Atma conditioned by the mind stuff; elemental ether. (Glossary for the Vahinis)

The world is the embodiment of God. You must make some effort to understand the principle on which the world rests. The moon is hundreds of thousands of miles away from the earth. The sun is many tens of millions of miles away. Even the nearest of stars is millions upon millions of miles away; and beyond that, in the furthest reaches of the visible universe, there are stars that are still billions of times further away. This gross aspect of the universe (the Bhutakasha), which is so vast, is only the minutest part of the subtle or mental aspect of the universe (the Cittakasha). In the subtle universe, the known physical universe is only something like an atom. But the subtle universe, which is so indescribably huge when compared to the physical universe, is itself only a microscopic part of a much, much vaster aspect of the universe, which can be described as the causal universe (the chidakasha). It is called thus because it is out of this finest aspect of the universe that the gross and subtle worlds arise. All of these three worlds the gross or physical, the subtle or mental, and the causal, are so enormously big that the scriptures have declared they cannot possibly be understood by the human mind or depicted in words. They are beyond the imagination, beyond the ability of the mind to grasp. And yet beyond all these, transcending the gross, the subtle and the causal, is the divine principle. This is the ultimate cause of all (the Mahakarana). It is not possible for ordinary human beings to understand such a great truth. God is beyond the gross, the subtle and the causal, yet as Lord, He rules over all these worlds. He is the master of time, past, present and future. Human beings have been given limited capacities and you may find it impossible to understand this divine principle. Then the easiest path to follow is the path of devotion or Bhakti Yoga . (DBG, p. 6)

The Lord has declared in the Gita, ‘I will ‘ destroy all your sins and raise you to that supreme position which is My own.’ How can that happen? The physical world that you see with you human eyes is the grossest aspect of the universe, called Bhutakasha. When this gross aspect takes subtle form in the mind you have the subtle aspect of the universe, the Cittakasha and when this mental aspect takes a still finer and more subtle form in the heart, then you have the causal aspect of the universe, the Chidakasha. Now, the infinite Lord, who is beyond all these, the biggest of the big, takes the form of the smallest of the small and installs Himself in the Chidakasha in the very heart of the devotee. The wonderful truth is that such a vast, unlimited and powerful God allows Himself to be imprisoned in the heart of the devotee. (DBG, p. 8)

The Vishvaswarupa, the cosmic form of the Lord is identical to the Bhutakasha, the gross physical aspect of the universe. Corresponding to it the mental domain is the subtle from of the Lord; this is the Cittakasha, the subtle aspect of the universe. These two, the Bhutakasha and the Cittakasha, have to do with the senses and the mind. Transcending both senses and mind is the Chidakasha.

During the waking state the effect of the mind and the senses will be very strong. During the dream state there may not be the effect of the senses but there will, nevertheless, be effect of the mind. In the causal state of deep sleep or Sushupti, the mind gets dissolved. The phenomenal world which is associated with sense organs, is the Bhutakasha. The Sushupti, state or deep sleep is the one in which there is neither mind nor sense organs, this is the Chidakasha. It is only in this Sushupti state, when the mind and senses are inactive, that it is possible to experience the attributeless and formless aspects of the divinity. (DBG, p. 15)

You have been here in Prasanthi Nilayam for one hour, but this can become a permanent experience for you forever, even after you go away from here. Having initially had the experience in the waking state of the Bhutakasha, it becomes a permanent record in the Chidakasha which can then be recalled in the Cittakasha at a later date. Without first having had the physical experience in the hall, there would have been no permanent impression in your heart which you could later re-experience in your mind, without the need for actually being physically present in the hall or seeing Swami’s physical form. In the same way, once you have experienced God in form, you will certainly be able to get experience of the formless God later on. The form is momentary whereas the formless is eternal, but the formless will live on as a permanent entity for you only after first having experienced the divine form and imprinted it on your heart through worship and devotion. (DBG, pp. 15-16)

Prahlada said ‘Father, if you keep being defeated by your inner senses, how can you ever win a lasting victory against your enemies outside? When you win over inner enemies then you can easily win over the external ones, also.’ When is this possible? Only when you surrender yourself to the divinity. You say, ‘my objects’, ‘myself’, ‘my people’; as long as you have such feelings it will not be possible for you to surrender. These are all activities associated with the Bhutakasha. You will have to win not only the Bhutakasha, but you will have to gain mastery over Cittakasha as well; and finally you will have to gain entry into the Chidakasha, also. Once you have fully surrendered yourself and entered the Chidakasha then everything will be taken care of automatically, and you need not bother yourself anymore with any burdens and cares.

Until you reach the railway station you will have to transport your luggage. But, once you enter the train you can put the luggage down anywhere you like. The train will carry you and your luggage. But there are some fools who still sit in the train and carry their luggage on their heads. Once you surrender yourself to the Lord, offer everything at the Lotus Feet, once you surrender all that is to be done, when it is to be done, and how it is to be done, then He will completely take care of everything Himself. To achieve this level of surrender, there should be no trace of ego left; there should be no sense of your remaining. (DBG, pp. 23-24)

Beyond these (Bhutakasha, Cittakasha and Chidakasha) and serving as the basis for all three of them is the divine principle, what has been called Brahman or God, and what has also been called Atma, the immortal Self. A devotee who is anxious to know the divine principle and merge with it should have an understanding of these three types of Akashas or universes. The Bhutakasha is made up of the five great elements, that is ether, air, fire, water and earth. Ether, which is also called space, is the first of the five elements; it is very subtle. Ether does not have any specific attributes except sound. After that comes air. Air has two attributes, sound and touch. Next is fire. Fire can be seen, it has three attributes, namely, sound, touch and form. Following fire there is water. Water, like fire can also be seen by naked eye, water has four attributes, namely sound, touch, form and taste. Earth, the last element, has all the five attributes namely sound, touch form, taste and smell. You see that only the last three elements namely, fire, water and earth have form; the first two, ether and air, have other qualities but no form.

All things found in Bhutakasha, in the physical world, are impermanent and subject to continuous change. In time all objects undergo complete modification from one name and form to another, and then to another, and so on. In the Bhutakasha everything is in constant motion.... These changes are something like an endless wave, such as the waves you find in the ocean. For the waves in the ocean, there is no beginning or end. The drops of water in one wave get merged into the next wave. And the waves in which the drops are merged, themselves get merged into other waves, and so on. This process of forms changing and merging goes on continuously. This is the very nature of the physical universe.

Humanity can also be described as a wave, and the other living beings, such as animals and birds can be described as another wave, plants make up another wave and so do insects and crawling things. The demonic forces can also be described as a wave, and the divine forces are still another wave. In nature it is impossible to say what aspect of any wave will merge with any other wave. Therefore, just as drops of one wave in the ocean will mingle with and get merged into another wave, so also you may find that a wave containing human characteristics may merge into another wave containing characteristics of other living things. It is one continuous process of change and modification.... Unless you are able to recognise the six types of changes which occur in human life, namely, birth, growth, maturation, decline, decay and death, you will be deluded into thinking that human life is permanent. The root cause of such lack of understanding is ignorance.

The physical universe or Bhutakasha contains billions of suns, each with its own world; there are countless planets, big and small and innumerable beings, and in this entire vast universe, the earth is smaller than even a tiny drop; on this earth, India is just a little country. In this little country there is a small state. In this small state is a very little district. In this little district, there is a just minor village. In this village there is an insignificant little house. And in this little house there sits a very small body.... Isn’t it ludicrous to think that such a small body could ever feel egoistic and blown-up with self-importance considering its minute size in this huge universe. When you think of this Bhutakasha and your own place in it, you can see that physically you are the merest speck in that vast totality, can such a tiny speck ever hope to understand the totality? Can a mere drop ever hope to measure the whole ocean? And yet, this ocean is itself constantly undergoing change... and so does the whole earth... and so does everything else in Bhutakasha.

The world in which you are living is completely temporary and transient. How can an insignificant, temporary entity living in a transient world try to understand the infinite, limitless, permanent entity? To understand the permanent entity, you must occupy a permanent place within the permanent entity....

The whole vast physical world, the Bhutakasha is something like an atom in Cittakasha, the mental world, just as your body is like an atom in the Bhutakasha. And this incredibly huge Cittakasha is the only size of an atom in the Chidakasha, the causal world. The Bhutakasha being made up of the five gross elements can be apprehended by the five senses of perception. But since everything in the Bhutakasha is made up of the five elements and only the five elements, the Bhutakasha is inert and insentient. Yet the divine principle is inherent in it. Similarly, this divine principle is also to be found in the Cittakasha, although since Cittakasha is made up of the same five elements (in their subtle aspects); it is also inert and insentient. But, just as the divine principle as In-dweller is inherent in the inert body, vitalizing and activating it, so also, it is inherent in the inert physical and mental worlds, the Bhutakasha and Cittakasha, energizing and vitalizing them. This divine principle shines forth from the Chidakasha, a subtlest of these infinite universes.... Just as the effulgence of the sun gets reflected by the moon, the effulgence present in the causal state of the Chidakasha gets reflected in the subtle mental state of the Cittakasha and then the gross physical state of the Bhutakasha.

In the Bhutakasha everything is temporary. All forms are constantly undergoing change. Such transient forms cannot give proper vision of the permanent Lord. If you want to have a clean and unchanging vision of the permanent Lord. If you want to have a clean and unchanging vision of the Lord you will be able to obtain it only in your own purified heart. Therefore, the search for the Lord in the Bhutakasha, in other words, trying to know Him through the changing forms found in the gross physical universe, is a type of delusion. The permanent unchanging entity cannot be known through impermanent, changing forms.... To reach the state of the permanent, you have to go beyond these five elements and their changing forms. Just because the Bhutakasha is transient and changing, you should not renounce this temporary joy. You will have to secure even this temporary joy, and then slowly and gradually, you have to make the journey towards the permanent joy. There are three stages in this journey. The first stage is what may be called untruth in untruth. The second stage may be called untruth in truth. The third stage is truth in truth. These three stages correspond to the three worlds, the physical or gross, the mental or subtle and the causal, these three are the Bhutakasha, the Cittakasha and the Chidakasha.

Untruth in untruth is what you find in the Bhutakasha, in the gross world of the senses here everything is transient and impermanent; here not only the reflection is untrue and illusory but the object that is being reflected, which arises from the mental state, is also untrue and illusory. Untruth in truth is the situation you find in Cittakasha where the projections are temporary and untrue, but they reflect that which is permanent and true. Troth in Truth is to be found in the Chidakasha; it is free of all illusory projections and reflections; it is the very essence of with because within it shines the unchanging light of Atma. You can get some understanding of this by contemplating the statement that Swami has often made, you are not one person but three.... the one you think you are, the one that others think you are, and the one you really one. The one you think you are, the body, is temporary and untrue; whatever life you are living today, whatever experiences you are having today are all transient. Both the object and the image are temporary in these experiences. This is the very nature of Bhutakasha. That is why it is called untruth in untruth. The one that others think you are, which relates to the mind and the Cittakasha is also changing and untrue, but reflects the permanent truth. The one you really are is the unchanging truth shining in Chidakasha.

Even while you are trying to understand the Bhutakasha, you have to think of the finer, inner Akashas. The Bhutakasha is the gross. You experience it during the waking state. The same thing in a subtle form is associated with the Cittakasha, which you experience in the dream state. In the waking state, you are able to see objects on account of the light emanating from the sun and the moon; but the sun and the moon of your waking state are not present in the dream-state. It is only the light which emanates from Cittakasha which helps you to see the objects of that world. The moment you push aside the gross, the subtle light becomes evident inside. During the day time you are not able to see the stars. But just because you cannot see them does not mean that they are not there. Stars continue to shine even in the day time; but because the sun’s effulgence is so great, you cannot see them. As the light of the sun becomes dim at dusk, then you can begin to see the shining stars. Behind the gross is the subtle, and in the subtle can be found template for the gross. In childhood itself, there already exists the old-age in its seed form; and in old-age there can be found the subtle trace of childhood. There is something that transcends both the gross and the subtle. That is Chidakasha. The Chidakasha does not have any movement; it does not undergo any change. Within it is to be found the Paramjyoti, the Self-effulgent light of the Atma. It is on account of this pervasive light of the Atma shining in and through Chidakasha, that you are able to experience Cittakasha and the Bhutakasha. If there were no Chidakasha there would be no subtle and no gross worlds for you, no Cittakasha and no Bhutakasha. Therefore, you have to base your life on the Chidakasha, while at the same time; you must use the Bhutakasha to reach Cittakasha and the Cittakasha to reach the Chidakasha. To illustrate this, consider the ocean. The waves and the waters of the sea are not different. The foam and the waves are also not different. The foam, the waves and the sea are all one and the same. Water is the common element in these three. But it appears as if the foam, the waves and sea were different.

In the phenomenal world also, you have to discover the common element that underlies all the states of experience and unifies the Bhutakasha, the Cittakasha and the Chidakasha. You can associate these three Akashas with the three states of consciousness. You can think of the waking-state as the Bhutakasha, the dream-state as the Cittakasha and the deep-sleep state as the Chidakasha. Beyond all these three states, inter penetrating them and common to all of them is a fourth state, the Turiya; that is the superconscious state, the transcendental state. Sushupti, which is the deep-sleep state, will not provide you with the permanent experience of real bliss. It is only after you come back to the waking-state from deep real bliss. It is only after you came back to the waking-state from deep sleep that you feel you have enjoyed peace. But in Turiya, the Super-conscious state, you will be able enjoy the true ananda of eternal bliss, and remain fully conscious of it always. (DBG, pp. 150-155)