यावान् वा अयम् आकाशः तावान् एषः अन्तर्हृदये आकाशः उभे अस्मिन् द्यावापृथिवी अन्तर् एव समाहिते उभौ अग्निः च वायुः च सूर्याचन्द्रमसौ उभौ विद्युत् नक्षत्राणि यत् च अस्य इह अस्ति यत् च न अस्ति सर्वम् तत् अस्मिन् समाहितम् इति
yāvān vā ayam ākāśaḥ tāvān eṣaḥ antarhṛdaye ākāśaḥ ubhe asmin dyāvāpṛthivī antar eva samāhite ubhau agniḥ ca vāyuḥ ca sūryācandramasau ubhau vidyut nakṣatrāṇi yat ca asya iha asti yat ca na asti sarvam tat asmin samāhitam iti
"As great as is this space around us, so great is the space within the heart. Within it are contained both heaven and earth, both fire and wind, both sun and moon, the lightning and the stars. And whatever a man has here, and whatever he has not — all that is contained in it."
d8327e2f72b2 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:48:34 PM UTC
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The answer is a lightning stroke: yāvān vā ayam ākāśas tāvān eṣo 'ntarhṛdaya ākāśaḥ — "as great as is the space without, so great is the space within the heart". The chamber's smallness is a deception of measure: the inward is not less than the outward; it is equal to it, and in it heaven and earth, fire and wind, the luminaries and the stars find room. The heart is not an organ in the chest but a second universe — or rather, the same one, from within.
The most astonishing line is the last: "and whatever he has here, and whatever he has not — all is in it". The heart stores not only the present but the lost and the hoped-for: departed loved ones, the unrealised, the future — the inner space keeps no warehouse inventory; it holds everything. The Śāṇḍilya-vidyā already said: "this ātman of mine in the heart is smaller than a grain of millet… and greater than all the worlds" (3.14.3); here the same truth is unfolded as an inventory of contents.
For bhakti this is the ground of practice: there is no need to look for God in distant worlds — the whole breadth in which he may be met is folded up in the seeker's breast. For one who has learned to go inward there is nowhere and no need to run: a pilgrimage the length of a palm.