Hṛdaya

Hṛdaya · hṛdaya, “the heart”

Grammar: neuter noun: the heart.

Meaning: the heart, the inner seat into which the yogī draws the senses and the mind, where Purushottama dwells hidden.

In the scriptures: Vyāsa, teaching the munis the practice of yoga, says that the yogī, seated in padmāsana with his gaze on the tip of the nose, does prāṇāyāma and withdraws the five jñānendriyas, together with the mind, into the heart. Then he fixes in his citta Purushottama, who is hidden in the cave of the heart (hṛdaya-guhā), all-pervading and stainless (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 235). As a fisherman holds his catch with the hook, the seeker restrains hearing, sight, taste and smell with the mind, stills the saṅkalpas within the mind and holds it in the heart, and then holds it on the ātmā (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 236).

Three tattvas move the jīva to action: manas creates the bhāvas (states and ideas), buddhi brings resolve and certainty, and the hṛdaya experiences states such as ānanda (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 237).

In the Gautamī Māhātmya, the ṛshis who came to Bhagavān Vishṇu in the ocean of milk praised him as the true Reality that knows the whole universe, the future, the present and what is hidden in the cave of the heart (Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 56).

Related terms: Manas · Buddhi · Citta · Indriya · Yoga · Purushottama

Other meanings

Hṛdaya has more than one meaning in the Purāṇas and Itihāsas. Besides the meaning above, it names those listed here, each with where it is told.

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 235–237; Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 56