“I, O Arjuna! am the Self, seated in the heart of all beings.”

—The Bhagavad Gita 10.20

One can investigate this beautiful teaching thanks to Atmananda’s Direct Path method.

1. Start with the experience of being yourself. Hold onto this sense of “being myself.”

2. Then ask yourself: “Where is the center or seat of my sense of ‘being myself’”? You are to turn within to try to locate this “center” or “seat.”

3. Then consider: “Is this center or seat in space? If so, where is it exactly? Does it really feel as if it’s ‘within’ and not ‘without,’ ‘above’ and not ‘below’? Staying only with this center, probe deeper: are you really experiencing a point or a circumference or a radius?” Feel, in brief, that this center, seat, or heart is not in space but rather is “spread out,” all-encompassing.

4. Then look for any attributes or qualities that can be imputed to this spaceless I. Ask: “Does this I have a personality? Is there any coloring, tinting, or any sort of personality traits discernible?” Be very open and see that this I is without qualities.

5. Try to really feel that this I right here is the Self: the indwelling Principle, i.e., that which you essentially are.

6. The Self is hearing any sounds, reading these words, moving this head, and all the rest. The Self is the deep “operating system” with which and on account of which this bodymind instrument is functioning.

7. Finally, note that the Self is not just “inside of me” but is also “in the heart of all beings.” Is it possible that the Self is recognizing Itself in every human being, in every sentient creature, in all plants and flowers–indeed, in everything we ordinarily call “others” and “the world”? For the Self, is there any room for “all beings”? For the Self, rather, isn’t there just the Self shining resplendently as Itself?