The Universe Within —

Remember the fabulous lotus pond my friend introduced me to?

It wasn’t only the beauty of the lotus flowers that so touched me when I wrote that post. For decades (this is many years ago) I carried around a quotation from the Chandogya Upanishads, Hindu scriptures. I took pleasure in copying it out in my fairest hand into my current memo book, and would transfer it from memo book to memo book as each was filled. And then at some point the inner need which it addressed was evidently filled, because I moved on to another quotation, and then after a long time, to another. And another.

But I never quite lost track of the vision of the lotus, really. And now that I’ve come across an actual lotus pond, the wonder of the quotation has reappeared for me. So here it is. Perhaps it will touch a chord and sing for you as well:

In the center of the house of God, which is our own body, there is a small shrine in the form of a lotus flower, and within can be found a small space. We should find who dwells there, we should seek to know Him.

And if anyone asks: ‘Who is he who dwells in a small shrine in the form of a lotus flower in the center of the house of God? Whom should we seek to find and to know?’ we can answer: ‘The little space within the heart is as great as the vast universe. The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun and the moon and the stars; fire and lightning and winds are there; and all that now is and all that is not: for the whole universe is in Him, and He dwells within our hearts.’

Chandogya Upanishads 8:1

Namaste!