Akasa - my favorite

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~

Namaste
I continue to be delighted by the notion of akasa (AkASa or ākāśa ), that is , pure space. Why so? it is the subtlest element yet it can be perceived all 'round us.

If we took a solid, lets say steel about 1/2 of its interatomic volume is just space. In water about 2/3rd's the volume is interatomic space. If we take the air around us as it floats in space. Air molecules can travel about 500 times its diameter before hitting another - just space. Same with our body. Sure we are made of flesh, bones, blood,fluids, but it all resides in space. Carl Sagan¹ said matter is indeed 'chiefly made of nothing'.

Yet this space is the essence for all to exist in i.e. avakāśa dātr ākāśah or that which gives room for everything to exist. This comes up (for me) as I read the Chandogya Upanishad ( Chapt 1.8.1 to 1.10.0). There is a conversation amongst 3 sadhakas. Two of the 3 are brahmana and one is not (a ksatriya). Yet they sit to talk, and the non-Brahmin yields to listen to the other two.


The discussion is on , of where things return back to -what is their source? The two brahmanas converse, yet the conclusions they come to is not on 'firm ground'. So the one brahmana, Silaka, asks the ksatriya, named Pravahana, I would like to learn from you sir.


So, Silaka asks, To what original source does this world go back (to)?
Pravahana replies, to ākāśa, for everything that has come into being originates from ākāśa and all of them disappear. Therefore it is greater than all of these ( that was mentioned by the 2 brahmanas previously; one offers svarga or heaven, and the other brahmana offers this world, as svarga's inhabitants depend on the offerings from this world for its existence i.e. yajya, oblations, etc).


Pravahana finishes by saying ākāśa indeed is the final refuge all adhere to. The word in the sloka is ākāśah parāyaṇam. So ākāśa is para - farther than , beyond , on the other or farther side of , extreme + ayana - way , progress , manner , path.


For me and this part of the Upanishad, this ākāśa is not merely compared to Brahman but is ākāśa, some say It's (His) body. For it is Brahman, Reality, Being, that allows all things to exist. And is there other space? There is cidākāśa, - the space of Consciousness. Other definitions, sure as we have discussed this on HDF. Yet this ākāśa or space, time, cause, substance, is the play-field of Brahman and is only 1/4th of his greatness.


pranams


1. Carl Sagan also gave practical comparisons... to get to this inter-atomic space he would use an example such as a pie. Take a pie and cut it in half repeatedly; Sagan points out it takes 90 cuts to get from apple pie to atom-space.

[devotee]

Namaste yajvan ji,

A very thought provoking post ! This post reminded of one of my writings on this subject long back. I am reproducing it here :


GOD IS SPACE

The Space which we think of containing "nothing" is full of dark Energy & dark Matter. The matter which apparently fills the space is illusive till date. It is like onion. You keep on peeling layer after layer & finally you come to know that there was nothing/space only inside !

Similarly, the matter which appears so solid, hard, having a shape & size, mass & forming all visible things in this world appears to be just a handiwork of illusion. You keep on breaking the matter & you come to see a large number of molecules vibrating within a large space. Break molecules & come to see Atoms within a vast space inside. Break Atoms & get Protons, Neutrons & Electrons again in vast space within. Break Protons, Neutrons & you get sub-atomic particles quarks, anti-quarks & energy particles which are having sizes of the order of 10^-19 m. We have not been able to go beyond this. These sub-atomic particles look strutureless/sizeless but it appears more due to our own limitations to go further down & explore than a really scientific conclusion. May be after peeling further (if we can ever go further ... till now there is no explanation for mass which is considered indistructible & the inherent property of all matters) we find that there was nothing inside ... just fields which is present everywhere else as well !

"Is an onion nothing/space when the layers are still in tact?" ... How do you perceive that the layers are intact ? What are the layers ? If my eyes could see through X-rays & not photons, would I see the layers in the same way as I see them now ? ... If I could see the layers with some more powerful rays which penetrate even bones & the most dense materials in this world, would I see the layers as I see them now ? ........ No ! The layers are the creation of the limitations of sense organs to perceive, the tool (photons/x-ray etc.) which I use ! If I am able to take off the layers of the molecules --- the atoms ... the protons & the neutrons ... the quarks & the anti-quarks ... by using some more powerful sense organs & some more powerful rays ... may be I see only space and nothing else !!

You see a man as a man. You take his photograph with an X-ray machine .... the man disappears & you see only the bones. In fact, the man is still there but as you can see part of the space now which was earlier invisible, the first stage of illusion of a man goes & you see the next stage of illusion of an skeleton. If the bones could be pierced through & the entire space it is hiding is shown, you will see more of space & less of things left ... & so on.

Actually, the comparison of things/forms with onion is not really correct. When the onion is peeled off, you get something visible, the layers. It is not the same with matter. As you go on peeling off, what is peeled off is not a visible matter but space ! You get space as peels & finally space left over when the matter is fully peeled off.

Yeah, I see space where the onion is kept even when the layers are intact ! This is the same space what makes water which you use for your bath ... this is the same space which you are made of .. this is the same space which has the properties of water, the onion & the man at the same time. This is the space which thinks, which meditates, which sees & is seen .... the whole universe is nothing but highly concious space .... we don't know it ... it knows us all. This is what unites us & it is what separates us.

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Chandokya Upanishd, (Ch. 1, ix.1) : Q. What is the goal of this world ? A. He answered, "Space. For all things certainly originate from Space, & they merge by moving towards Space. For space is certainly greater than all these, Space is their supreme goal."

Brahma Sutra ( Ch.1, 22) : Space is Brahman; for Brahman's indicatory mark is in evidence.
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Regards

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~

Namaste devotee,
Thank you for sharing... if you have access to the Chandogya Upanishad and like me are delighted with this ākāśa , consider Chapt 8.14.

pranams

[Sagefrakrobatik]

But what exactly is Space? Is it merely nothingness? here are two definitions out of five the American Heritage dictionary gives;

1. The infinite extension of the Three-dimensional region in which all matter exists

2. A blank or empty area