Likutei Moharan 49:4/ליקוטי מוהר"ן מ״ט:ד׳

14. When prayer erects the aspect of Malkhut, corresponding to “and serving Him with all your heart,” this is the aspect of “she is the olah (burnt-offering)” (Leviticus 6:2). [This is] the aspect of “Who is this that olah (ascends)” (Song of Songs 8:5) —”who” ascends together with “this.”

2They are two houses: an upper house and a lower house. Both of them undergo an ascent, for “I will not enter the city until holiness is in your midst.”

3{The explanation is: Our Sages, of blessed memory, expounded the verse “Unless holiness is in your midst, I will not enter” (Hosea 11:9) —the Holy One swore that He would not enter Jerusalem of above until Jerusalem of below was built (Taanit 5a).

4We find in the writings of the Ari, of blessed memory, that the mystical intention [behind this] is that Binah —Upper Imma, the upper house—is the aspect of Jerusalem of above. Malkhut —the lower house—is the aspect of Jerusalem of below. The union above, which is the aspect of the ascent of the upper house, is not complete until the aspect of Malkhut, which is the aspect of the ascent of the lower house, is built up and becomes perfectly complete. See there.

5This is what Rebbe Nachman, of blessed memory, wrote: “‘Who’ ascends together with ‘this.’” For Binah is the heart; she is the aspect of the upper house, the aspect of “who.” Malkhut is the aspect of the lower house, the aspect of “this.” Through these aspects, which have been mentioned earlier in this lesson, these two houses—the upper house and the lower house, which are the aspect of “‘who’ together with ‘this’”—undergo an ascent.

6In other words, by contracting the light of his heart’s flaming—in order that it not become excessively inflamed, so that he can serve God in stages and with measure—and by sanctifying his thoughts, without his thinking any evil thoughts, but rather always thinking holy thoughts—these being the aspect of the good inclination, the aspect of wisdom in the heart, through which he designs the good attributes and merits doing good deeds and actions, and [acquires] good attributes—through this, the aspect of Malkhut is revealed. For it is revealed that he wholly accepts the yoke of the Kingship of Heaven.

7Then, the aspect of Malkhut, which is the lower house, undergoes an ascent. Then, too, specifically the upper house, which corresponds to “Binah is the heart,” ascends. For in truth they are one, and one is dependent upon the other.

8In order to somewhat explain the matter we must go back and explain the theme of this lesson. The general principle of the lesson is that, as explained at the beginning of Etz Chaim, when God wanted to create the world, the Light of the Holy One was ein sof (infinite) and so there was no place for the creation of the worlds. He therefore, had to contract the Light of Ein Sof to the sides, so to speak, thus making a hollowed space. Within this Chalal Hapanuy (Hollowed or Vacated Space) He created all the worlds. And all the worlds were created by means of Chokhmah, as in, “You created everything with wisdom.”

9Now, the essential purpose for creating the worlds was for the sake of Malkhut —i.e., in order to reveal His Kingship. This is possible only by means of the worlds, for there can be no king without a nation. Because of this there was a contraction of the Chalal Hapanuy, so that there would be a place for the creation of the worlds, so that God’s Kingship might be revealed.

10All this is explained in the Zohar and the writings, and Rebbe Nachman, of blessed memory, explains how all this applies to every person. For each and every Jew is “a portion of God from above,” and the essence of Godliness is in the heart. Moreover, the Godliness in a Jewish heart is the aspect of ein sof. This is because the light of its flaming reaches to Ein Sof —i.e., there is no end or limit to its yearning.

11Thus, considering the degree to which the heart of a Jew is set aflame, reaching all the way to Ein Sof, it would be impossible to perform any devotion or reveal any good attribute. For by virtue of its great flaming till Ein Sof, he is incapable of doing anything—this being the aspect of the beginning of creation, when there was no room for the creation because everything was Ein Sof. This is because creation of the worlds [is creation] of the attributes themselves, as explained above.

12Therefore a person certainly has to contract the light of his heart’s flaming, which is till Ein Sof, in order that he might serve God in stages and with measure. For God desires our service, that we serve Him with devotions and good attributes, which is possible only by means of the contraction, as explained above.

13Thus, when he contracts the light of his heart’s flaming, there is an hollowed space left in the heart, corresponding to “and my heart is hollowed within me” (this being the deeper meaning of the Vacated Space at the beginning of creation). And within this hollowed space, his good attributes—this being the deeper meaning behind the creation of the worlds that took place within the Chalal Hapanuy —are revealed. For the attributes are themselves the worlds, as explained above.

14In other words, by means of the contraction, his having contracted the light of the flaming, the aspect of the Chalal Hapanuy is made, corresponding to “and my heart is hollowed within me.” Through this he serves God in stages and with measure, doing good deeds and [acquiring] good attributes. For all this is the aspect of revealing the attributes, the worlds, within the hollowed space in the heart.

15Now, the creation of the worlds was mainly by means of Chokhmah, as explained above. This is the aspect of why the essence of serving God, meriting good attributes and deeds, is through guarding the wisdom in the heart—i.e., the thought in the heart. For we must carefully guard the thought in the heart, which is the aspect of a wise heart—this being the essence of the inclinations. The good thoughts are the good inclination, and the evil thoughts are the evil inclination.

16In other words, when he thinks good thoughts, this being the aspect of the wisdom in the heart, then, as a result, he merits good deeds and attributes. This is the aspect of the revelation of the creation/the attributes within the Chalal Hapanuy by means of the wisdom in the heart, which, as explained above, is the aspect of the good thoughts in the heart. But when he thinks evil thoughts, God forbid, he then spoils the space in the heart, this being the deeper meaning of the Vacated Space. Hence, he clogs up the space in the heart, in the aspect of a foreskinned heart. This is the aspect of the spoiling of the creation, which came about through the wisdom in the heart, as explained above.

17Thus, the crux of the service—for which we need the above mentioned contraction and to think good thoughts in order to merit good deeds and good attributes—is entirely so as to reveal His Kingship. Creation was essentially for this purpose. For by meriting through all of the above to good deeds and attributes, he wholly accepts the yoke of the Kingship of Heaven. This is the aspect of the revelation of God’s Kingship, which is revealed by means of the creation of the worlds that are within the Chalal Hapanuy through Chokhmah.

18The principle is that the creation of the worlds and serving God through good deeds and attributes are one and the same aspect, as explained above. Understand this well.

19And once God’s Kingship is revealed through his good deeds and attributes, which were revealed within the space inside his heart, this is the elevation of the above mentioned two houses—“‘who’ together with ‘this,’” the upper house and the lower house. For the revelation of Malkhut is the aspect of the lower house, whereas the beginning of the contraction, which is the hollowed space in the heart, is the aspect of the upper house. This is because the main intention behind the contraction was in order to serve God so as to merit revealing God’s Kingship. Therefore, the rectification and elevation of the upper house is not complete until there is an ascent of the lower house—i.e., until God’s Kingship is revealed—as this is the intended purpose behind the creation.

20And so, when God’s Kingship is revealed, precisely then the upper house undergoes an ascent. For precisely then, the two of them, the upper house and the lower house, ascend together in the aspect of “Who is this that ascends”—”who” ascends together with “this,” as explained above. For “I will not enter the city until holiness is in your midst”—the Holy One will not enter Jerusalem of above, which is “Binah is the heart,” until Jerusalem of below, the aspect of the revelation of God’s Kingship, is built.

21Now all this is the aspect of prayer, which is the service of the heart. For prayer of the heart is the aspect of revealing His Kingship that is within the heart’s hollowed space.

22Consider this well, because the ideas are very, very deep and Rebbe Nachman, of blessed memory, was brief and said everything through hints, like one who converses by making gestures. Yet for the discerning, the words are unambiguous. The main thing is to fulfill them simply: to carefully guard oneself from evil thoughts, for evil thoughts are the essence of the evil inclination—corresponding to “a formation for evil.” Therefore, a person must carefully guard his thinking and force himself to always think good thoughts, which are the aspect of the good inclination, and merit thereby good deeds and good attributes, etc., to pray attentively and to repent.

23Thus, at the outset, a person has to contract the flaming of his heart, so that it should not burn excessively. For it is necessary to serve God specifically in stages and with measure, and [with] all the other holy and pure paths and proper counsels that it is possible to cull from this awesomely holy lesson. “There is still more to say for God” (Job 36:2) about this, and it will be somewhat explained elsewhere, for many reams of paper would not be enough when clarifying even one of his awesome teachings. Let this suffice for the present.] {Let us return to the original topic..

24Because of this, Nissan is called AVYV (spring): an Aleph with a Vet, a Yod with a Vet. This is the upper union and the lower union.