सङ्गीतरत्नाकर: प्रथम भाग (शार्ङ्गदेव - स्वरगताध्याय सविस्तार व्याख्या व अनुवाद सहित)

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68 Treatment of Svara

5. हृदयस्थ चेतनस्थानत्वम्

प्रसन्नाभ्यां कफासृग्भ्यां हृदयं पङ्कजाकृति ॥८२॥
सुषिरं स्यादधोवक्त्रं यकृत्प्लीहान्तरस्थितम् ।
एतच्च चेतनस्थानं,
have the eighth, the womb in-between the receptacles for
bile and the digested food.⁴ (81-82b)
5. Heart as the seat of intelligence : 82c-83c
The heart is hollow and in the shape of an inverted
lotus situated in-between the liver and the spleen and is
developed from clear¹ blood and phlegm. This too is the
abode of consciousness. (82c-83b)
These receptacles function as the containers or the vessels. Seven
of these are common to males and females while women have one more,
viz., uterus placed in-between the gall bladder and the intestines.
That heart as an abode or the seat of consciousness in the body is
well recognised by some schools of thought of Indian philosophy. Even
the upaniṣads proclaim that the Puruṣa, i. e., the soul or the spirit resides
in the heart. But this can be a metaphorical expression.
The expression cetana-sthānam is difficult of being rendered into
English with its philosophical implications As it is, it means the abode
of sentience. 'K' has laboured hard to forbid the reader from interpre-
ting it as the abode of Jīvātman, i. e, the transmigratory soul, and he
therefore interprets the conjunctive ca (and) as indicative of other places
such as space etc. which also is considered to be the abode of Brahman,
the absolute Being. Perhaps he, being a vedāntin, identifies cetanā with
Brahman, and therefore feels that heart should not be considered as the
only abode of sentience. Therefore, he maintains that heart is the
abode of the manifestation of Brahman, the absolute Being. One can,
however, cut across the philosophical implications by taking into account
the next verse along with this one. If so read, it is obvious that the
word cetana of the text is not used here in the sense of caitanya, i. e., pure
intelligence, but has been used in the sense of consciousness. But this too
must be taken metaphorically for consciousness being intangible can hard-
ly be located anywhere in the body with justification. But nevertheless,
consciousness works through the brain, which is controlled by the heart.
4. Cf., Suśruta Śa. Sthā. 5. 7-8.

1. Prasanna means clear in the sense of clean and pure.

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Section 2 : The Genesis of the Human Embodiment 69

6. जीवस्य अवस्थात्रयम्

, तदस्मिंस्तमसा ऽऽवृते ॥८३॥
निमीलति स्वपत्यात्मा जागति विकसत्यपि ।
द्वेधा स्वप्नसुषुप्तिभ्यां स्वापो बाह्येन्द्रियाणि चेत् ॥८४॥
लीयन्ते हृदि जागति चित्तं स्वप्नस्तदोच्यते ।
मनश्चेल्लीयते प्राणे सुषुप्तिः स्यात्तदा ऽऽत्मनः ॥८५॥
स्वमपीतः परात्मानं स्वपत्यात्मेत्यतो मतः ।
6. The three states of consciousness: 83d-86b
That (intelligent principle) being enveloped by dark-
ness¹, it (the heart-lotus) closes (upon itself) and the ātman²
(the spirit) sleeps; it (ātman) awakens, while that (the
heart) opens up. (83d-84b)
It seems that the whole expression is metaphorical. Heart is the
centre of the physical body, and as such it is used as the symbol for the
centre of consciousness, which is the ego or the soul. Man, here, is
conceived to be the complex entity : spirit-soul-body. Spirit being the
divine element in man, the Ātman which is not different from Brahman,
the absolute; the soul is the jīvātman, the embodied self, subject to trans-
migration. The heart-lotus is the symbol of self-consciousness. There-
fore, when the spirit is clouded by inertia (tamas) the heart-lotus closes
its petals upon itself and the spirit, i.e., the intelligent principle ceases
to operate, and is thus said to be asleep. Conversely, when inertia is
dissipated, the spirit awakens into self-consciousness and the heart-lotus
is opened up.
'K' interprets this in terms of Vedānta (absolutistic). He explains
the phenomenon of sleep as explained in the text as follows: "The
intelligent principle being enshrouded by the darkness of beginningless
ignorance, when the heart-lotus closes, then the ātman, the soul (i e.,
the self-conscious being, the jīva) sleeps; and when that lotus opens up,
the jīva, the self-conscious being, awakens and feels 'I am'." It is
notable that in this verse 'K' interprets ātman as jīva.
After giving the above interpretation, he then gives the substance
in the following manner: "In the state of self-conscious existence due to

1. Inertia.
2. 'K' interprets it as jīva, here.