The small space inside the heart where the souls enter at the end of each day

Continuing our series with the study of obscure, peculiar, and deep philosophical passages from the scriptures, there is an intriguing passage in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (8.1.1-6), that describes the Dahara, a small sky inside the heart that we should all seek:

atha yad idam asmin brahma-pure daharaṁ puṇḍarīkaṁ veśma daharo ṣminn antar ākāśas
tasmin yad antas tad anveṣṭavyaṁ tad vijijñāsitavyam

“In a great city is a small lotus palace. In that palace is a small sky. That sky should be sought. That sky should be asked about.”

The verse mentions the word “akasa”, therefore one could conclude that the verse speaks about the element ether, which is the usual translation for the term. The space is described as small, so one could conclude that it speaks about the jiva, since the jiva is also described as small.

To this, Vyasadeva answers (Vedanta Sutra 1.3.14): dahara uttarebhyaḥ. The dahara, the small space inside the heart is the Supreme Lord, because of what is described later in the text.

What is said there? The 8.1.2 to 8.1.1-6 of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad mentions:

“And they should say to him, ‘Now with regard to that city of Brahman, and the small lotus palace in it, and the small sky within the heart, what is there that deserves to be sought for, or that is to be understood?’
“Then he should say, ‘As large as this sky is [all space], so large is that sky within the heart. Both heaven and earth are contained within it, both fire and air, both sun and moon, both lightning and stars; and whatever there is of the self within this world and whatever is not, all that is contained within it.’
“And if they should say to him, ‘If everything that exists is contained within that city of Brahman, all beings and all desires, whatever can be imagined or desired, then what is left of it when old age reaches it and scatters it, or when it falls to pieces?’
“Then he should say, ‘By the old age of the body, that sky or the Brahman within it do not age; by the death of the body, that ether or the Brahman within it do not die. That Brahman is the true Brahma-city, not the body. All desires are contained within it. It is the Self, free from sin, from old age, from death and grief, from hunger and thirst, who desires nothing but His true eternal desires. Now, as here on earth people follow what they are commanded, and depend on the object they are attached to, be it a country or a piece of land;
“ ‘And as here on earth, whatever has been acquired by exertion perishes, so perishes whatever is acquired in the next world by sacrifices and other actions performed on earth. Those who depart from here after having discovered the Self and those true desires, for them there is freedom in all the worlds.’ ”

We can see that the description includes statements like “as large as the sky”, “containing both heaven and earth”, “free from sin”, “maintaining everything”, and so on. This small space inside the heart includes everything that exists and everything that is desirable. It is indestructible and completely transcendental. This description immediately rules out the possibility of this small space being the ordinary element ether or even the jiva.

The Srimad Bhagavatam describes the pastime of Krsna showing the Universal Form inside His mouth to mother Yashoda. Playing the role of a small child, Krsna had a small mouth, but at the same time, the whole universe was contained inside of it.

Krsna possesses three main energies: the internal potency, the external potency, and the marginal potency. The internal potency represents three quarts of the creation, including the spiritual sky and all the spiritual planets that are situated inside of it. The external potency corresponds to the material creation, including the different universes, and the marginal potency includes the innumerable jivas who participate in either the spiritual or material creation. Krsna’s energy is not different from Krsna, therefore there is nothing that exists outside of Krsna. Although Krsna may appear as a small boy walking around Vrindavana, which appears as a small tract of land on the surface of our planet, everything that exists is situated inside Him.

Krsna expands himself in innumerable Vishnu forms, one of which is Ksirodakasayi Vishnu, who although lying down on the ocean of milk, permeates the whole universe, being situated inside the heart of all, and even inside the individual atoms. The relationship of Krsna with these different expansions is described as being similar to the relationship of a candle and innumerable other candles lightened by the first one. Although all the candles are similarly bright, still, there is an original candle that lightened the others. Similarly, Krsna and His expansions are equally powerful, although only as Krsna does He display all His oppulences in full.

Ksirodakasayi Vishnu or Paramatma is thus unlimitedly powerful, just like Krsna is, and the whole creation is situated inside Him, although he may assume a small form to reside inside the heart. The dahara, or small space inside the heart described in this passage is thus nothing less than the abode of Paramatma inside the heart, which includes everything that exists and everything that is desirable.

The “great city” described in the passage is the body of the devotee, the “lotus” is the heart, the “palace” is the abode of Paramatma inside the heart and the dahara is the Supreme Lord Himself, who is always free from sin and processes unlimited transcendental qualities. This is the Lord we should look for and meditate upon.

The next verse of the Vedanta Sutra (1.3.15) gives additional support to the argument that Dahara is Lord Vishnu inside the heart, by hinting at a different passage from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (8.3.2). There, it is mentioned:

yathā hiraṇya-nidhiṁ nihitam akṣetrajñā upari
sañcaranto ‘pi na vidus tathemāḥ sarvāḥ prajā ahar ahar
gacchantya enaṁ brahmalokaṁ na vidanty anṛtena hi pratyūḍhāḥ

“As people, unaware of what the ground actually holds, walk again and again over buried golden treasure, so do the people of this world day after day go to the spiritual world of Brahman without knowing it.”

The “word” mentioned in the sutra is the word “enam” of this verse, which points to the small sky inside the heart, and the “description of going” refers to the description in the verse of the soul going day after day go to the spiritual world of Brahman without knowing it. Both show that Lord Vishnu is indeed the small sky inside the heart.

Other passages of the scriptures also describe this daily journey of the soul:

satā saumya tadā sampanno bhavati

“O gentle one, the living entities are again and again in contact with the Supreme.”

ya eṣo ‘ntar hṛdaya ākāśas tasmin śete

“Entering the sky of the heart, the soul sleeps.”

Just as in previous sutras, the word “brahmaloka” in these verses does not refer to the planet of Lord Brahma, but to the spiritual sky. The passages thus should not be interpreted in the sense that the soul goes daily to Satyaloka, but that the soul daily comes in contact with the Lord by entering this small space inside the heart.

How can we understand that the soul goes to the Lord at the end of each day? How can we regularly go to the Lord and return to this material world after it? And how do we not remember these encounters?

This is connected with the souls merging into the body of Maha-Vishnu which happens at the end of each universal cycle. In his purport to SB 1.10.21, Srila Prabhupada mentions:

“There are two types of dissolution of the manifested cosmos. At the end of every 4,320,000,000 solar years, when Brahmā, the lord of one particular universe, goes to sleep, there is one annihilation. And at the end of Lord Brahmā’s life, which takes place at the end of Brahmā’s one hundred years of age, in our calculation at the end of 8,640,000,000 × 30 × 12 × 100 solar years, there is complete annihilation of the entire universe, and in both the periods both the material energy called the mahat-tattva and the marginal energy called jīva-tattva merge in the person of the Supreme Lord. The living beings remain asleep within the body of the Lord until there is another creation of the material world, and that is the way of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the material manifestation.”

Just like the souls merge into the body of Lord Maha-Vishnu at the end of each day of Brahma, and also after the final dissolution of the universe, the soul also goes to the small space inside the heart (Paramatma) at the end of each day, during deep sleep. Being the eternal part and parcel of the Lord, the soul can’t remain separated from the Lord. Thus, at the end of each cycle of material activity, at the end of each day, at the end of each day of Brahma, and at the end of each Maha-kalpa, the soul merges into the body of the Lord.

What makes this merging different from liberation is that during this encounter with the Lord in the conditioned state, the soul is forgetful of his eternal relationship with the Lord, and still contaminated by the false ego and material desires. The soul thus doesn’t associate with the Lord during these encounters, but just remains in an unconscious state, in a kind of deep slumber. When the soul wakes up at the beginning of the next cycle, the soul remembers his material desires and thus becomes again busy performing different material activities to try to satisfy them.

Going back to Godhead, on the other hand, means that the soul not only becomes free from all material desires as well as the false ego but is able to awaken his real spiritual nature, including his spiritual body and senses, with which he can enter the spiritual planets and associate with the Lord.