa’
> (with attributes) and dualistic, that is not right. Then how do we create
> the prop? The Formless one that is permeating everywhere is something which
> surpasses all attempts to imagine it! That is why, even if the Atman is not
> attributed with qualities and form, a point has, as it were, been specified
> within the JIva’s body itself and the location of the Atman is to be
> imagined there. Who has done this specification? No less than the
> ParA-shakti Herself! She it is who showpieces all that dualistic MAyA. And
> She Herself when She chooses to show compassion by bringing some one into
> advaita has kept that unique ‘point’ as the ‘Atma-sthAnaM’ (location of the
> Atman), where the antah-karaNaM (Inner Organ) can converge. The
> antaH-karaNaM which lives on the strength of the individualistic JIva-bhAva
> created by itself, as well as the life-breath which gives life to the whole
> body – both merge into that single point, the single root of everything,
> The enlightenment of the self as Self also takes place right at that point.
>
> It is a ‘point’, very small, like a needle eye. *nIvAra-shUkavat*, that
> is, as slender as the awn of a paddy grain; it has been said to be that
> small. Within the heart, which is like the bud of a lotus suspended in an
> inverted position, there is a subtle space. From there spreads throughout
> the body a hot Fire, the Life-power; and in the centre of that Fire there
> abides a tongue of Fire, dazzling like the flash of lightning; that is the
> PrANa-agni. That ends up at the point as the awn of a paddy grain. That
> point is the locale of the Atman (Atma-sthAnaM) – says the Narayana SuktaM.
>
> [Note by VK: A question of language. What would be most appropriate?
> ‘locale’, ‘location’ or ‘habitat’ for *sthAnaM*?]
>
> By the statement about the subtle space-point which is the locale for the
> Atman in the heart, it follows that all around the point there is the
> heart. That is also a small locale. The Upanishads use the two words
> ‘daharaM’, ‘dahraM’ for this. Both mean ‘small’. In later times this
> ‘dahraM’ became ‘dabhraM’. The heart and the Atma-sthAnaM (location for the
> Atman) within are called ‘daharaM within daharaM’ and ‘dahraM within
> dahraM’ in the Upanishads (Ch. U. VII- 1; Taittiriya AranyakaM XII – 16).
> The Absolute Reality of Brahman which is permeating everywhere ‘is’ in such
> a small space.
>
> The entire universe is the cosmic expansion of the VirAT-purushha. The
> heart of this Cosmic Purushha is Chidambaram. The ChitsabhA (the assembly
> in the temple there) is the ‘point’. This is the meaning of the well-known
> facts: “It is a subtle gate; there is nothing but space there. It is a
> secret. Among the kshetras corresponding to the five elements, Chidambaram
> is the AkAsha (Space)”. Chit-sabhA is also called ‘dabra- sabhA’. The
> direct Tamil equivalent of this is ‘ciRRambalam’ (meaning ‘small ambalam’).
> The popular opinion that ‘ciRRambalam’ and
>
> ‘cidambaram’ are mutations of the same word is wrong. ‘cit ambaraM’ means
> JnAna-AkAshaM (Knowledge-space). The Sanskrit word ‘ambaraM’ has two
> meanings – one is ‘Space’, the other is, something unrelated to the present
> context, ‘cloth’. But ‘ambaraM’ never means ‘sabhA’ (assembly). But there
> is a Tamil worl ‘ambalam’ – possibly derived from the Sanskrit word
> ‘ambaraM’; and that has two meanings: ‘space’ as well as ‘assembly’. The
> principle behind the Space-ambalam (in Tamil) is also the God Nataraja of
> the Sabha-ambalam, namely the Assembly of Dance.
>
> That is the case of the Cosmic Purushha. But in every one of us, in our
> hearts, there is a small subtle gate, which is point-size.
>
> I said the disposition of JIva goes into that, shrinks and shrinks and
> finally merges there. This is what happens when the JIva gets Godhood (of
> Shiva). It is delightfully called ‘Involution’. It is the submerging
> action, by a convex caving in, of something which was expressing itself by
> expansion. On the other hand, Shiva who is nothing but Sat (Existence),
> that is, the ParamAtmA, when he evolves into the JIva with body, senses and
> antaHkaraNaM, that happens again in this same heart by the sprouting of the
> ego in the expression ‘I am an individual JIva’. I told you earlier I will
> tell you about ahamkAra (Ego). That is this matter. AhamkAra is nothing but
> the thought of ‘I’ as distinct from Brahman. That thought is the starting
> point (dramatically termed as ‘pillaiyAr chuzhi’ in the Tamil world) of the
> process of evolution of Shiva into a JIva.
>
> Evolution is called ‘SrshhTi-kramaM’ (the regimen of creation) and
> Involution is called ‘Laya-kramaM’ (the regimen of dissolution). ‘Laya’ is
> also known as ‘samhAra’. But I did not use that word lest you may be
> scared. The ‘samhAra’ word has no connotation of freight. ‘hara’ means the
> action of grabbing. ‘sam-hAraM’ means the process of the Lord taking us
> over fully (*saM*) into Himself!.
>
> It is the heart that is the locale at the time of creation for the ego to
> make the JIva separate (from Brahman) as an individual separate from
> Brahman; it is the same heart that is the locale at the time of dissolution
> (not ‘temporary’ but as a permanent ‘identity’) for the inner organ to
> converge inwardly to the Ultimate. Further when it converges further and
> stays at the sharp point at the centre of the heart, that is when
> Enlightenment takes place.
>
>
>
> > On Apr 3, 2016, at 2:27 PM, Shashwata Shastri via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> > Pujyapad Sridhar Ji,
> >
> > It was not my intention
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