HP Blavatsky

Selections edited from H P Blavatsky’s Collected Writings Volume XII Pages 694-7

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In the Heart is a spot which is the last to die, a spot marked by a tiny violet light; that is the seat of Life, the centre of all, Brahmā; the first spot that lives in the foetus, and the last that dies. When a Yogi is buried in a trance, it is this spot that lives, though the rest of the Body be dead, and as long as this remains alive the Yogi can be resurrected. This spot contains potentially mind, life, energy and will. During life it radiates prismatic colors, fiery and opalescent.

The Heart is the centre of the Spiritual Consciousness, as the Brain is the centre of Intellectual Consciousness. But this Spiritual Consciousness cannot be guided by a person, nor can its energy be directed by him, until he is completely united with Buddhi-Manas. Until then, it guides him––if it can. That is, makes efforts to reach him, to impress the lower Consciousness, and those efforts are helped by his growth in purity. Hence the pangs of remorse for wrong done, the prickings of Conscience, reproaching for evil, inciting to good. These come from the Heart, not from the Head.

In the Heart is the only manifested God; the other two are invisible. And it is this manifested God that represents the Triad, Ātma-Buddhi-Manas (Higher Self, Spiritual Soul, Immortal Ego).

Anyone who can reach up to, and so receive at will, the promptings of this Spiritual Consciousness must be at one with Manas (higher mind)––that is must have attained Adeptship. But the Higher Manas cannot directly guide the ordinary man; it must act through the Lower Manas, and thus reach the lower Consciousness.

The effort however should be continually made to centre the Consciousness in the Heart, and to listen for the promptings of the Spiritual Consciousness, for though success be far off, a beginning must be made, and the path opened up.
The aura of the Pineal Gland vibrates during the activity of the Consciousness in the Brain, and shows the play of the seven colors. This septenary disturbance and play of light around the Pineal Gland are reflected in the Heart, or rather in the aura of the Heart, which is negative to the brain in the ordinary man. This aura then vibrates and illumines the seven brains of the Heart, as that of the Pineal Gland illumines the seven centres in the Brain. If the Heart could, in its turn, become positive and impress the Brain, the spiritual Consciousness would reach the lower Consciousness. The Spiritual Consciousness is active during deep sleep, and if the “dreams” that occur in so-called dreamless sleep could be impressed by the Heart on the Brain, your Consciousness would no longer be restricted within the bounds of your personal life. If you could remember your dreams in deep sleep, you would be able to remember all your past incarnations. This is the “memory of the Heart”; and the capacity to impress it on the Brain, so that it becomes part of its Consciousness, is the “opening of the Third Eye.” In deep sleep the Third Eye opens, but it does not remain open. Still, some impressions from the Spiritual Consciousness do reach the Brain more or less, thus making the Lower Ego responsible. And there are some of these which are received through the Brain, which do not belong to our previous personal experience. In the case of the Adept, the Brain is trained to retain these impressions.

The Eastern Secret School knows each minute portion of the Heart, and has a name for each portion. It calls them by the names of the Gods, as Brahma’s Hall, Vishnu’s Hall, and so on. Each of these corresponds with a part of the Brain. The student will now begin to understand why so much stress is laid on the Heart in connection with meditation, and why so many allusions are made in old Hindu literature to the Purusha (spirit) in the Heart. And so with regard to concentration the Blessed Master KH ... writes:

“Your best method is to concentrate on the Master as a Living Man within you. Make His image in your heart, and a focus of concentration, so as to lose all sense of bodily existence in the one thought.”

So again He says:

“The great difficulty to be overcome is the registration of the knowledge of the Higher Self on the physical plane. To accomplish this, the physical Brain must be made an entire blank to all but the Higher Consciousness.”
When the Brain is thus rendered a blank, an impression from the Heart may reach it and be retained. The above-quoted letter says:

“In acquiring the power of concentration the first step is one of blankness. Then follows by degrees consciousness, and finally the passage between the two states becomes so rapid and easy as to be almost unnoticed.”
He who can do this at will has become an Adept, and can “store the knowledge he thus gains in his physical memory.”