Chidakasha: The Infinite Space Within You Where All Experience Appears

“That in which all this appears, from which it arises, and into which it dissolves—know that as Chidakasha, pure consciousness-space, your own Self.” — Yoga Vasistha

The Discovery That Changes Everything

A student once asked Ramana Maharshi: “How do I find God?”

The sage replied: “Who is asking?”

“I am.”

“Before the thought ‘I am’ arose—what were you?”

The student fell silent. In that silence, something was recognized that no words could capture.

That recognition is Chidakasha. Not an experience among experiences, but the space in which all experiences appear. Not a thought about awareness, but awareness itself—the luminous ground in which thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions arise and dissolve like waves in an infinite ocean.

This isn’t philosophy. This isn’t belief. This is directly discoverable right now, in the space between these words, in the awareness that knows you’re reading.

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What Is Chidakasha?

Chidakasha (चिदाकाश) philosophy

From Sanskrit: Chit (चित्) meaning consciousness/awareness and Akasha (आकाश) meaning space/ether. Together: “Consciousness-Space”—the infinite awareness within which all phenomena appear. Not the sky above you, but the inner sky of knowing within which even the outer sky appears.

Chidakasha is not a concept to be understood—it is what YOU ARE, temporarily forgotten.

Consider this:

• Right now, you’re aware of these words
• You’re aware of thoughts about these words
• You’re aware of sensations in your body
• You’re aware of sounds around you

But what is aware of all this?

That awareness—the knowing itself—is Chidakasha. And here’s the key: it has no edges. Try to find where your awareness ends. You can’t. Not because it’s very large, but because it has no boundary. It is the infinite space that contains all experience while being no particular experience.

You are not a small awareness trapped in a body looking out at a large world. You are infinite awareness within which both body and world appear.

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The Six Characteristics of Consciousness-Space

The Mandukya Upanishad and Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra describe Chidakasha through six essential characteristics:

1. Self-Luminous (Svayam-prakasha)

Awareness doesn’t need anything else to illuminate it. You don’t need a thought to know you’re aware—awareness knows itself directly. Just as the sun doesn’t need another light source, consciousness is inherently radiant.

2. Ever-Present (Nitya)

Chidakasha is present in all three states:

• Waking: The awareness knowing daily experience
• Dreaming: The awareness knowing dream experience
• Deep Sleep: The awareness that later reports “I slept peacefully” (something was present to know this)

3. Unchanging (Avikari)

Thoughts change. Emotions change. Sensations change. Perceptions change. But the awareness of all these remains constant. It is the still point around which all experience revolves.

4. Spacious (Vyapaka)

Chidakasha contains infinite content without crowding. You can experience a million thoughts, and the space that knows them isn’t diminished. A billion perceptions can arise, and awareness remains uncluttered.

5. Non-Grasping (Asanga)

Unlike the mind which clings, awareness holds loosely. Experiences arise, stay briefly, dissolve—and awareness releases them naturally. It is like a mirror that reflects without retaining images.

6. Inherently Peaceful (Shanti)

The natural state of pure awareness is serene. The agitation we feel comes from identification with mental content, not from awareness itself. Rest as Chidakasha, and peace is automatic.

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The Neuroscience of Awareness-Space

Modern brain science has begun to map the neural correlates of what contemplative traditions call Chidakasha.

The Global Workspace Theory

Bernard Baars’ Global Workspace Theory proposes that consciousness emerges when information becomes globally available across distributed brain networks. This “workspace” functions remarkably like Chidakasha—a functional space where disparate brain regions share information, creating unified experience.

When networks synchronize via gamma oscillations (40-100 Hz), they create “binding”—integrating scattered neural activity into coherent, consciously accessible experience.

The Default Mode Network

The default mode network (DMN) creates our sense of continuous, separate self—the “me” that seems to be experiencing life.

Here’s what’s fascinating: Research shows that the highest spiritual states correspond to decreased DMN activity. When the self-referential machinery quiets, what remains is pure awareness—Chidakasha unobscured by ego construction.

The Witness State and Neural Correlates

Studies on advanced meditators show distinct neural signatures when they report resting as “the witness”—aware of experience without being caught in it:

• Reduced activity in posterior cingulate cortex (self-referencing)
• Increased prefrontal coherence (Buddhi activation)
• Global gamma synchronization
• Decreased amygdala reactivity

Translation: The brain can shift from “self having experiences” to “awareness knowing experiences”—and this shift has measurable correlates.

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Direct Investigation: Finding Chidakasha Now

You don’t need complex theories. The consciousness-space is immediately available through simple investigation.

Investigation 1: The Space Between Thoughts

Practice:

1. Sit quietly for a moment
2. Notice a thought arise
3. Wait for it to dissolve
4. In that gap—what is there?

Most people say “nothing.” But look more carefully: there is awareness OF the gap. That awareness is Chidakasha.

Key questions:

• Where do thoughts arise FROM?
• Where do thoughts dissolve INTO?
• What knows that thinking is or isn’t happening?

Shunya (शून्य) concept

Often translated as “emptiness” or “void,” Shunya doesn’t mean nothing exists. It means phenomena are empty of separate, independent existence—they arise in awareness and are made of awareness. The space between thoughts isn’t void; it’s full of knowing.

Investigation 2: The Edges of Awareness

Practice:

1. Open your eyes and look around
2. Notice the entire visual field
3. Now try to find the EDGES of awareness itself

Can you? The visual field has apparent edges, but does the awareness OF the visual field have edges? Keep looking. You’ll discover that awareness is edgeless—not because it’s infinitely large, but because it isn’t an object with dimensions.

The insight: You are not a small awareness trapped inside a skull, looking out. You are boundless awareness within which the sense of “skull,” “inside,” and “outside” all appear.

Investigation 3: The “I” Before Thought

Practice:

1. Close your eyes
2. Notice the sense of “I am”—the feeling of existing
3. Ask: Where is this “I” located?
4. Does it have a size? A shape? A boundary?
5. Now ask: What is aware of this “I” sense?

Recognition: The “I am” feeling appears IN awareness. Awareness is more fundamental than the self-sense. Your true identity is not the “I” that appears, but the space in which “I” appears.

As Ramana Maharshi taught: “The question ‘Who am I?’ is not meant to get an answer. It’s meant to dissolve the questioner.”

Investigation 4: Awareness As You Fall Asleep

Practice:

1. Tonight, as you’re falling asleep, stay alert
2. Watch the transition from waking to dreaming
3. Notice: Something is aware of this transition
4. What is that?

Insight: Awareness doesn’t disappear in sleep—it becomes aware of different content (dreams) or no content (deep sleep). Upon waking, you know you slept. What knew?

You don't have awareness—you ARE awareness, temporarily forgetting itself while playing at being a limited person.

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Practical Methods for Resting as Chidakasha

Method 1: Space Meditation (Chidakasha Dharana)

A classic Tantric practice from the Vijñāna Bhairava:

1. Sit comfortably and close your eyes
2. Don’t try to create spaciousness—discover what’s already here
3. Notice the simple sense of “being aware”
4. Rest AS this awareness—not as a person having awareness
5. When thoughts arise, let them appear like clouds in sky
6. Don’t follow thoughts—rest as the aware space in which they appear
7. Continue for 20-30 minutes

Signs of progress:

• Natural relaxation without effort
• Thoughts arise and dissolve without entanglement
• Sense of boundless, peaceful presence
• Loss of the feeling of being cramped or limited

Method 2: Shifting from Content to Context

1. Notice whatever is happening right now (thoughts, sensations, sounds)
2. This is the content of experience
3. Now notice the awareness that knows this content
4. This is the context—Chidakasha itself
5. Rest as context, not content
6. Let content do whatever it does within you

The key: Don’t try to change or stop content. Simply recognize YOU are the space in which content appears, not the content itself.

Method 3: “What Am I?” Inquiry

The method taught by Ramana Maharshi and elaborated in Jnana Yoga:

1. Ask internally: “What am I?”
2. Don’t answer conceptually (“I am a person,” “I am consciousness”)
3. Let the question dissolve the questioner
4. Rest in the silence that remains
5. If thoughts resume, gently ask again

Crucial: This isn’t intellectual philosophy. The question is a pointer directing attention to its own source.

Method 4: Object Dissolution

Using external objects to reveal the space:

1. Gaze at any object (a flower, candle flame, Yantra)
2. Focus intensely for 1-2 minutes
3. Suddenly release all focus and rest as open awareness
4. Notice: Where did the object “go”? What remains?
5. The object appeared IN awareness, then dissolved back INTO awareness

Application: Everything—thoughts, emotions, sensations, perceptions, the sense of “me”—appears and disappears in Chidakasha. Nothing has separate, independent existence.

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Living from Chidakasha: Daily Life Integration

Recognition of consciousness-space isn’t just for meditation. It transforms ordinary life.

In Work

Instead of being caught in work stress, rest as awareness watching work unfold. You remain fully functional—often MORE effective—because emotional reactivity doesn’t cloud clear thinking.

Practice: Before starting work, take 30 seconds to recognize Chidakasha. Throughout the day, occasionally ask: “What is aware of this task?”

In Relationships

During conflicts, notice that awareness contains the entire situation—your thoughts, their thoughts, emotions on both sides. From Chidakasha, you can respond with wisdom rather than react from woundedness.

Practice: Before difficult conversations, rest briefly as the space that will hold whatever arises. You’ll discover you can be present without being caught.

With Difficult Emotions

When anger, fear, or sadness arise, they appear IN awareness like weather in space. The sky (awareness) isn’t damaged by storms (emotions).

Practice:

1. Acknowledge: “Anger is here” or “Sadness is here”
2. Don’t repress OR indulge
3. Rest as the aware space in which the emotion appears
4. Watch how emotion naturally moves and dissolves when not fed

In Creativity

The most profound creativity emerges when the ego steps aside and consciousness expresses through the person. Artists, writers, musicians report accessing inspiration when they stop trying and let Chidakasha flow.

Practice: Before creative work, empty yourself. Don’t create—let creation happen through you.

With Death and Impermanence

Understanding Chidakasha dissolves the fear of death. The body-mind will dissolve, as all forms do. But Chidakasha—pure awareness—has no birth or death. It is what you truly are, temporarily appearing as this form.

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Advanced Recognition: Non-Dual Awareness

As Chidakasha becomes familiar, a deeper recognition dawns: it’s not “yours.”

The awareness reading these words is the same awareness that looks through every pair of eyes. There isn’t your awareness, my awareness, their awareness—there is ONE consciousness-space appearing as all perspectives.

Tat Tvam Asi (तत् त्वम् असि) philosophy

The great declaration from the Chandogya Upanishad: “Thou art That.” The awareness you are IS the awareness you’re looking for. Subject and object are one consciousness-space appearing to be two.

This recognition is the heart of Advaita Vedanta—non-dual awareness:

• We’re not separate brains in separate skulls having separate experiences
• We’re localized expressions of one infinite consciousness
• Branches of the same cosmic tree
• Waves in the same ocean

What Changes When This Is Recognized?

• Unshakeable peace: Even in difficulties, you rest as the space unchanged by passing experiences
• Natural compassion: Recognizing your nature as universal, you feel kinship with all beings
• Effortless action: Acting without heavy mental effort because you’re not clinging to outcomes
• Circumstance-independent joy: Happiness arising naturally from being what you are
• Fearlessness: Since you’re the space in which everything appears, nothing can threaten your true nature

You’ll continue functioning normally—perhaps more skillfully—but psychologically you’ll know: you’re awareness playing at being a person.

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The Invitation Home

Chidakasha isn’t somewhere else. It’s not something to achieve. It’s what you already are, reading these words right now.

The seeker is what’s being sought.
The finder is what will be found.
The space you’re looking for is the space you’re using to look.

Stop searching. Rest as you are. The question “What am I?” reveals its own answer: You are the aware space in which all questions appear. You are Chidakasha—consciousness-space, the luminous ground of being, temporarily playing at being a person reading about itself.

Recognize this and live from it. In the marketplace, in the bedroom, in the boardroom, in meditation—you are always already home. You were never separate. The journey ends where it began: as pure awareness, recognizing itself.

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Related explorations: Bhuvaneshwari: The Goddess Who IS Space | Yantra Dharana: Meditation in Conscious Space | Nāda Yoga: The Sound Path | The Neuroscience of Samadhi | Jnana Yoga: The Path of Knowledge

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Welcome home to yourself—Chidakasha, the space where all experience appears, including this very recognition.

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