Adhikarana 8: Akasha Refers to Brahman

Adhyāya 1: The subject matter of all Vedic literatures is Brahman;
Pāda 1: Words which, taken by themselves, would not necessarily refer to Brahman, but in the Vedic context certainly refer to Brahman.;

Viṣaya [thesis or statement]: The ākāśa mentioned in Chāndogya Upaniṣad 1.9 refers to Brahman.

The entire passage is quoted below:

Then Sālāvatya asked, “What is the goal of Brahmā?” “The all-luminous [ākāśa] Viṣṇu,” replied Pravāhana, “For all these mighty beings arise from the All-luminous and again set in the All-luminous. The All-luminous is greater than all these; the All-luminous is their great refuge. He indeed is higher than the highest, the Udgītha, the Infinite.

“He who meditates on the Udgītha as greater than the great, knowing Him thus to be the supreme goal, the greater than the great becomes his protector, and he obtains the worlds that are greater than the great [Vaikuṇṭha].

“Those among Mankind who know this Udgītha,” said Atidhanvan, the son of Śunaka to his disciple Udara Śāṇḍilya, “will live for the entire length of the yuga in which they get this knowledge, and for that whole time the Supreme Brahman will be their life in this world, and also in the next world, yea in the next world.”

Saṃśaya [arisal of doubt]: In Vedic cosmology, ākāśa, sometimes unfortunately mistranslated ‘ether’, actually means space. In the Vedic literature, ākāśa is sometimes translated ‘sky’ or ‘air,’ but it is most often used in the sense of the Vedic cosmological element which is equivalent to the Western scientific concept of space-time. Normally we do not think of space as a substance, but from the transcendental point of view of the Vedas, material space-time is a temporary, artificial manifestation unique to the material creation. It is of central importance because of course, nothing can exist without space. Distance, movement and thus energy, force and work all require space. Therefore ākāśa, space is an even more fundamental concept than energy or matter.

Bhagavad-gītā [9.6] says,

यथाकाश-स्थितो नित्यं
वायुः सर्वत्र-गो महान्
तथा सर्वाणि भूतानि
मत्-स्थानीत्य् उपधारय

yathākāśa-sthito nityaṃ
vāyuḥ sarvatra-go mahān
tathā sarvāṇi bhūtāni
mat-sthānīty upadhāraya

“As the mighty wind, blowing everywhere, always rests in ākāśa [ethereal space], know that in the same manner all beings rest in Me.”

One clue to the meaning of ākāśa is that it is described as the medium of śabda, or subtle sound. Śabda is the vibration of the element ākāśa, the ethereal space of the sky. Space is the medium of subtle vibrations like radio signals, light, cosmic rays and so on. Although modern scientists do not count ethereal space as a material element as do Vedic sages, they agree it is not a void, but rather a sea of energetic vibrations in which we and all other things in the universe exist. Some scientists suppose there is a fundamental vibration that permeates the universe, holding all matter together. The Vedas describe a fundamental vibration, called śabda-brahma or transcendental sound, that originates in the spiritual sky and is the basis of creation. We also experience subtle sound vibration in the internal conversations of the mind. This mental sound is transmitted by ākāśa.

The passage of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad quoted in full above states:

अस्य लोकस्य का गतिर् इति आकाश इति होवाच
सर्वाणि हा वा इमानि भूतान्य् आकाशाद् एव
समुत्पद्यन्ते. आकाशं प्रत्यस्तं यान्त्य् आकाशः परायनम् इति.

asya lokasya kā gatir iti ākāśa iti hovāca
sarvāṇi hā vā imāni bhūtāny ākāśād eva
samutpadyante. ākāśaṃ pratyastaṃ yānty ākāśaḥ parāyanam iti.

“He asked: ‘What is the ultimate destination of all living entities?’ He replied: ‘Ākāśa is the ultimate destination. All living entities and all material elements have emanated from ākāśa, and they will again enter into ākāśa.’”

Pūrvapakṣa [antithesis]: What is the meaning of the word ākāśa here? Does it mean the element ether [sky or space], or does it mean the Supreme Brahman? The opposing argument is that “The word ākāśa here means the element ether or space, because air and the other elements evolve from it. Indeed, the zero-point energy of space is the origin of all the other energies and elements.”

Siddhānta [Vedic conclusion]: Śrīla Vyāsadeva refutes this argument by stating the siddhānta [Vedic conclusion] in the following sūtra.