The Philosopher's heart
When I checked with Swami Swaroopananda the UK head of the Chinmaya Mission whether I was calling him at an inappropriate time, he laughed and said, “I am driving right now, and this is the best time to talk. No distractions.”

Swamiji had just concluded a series of talks on the 12th chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, with particular emphasis on the relevance of love and efficiency in action. “Swami Chinmayanda, my Gurudev, created a style that went straight into the depths of the Bhagavad-gita to extract its relevance to modern times,” he explained in a voice that sounded both youthful and mature.

Last week, he had conducted a youth camp with 75 youngsters between the ages of  18 and 30 on the theme ‘Storm to Perform’. 

“The youth at the camp responded very well,” recalled Milen Shah, one of the organisers. “We had morning meditation sessions, group discussions, role plays, discourses, dramas and many other activities.”

Swamiji explained that Chinmayananda the founder of the Chinmaya Mission had a clear vision on how to involve and inspire the youth. “He often said that the youth are not useless, but just used less,” he remembered. “Swami Chinmayananda was one person who had devoted every day of his life to the people. Thousands of people flocked to listen to him, but he was still available for everybody.”

The Mission runs several schools, hospitals, and social development projects  including village upliftment, rehabilitation of women and vocational training programmes. “Our rural development programmes are geared to make people self-sufficient,” explained Swamiji. “They are aimed to make people earn a livelihood, and don’t just offer a one-off assistance.”

Swamiji believes that there is only one eternal divine self in everybody.  “Vedanta says the self in you is the self in everyone. Therefore love and serve everyone as one would oneself,” he elaborated.

“I read a book written by Chinmayananda where he claims that the soul is seated in the brain and not in the heart,” I informed him. “Does that not contradict other ancient scriptures which say that the heart is the seat of the soul and the brain, the seat of the mind?”

“In philosophy the word heart or hridaya is used neither as the physical heart nor the emotional mind,” said Swamiji.

My mind reeled and my heart turned as I tried to make some sense.

“Hridaya means the place where your emotion and logic (or the mind and intellect) are integrated. This is the philosophical heart or the hridaya, the very core of your personality,” he continued, just as my logic, emotion, mind and intellect all tried to do a somersault in the sway of his words.

“Contemplation done through this philosophical heart, which is different from the physical heart or the physical brain, ensures that you can feelingly think and thinkingly feel. It is this philosophical heart that is the seat of the soul, not the physical heart.”

I paused to contemplate and digest this flood of information through my philosophical heart, the one that does not beat to the tune of the physical realm. My physical heart however continued to beat faster since I failed miserably to feelingly think. Or did I mean thinkingly feel? No, I am sure it was feelingly feel. I may have lost the plot, but I  sure hope you are reading this with your philosophical eye and not the physical one. Gosh!
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