A beautiful comment with additional feedback was posted on this blog yesterday by Anonymous.
For the benefit of those who might miss reading the comment section, I am posting it here.
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In some older texts, the terms 'Akasha' and 'Brahm’ are actually used interchangeably. In the Chandogya Upanishad, it is explained:
Asya lokasya kā gatirityākāśa iti hovāca sarvāṇi ha vā imāni bhūtānyākāśādeva samutpadyanta ākāśaṃ pratyastaṃ yantyākāśo hyevaibhyo jyāyānakāśaḥ parāyaṇam || 1.9.1 ||
"Śilaka Śālāvatya asked Pravāhaṇa, ‘What is the end of this earth?’ Pravāhaṇa said: ‘Akasha (space), for everything that exists arises from Akasha (space) and also goes back into Akasha (space). Akasha (Space) is superior to everything. Akasha (Space)is the highest goal"
Yadvai tadbrahmetīdaṃ vāva tadyoyaṃ bahirdhā puruṣādākāśo yo vai sa bahirdhā puruṣādākāśaḥ || 3.12.7 ||
Ayaṃ vāva sa yo'yamantaḥ puruṣa akāśo yo vai so'ntaḥ puruṣa ākāśaḥ || 3.12.8 ||
Ayaṃ vāva sa yo'yamantarhṛdaya ākāśastadetatpūrṇamapravarti pūrṇamapravartinīṃśriyaṃ labhate ya evaṃ veda || 3.12.9 ||
|| iti dvādaśaḥ khaṇḍaḥ ||
"That which is Brahman is also the Akasha (space) outside the body. That which is the akasha (space) outside the body is also the akasha (space) inside the body. And that which is the akasha (space) inside the body is also the akasha (space) within the heart. That treasure within the heart is full and unchanging. He who knows this is always full and not subject to change."
In the Yoga Vashistha, the sage Vashistha refers to ‘Brahm’ as the ‘Chid-akasha’ (The Infinite space of Consciousness). The Nath Yogi sage Gorakhnath, referred to the Supreme Reality as the ‘Maha-akash’ or ‘The Great space’. Hence, different sages used the term ‘Akash’ synonymously with the Supreme Reality, ‘Brahm’.
But the ‘Akasha' or 'Brahm' these sages referred to should be differentiated from the elemental/physical akasha (Bhutakasha). Even though the term ‘Akasha' is used for both Brahm and the physical element of ether/space, it should be understood that the ‘Akasha’ that is Brahm is not the same as the Bhutakasha (physical-elemental space/quantum field-energy). As you have beautifully pointed out, the physical/elemental ‘akasha’ (space) appears like Brahm but is not Brahm itself. This clarification is also pointed out in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Verse 3.7.12:
'He who, dwelling in the akasha is distinct from akasha, whom the akasha knows not, whose body the akasha is, who rules the akasha from within, he is thy Soul, the inner guide, the immortal’
Thank you once again for the priceless wisdom.
"Anonymous"
For the benefit of those who might miss reading the comment section, I am posting it here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In some older texts, the terms 'Akasha' and 'Brahm’ are actually used interchangeably. In the Chandogya Upanishad, it is explained:
Asya lokasya kā gatirityākāśa iti hovāca sarvāṇi ha vā imāni bhūtānyākāśādeva samutpadyanta ākāśaṃ pratyastaṃ yantyākāśo hyevaibhyo jyāyānakāśaḥ parāyaṇam || 1.9.1 ||
"Śilaka Śālāvatya asked Pravāhaṇa, ‘What is the end of this earth?’ Pravāhaṇa said: ‘Akasha (space), for everything that exists arises from Akasha (space) and also goes back into Akasha (space). Akasha (Space) is superior to everything. Akasha (Space)is the highest goal"
Yadvai tadbrahmetīdaṃ vāva tadyoyaṃ bahirdhā puruṣādākāśo yo vai sa bahirdhā puruṣādākāśaḥ || 3.12.7 ||
Ayaṃ vāva sa yo'yamantaḥ puruṣa akāśo yo vai so'ntaḥ puruṣa ākāśaḥ || 3.12.8 ||
Ayaṃ vāva sa yo'yamantarhṛdaya ākāśastadetatpūrṇamapravarti pūrṇamapravartinīṃśriyaṃ labhate ya evaṃ veda || 3.12.9 ||
|| iti dvādaśaḥ khaṇḍaḥ ||
"That which is Brahman is also the Akasha (space) outside the body. That which is the akasha (space) outside the body is also the akasha (space) inside the body. And that which is the akasha (space) inside the body is also the akasha (space) within the heart. That treasure within the heart is full and unchanging. He who knows this is always full and not subject to change."
In the Yoga Vashistha, the sage Vashistha refers to ‘Brahm’ as the ‘Chid-akasha’ (The Infinite space of Consciousness). The Nath Yogi sage Gorakhnath, referred to the Supreme Reality as the ‘Maha-akash’ or ‘The Great space’. Hence, different sages used the term ‘Akash’ synonymously with the Supreme Reality, ‘Brahm’.
But the ‘Akasha' or 'Brahm' these sages referred to should be differentiated from the elemental/physical akasha (Bhutakasha). Even though the term ‘Akasha' is used for both Brahm and the physical element of ether/space, it should be understood that the ‘Akasha’ that is Brahm is not the same as the Bhutakasha (physical-elemental space/quantum field-energy). As you have beautifully pointed out, the physical/elemental ‘akasha’ (space) appears like Brahm but is not Brahm itself. This clarification is also pointed out in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Verse 3.7.12:
'He who, dwelling in the akasha is distinct from akasha, whom the akasha knows not, whose body the akasha is, who rules the akasha from within, he is thy Soul, the inner guide, the immortal’
Thank you once again for the priceless wisdom.
"Anonymous"
Dhan Nirankar Uncle Ji further to this I just read something profound by Sri Ramana Maharishi Ji which also further explains this blog. I thought I would share it with you and the group:
ReplyDeleteTalks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
==========================
Talk 451.
4th February, 1938
Mr. S. S. Suryanarayana Sastri, Reader in Philosophy, Madras University, arrived this night. He had a doubt which he said had
been cleared on reading Sarma’s commentary on “Knowledge of Self”.
The doubt was:
How can the world be an imagination or a thought?
Thought is a function of the mind.
The mind is located in the brain.
The brain is within the skull of a human being, who is only an infinitesimal part of the universe.
How then can the universe be contained in the cells of the brain?
Sri Bhagavan answered saying: So long as the mind is considered to be an entity of the kind described, the doubt will persist. But what is mind?
Let us consider.
The world is seen when the man wakes
up from sleep. It comes after the ‘I-thought’. The head rises up. So the mind has become active.
What is the world?
It is objects spread out in space.
Who comprehends it?
The mind. Is not the mind, which comprehends space, itself space (akasa)? The space is physical ether (bhootakasa). The mind is mental ether (manakasa) which is contained in transcendental ether (chidakasa).
The mind is thus the ether principle, akasa tattva. Being the principle of knowledge (jnana sattva), it is identified with ether (akasa) by metaphysics.
Considering it to be ether (akasa), there will be no difficulty in reconciling the apparent contradiction in the question.
Pure mind (suddha manas) is ether (akasa). The dynamic and dull (rajas and tamas) aspects operate as gross objects, etc. Thus the whole universe is only mental.
Again, consider a man who dreams.
He goes to sleep in a room with doors closed so that nothing can intrude on him while asleep. He closes his eyes when sleeping so that he does not see any object. Yet when he dreams he sees a whole region in which people live and move about with himself among them.
Did this panorama get in through the
doors?
It was simply unfolded to him by his brain. Is it the sleeper’s brain or in the brain of the dream individual?
It is in the sleeper’s brain.
How does it hold this vast country in its tiny cells?
This must explain the oft-repeated statement that the whole universe is a mere thought or a series of thoughts.
Such is the firm conviction of the reality of the world that it is not easily shaken off. The world does not become, for that reason, any more real than the individual himself.
Dhan Nirankar Ji
Do you think Akasha is somewhat similar to the concept of Higgs field of quantum field theory than that of luniferous aether or ether?
ReplyDeleteO genetic being, you like truth and knowledge of illusion, because you are a code and to self program yourself you want only real fact. What you call mind is emulator that creates 4D model of Universe based on your daily experience. Experience is relative and space & time bound therefore gene (the real true self) just try to perfect this model from different prospective till it extract the knowledge from these experiences, knowledge is fruit of many experiences it's absolute, it codify this knowledge in Gene.
ReplyDeleteKnowledge is living tatv, I see it evolving both genetically and worldly sense it uses energy as carrier and it govern energy. Knowledge is Akshay there the fight/love is between Self (Knowledge) and God (Space). Love it