The five elements of the heart
– I have now reached adulthood and I don’t even know who I am. I feeI I have various roles to play, or that I am not really as it shows. Who am I, in my inmost self? Is there a way to know better about it? Theophile the Younger asked.
– After a deep silence, Theophile the Elder finally answered, “It all started with the heart and it will all end up with the heart.”
– A bit annoyed, Theophile the Younger added, “Just another riddle of yours! dear Elder. Please, teach me something more useful, more practical, to help me be what I am. I sense there is some greatness in me, but I also know how little, how helpless I am. Sometimes I feel that I have got some very big potential, endless capabilities, all waiting to be released. But what are they exactly? How do I access them? Can I find and develop them?
The five elements of the heart.
Theophile the Elder gave him a look full of love and gentleness. He knew how impetuous youth can be, and how anxious to enjoy life to the fullest. So he smiled and replied:
– The heart stands at the heart of a region, the region where all is manifested, the seat of your embodied being. It governs the five elements you are made of: earth, water, fire, air and space. In the sand, the Elder drew a five-pointed star within a circle and he entered the symbols for the five elements at the top of each branch.
– The five elements are all inter-dependant. The traditional Chinese medicine has demonstrated it very clearly. We’ll say more about it later.
– What has this got to do with what I am and the purpose of my life?
Theophile the Elder:
– You have reached an age when I may give you a closer acquaintance with the Mystery of the five elements of the heart and of their essence. You are going to experience them, and so you will understand. The initiation consists in setting your soul in motion. Then the soul will visit, experience and integrate the essence of each one of the five elements I have mentioned.
– How will it work?
Theophile the Elder laid his right hand on to the young man’s heart who then could feel a vibrant impulse in his heart. Both men remained silent for a long moment.
Then Theophile the Younger opened his eyes:
– It’s incredible! I feel totally regenerated. It is as if I had been awakened after a long restorative rest period. Everything looks clear and bright now, and I feel extremely clear-sighted. It is fantastic!
– This is your first initiation and your heart has been set in motion towards the Ultimate. During the next seven years, you will have to cross and explore each element in a very definite order. Every morning, at breaking dawn, you will have to practice meditation in the silence and peace of your heart. You will plunge deeply into your self. That is the beginning of the Sahaj Marg way – the Natural Way – my spiritual Guides have initiated. Today, your soul has set off on its journey. It is going to discover the Earth of the heart, purify it, and then illuminate it. In this way, the first of these elements will be restored to its original condition.
The five points of the heart
– Today, we are going to take a closer look to the heart region, the region for manifestation. According to my spiritual guide, the five chakras (or knots, granthis) of the human body are set there, at the level of your breast. They have been given numbers, for the sake of convenience. Their successive illumination will help your soul achieve its journey to the Centre. Other points exist, as we shall see later.
The five elements we have studied earlier are closely related to the heart region.
I’m going to have you experiment travelling through these points.
Then, Theophile the Elder touches his young friend’s heart at the level of point 2:
– This chakra is the one my spiritual guide Ram Chandra calls the chakra of the soul.
The points of the heart.
Theophile the Younger feels as if a divine breath is carrying him away. An unrelenting stream of grace seems to flow in successive waves from the Elder’s heart within his own heart.
After half an hour, the young man opens his eyes:
– It was pretty short, as it seems, as if time was pendent. I’ve never felt so intensely my own self as I do now, as if I really existed, but I can’t explain …
For want of words that would describe what he has lived, he keeps quiet. A long silent dialogue takes place, as usually happens when he is with the Elder. The latter firmly nods to signify his approval. He smiles kindly, his eyes sparkling with a glimmer of mischief.
A few moments later, Theophile the Younger breaks the silence and exclaims:
– That is exactly what I want. I have been looking for it for ages, for this extraordinary feeling, for that inner life!”
– This is the beginning and the end of the soul’s journey, its achievement. Before you can fully access it, you’ll have to cross the spheres of the five elements and integrate them into the Earth of the heart. The spheres represent the different dimensions of the heart.
I’m going to transmit to you the way you’ll have to follow.
Gently close your eyes. You know the heartfulness relaxation, don’t you? It will help you feel good and relax.
Now Theophile the Younger is ready. The Elder touches again the chakra of the soul. Then his young friend is overwhelmed by a surge of love and a profound peace gently settles in him.
Theophile the Elder then deals with point 3, the chakra of fire, and the young man can feel his mind open up: the light of knowledge is within reach now, and he feels he is now totally clear-sighted. It seems the observer is born in him. He can understand what discrimination means. It all seems clear, simple, rich of that original simplicity Babuji, the Elder’s spiritual guide, would often refer to.
Then comes point 4, the chakra of water. Free from all sort of fear, Theophile the Younger plunges into the abysses of his heart, gets in touch with the essence of his being, of the comforting quietness that abides there.
When the Elder touches the next point the young man feels he is bathing in an infinite space just as if his whole being was surpassingly expanding.
Lastly, in a profoundly sacred gesture, Theophile the Elder lays his left hand on the young man’s head while his right hand is keeping in touch with the Earth of the heart.
Theophile the Younger can feel he is … One.
He understands the meaning of the ‘Unity’ religions and spiritual paths speak about. At long last he can feel he is himself. He becomes conscious of the Divine in all its purity, in all its simplicity.
He is That.
After a long moment spent appreciating such a condition, he opens his eyes and gently asks:
– So this is it? Is that all? Is it the end?
Theophile the Elder looks at him quietly:
– No, it’s only the beginning. You are only at the beginning of the path. You will have to practice meditation and cross again each one of these points so that they may be purified and illuminated one after the other.
Once your second chakra, the chakra of love, is realized, your whole being will be all softness. Developing knowledge will let you also develop a natural humility.
By going through the chakra related to water, your inner silence will be past speaking, your faith will be pure.
When the time comes, you will be connected to the divine will and its creative power. That will of yours will fade away and make room for the divine will. Then your soul will be liberated from all need to manifest itself and it will enter God’s cosmic kingdom. Only then will the Earth of the heart be accomplished: it will have integrated all the qualities and dimensions inherent to each of its constituent elements. That is the very moment you become your true self, in harmony with your soul’s destiny.
– When can I begin? asks Theophile the Younger.
– It all started a long time ago, the Elder sighed.
He knows in his heart that beginning and end are one and the same thing. He knows that all is completed. He is totally immersed into the motionless waves of the infinite Ocean, where space and time are merging.
Theophile the Elder
An excerpt from Dialogs with Theophile the Elder
Theophile the Younger’s initiation