Theosophy Downunder Library Home

AKASHA and the AKASHIC RECORD  by A. Norman Rooke

To begin with, it starts with Mula Prakriti, the root of nature, or Amula Mula, the rootless root. The Sanskrit root of the word is ‘Akas’; to be bright, light, suggestive of luminosity/radiation – the latter because this spirit material is too refined for our present stage of evolutionary development.  It is the reflection of the unknowable which is the first fundamental posed by HPB in her Secret Doctrine Vol. 1 in the ‘Proem’. It is not light as we would see it in this room; it is not subject to any breaking down or decay; it is very primal, the first stage of Brahma in the cosmic sense; it is the beginning, the father-mother, bipolar aspects of material as it begins to develop into the evolutionary cycle. It is absolutely everywhere, the vehicle (Sanskrit: Upadhi), the carrier in this sense of the Divine thought. It permeates the levels higher than the physical; our bodies, the air, the world, throughout larger formations, planetary systems, solar systems, galaxies, throughout billions of galaxies, throughout space and the spaces of space, and into the inner spheres. So it is tenuous in the extreme. It is also what the ancients used to refer to as the aether; scientists refer to it as ether, out in the place they don’t quite know where, a force or capacity to build universes. So Akasa or Akasic record, is the record of the building of the Universe and of all that it contains in every plane. The Akasa itself is eternal and persists right through the Manvantara to the Maha Kalpa, the huge period of 311 trillion and 50 billion years, and the Pralaya which is an equal period of time and inactivity; it does not have an evolutionary period in its existence.  So we have it as the virtual alpha and omega of being, and referred to by various names such as universal soul, and in references to the spaces of space as the sunyata, the ‘void’, and the (Greek) opposite term, the ‘pleuroma’ or fullness. Once again it is two opposites, in order to express the idea that the whole of the manifest Universe is really basically Akasic light, that is, light as radiation or the essence or sources of power which expresses itself by streams of energy, a radiating throughout the Universe. In the solar Universe we have the Sun as a visible object which is really a chimera, a visible evidence of the heart of the sun, behind which is the Rajah Sun. This follows the teaching that evolutionary forces come from inner expressions of an energy, all coming from the expression of the Divine thought.            Since it permeates everything it is a carrier. It puts me in mind of the story recorded of theosophical founder, HP Blavatsky, who reputably drew in the sound of an orchestra playing on the other side of Paris into the room where she had met with a group of seekers after phenomena. The story doesn’t say it, but perhaps the medium through which it came was her control of natural phenomena which included the Akasic record upon which the music was being impressed, as upon the lower realms of the astral light, and she was bringing it in as on a carrier wave. However, we are certainly not here to gain such powers as these. The Akasa permeates all the planes of the Universe through which we manifest: Mental, Buddhic, and Atmic. It exists for ever. Under another term it is ‘swabhava’, the reservoir of being, which does not manifest in itself; it does not need to change. We work towards this by expressing our swabhava and growing towards a conscious understanding of that.  The Akasa is the fifth cosmic principle, going up from the lower to the Upper, and is basically Cosmic Mind stuff. It is the carrier, that holds the Universe together from what it is actually built. Hence, due to its interpermeability, when one picks up thoughts from other people, it is from the Akasa, because the smallest action is impressed on the Akasic light which is in the lowest realms of the Astral light. This latter contains the records, and the Linga Sarira or Astral body is the model body which is the imprint or model in the Astral light upon which we are formed. Thus we have our higher aspects which affect the higher degrees of the Akasic record. Therefore, if the Akasa is impressed with everything that is said and done by us, in the speaker’s view this would equate the Akasa with Karma or Karman itself, the harmonic adjuster. Scientists historically have called the fullness or emptiness of space the aether. This is a crude term for the source of power of all kinds throughout the Universe. It has various aspects such as magnetism, heat, light, electricity, sound, music; all expressed through radiation which is in turn elemental force, and the basis upon which the Universe it built. We are all little Universes, and are built of this basic material. In its higher ranges it is spirit matter which is indissoluble. (Sanskrit: Alaya: “A, negative of: Lee, the root of the verb for dissolve), therefore meaning not dissolvable. It is equated with a conscious realisation of the oneness of everything, and this is the object of all manifestation, or evolution, or involution if one is consciously working towards one’s inner self. In HP Blavatsky’s book, Isis Unveiled p.144, Akasa is described as Will. This would be the Divine will being impressed in manifestation. If we as individuals are capable of consciously directing this power within ourselves, and are driving at becoming consciously at one with the Universe and to work harmoniously with Nature, Prakrat, and, speaking here of Akasa which is Mula Prakrati or the Root of Nature, you are using Akasa in your own body and own light, and it is the Will being expressed down to the individual.            To finish up, it is all obviously connected with auras. A more modern development is Kirilian photography of the radiation from living bodies and apparently inert bodies. The teachings say that all matter is organic and alive in some form or another. This would be one of the best evidences that we have that the basic statement is correct, since there is energy in a dead leaf or stone, things we would normally take to be inert.      

This is the text of a lecture given by the author at a public meeting of the Theosophical Society (Pasadena) in Melbourne, Australia. The ideas expressed in all our public meetings are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the TS (Pasadena).