A great king, takes his people with him and moves around his country as he pleases, in the same way this one takes his senses with him and moves about the body . And when one falls into deep sleep and knows absolutely nothing, having returned via the 72,000 hitas, the channels from the heart to the body, he remains in the body. And just as a youth or a Great King or a brahmin might rest when he has attained supreme bliss, so to does he rest . As a spider moves along its web, as little sparks come from the fire, so do all souls all worlds, all gods, all beings emanate from this Self. Its teaching is the truth of truth.
Souls are the truth and it is their truth .
Ajatashatru's exposition is not difficult to follow. In sleep, consciousness is withdrawn from the senses to the space within the heart. This is a good piece of anatomical reasoning. The belief that the heart is the seat of consciousness is a reasonable one in a culture that does not know and understand the nervous system and its functions. Ancient Greek philosophers, Empedocles and Aristotle himself amongst them, came to the same conclusion.