Gita 9.6

Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga

यथाकाशस्थितो नित्यं वायुः सर्वत्रगो महान् । तथा सर्वाणि भूतानि मत्स्थानीत्युपधारय ॥

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

In essence: As the mighty wind moves everywhere yet always rests in space without disturbing it, so all beings exist in Me without affecting My eternal stillness.

A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply

Sadhak-Guru Dialogue

Sadhak: "The wind-space analogy is beautiful, but wind is still something. It has force, direction, temperature. How can the universe be like wind - substantial yet not really resting anywhere?"

Guru: "You've touched on something important. What is wind, actually? Can you separate wind from space?"

Sadhak: "Well... wind is moving air. The movement happens in space. Without space, there couldn't be any movement at all."

Guru: "So wind is entirely dependent on space. Now, has any wind ever affected space itself? Has the fiercest tornado left a scratch on space?"

Sadhak: "No, that's impossible. Space isn't the kind of thing that can be scratched or affected. It's... well, it's just openness."

Guru: "Exactly. Space is pure allowing - it allows everything to happen within it while remaining eternally unchanged. Now, is there anything about YOU that is like space?"

Sadhak: "My awareness? Thoughts move through it, feelings blow through it... but awareness itself doesn't seem to move."

Guru: "Good. And has any thought or feeling ever left a mark on awareness? Has your worst suffering damaged the one who witnesses suffering?"

Sadhak: "I want to say yes - I feel scarred by past pain. But when I really look... the awareness looking at those memories is completely fresh, untouched."

Guru: "This is the recognition Krishna invites. You are the space in which the wind of experience blows. All your life, infinite experiences have moved through you - joys, sorrows, thoughts, dreams - yet You, the aware space, remain exactly as you always were."

Sadhak: "But I feel so involved in my experiences, so affected by them!"

Guru: "That's the wind identifying with itself rather than recognizing the space. When wind forgets space and thinks it's only wind, it feels limited, buffeted, at the mercy of conditions. When wind remembers it's always resting in unlimited space, it realizes it was never actually separate, never actually bound."

Sadhak: "So liberation is just... remembering what I already am?"

Guru: "Was there ever anything else? The space was never lost - only overlooked in fascination with the wind."

Did this resonate with you? Share it with someone who needs to hear this.

🌅 Daily Practice

🌅 Morning

Begin with a meditation on space. Sit quietly and notice the space in the room - not the objects, but the space that allows objects to be. Then notice the 'space' of awareness in which your thoughts appear. Set an intention: 'Today I will remember that all experiences blow through me like wind through space. I am the space, not the wind.' This remembrance, carried through the day, transforms relationship to experience.

☀️ Daytime

When stress arises - deadline pressure, difficult interactions, anxious thoughts - pause and ask: 'Is the space of my awareness stressed, or is stress happening IN that space?' Notice that awareness itself, like space, has no tension. The thoughts are tense; the feelings are contracted; but the aware presence witnessing them remains perfectly at ease. Let experiences blow through without trying to stop them or identify with them. Be the space.

🌙 Evening

Before sleep, review how much 'wind' blew through today - all the mental weather, emotional storms, sensory experiences. Then recognize: 'Through all of that, I - as awareness - remained unmoved. Tomorrow, different winds will blow, but the space will be the same.' This recognition before sleep plants seeds for deeper rest, as you release identification with the day's content and settle into the spacious ground of being.

Common Questions

Space is nothing, just emptiness. But Brahman or God is supposed to be fullness, existence, consciousness. How does this analogy work?

The analogy points to relationship, not identity. Krishna isn't saying Brahman IS space (which would make Brahman mere emptiness). He's using space to illustrate HOW Brahman relates to creation - as that which allows all movement while remaining unmoved, as that which 'contains' all while never becoming a container. In Vedantic terms, space (ākāśa) is actually the subtlest of the five elements, closest to consciousness. It represents pure capacity, pure allowing. Brahman is not empty like physical space but is rather 'full emptiness' - complete in Itself, yet accommodating infinite appearances without being diminished or disturbed.

If all beings rest in God like wind in space, does this mean we're already liberated and just don't know it?

Precisely. This is the core Vedantic insight. You are already 'resting' in Brahman - there's nowhere else you could be. Liberation isn't achieving a new state but recognizing your eternal condition. The wind doesn't need to 'attain' resting in space - it always already is in space. Similarly, you don't need to achieve union with the Divine; you need to recognize that separation was always illusion. The practices, teachings, and efforts are not to create liberation but to remove the ignorance that veils your recognition of what always already is.

If space is unaffected by wind, does this mean God is indifferent to our suffering?

This is where analogy reaches its limit. Space is inert; Brahman is consciousness. Space doesn't care about wind; Brahman is the very awareness that knows each being's experience intimately. The point of the analogy is not emotional distance but ontological freedom. Krishna as Brahman experiences through every being (He says 'I am the Self in all beings' in 10.20) yet is never bound by any experience. It's not indifference but infinite presence - so completely present everywhere that there's no 'somewhere else' from which to be concerned. A mother isn't indifferent to her child's dream; she simply knows it's a dream. Divine compassion operates from awakeness, not from shared delusion.

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