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The Heart and Soul of it all!

Discussion in 'Cheeniya's Senile Ramblings' started by Cheeniya, May 13, 2009.

  1. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Despite my long march through life thus far, there remain a few vexing questions to which I am yet to find a satisfactory answer. One of the most vexing of them all is the difference between the heart and soul. I just know that they are not the same from the way people keep referring to them as 'heart and soul'. No one calls them as hearty soul or soully heart. This is the only thing that I am clear about the two. The rest of the questions like which is the superior of the two and what do they actually reveal about their owner et al remain unanswered.

    Heart is the more complex of the two because it has an existence both at a physical and metaphysical level. It is a strong organ of muscles and nerves and is built to last at least a hundred years. Housewives who keep complaining about the chores that they need to perform day in and day out should know that the heart keeps functioning ceaselessly pumping the blood even to the remotest corners of the body without asking for a week at the Alps or some such exotic place for rest and recuperation like the easily tiring wives normally do. Imagine what will happen if the heart takes a day off!

    The other invisible heart is even more intriguing. While we have only the faintest idea of what exactly it does to a human psyche, its absence is readily noticed. What is strange is that the heart’s presence is hardly noticed but when it is absent, it gets commented upon by everyone! The most frequently heard comment about a missing heart is ‘Have a heart’ that we utter when we perceive a person as very unreasonable. This gives us a glimpse into the function of the metaphysical heart. There is a Chinese proverb that says it beautifully.
    “If I keep a green bough in my heart, then the singing bird will come.”
    If the east puts it this way, see how the west perceives it in the words of Martin Luther King:
    “Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.” In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing. I do not know who said this but that shows us that this invisible heart is more important for a human than the rhythmically beating physical heart.

    If the invisible or the metaphysical heart is what we judge a man by, then what does the soul do? Whenever we see an ebullient person adding a lot of luster to a party, we call him the heart and soul of the party. If we want to highlight the importance of something in the scheme of things, we call it ‘the heart and soul’ of the matter. Thus it would appear as though the soul always works in tandem with the metaphysical heart in livening up the proceedings. But is that all that the soul does? I mean keeping company with a good heart?

    Soul is usually perceived as something that a person has but leaves him once he ceases to exist physically. It is also known for moving from person to person to keep itself alive. Sound a bit opportunistic but what is it doing in a live person? This is more complicated a question that than the presence of the metaphysical heart. When this heart is absent in a man, it is easily noticed but soul’s presence or absence is not that conspicuous. Lord Byron spoke of the soul thus: ‘One certainly has a soul; but how it came to allow itself to be enclosed in a body is more than I can imagine. I only know if once mine gets out, I'll have a bit of a tussle before I let it get in again to that of any other.” If a person can get so possessive about his soul, it must be really a rewarding one. I have gone through a whole lot of metaphysical stuff to find out about the role of a soul in a human life. All I find is that while everyone talks of the heart, very few talk of the soul. It is possibly because the heart, both physical and metaphysical, perishes with the body but the soul flies away to a whole new existence.

    Just as I was thinking of the soul as an absolutely mysterious part of our psyche, I was startled to read this poem by the Korean-American poet Suji Kwosk Kim:

    I have never been one soul
    Sixty trillion cells stagger
    Zigzag down the street,
    Laughing, cussing, arguing
    Singing-crying, living-dying,
    Sixty trillion cells- all drunk!

    Do I have to tell you that I am more confused about the soul now than ever before?!
     
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  2. Kamla

    Kamla IL Hall of Fame

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    "If you meditate in the heart, you are meditating where the soul is. True, the light and consciousness of the soul permeate the whole body, but there is a specific place where the soul resides most of the time, and that is in the heart"----Sri Chinmoy

    Upon reading this awe inspiring post of yours, I searched the web on this matter of heart and soul. There is a lot of spiritual and religious explanations, but nothing which really states its stark difference. Or may be I have to dwell more on it before its significance can dawn upon me.

    If you are still pondering and wondering about their individual aspects, poor me has very little chance of getting anywhere further on this thought process!

    Heart surely is the miracle work of God. How intricate and how hardy....Yet, heart is what makes or breaks a person. The metaphyscical heart is the whole person itself, is it not? If we are to go by the above quote, soul resides in our heart. Heart is ours, lives and goes with us. But soul goes on and on...Well sir, you are the Gita exponent here. What can I say here about soul that you may not be aware of..

    All I know is I am in total awe of this subject. This is too complicated for my simple heart!

    At the moment, my heart is jumping with joy at the prospect of me being the first to give a fb to this great post ! That, I know!

    For once, I am first...!

    L, Kamla
     
  3. iyerviji

    iyerviji Finest Post Winner

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    Dear Cheeniya Sir

    I read your write up yesterday night itself. I wanted to give the first fb but as Kamla has mentioned this is too complicated for my simple heart also. I just know that I am very good at heart. By age I am old but young at heart. So I usually have young friends who respect me for my age.
    I feel great that because I am young at heart I have been able to win so many friends.

    with kind regards
    viji
     
  4. Chitvish

    Chitvish Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Sri,
    I wonder why you had to compulsorily introduce a “dig” at the most harassed,
    unpaid home-maker aka Grihalakshmi. Rant
    She deserves nothing short of a trip to Alps for a week, atleast once a year, for all the service she renders to the family, husband’s relatives et al. She will feel rejuvenated & will serve that tribe better! :) We never ask for such privileges, but alas husbands of (y)our generation fail to accept these things. As if the worker is asking for impractical demands! These men……:crazy, well, I close the topic here.

    Now, Sir, please enlighten me on the meanings of tamil words – uyir, nenjam, hridayam, uNarvu.
    Unarvu perhaps represents soul closest in meaning. This is because, when a man dies, we say that the soul has left and he has nomore uNarvu. Am I right, Sir?
    Hridayam, also mentioned as Irudayam, perhaps means the physical heart because we have surgery of the heart. Does it mean that nenjam represents the metaphysical heart?
    We say, “nenjam marappathillai” etc in that meaning.
    So, where does “uyir” fit in, I wonder?? Is it again the soul??
    Deeper analysis only leads us to more and more confusion.
    I fully agree with the quote of Martin Luther King, but the the poem by the Korean-American poet Suji Kwosk Kim is “par excellence”. :thumbsup
    Love,
    Chithra.
     
  5. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Kamla
    Shri Chinmoy does know what he is talking about and that is precisely my point too. I mean the bit about the soul residing in the heart. That makes the soul a mere tenant that will reside in a place only as long as the place is sound and tidy. When the house gets dilapidated and unfit for residence, it just moves on to another house. Most of us believe that the soul's stay illuminates the heart but in my opinion, the soul gets noticed only when the heart is immaculately charitable and filled with compassion.

    That is the point that keeps bothering me. Why do we eulogise the soul when it derives all its strength from a good heart and is ready to fly away the moment the heart ceases to exist? Can't we see that if it resides in a dirty heart, no one is even aware of its presence in our psyche? Tell me honestly, which is greater of the two?

    I quote here your profound words:
    Heart is ours, lives and goes with us. But soul goes on and on
    That's why, I owe my allegiance to my heart more than to my soul!
    Sri
     
  6. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Viji
    You may have heard this story. A scholar was once crossing a river in a boat and he was bragging about all his learning of the Vedas and Upanishads. He was chiding the boatman for leading such an ignorant life which he called a total waste! Just then, the farmer notice a big storm brewing at a distance. He asked the scholar if he knew swimming and the startled scholar replied in the negative. The boatman sighed and said' Swami. There is going to be a big storm now and we are bound to lose our boat in the swirling waters. All your learning will not save you' As he was talking, the boat capsized and the boatman swam to safety leaving the drowning scholar behind.

    All our knowledge of heart and soul can at best be pedagogic. What is important is to have a good heart. You are blessed with it!
    Sri
     
  7. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Chithra
    I have no wish to reopen a topic that you have 'pre-emptively' closed! If you reopen it , I have plenty to say about it!

    I always thought that 'unarvu' meant the feelings. When a man dies, all his feelings perish too. But does a soul perish with us? I think not. So unarvu cannot be the soul. Nenjam is perhaps the right word for the metaphysical heart. Remember the Sirkazhi song in Karnan? 'Ullathil nalla ullam urangathu'? I think that 'ullam' is a closer equivalent of heart. That's why we are warned to stay away from 'Ullondru vaithu puram ondru pesuvar' That makes it closer to the metaphysical heart. Ulle iruppathu ullam. That should be kept clean even if we are dirty outside.

    Sri
     
  8. Chitvish

    Chitvish Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    My 2 cents, please. Unarchi is feelings & not unarvu. The latter is the closest tamil word to consciousness. I asked my Teacher once & he mentioned this.
    Love,
    Chithra.
    Knowing, to what length you will go, I preferred to close the topic rather than voiceferously arguing with you. Till the end, we will disgree & ultimately agree to disagree!

     
  9. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Mr Cheeniya,
    Between heart and soul my vote is for soul only. After all heart is a muscular cone shaped organ, where as soul is eternal and indestructible. These are Lord Krishna's words in Bhagavad Gita. When the soul leaves the body the heart becomes useless.
    Love,
    PS
     
  10. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear PS
    The race is between the soul and the metaphysical heart. The cone shaped mass of muscles and nerves is not in the recknoning at all. It is of interest only to the cardiologists!
    Sri
     

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