Akasha Element and Spirituality
Akasha (Ether) is the first and most subtle of the great elements. When we think of space, we often think of it as being empty. However, Akasha is the space in which air, fire, water, and earth come together as creation. It existed before anything else came into being and it is that which everything will return to.
Ayurveda, the traditional Hindu medicine system and the sister-science of yoga, teaches us that space, along with air, is the stuff of which vata dosha is made. When vata dosha is imbalanced, we may feel weak, be underweight, have digestive difficulties, and suffer from free-floating anxiety and nervousness. Balanced vata dosha means that we are creative, energetic, and expressive. Vata may not be experienced through the physical senses, but it can be felt through its effects. It is our thoughts, words, ideas, and beliefs. Akasha is the space through which these things move beyond the ethereal and into manifested form.
All beings who have broken all dimensions of barriers within themselves and touched the ultimate — what they perceived, grasped and distilled within themselves is for always. It is on the “inner net” or “Yogic net.”
There is an individual mind and there is a universal mind. They are just a reflection of each other. It is just that the individual mind may be too muddled and it may not be catching all of it. If one is able to access life through the akashic mind instead of the individual mind, if we see the akashic mind clearly, we not only see possible situations for ourselves, we see possible situations for just about anything. But the problem is that if we even as much as talk about these things, all kinds of people will start imagining all the different types of nonsense they are “receiving” from people. They will start “communicating” with everyone even though they are not on talking terms with the people around them. At the same time, if we deny that possibility, we are rendering humanity blind.
Today, modern science is recognising that there is something called as akashic intelligence, that is, empty space has a certain intelligence. Whether this intelligence works for us or against us will determine the nature of our life, whether we are blessed beings or those who are going to be knocked around for the rest of our lives. Some people seem to be hammered around by life for no reason while others seem to be blessed with everything. It is not for no reason. It is our ability — either consciously or unconsciously — to be able to get the cooperation of this larger intelligence which is functioning.
Space is more than just the absence of something. Humans long to explore space. Space opens us up to possibility. We explore outer space when we go somewhere we have never been, try something we have never done, or speak a truth we had long kept silent. However, our yoga practice is always directing us inward.
There is an inner space to discover as well. When we allow space to be what it is, without trying to fill or in some way change it, we explore our inner space and learn to navigate the terrain of self, psyche, and consciousness.
