32 § The Heart and the Cave
W E have already mentioned the close relationship between the symbolism of the cave and that of the heart, which explains the initiatic function of the cave as spiritual centre. In fact, the heart is essentially a symbol of the centre, whether it be the centre of a being or, analogously, of a world, that is, whether the standpoint be microcosmic or macrocosmic. It is therefore natural, given such a relationship, that the same meaning should be likewise attached to the cave; but that symbolic connection itself calls at this point for a fuller explanation.
The 'cave of the heart' is a well known traditional expression. The Sanskrit word guha generally designates a cave, but it is used also of the internal cavity of the heart, and consequently of the heart itself. This 'cave of the heart' is the vital centre in which resides not only jivātmā but also unconditioned Ātmā, which in reality is identical with Brahma itself, as we have explained elsewhere.[1] The word guha is derived from the root guh, meaning 'to cover' or 'conceal' or 'hide', as does another similar root, gup, whence gupta which applies to everything of a secret character, everything that is not externally manifested. This is the equivalent of the Greek kruptos that gives the word 'crypt', which is synonymous with cave. These ideas are related to the centre insofar as it is considered as the most inward and consequently the most hidden point. At the same time, they refer also to the initiatic secret, either in itself or insofar as it is symbolised by the disposition of the place where the initiation is accomplished, a hidden or 'covered' place, [2] inaccessible to the profane, whether the access to it be barred by a 'labyrinthine' structure
or in any other way (as for example, the 'temples without doors' of Far Eastern initiation), and always regarded as an image of the centre.
On the other hand, it is to be noted that this hiddenness or secrecy which characterises spiritual centres or their figurative representation implies that the traditional truth itself is no longer accessible in all its fullness to all men equally, which is the sign of a period of 'obscuration', at least in a relative sense. This makes it possible to 'place' such a symbolism in the course of the march of the cyclic process; but that is a point to which we shall have to come back to more fully in studying the relationships between the mountain and the cave, insofar as both are taken as symbols of the centre. For the moment we will simply point out in this respect that the diagram of the heart is a down-pointing triangle (the 'triangle of the heart' is yet another traditional expression); and this same figure also stands for the cave, whereas the mountain, or the pyramid which is its equivalent, is figured on the contrary by an up-pointing triangle; this shows that we have here a relationship that is inverse, and also in a certain sense complementary. Let us add, on the subject of this representation of the heart and the cave by an inverted triangle, that here is one of those cases in which clearly no idea of 'black magic' is involved, despite the all too frequent assertions of those whose knowledge of symbolism is totally insufficient.
Let us now return to what is hidden, according to the Hindu tradition, in the 'cave of the heart': it is the principle of the being, which, in this state of envelopment and with regard to manifestation, is compared to what is smallest (the word dahara, which denotes the cavity where it resides, also refers to this same notion of smallness), while in reality it is what is greatest, just as the point is spatially infinitesimal and even null, although it is the principle by which all space is produced, or again, just as the number one appears as the smallest of numbers, although it contains them all principally, and produces from itself all their unending series. So here again we find the expression of an inverse relationship, inasmuch as the principle is considered according to two different points of view; of these, the point of view of extreme smallness concerns the principle's hidden and as it were 'invisible' state which, for the being in question, is as yet only a 'virtuality', but which will be the starting point of its spiritual development; there indeed lies the beginning (initium) of this development, which is directly related to initiation in the etymological sense of this term; and it is precisely from this point of view that the cave can be considered as the place of the 'second birth'. In this respect, we find texts such as the following: 'Know that this Agni, who is the foundation of the eternal (principial) world, and through whom that world can be attained, is hidden in the cave (of the heart)', [3] which in the microcosmic order refers to the 'second birth'; and also, by transposition into the macrocosmic order, it refers to its analogue, which is the birth of the Avatāra.
It has already been mentioned that what resides in the heart is both Jīvātmā,
from the standpoint of individual manifestation, and unconditioned Ātmā or Paramätmā from the principial point of view; the distinction between individual and principle is no more than an illusory one; it only exists with regard to manifestation, but they are one in absolute reality. These are the 'two who have entered into the cave' and who at the same time are also said to 'dwell on the highest summit', so that the two symbolisms of the cave and the mountain are here reunited.[4] The text adds that 'those who know Brahma call them darkness and light'; this refers especially to the symbolism of Nara-nārāyana of which we have spoken in connection with the Ātmā-Gītā,[5] quoting this very same text: Nara, the human or mortal who is Jivätmä, is identified with Arjuna; and Nārāyana, the divine or the immortal, which is Paramätmā, is identified with Krishna. Now, according to their literal meanings, the name Krishna denotes darkness of hue and that of Arjuna lightness, or, respectively, night and day, inasmuch as they are considered as representing the unmanifested and the manifested.[6] An exactly similar symbolism in this respect is that of the Dioscuri in their relationship with the two hemispheres, one dark and the other light, as we have indicated in connection with the meaning of the 'double spiral'.[7] On the other hand, these 'two' that is, Jivätmä and Paramätmä, are also the 'two birds' which appear in other texts as 'abiding on the same tree' (just as Arjuna and Krishna are mounted in the same chariot), and who are said to be 'inseparably united' because, as we said above, they are really one, the distinction between them being no more than illusory.[8] It must be noted here that the symbolism of the tree is essentially 'axial', like that of the mountain; and the cave, inasmuch as it is considered as situated under the mountain or within it, is also on the axis, where in any case, whatever the point of view, the centre must always be, for it is in the centre that the individual is united with the Universal.
Before leaving this subject, there is a point of language to be considered, the importance of which should not be overestimated, but which is curious nevertheless. The Egyptian word hor, which is the name of Horus, seems to mean heart. Horus would thus be the 'Heart of the World', according to a designation that is to be found in most traditions and which is in perfect keeping with his symbolism as a whole, insofar as that can be determined. It might be tempting, at first sight, to connect this word hor with cor, the Latin name for heart, the more so in that in the different languages the similar roots which denote the heart are to be found with either the aspirate or the guttural as initial letter: thus, on the one hand, hrid or hridaya in Sanskrit, heart in English, herz in German, and on the other, ker or kardion in Greek, and cor itself
(genitive cordis) in Latin. But the common root of all these words, including the last mentioned, is in reality HRD or KRD, which can scarcely be the case with the word hor, so that here it would be not a question of the same root but only of a sort of phonetic convergence, which is none the less striking. There is however something that is perhaps more remarkable and in any case directly related to our subject: in Hebrew, the word hor or hür, written with the letter heth, signifies cave; this does not necessarily mean that there is an etymological link between these Hebrew and Egyptian words, although strictly speaking they may have a more or less remote common origin, but however that may be, their resemblance is none the less of considerable interest, seeing that there can be no such thing as pure chance. Nor is this all: in Hebrew, hor or har, written this time with the letter hē, signifies mountain; now since heth is, among aspirates, a reinforcement or hardening of hē, as it were a compression, and since heth moreover expresses in itself, ideographically, a notion of limit or enclosure, we see that the very relationship between the two words denotes the cave as being the place enclosed within the mountain, as indeed it is, literally as well as symbolically; and this brings us back yet again to the relationships between the mountain and the cave, which we must examine now in more detail.