LOTUS OF THE HEART

From the Chandogya Upanishad:

Within the city of Brahman, which is the body, there is the heart, and within the heart there is a little house.  This house has the shape of a lotus, and within it dwells that which is to be sought after, inquired about, and realized.

What, then, is that which dwells within this little house, this lotus of the heart?  What is it that must be sought after, inquired about, and realized?

Even so large as the universe outside is the universe within the lotus of the heart.  Within it are heaven and earth, the sun, the moon, the lightning, and all the stars.  Whatever is in the macrocosm is in the microcosm also.

All things that exist, all beings and all desires, are in the city of Brahman; what, then, becomes of them when old age approaches and the body dissolves in death?

Though old age comes to the body, the lotus of the heart does not grow old.  It does not die with the death of the body.  The lotus of the heart, where Brahman resides in all his glory--that, and not the body, is the true city of Brahman.