22
Aptavani-8
Questioner: It is also said that the Atma in the heart, is
the size of a thumb.
Dadashri: No. There is no substance whatsoever in all
those conceptions.
Belief Versus Fact
Questioner: But there is a statement in the Upanishad:
Angushtha maatra praman –If you want to see the Atma’s
image in your heart, meditate so that you can see it as the size
of your thumb.
Dadashri: It is not a scientific statement. If it was scientific,
I would go on. It is just a way of making still and steady, a
person who is at a certain spiritual level. It is not entirely wrong,
how can you say it is wrong? If something can make a person
still, you cannot say that it is wrong! So the heart is where the
gross mind (stool mun) is located, and it progresses from there.
If you take this to heart, you can progress further. And what
prevents you from moving ahead? The intellect (buddhi) does
not allow you to progress, but what you hold in your heart will
let you move ahead. If you want to go to final liberation
(moksha), then you can do it with the help of your heart. So
your heart will be needed. The intellect will not do.
They have only managed to scare people by saying that
the Atma is the size of the thumb. The Atma is in relation to the
body. The entire Atma is in proportion to the body, and all the
karmas cling to it and are stuck on. And how is this? Does the
resin not stick to the branches of trees? That is just how all the
karmas have become stuck all over the Atma; in infinite locations
(pradesh), infinite karmas are adhered. Whatever location
becomes free of karma, is where the knowledge of that particular
location arises. If the location (pradesh) of all the medical
knowledge opens up, you would gain medical knowledge, while
some would gain knowledge of law. Whichever location that