Akasha - The Most Mysterious Element

Akasha: The Most Mysterious of the Five Elements.

Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. An arresting blend of profundity and pragmatism, his life and work serves as a reminder that yoga is a contemporary science, vitally relevant to our times.

Transcript

Questioner 1 Namaskaram,

Sadhguru.

Sadhguru,

One of the five elements,

Panchabhoota is Akasha,

Space and in one of your YouTube videos I have heard you,

I mean you say ether,

You mentioned ether about space in Akasha.

So once you… in your talk now,

In time travel you talk about space,

So this ether and space in Akasha,

I'm a bit confused.

Can you please elaborate on the ether part?

I'm glad you're confused because confusion is a much better state to be than stupid conclusions that one makes.

Confusion means you're still looking,

That's nice.

That's my intent,

To keep you confused.

Yeah,

Because I want you to be seeking,

Always.

Nobody said Akasha is space.

We said Akasha is ether.

That's not an appropriate translation,

But reasonably.

Ether is not space.

Ether is a certain dimension of existence,

Subtle.

When we say space,

We are talking about kala or non-existence.

We are talking about she,

Wa,

That which is not.

When we say Akasha,

We are talking about that which is.

Here you are.

Here you are as a human being.

There are many levels from grossness to subtleness here.

If you have constipation,

You still have something gross inside you.

Above that,

There is a little more refined aspects of body.

Above that,

There is a lung full of air.

Above that,

There's a brain and thought and emotion and so many things.

And there is life going in and out.

And there is Akasha involved.

There is water,

There is physical material,

There is air,

There is temperature,

There is fire and there is Akash which makes this.

Don't try to understand that.

Just get this right because this is made… this is a mini cosmos.

So if you perceive this right,

You know that because today there is no question about this anymore,

We've always been saying this in the yogic dimension.

But today modern physics has come up with what is called as the constructional theory,

Which is talking about how the design factor in the universe,

Whether it's atomic or cosmic,

Is fundamentally same design.

You as a human being with this kind of form,

A grasshopper,

An earthworm,

A bird,

A crawly creature somewhere,

All of you have same fundamental design.

From atomic to cosmic,

The fundamental design is same.

The complexity and sophistication of how this design evolves into multiple forms is different.

Your design is far more complicated and sophisticated compared to that of an amoeba.

But the fundamental design is still same.

See the complexity is increasing.

So you don't go about trying to observe the cosmos because you don't have a gallery view of the cosmos.

You cannot.

There's no place where you can sit and observe cosmos.

And in fact,

You cannot observe anything except what happens within you.

Even if you take a telescope and look at the star,

The star is happening only the way it projects in your mind,

Isn't it?

Yes?

You don't see any star.

This is the reason why you see stars which don't actually exist.

Many stars that you see don't exist,

But they're projected in your mind in a certain way and that's how you know it.

Or in other words,

You only can experience this or this is the only doorway through which you can experience anything.

Whether you want to experience the food that you eat or the air that you breathe or the people around you or the world around you or the cosmos,

You can only experience it the way this is.

If this is very clear,

You will see it the way it is.

If it has taken many forms and shapes,

You will see it in so many different ways.

These days I think largely the mirrors have gotten flat,

You know.

Even now I think if you buy some cheap mirror,

You will look like this,

You know.

But if you get certain types of concave mirrors,

You can definitely reduce your weight in a day.

You just go stand,

You look like a dash on.

So the mirrors give different impressions of who you are.

Suppose you always looked at your face with a slightly distorted mirror,

After some time you will assume that's how you look.

Yes or no?

Yes or no?

Yes.

You think that's how you look.

Because every day you looked at yourself and that's how you looked and you think that's how you look.

So even now you think the world looks this way simply because that's how it's projected in your mind.

If you evolve this mind to a more refined surface that there's absolutely no any kind of wavering in it,

It is perfectly plain mirror,

Then it will reflect everything the way it is but upside down,

Tch,

You know.

In the mirror everything is like this.

So now you must have the intelligence to correct this without distorting it.

See most people can't turn a dosa around properly.

If they try to turn the dosa around it will become those kind of things.

It takes certain skill to take something like this and turn it around without distorting it.

So this is the problem with the mind.

One thing is already it is wavy or choppy,

Whichever way you kept your mind.

But it is definitely wavy.

You're seeing the world in the wavy mirror and it looking certain way.

And most people have never attempted to turn it around because they think that's how it is.

When you want to turn it around,

It takes a certain amount of skill to be able to turn it around without distorting it.

So you have two problems.

One is to first flatten the mirror so that it is undistorted and now a much bigger task of wanting to flip it around without any distortion.

So that is… we have not approached that in your life yet.

Just to make the mirror absolutely without distortions,

We still working on that one.

Is this air very much a part of you as a life?

Hmm?

Those who do not say anything,

We're going to throttle you.

It's… it… your life is spread all over here,

Isn't it?

This is physical.

Even in this physical,

There are many levels of crudeness and subtlety,

Isn't it?

The very gross elements in the body,

There are subtler elements in this body,

There is thought,

There is emotion,

There is air that you breathe.

Or in other words,

Life is always from a hardcore crudeness to many subtleties.

Depends how much you spread,

That is how much subtlety you have in your life.

How wide your wings spread,

That much of subtlety is possible.

So now what we're referring to as akasha is a subtle dimension of life.

If you suck out the akasha,

You cannot exist here.

If we suck out the air from this hall,

You cannot exist here.

Though you cannot see it,

Still it is more vital than your hair,

I'm sorry.

Because there is more spent… there is more money spent on hair care on the planet.

Definitely lot more than the brain care.

You see where our values are.

If you pull out all your hair,

You can still live.

If I cut your ears,

You can still live.

If I cut your nose,

You can still live.

If I just suck out this air that you cannot even see,

Most of the time you're not even conscious whether it exists or not.

If I suck out the air,

You cannot live for a moment,

Isn't it?

If we suck out the akasha,

You cannot live for a moment.

There is a very… you know there's a temple in Karnataka,

In southern India,

Which is called the Annapurneshwari temple.

Anybody from Karnataka?

You've been to Annapurneshwari?

So at the rear part of the temple where most people may not go,

Because I'm always poking into nooks and corners,

Others are all happy looking at the goddess.

There is an inscription in Hala Kannada,

That means the old type of Kannada which is over 3000 years old.

There's an inscription talking about how to design an airplane in a temple.

And they're saying,

You can do like this but if you fly these machines,

It will disturb the ether in the planet.

If it disturbs the akasha,

When they say akasha,

Don't think space.

When they… They're saying if you disturb the akasha,

Then human beings will not know peace in their life.

Once akasha is disturbed,

Then psychological disturbances will become enormous.

I think you're a living proof.

I think there was an old movie by Manoj Kumar which said,

Sure,

Airplanes and airplanes and you know,

The disturbance that it's causing and he's glad his ears went away one day,

Something like that.

Yes?

So if we suck out the akasha,

This physical body will not exist for a moment.

So when we say akasha,

We're still talking about five elements,

As you yourself in the question you mentioned,

Among the five elements,

Akasha is one.

So when we say elements,

We are not talking about empty space.

We are talking about one more substance.

Like earth,

Like water,

Like air,

Like fire,

We are talking about one more aspect of five elements.

So do not mistake akasha for empty space.

Reviews

Thanks so much for sharing your precious words🙏 you're just an amazing teacher, Sadhguru💚⚘

Akasha is one of the 5 Great Elements (Akasha/Ether, Vayu/Air, Agni/Fire, Apa/Water, and Prithi/Earth) Sadhguru explains with his razor sharp wit, profound wisdom, and crystal clarity why the interpretation of Akasha as Space is incorrect...and a whole lot more.

He simplifies the complexity of Akash with clarity, humor and depth.

Thanks for bringing clarity to my confusion

Very interesting. I'm going to be thinking about this all day!

Very nice. Thank you. 🌺

Always awesome🙏🏻💕❤️

Once again, you made me laugh and you made me think. What I would do to meet you..... wish I could be in your audience in Tampa the end of this month. Boy how I wish I could be there.
Thank you Guru🙏❤️🕉

Always so 🙏🏻 to listen to Sadhguru & his wisdom of wise words

Wow! I had no idea. Thank you Sadhguru! You've already taught me so much, I just ordered a few of your books!

Engaging, enlightening and still light hearted

I enjoy hiim so much! Thank you. 🌈

Very interesting, opened up a lot of questions I need to find the answers to.

As always very informative and infuses seeking nature, as mentioned by Sadhguru

Akasha is the one of the most essential elements, a dimension of life we rarely focus on... and one that sustains us through life as we know it.

Loved this. Thank you