Akashic Records: Making Sense of the Mysterious
“The possibility of knowing dimensions of the beyond and dipping into the mystical nature of the existence is very much rooted in the elemental composition of who we are.”
—Sadhguru
What are Akashic Records and What Do They Mean?
Questioner: Could you tell us about the akashic records?
Sadhguru: That is what we call as internet today! There are many ways you can be active in life. You can do physical work, mental work, or you can do work with your prana. If you do something with your body, it has a certain lifespan. Things you do with your mind have a slightly longer lifespan. If you do something with your prana, it has a much longer lifespan. But once you work beyond this physical dimension, that is forever. No one can destroy it.
I have never studied any spirituality, but I am crystal-clear about anything concerned with human consciousness. Everything that I know, I do not know! When I walk on the street, I do not carry it. But when I want it, it is always there. Why should I burden myself with all that when it is anyway available all the time? This is how people are using the internet today. You do not have to carry the information with you. It is all there. You access it whenever you want.
As far as I am concerned, Krishna, Gautama Buddha or many other Yogis of the past are not really past for me. They are like right now. They may have physically died a long time ago, but as far as the core of their work is concerned, it is always like now. Even right now, you can access it the way Gautama did things at that moment. As far as I am concerned, Gautama is right now, not 2500 years ago.
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.” You just have to access it. You do not even need a Wi-Fi for that! If you are willing, what Krishna knew, what Buddha knew, what someone else knew, everything is there. You do not have to study the nonsense that people around them wrote.
What is Akashic Mind?
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 you see the akashic mind clearly, you not only see possible situations for yourself, you see possible situations for just about anything. But the problem is that if you 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.
A Simple Process to Tap into the Akashic Mind
Today, modern science is recognizing that there is something called as akashic intelligence. That is, empty space has a certain intelligence. Whether this intelligence works for you or against you will determine the nature of your life, whether you are a blessed being or one who is going to be knocked around for the rest of your life. 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 your ability – either consciously or unconsciously – to be able to get the cooperation of this larger intelligence which is functioning.
One simple process you can do for this is, after sunrise, before the Sun crosses an angle of thirty degrees, look up at the sky once and bow down to akasha for holding you in place today. After the Sun crosses thirty degrees, sometime during the day – anytime – look up and bow down again. After the Sun sets, once again look up and bow down, not to some god up there, just to the empty space for holding you in place for today. Just do this. Life will change dramatically.
Akasha Element - Space or Ether?
Question: Is this akasha the same as space?
Sadhguru: Like earth, water, air, and fire, akasha is one aspect of the five elements. Elements are not empty space but a kind of substance. Do not mistake akasha for empty space. It is ether. The word “ether” is not quite accurate but it is the closest translation. Ether is not space; it is a subtle dimension of existence. Space is kala or nonexistence. It is Shi-va – “that which is not.” Akasha is “that which is.”
Akasha is a subtle dimension of physical manifestation. You cannot see the air in this hall, but still it is there, and it is very much a part of your life. In that sense, your life is spread all over. There are gross elements in the body and there are subtler elements in this body. If you have constipation, you have something gross inside you! Above that, there are more refined aspects of the body. Above that there is a lungful of air, and above that, a brain, thoughts, emotions and so many things. And there is life going in and out. In other words, life is always from a hardcore crudeness to many subtleties. The wider you spread your wings, the more subtlety you will have in your life.
The Annapoorneshwari Temple
Without akasha, you cannot exist here. Without the air in this hall, you cannot exist here. Most of the time, you are not even conscious whether the air exists or not, but you cannot live without it for a moment. Likewise, you cannot live without akasha for a moment.
There is a temple in Karnataka in southern India, which is dedicated to Annapoorneshwari. At the rear part of the temple, there is an inscription in Hale Kannada – an ancient form of the language, which is a few thousand years old – about how to design an airplane. It explains how you can construct it, but also that if you fly such a machine, it will disturb the ether. They say if you disturb akasha, human beings will not live peacefully. Once akasha is disturbed, psychological disturbances become enormous. We can see this in the world today.
The Importance of Akasha Element in Mysticism
Questioner: But Sadhguru, other than the physical and psychological impact of akasha, is there a spiritual or mystical aspect of akasha too?
Sadhguru: The five elements are what we recognize as the basic ingredients of life. I call this elemental magic because too much has been done with just five things. With five things, what is presenting itself as life and as everything that we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch is well beyond the permutations and combinations that we can think of. If something goes beyond the permutations and combinations, then it is no more mathematic, it is magic. The most fundamental dimension of Yoga is to master this elemental magic. Essentially, when people want to be physically robust, then earth would be important, but for one who is on the spiritual path, who wants to perceive, the most important thing is akasha. In the making of this human form, seventy-two percent made of water, twelve percent of earth, six percent of air, four percent of fire is largely determined. The rest is akasha. By “rest,” I do not mean six percent; I mean the rest.
If we increase the proportion of akasha within the system and in the larger scape of who we are, then our ability to perceive is tremendously enhanced. If this proportion remains low, or akasha is at its minimal in one's making, then their ability to perceive will be very minimal. Even if they have a great intellect, this intellect will forage in mundane things. It can never rise to perceive something more than that. In this context, one important aspect of spiritual progress, of vigyan or vishesh gyan, to perceive beyond five senses that which is not physical in nature and explore the mystical nature of our existence, is enhancing the akasha.
Akasha is a boundless dimension. When the composition of akasha is enhanced, then boundlessness becomes the nature of one's being. If not boundlessness, at least a boundary that you cannot see and feel. This gives the individual person a great sense of freedom of not being tied down to anything. This lack of bondage within oneself is an essential amount of space that one needs if they want to have some mastery over these five elements. To keep the system in an efficient and effective mode, yet not being identified with it is a very important step one has to take if one has to have mastery over elements.
Gaining Mastery Over the Five Elements
Once there is a certain amount of mastery over the five elements, there is no such thing as inward and outward because elements do not respect your boundaries. To put it in the simplest form, as you sit here, you breathe. The air does not respect your boundary. It is constantly in and out. This is not just air, this is happening with everything. The food that you eat and whatever substance we relieve ourselves of and everything else is in constant transaction. The boundaries of your body are only for your psychological comfort. But the five elements have no respect for that and they anyway transact without your permission. If you have some access to experiencing the nature of the elements, then you also lose the boundaries of your body. Or in other words, you have sacrificed your privacy because everything is seeping in and everything is seeping out constantly. When one wants to gain mastery, one of the things that are commonly done is to expose yourself to the elements. What spiritual movements of the past like the Nagas, Goraknathis or the Jains did at the basic level of sadhana is to expose themselves to the elements because they wanted the transaction to happen freely.
Today, walking around naked in the world is not a possibility, though in India it is still in practice. You will see thousands of them walking naked, not bothered about the social norms. But that is not a possibility for all of you. One simple thing that you can do is move to a looser level of clothing. You may not look shapely, but there is no shape to you in the elemental scape. It is in constant transaction. To facilitate this, to be able to be conscious of this, one important thing is that there is a little bit of space between your body and what you wear, that you are not wearing tight-fitting clothes. This is one step that one can take. If you pay attention, you will see that beyond this breath, a whole lot of transaction is happening constantly across the body. If one pays enough attention to this transaction, then one will also slowly understand the nature and the composition of the elements within us. Then enhancing one dimension or increasing the akasha in the system through appropriate practice becomes a possibility.
Question: Sadhguru, what is the practice?
Sadhguru: Practice does not come first, attention comes first. If one knows that there is transaction – not by intellect, but by attention – then how to tweak the transaction in our favor is something we can do. The first thing is to take charge of the most obvious transactions. The most obvious transactions are breath, food, consumption of water and the temperature of the body and the temperature outside. These are the most obvious transactions. Just pay a little more attention to these obvious transactions. It always amazes me how most people never ever notice breath, which is such an obvious transaction and it does not happen quietly, it moves the entire body. If you cannot notice your breath, how to notice anything subtler than that? If you bring attention to how you eat, drink, breathe and touch everything, you will see that the experience of life will rise to a completely different level.
Most human beings are not doing these simple things. They are gulping down what they eat and drink. They breathe completely unconsciously. They touch anything and everything without knowing what they are touching or feeling it. People think that when you are breathing, you should not be doing anything else, you must just be breathing. The beauty of being human is that we have a cerebral capability of conducting complex activity within us and still be able to pay attention. It is like you are driving and you can still have a conversation with someone. So two levels of attention are happening just like this. You could be doing whatever you are doing, while paying attention to the breath. Breath is one thing that is always happening. You can pay attention to that. You can also pay attention to the food that you eat and the water that you drink.
The possibility of knowing dimensions of the beyond and dipping into the mystical nature of the existence is very much rooted in the elemental composition of who we are. Bringing about a transformation in this can do fantastic things to you.
Editor's Note: Bhuta Shuddhi or purifying the five elements is fundamental to the Yogic system. In the Grace of Yoga with Sadhguru during Mahashivratri is a special Yoga program that offers an in-depth exploration of these elements.
