Cidākāśa
Cidākāśa · cit-ākāśa, “the space of consciousness”
Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of cit (consciousness) and ākāśa (space): “the space that is consciousness”.
Meaning: the space of consciousness: the boundless svarūpa of Parameśvara, in which the world rests and into which it is drawn back; the same consciousness present in the heart of every being.
In the scriptures: among his questions to Maitreya, Vidura asks how Parameśvara, after giving the world its maintenance, again withdraws from the work of creation, which is of the form of saṅkalpa, draws the world back into his own svarūpa, the cid-ākāśa, and sleeps in yogamāyā; and how, though one without a second, he created the world, entered it as the antaryāmī, and himself appeared as many forms (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 5).
Śuka tells Parīkshit that because King Bharata did his karmas without desire for their fruit, his inner faculty became pure. Vāsudeva, whose form is Parabrahma, has as his very form the cidākāśa within the hearts of beings; and that Purushottama stood firm in the hearts of his devotees in a great purusha form, bearing Lakshmī Devī as a mark on his chest, the Kaustubha jewel and the vanamālā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 7).
Related terms: Cit · Ākāśa · Cit-śakti · Hṛdaya · Antaryāmī
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 5; Skandha 5, Chapter 7