God Is Situated Within Our Heart - The Supreme Guide and Friend
Śrīla Prabhupāda extensively explains that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is never far away from the living entity. By His inconceivable potency, the Lord expands as the Paramātmā (Supersoul) and sits within the core of everyone's heart. Understanding this dual nature of the Lord—as both the supreme controller in the spiritual sky and the localized guide within—is the key to recognizing His absolute supremacy and boundless compassion.
The Localized Paramātmā in Everyone
To manage the affairs of the material creation and accompany the conditioned souls, the Lord expands into His Paramātmā feature. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that this expansion resides in every single heart, reflecting His presence everywhere much like the sun reflecting in countless jewels.
- As stated in the Brahma-samhita (5.38), andantara-stha-paramanu-cayantara-stham: the Lord is situated within the universe, within the heart of every living entity and also within the atom.
- Isvara, the Supreme Lord, is situated as Paramatma in everyone's heart.
- Ksirodakasayi Visnu is the universal form of the Lord and is the Supersoul within every living entity. He is known as Ksirodakasayi because He is the Lord who lies on the ocean of milk. He is the maintainer and master of the universe.
- As the one sun appears reflected in countless jewels, so Govinda manifests Himself as Paramatma in the hearts of all living beings.
The Source of Memory and Intelligence
The living entity cannot act, remember, or understand anything independently. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that all cognitive functions are directly supplied by the Supreme Lord situated within, who perfectly facilitates the desires of the individual soul.
- As stated in Bhagavad-gita, intelligence and forgetfulness are both supplied by the Supersoul sitting with the individual soul within the body.
- All recollections, knowledge, etc., as well as all forgetfulness, are engineered by the Lord, who is sitting within the heart of everyone.
- The complete central force is generated from the heart by the Lord, who is seated there and who helps the conditioned soul in remembering and forgetting.
- After changing the body, a living creature forgets everything of his past life, but because Narayana, the Supersoul, is present within his heart, he is reminded by Him to act according to his past desire.
The Supreme Witness and Sanctioner
The material body is merely a vehicle, and the soul is the passenger. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes how the Lord sits alongside the soul, observing all past, present, and future activities, and awarding the exact results of the living entity's karma.
- The Supersoul knows. I may forget my past activities due to the change of body, but because the Supreme Lord as Paramatma is sitting within me, He knows everything; therefore the result of my past karma, or past activities, is awarded to me.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present in everyone's heart, simply gives the results of the increase in the various qualities, but He is impartial. He supervises victory and loss, but He does not take part in them.
- The Supersoul lives within all the living entities and witnesses their actions, allowing them to act according to their desires and also giving them the results of their different activities.
- There are many witnesses of our sinful activities, including the sun, fire, sky, air, moon, demigods, evening, day, night, directions, water, land and the Supersoul Himself, who sits with the individual soul within his heart.
The Internal Spiritual Master (Caitya-guru)
For those who sincerely wish to revive their spiritual consciousness, the Lord acts as the internal guide. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Lord takes special care of His devotees, personally directing them from within as the caitya-guru.
- There are two gurus, one internal and the other external. The internal Guru is Krishna Himself seated in everyone's heart, and the external Guru is the Spiritual Master.
- From within the Supersoul is directing as caitya-guru, or the spiritual master sitting within the heart. Indirectly He is also helping the living entity by manifesting Himself as the spiritual master outside.
- The Supreme Godhead in His Paramatma feature is present in everyone's heart, and He is always trying to induce the individual soul to surrender unto Him and to engage in devotional service; therefore He is the original spiritual master.
- Anyone who serves the Lord sincerely with love and affection is certainly instructed by the Lord from within.
Cleansing the Heart Through Devotion
Before one can perfectly hear the dictation of the Lord, the heart must be purified. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that simply by engaging in hearing and chanting, the Lord Himself helps the sincere soul wash away all material contamination.
- When one engages in devotional service in the first stages of hearing and chanting, the Lord, who is in everyone's heart, helps the devotee in cleansing his heart.
- The Supreme Lord within everyone's heart becomes very pleased when a person hears narrations of His activities, and He personally cleanses the dirt from the mind of the listener.
- As a blazing fire burns everything within a room, Lord Visnu, situated in the heart of the yogi, burns up all kinds of impurities.
- If a person falls down but is wholeheartedly engaged in the transcendental service of the Supreme Lord, the Lord, being situated within his heart, purifies him and excuses him from that abomination.
Realizing the Lord Within
The ultimate perfection of life is to shift one's attention from the external world to the beautiful form of the Lord residing inside. Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that true yoga means searching out this localized expansion of Bhagavān and finding complete satisfaction in His presence.
- Real yoga system is to find out within the heart where is God. My business is that I have forgotten God. The karmis, real karmis, they do not forget. The upstarts, the rascals, they forget.
- By meditation one can understand that God is seated within one's heart. Even if one does not know it, God is seated within the heart of everyone.
- If the yogi is able to place the beautiful face of the Lord in the core of his heart, he will be completely satisfied. In other words, when one is absorbed in seeing the beauty of the Lord within himself, the material attraction can no longer disturb him.
- Actually we are hankering after Him as the child seeks the mother. And to search out the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we need not go anywhere else, because the Lord is within our hearts.
Conclusion
A deep understanding of the Paramātmā feature completely transforms one's vision of the world. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is never an absentee creator; rather, He is intimately involved in the journey of every living entity, situated within their very hearts as the supreme friend and witness. He impartially awards the results of karma, supplying the required intelligence and memory for material pursuits, while eagerly waiting for the soul to turn back to Him. A sincere soul who realizes this truth abandons all material anxieties, understanding that the supreme protector is situated right within their own heart, ready to guide them back to His eternal, spiritual kingdom. By regularly chanting the holy names and hearing about the Lord, the dirt of material existence is cleansed from the heart, allowing the soul to perfectly hear the inner dictation of the supreme guide.
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