With all the practices of shravanam (listening), mananam (contemplation) and nidhi dhyasanam (meditation), the flow of self or life force is experienced. While this is situated in the region of the heart, it is not a physical organ or part. It is a sense of inspiration, liveliness and life that is invoked out of the feelings and experienced in the heart region.
The Atma Bodha says that when the self rises from the space of the heart, it means the stillness in which the energy gushes forth is experienced. The sadhaka realises that what is present within is indeed the same force present everywhere. There is not a dot in this universe where life is not. While this is present all the time, everywhere, it is not known and experienced. It is there in the mountains as existence, it is there in the waters as existence and taste, it is there in fire as heat and light, it is there in air as a sense of feeling and it is simply all around as the space we understand. In human beings life is present as the intellect or an inner knowing of what’s going on.
This life force bears it all. There is nothing that can exist without this. Take a rock, for instance. It is resting on the earth. The earth is resting in space. The space is resting in awareness with which the human, standing on the earth, experiences within and is able to know the existence of the rock. Without this life force, the rock, earth and space may exist, but the human will not be available to be aware of its presence. In brief, this life force is responsible for all that exists in this universe.
This light of consciousness is the sun of illumination and awareness. It rises to dispel the darkness of ignorance of this very self. Even though there is experience of darkness all night, the moment the sun rises, in gradations, the darkness gradually vanishes. In the same way, even though through so many eons of existence in many forms, the knowledge of this presence within drives out the ignorance of the presence of consciousness in an instant.
Whether the people of the world realise it or not, for the one who has realised this presence, that light of illumination over all thoughts, emotions, actions and the world of objects is always a well-experienced reality.
It not only illumines the goings on within the frame of the body, mind and intellect, it is the sun of consciousness that illumines everything in the world, including the sun. The sun may be present, bright and shining, but without the presence of life within, it cannot be experienced.