Head, hand and heart

Love has a connection with the heart – when we speak about love, we always put our hand on the heart. We do not put our hand on our head, do we? When the hand goes quite naturally to the heart, it reminds us to make sure, before taking any action, that we have love for ourselves from the heart, and then love for everyone else will follow. If I first feel love for myself, then I will be able to perform good actions with my hands.

But if there are complications in your head, what will be the condition of your heart? If there are bad feelings and negativity for others in your vision, what will be the condition of your heart? One type of soul hurts someone else’s heart and the other type of soul helps to heal others’ hearts – let each of us check which type of soul we are.

For example, if I steal something with this hand, then I am aware of it with my head and I know and understand that this is what I am doing. My heart also has that feeling. So, who am I deceiving? Who am I causing sorrow? If I use the same hand to give a donation, then I can experience happiness within my heart. I am not taking from anyone; I am giving as much as I can.

This is why to keep the head and heart in good condition internally, it is very important to make sure that the mind and intellect are in a good state. The mind can easily become mischievous and run away. It can easily become attracted to something – it thinks, ‘This is very good; this is very nice; I want it’ – and so the hand takes it. In the same way, the desires of the heart do not allow the mind to stay content, so the mind is always stumbling aimlessly.

When I talk about the head and the heart, I am thinking about the physical body and feelings. The head and the heart belong to the physical body. But when I talk about the mind and the intellect, I go deep within myself. When I subtly go deep within, I tell my mind to stay peaceful and I tell my intellect to think in the right way.

In the external world, lots of things attract us, but we fluctuate when we are attracted to those things. On one side there is the attraction of desires for this and that – and on the other side there is a feeling of being weary and tired of the things of the world.

Each one of us should look within ourselves and think about our own selves rather than looking at or thinking about others. Habitually we tend to see and listen to external things – what others are doing. Now give yourself time to see yourself and understand yourself.

The late Dadi Janki was Administrative Head of the Brahma Kumaris.