by Ervin Laszlo
In his classic Raja Yoga, Swami Vivekananda gave the following account of Akasha:
“It is the omnipresent, all-penetrating existence. Everything that has form, everything that is the result of combination, is evolved out of this Akasha. It is the Akasha that becomes the air, that becomes the liquids, that becomes the solids; it is the Akasha that becomes the sun, the earth, the moon, the stars, the comets; it is the Akasha that becomes the human body, the animal body, the plants, every form that we see, everything that can be sensed, everything that exists. It cannot be perceived; it is so subtle that it is beyond all ordinary perception; it can only be seen when it has become gross, has taken form. At the beginning of creation there is only this Akasha. At the end of the cycle; the solid, the liquids, and the gases all melt into the Akasha again, and the next creation similarly proceeds out of this Akasha.”
In the traditional conception Akasha is an all-encompassing medium that underlies all things; the medium that becomes all things. It is real, but so subtle that it cannot be perceived until it becomes the many things that populate the manifest world. According to the contemporary Indian sage Radja Deekshithar we can experience Akasha: our normal senses do not register it, but we can reach it through spiritual practice. The ancient Rishis reached Akasha through a disciplined, spiritual way of life, and through yoga. That is why they could describe its nature in words, making it an essential element of the philosophy and mythology of India. (more…)