An Excerpt from

HH. Satsvarupa das Goswami

Is this my heart? It is shaped like a heart but it is made of iron or steel and it is locked. My heart is locked against harinama. The key is devotional, attentive chanting, but I seem to have misplaced it. It is a very formidable lock, and I can't cut it with scissors or a chisel. The best thing is to find the key and open it. The spiritual master gave the key and said to keep it safely. We have misbehaved.

Let us sit down and discuss how we may open this lock; we have to ask the spiritual master to help us to find the key again.

But he may be deliberately keeping it from me for my misbehavior.

Can we go to a professional locksmith and have him trick open this lock or make a new key? They are expert in those things. You could even use dynamite. But explosives might destroy the door and the contents behind the door. I think it requires a delicate operation, the finding of the person with the original key. Let us ask in the neighborhood. Let us chant Hare Krishna at the entrance of the heart shaped lock and pray and beg for the appearance of the spiritual master, the original giver of the key, to appear and give us back the key or a spare. I do not want to attempt a violent operation. It may damage the heart. If we can only find the key!

But we could get a locksmith to make a new key or open this one and then keep it open. There is no need to keep the heart locked on the harinama. Do you really think our spiritual master locked the heart or that we did it ourselves and threw the key away? We should open the heart and chant in freedom.

I am not sure what to do and how this predicament arose. But we should go on chanting at the door. Pray to the spiritual master in the heart and consult his instructions and his devotees and ask for advice.

Source: http://yellowsub.sdgonline.org/satsvarupa_goswami/366

Is this my heart?