Advaita Vedanta · 1897–1981
Nisargadatta: the mind creates the abyss
The heart crosses what the mind manufactures
The mind creates the abyss; the heart crosses it.
What this verse points to
The abyss is described as manufactured, not discovered. Separation, distance, the gap between here and what is sought — these are products of the instrument that then reports them as findings.
The heart is not offered as a superior faculty for thinking. It is offered as what moves when analysis has run out and the gap is still there.
Sit with it
When the sit becomes analytical, drop attention from the head to the chest and continue from there.
About the Nisargadatta Maharaj
A Mumbai shopkeeper who received instruction from his teacher Siddharameshwar Maharaj to attend only to the sense "I am." He taught for decades from a small room above his shop; the dialogues collected in I Am That brought his uncompromising, conversational style to a wide readership.