40. «I Am I»
The physical heart is on the left side and the spiritual heart is on the right side.
(Sathya Sai Baba – “Lectures at Kodaikanal”, 1996)
Of all the quotes I have chosen from Sathya Sai Baba’s books, this one is perhaps the most important and practically necessary for meditation. The True Self is the original source from which everything arises.
In this book, we discuss in several chapters the most important topic of the Spiritual Heart, which is located on the right side of the body. It may seem strange to repeat the same thing several times, but Sathya Sai Baba, during his long life, regularly spoke in lectures, as well as during personal meetings, that the Spiritual Heart is on the right side. Therefore, correct meditation should be directed precisely at this mysterious point.
In Kriya Yoga Meditation tradition, we use affirmation to help us concentrate on truth about our Supreme Self.
«I Am» in everything and everything is in Me.
The Self is outside of time and space, Self is the source of time and space, «I Am» at every moment of time and at every point in space.
«I Am» is here and now, «I Am» is always in the beginningless past, and «I Am» is always in the eternal future.
Self is embodied in the temple of the physical body.
«I was» before the appearance of the physical body and «I Am» after the disappearance of the physical body.
«I Am» in wakefulness, in dreams and in deep sleep, in dying, in reincarnation and in eternity.
«I Am” unborn and immortal, primordial and eternal.
The Absolute Self corresponds to the Spiritual Heart, which is located on the right side of the body. In Sanskrit, the Spiritual Heart is called Hrideyam. Over and over, we ruminate on this most important point in the body. It is in the Spiritual Heart that the actual mystical experience of «I Am I» takes place.
In the great Vedic formula of «I Am I» there is a double «I» to indicate the simultaneous existence of the absolute and individual reality of «I». At every moment of time, «I» am both the Absolute «I» and the individual «I». At every moment of time, «I» am simultaneously God and man.