practice we have learned hitherto. We have to refine what we already
can accomplish and add new depth and subtleties in order to penetrate
into the final heart of the mystery. We have to keep on questioning our
selves, or else transformation will not take place. Advance with faith,
yes, but always call yourself into question. Where there is pride there
is always ignorance.
Before our consciousness finally gravitates to our Self and our Self
is merged in the Infinite, there are many fine threads to be woven to
gether into the shimmering cloth of our practice. We have to weave in
a meditation of such selfless purity that the impersonating ego will be
unmasked for all time. When the ego is effaced, the afflictions that ac
company it will disappear. Another thread that we must weave in is an
understanding of how the elements inform our practice. I have dis
cussed in the earlier chapters the elements of earth, water, fire, and air
and how they correspond to the first four sheaths of body, energy,
mind, and intellect. The final element that corresponds with the final
sheath of bliss is called "space" and allows mobility and freedom in all
the others. Space is the most subtle and pervasive element, and we must
learn to tame it.
Space, sometimes translated as ether, is not the ether of the
modern chemist. It is taken in its old sense as being the space perme
ating the emptiness between particles of matter. The amount of matter
inside an atom is equivalent to a tennis ball inside a Cathedral, so our
atoms, and therefore we, are almost entirely space. The spaces above
us, the sky, is mahat-akasha (cosmic intelligence in space) while the
Self within is cit-akasha or chidakasha (cosmic intelligence inside us).
One is the external space, the other is the internal space, but to yogis
the felt space of the Self is actually larger than that of the external
space surrounding them.
Space is emblematic of freedom, the freedom that only space al
lows for movement, for is not change itself a movement? The view that
astronauts gained from outer space often left them with a unified, non-
II K S I Y I· N 1; 1\ I\