Heart Speak
The door of the heart
Swami Chaitanya Keerti brings us to the understanding that the intellect is needed for our day-to-day living, but the heart is our life—where we truly belong
Almost all the religions in the world have a particular prayer for their believers. Some religions, such as Sanatan Dharma, have a variety of prayers, and the believers have got the freedom to choose what appeals to them the best. It also happens that in different stages of life, some people change their prayers. Ultimately, it can be said that each individual has his own choice according to his liking or understanding. As far as the individuals are concerned, there is nothing official about prayer, though the mainstream religions and their sects do stick to a particular prayer as their official prayer.
Most of the religions expect and ask the believers to join in the collective prayers. Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Mohammedans and most people of other sects do join in, in such gatherings. The collective prayers create a certain upsurge of energy many people can benefit from individually, and be deeply nourished by it. But there are others who do not like crowds around them and are more comfortable when they pray alone. Sometimes, the collective prayer takes the form of an exhibition and can cause distractions and disturbances too. During these prayers, we often find some people continuously busy, using their smartphones to click photos of the participants. While some people start pretending and posing for prayers, others get irritated with this nuisance. The sacred affair of heartfulness becomes a mind affair of profanity. Sometimes, the prayers become mechanical parades and robotic movements, devoid of heart and soul, thus turning into a superficial, social affair.
Pray from your heart
Real prayer has nothing to do with formalities and rituals; rather, it is a heart to heart communion with the divine. It is not something superficial but a deeper phenomenon. The mystics teach us that prayer, as such, has nothing to do with the head. The head is only good for mathematics and for working on mechanical devices, computers, and gadgets. Also, there are chances that the man who lives too much in the head may himself become a robot. Many people have already become very robotic in the modern world. They need to come down from the head and move to the heart—there lies the real intelligence. The intellect is not needed for prayer.
This is what the modern sage J Krishnamurti writes in The Book of Life— Intellect corrupts feeling:
You know, there is the intellect, and there is pure feeling—the pure feeling of loving something, of having great, generous emotions. The intellect reasons, calculates, weighs, balances. It asks, “Is it worthwhile? Will it give me benefit?” On the other hand, there is pure feeling—the extraordinary feeling for the sky, for your neighbour, for your wife or husband, for your child, for the world, for the beauty of a tree, and so on... When pure feeling is corrupted by the intellect, there is mediocrity. That is what most of us are doing. Our lives are mediocre because we are always calculating, asking ourselves whether it is worthwhile, what profit we will get, not only in the world of money but also in the so-called spiritual world— “If I do this, will I get that?”
The heart is a gambler
The mind is a shopkeeper and lives in the bazaar of profit and loss. The heart is a gambler, courageous enough to jump into the unknown, the uncharted, and even the unknowable. This is the real intelligence of the heart.
These are the words of the enlightened mystic Osho:
The intelligence of the heart creates poetry in your life, gives a dance to your step, makes your life a joy, a celebration, a festivity, a laughter. It gives you a sense of humour. It makes you capable of love, of sharing. That is true life. The life that is lived from the head is a mechanical life. You become a robot—maybe very efficient. Robots are very efficient; machines are more efficient than man. You can earn much through the head, but you will not live much. You may have a better standard of living, but you won’t have any life.
Osho reminds us:
“Now, take care; it is your own responsibility. You owe it to yourself to have a deep, penetrating look at what you are doing with your life. Is there any poetry in your heart? If it is not there, then don’t waste time. Help your heart to weave and spin poetry. Is there any romance in your life? If there is not, then you are already in your grave. Come out of it! Let life have something of the romantic in it, something like an adventure. Explore!”
Millions of beauties and splendours are waiting for you. You go on moving round and round, never entering the temple of life. The door is the heart.