Questioner: Namaskaram Sadhguru. Sadhguru, one of the five elements,
Pancha Bhuta is Akasha - Space and in one of your
YouTube videos, I’ve 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. This ether and akasha,
I’m bit confused. Can you please elaborate
on the ether part? Sadhguru: I’m glad you are
confused (Laughter) 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
(Laughter/Applause), 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
Shi-va - "that which is not." When we say akash, we are
talking about that which is. Here you are... Here you are as a human being, there’re many levels from
grossness to subtleness here. If you have constipation, you still have something gross
inside you, hmm? Above that, there is little
more refined aspects of body, above that
there is a lungful 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
(Referring to universe), just get this right
(Referring to oneself) 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 the 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, only 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
(Referring to oneself), 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 (Referring to oneself) is. If this (Referring to oneself) 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 (Gestures) (Laughter), but if you get certain types
of concave mirrors you can definitely reduce
your weight in a day. (Laughter) You just go stand you look (Gestures) You look like a dachshund (Laughter). 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?
Participants: Yes. Sadhguru: 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 is 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 (Gestures). So now you must have the intelligence
to correct this without distorting it. See most people ca… can’t
turn a dosa around properly (Laughter). If they try to turn the dosa around,
it’ll 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 are seeing the world
in the wavy mirror and it’s 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’ve not approached
that in your life yet. First 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? Meditators: Yes.
Sadhguru: Hmm? Those who do not say anything
we’re gonna throttle you. (Laughter) It’s… 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? There’re 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 hard core 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 are 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 am sorry (Laughter). Because there is more spent... There is more money spent on
hair-care on the planet, definitely a lot more
than the brain care. (Laughter) You see where our values are. (Laughs) 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 are 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 Annapoorneshwari Temple.
Anybody from Karnataka? You’ve been to Annapoorneshwari? So at the rear part of the temple
where most people may not go because I am always poking
into nooks and corners, others are all happy looking
at the goddess. (Laughter) There is an inscription in Hale 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 are 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, we are a living proof. (Laughter) I think, there was an old movie by Manoj Kumar which said "Shor"
(Referring to Hindi word - Noise). Air planes and air planes and
you know the disturbance that is causing and he is
glad his ears went away one day (Laughs), 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 are still talking about five elements, as you yourself in the question,
you mentioned among the five elements akash 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 akash
for empty space.
