Heart

The Heart as a spiritual center is the seat in the human body of buddhic consciousness. There are three principal centers of the human body: the heart as the center of spiritual consciousness; the head as the center of mental consciousness; and the navel as the center of kamic or passional consciousness. In this sense the heart is the most important part of the body, and when developed leads to spiritual realization.

General description

H. P. Blavatsky regarded the Heart as the organ of the Spiritual Consciousness.

The Heart represents the Higher Triad, while the Liver and Spleen represent the Quaternary, taken as a whole. The heart is the abode of the Spiritual Man, whereas the Psycho-Intellectual Man dwells in the Head with its seven gateways. It has its seven brains, the upadhis and symbols of the seven Hierarchies.

It is from this center that the spiritual influence reaches our consciousness. However, at this point in evolution, the spiritual consciousness is latent (negative) in most people--the intellectual consciousness being the one active (positive):

If the Heart could, in its turn, become positive and impress the Brain, the spiritual Consciousness would reach the lower Consciousness.

Before this becomes possible, aspirants must make efforts to become receptive to it:

The Heart is the centre of the Spiritual Consciousness, as the Brain is the centre of Intellectual Consciousness. But this Spiritual Consciousness cannot be guided by a person, nor can its energy be directed by him, until he is completely united with buddhi-manas. Until then, it guides him––if it can. That is, makes efforts to reach him, to impress the lower Consciousness, and those efforts are helped by his growth in purity. Hence the pangs of remorse for wrong done, the prickings of Conscience, reproaching for evil, inciting to good. These come from the Heart, not from the Head.

Meditation

One way to stimulate one's connection with the higher consciousness is by means of meditation in the heart center. H. P. Blavatsky wrote:

Anyone who can reach up to, and so receive at will, the promptings of this Spiritual Consciousness must be at one with Manas––that is must have attained Adeptship. But the Higher Manas cannot directly guide the ordinary man; it must act through the Lower Manas, and thus reach the lower Consciousness. The effort however should be continually made to centre the Consciousness in the Heart, and to listen for the promptings of the Spiritual Consciousness, for though success be far off, a beginning must be made, and the path opened up.

The student will now begin to understand why so much stress is laid on the Heart in connection with meditation, and why so many allusions are made in old Hindu literature to the Purusha in the Heart. And so with regard to concentration the Blessed MASTER Koot Hoomi ... writes:

"Your best method is to concentrate on the Master as a Living Man within you. Make His image in your heart, and a focus of concentration, so as to lose all sense of bodily existence in the one thought."

Opening of the third eye

The connection between the brain and the heart centers has been described as the opening of the third eye:

The Spiritual Consciousness is active during deep sleep, and if the “dreams” that occur in so-called dreamless sleep could be impressed by the Heart on the Brain, your Consciousness would no longer be restricted within the bounds of your personal life. If you could remember your dreams in deep sleep, you would be able to remember all your past incarnations. This is the “memory of the Heart”; and the capacity to impress it on the Brain, so that it becomes part of its Consciousness, is the “opening of the Third Eye.” In deep sleep the Third Eye opens, but it does not remain open. Still, some impressions from the Spiritual Consciousness do reach the Brain more or less, thus making the Lower Ego responsible. And there are some of these which are received through the Brain, which do not belong to our previous personal experience. In the case of the Adept, the Brain is trained to retain these impressions.

Kundalini

According to Mme. Blavatsky, there is a relationship between Kundalini, the Heart, and buddhi.

In the first fragment of The Voice of the Silence it is stated:

Let not thy "Heaven-born," merged in the sea of Māyā, break from the Universal Parent (SOUL), but let the fiery power retire into the inmost chamber, the chamber of the Heart and the abode of the World's Mother.

In a footnote, Mme. Blavatsky adds:

The "Power" and the "World-mother" are names given to Kundalini – one of the mystic "Yogi powers". It is Buddhi considered as an active instead of a passive principle (which it is generally, when regarded only as the vehicle, or casket of the Supreme Spirit ATMA). It is an electro-spiritual force, a creative power which when aroused into action can as easily kill as it can create.

Blavatsky does not relate the awakening of this force with the methods followed by Tantric traditions. According to her, the awakening of Kundalini is the result of the activation of Buddhi, which takes place "in the heart."

Additional resources

Articles

• A Path with Heart by Thomas Walker
• Speaking form the Right Heart by Ravi Ravindra
• Doctrine of the Heart in Theosophy World

Videos

• The Heart and Spiritual Consciousness by Pablo Sender