Turiya

In Hindu philosophy, turiya (Sanskrit: तुरीय, meaning "the fourth"), also referred to as chaturiya,
chaturtha, is the true self (atman) beyond the three common states of consciousness (wakinging,
dreaming, and dreamless deep sleep). It is postulated in several Upanishads and explicated in Gaudapada's
Mandukya Karika.

Upanishads
Turiya as 'the fourth' is referred to in a number of proncipal Upanishads.[1] One of the earliest mentions of
the phrase turiya, "fourth," is in verse 5.14.3 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (7th-6th century BCE),
referring to a 'fourth foot' of the Gayatri Mantra, the first, second and third foot being the 24 syllables of
this mantra:

Then there is that fourth (turiya) vivid foot of the Gayatri, which is none other than the sun
blazing beyond the sky. The term turiya means the same thing as 'fourth'(caturtha). 'Vivid
foot'- for the sunblazes beyond the entire expanse of the sky. A man who knows this foot of
the Gayatri in this way will likewise blaze with splendour and fame.[2][note 1]

According to Raju, chapter 8.7 through 8.12 of the Chandogya Upanishad (7th-6th century BCE) , though
not mentioning turiya, 'anticipate' the Mandukya Upanishad and it's treatment of turiya.[note 2] These verses
of the Chandogya Upanishad set out a dialogue between Indra and Virocana, in search of atman, the
immortal perceiver, and Prajapati, their teacher. After rejecting the physical body, the dream self, and the
dreamless sleep (in which there is no perception of Ï am") as atman, Prajapati declares in verse 12 to Indra
that the mortal body is the abode of the "immortal and non-bodily self," which is the perceiver, the one who
perceives due to the faculties of the senses.[3]

The phrase "turiya" also appears in Maitri Upanishad (late 1st millennium BCE) in sections 6.19 (in the
context of yoga) and 7.11:

6.19. Now, it has elsewhere been said: 'Verily, when a knower has restrained his mind from the
external, and the breathing spirit (prand) has put to rest objects of sense, there-upon let him
continue void of conceptions. Since the living individual (jiva) who is named "breathing spirit"
has arisen here from what is not breathing spirit, therefore, verily, let the breathing spirit
restrain his breathing spirit in what is called the fourth condition (tiwya)' For thus has it been
said:-

That which is non-thought, [yet] which stands in the midst of thought,

The unthinkable, supreme mystery! —
Thereon let one concentrate his thought
And the subtile body (linga), too, without support.[4]
 7.11: He who sees with the eye, and he who moves in dreams,
He who is deep asleep, and he who is beyond the deep sleeper —
These are a person's four distinct conditions.

Of these the fourth (turya) is greater [than the rest].[5]

Verse 7 of the Mandukya Upanishad (1st-2nd century CE) refers to "the fourth" (caturtha),[6] or "the fourth
quarter,"[7] the first, second and third quarter being situated in the waking, dreaming and dreamless state:

They consider the fourth quarter as perceiving neither what is inside nor what is outside, nor
even both together; not as a mass of perception, neither as perceiving nor as not perceiving; as
unseen; as beyond the reach of ordinary transaction; as ungraspable; as without sistinguishing
marks; as unthinkable; as undescribable; as one whose essence is the perception of itself alone;
as the cessation of the visible world; as tranquil; as auspicious; as without a second. That is the
self (atman), and is that which should be perceived.[7]

Michael Comans disagrees with Nakamura's suggestion that "the concept of the fourth realm (caturtha)
was perhaps influenced by the Sunyata of Mahayana Buddhism,"[8][note 3] stating that "[T]here can be no
suggestion that the teaching about the underlying Self as contained in the Mandukya contains shows any
trace of Buddhist thought, as this teaching can be traced to the pre-Buddhist Brhadaranyaka
Upanishad."[8]

According to Ellen Goldberg, this fourth quarter describes a state of meditation; the insight during
meditation of Turiya is known as amātra, the 'immeasurable' or 'measureless' in the Mandukya Upanishad,
being synonymous with samādhi in Yoga terminology.[9]

Advaita Vedanta

Gaudapada

Gaudapada (ca. 7th century), an early guru in Advaita Vedanta, was the author or compiler[10][note 4] of the
Māṇḍukya Kārikā, a commentary on the Māṇḍukya Upanishad, also known as the Gauḍapāda Kārikā
and as the Āgama Śāstra. Gaudapada was influenced by Buddhism,[11] though he was a Vedantin and not
a Buddhist.[11] In the Māṇḍukya Kārikā, Gaudapada deals with perception, idealism, causality, truth, and
reality. [12] Gaudapada's commentary on verse 7 of the Mandukya Upanishad:

10 Turiya, the changeless Ruler, is capable of destroying all miseries. All other entities being
unreal, the non—dual Turiya alone is known as effulgent and all—pervading.

11 Visva and Taijasa are conditioned by cause and effect. Prajna is conditioned by cause alone.
Neither cause nor effect exists in Turiya.
12 Prajna does not know anything of self or non—self, of truth or untruth. But Turiya is ever
existent and all—seeing.
13 Non—cognition of duality is common to both Prajna and Turiya. But Prajna is associated
with sleep in the form of cause and this sleep does not exist in Turiya.
14 The first two, Visva and Taijasa, are associated with dreaming and sleep respectively;
Prajna, with Sleep bereft of dreams. Knowers of Brahman see neither sleep nor dreams in
 Turiya.
15 Dreaming is the wrong cognition and sleep the non—cognition, of Reality. When the
erroneous knowledge in these two is destroyed, Turiya is realized.
16 When the jiva, asleep under the influence of beginningless maya, is awakened, it then
realizes birthless, sleepless and dreamless Non—duality.
17 If the phenomenal universe were real, then certainly it would disappear. The universe of
duality which is cognized is mere illusion (maya); Non—duality alone is the Supreme Reality.

18 If anyone imagines illusory ideas such as the teacher, the taught and the scriptures, then
they will disappear. These ideas are for the purpose of instruction. Duality ceases to exist when
Reality is known.[web 1]

The fourth state, (turīya avasthā), corresponds to silence, as the other three correspond to AUM. It is the
substratum of the other three states. It is, states Nakamura, atyanta-shunyata (absolute emptiness).[12] For
Gaudapada, turiya is the "true 'state' of experience," in which the infinite (ananta) and non-different
(advaita/abheda) are apprehended.[13]

Isaeva notes that the Mandukya Upanishad asserts that "the world of individual souls and external objects is
just a projection of one indivisible consciousness (citta)," which is "identical with the eternal and immutable
atman of the Upanisads [..] in contrast to momentary vijnana taught by the Buddhist schools."[14][note 5]

Adi Shankara

Adi Shankara described, on the basis of the ideas propounded in the Mandukya Upanishad, the three states
of consciousness, namely waking (jågrata), dreaming (svapna), and deep sleep (susupti):[web 2][web 3]

The first state is that of waking consciousness, in which we are aware of our daily world. "It
is described as outward-knowing (bahish-prajnya), gross (sthula) and universal
(vaishvanara)".[web 3] This is the gross body.
The second state is that of the dreaming mind. "It is described as inward-knowing (antah-
prajnya), subtle (pravivikta), and burning (taijasa)".[web 3] This is the subtle body.
The third state is the state of deep sleep. In this state, the underlying ground of
consciousness is undistracted. "[T]he Lord of all (sarv’-eshvara), the knower of all (sarva-
jnya), the inner controller (antar-yami), the source of all (yonih sarvasya), the origin and
dissolution of created things (prabhav-apyayau hi bhutanam)".[web 3] This is the causal body.

Turiya is liberation, the autonomous realization of the non-causal Brahman beyond and underlying these
three states.[15][16][17][18][19]

Kashmir Shaivism
Kashmir Shaivism holds the state called turya – the fourth state. It is neither wakefulness, dreaming, nor
deep sleep. In reality, it exists in the junction between any of these three states, i.e. between waking and
dreaming, between dreaming and deep sleep, and between deep sleep and waking. In Kashmir Shaivism
there exists a fifth state of consciousness called Turiyatita - the state beyond Turiya. Turiyatita, also called
the void or shunya is the state where one attains liberation otherwise known as jivanmukti or moksha.

Based on the Tantraloka an extended model of seven consecutive stages of turiya is presented by Swami
Lakshman Joo. These stages are called:
 1. Nijānanda
2. Nirānanda
3. Parānanda
4. Brahmānanda
5. Mahānanda
6. Chidānanda
7. Jagadānanda

While turiya stages 1 - 6 are attributed to the "internal subjective samādhi" (nimīlanā samādhi), once
samādhi becomes permanently established in the seventh turiya stage it is described to span not only the
internal subjective world anymore but beyond that also the whole external objective world (unimīlanā
samādhi).

See also
Hinduism

Brahma Samhita
Rasa (theology)
Rasa lila
Samādhi
Shuddhadvaita
Buddhism

Mindfulness
Dhyana in Buddhism
Shikan-taza
Mahamudra
Dzogchen
Sunyata
Buddha-nature
Two truths doctrine
Cross-over

Choiceless awareness
Therapy

Morita therapy
Gestalt therapy
Acceptance and commitment therapy

Notes
1. Sanskrit (Wikisource (https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/बृहदारण्यकोपनिषद्)): प्राणोऽपानो व्यान
इत्यष्टावक्षराणि अष्टाक्षर ह वा एकं गायत्र्यै पदम् एतदु हैवास्या एतत् स यावदिदं प्राणि तावद्ध जयति योऽस्या एतदेवं पदं
वेद अथास्या एतदेव तुरीयं दर्शतं पदं परोरजा य एष तपति यद्वै चतुर्थं तत्तुरीयम् दर्शतं पदमिति ददृश इव ह्येष परोरजा इति
सर्वमु ह्येवैष रज उपर्युपरि तपत्य् एव हैव श्रिया यशसा तपति योऽस्या एतदेवं पदं वेद ॥ ३ ॥
2. (Raju 1985, p. 32-33): "We can see that this story [in Chandogya Upanishad] is an
anticipation of the Mandukya doctrine, (...)"
 3. H. Nakamura, A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1983,
p.34, note 37, referred to in (Comans 2000, p. 98) According to Comans, "It is impossible to
see how the unequivocal teaching of a permanent, underlying reality, which is explicitly
called the "Self", could show early Mahayana influence."[8]
4. Nakamura notes that there are contradictions in doctrine between the four chapters.[10]
5. See also:
Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David
Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791422175, page 64: "Central to
Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the
opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Expressed very briefly,
this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging
essence."
John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal
Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120801585, page 63: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman
concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction
between Hinduism and Buddhism".

References
1. Indich 2000, pp. 58–67, 106–108.
2. Olivelle 1989, p. 77.
3. Olivelle 2008, p. 171-175.
4. Hume (1921), p. 392.
5. Hume (1921), p. 458.
6. Hume (1921), p. 392 footnote 11.
7. Olivelle 2008, p. 289.
8. Comans 2000, p. 98.
9. Goldberg (2002), p. 85.
10. Nakamura 2004, p. 308.
11. Potter 1981, p. 105.
12. Nakamura 2004, p. 285.
13. King 1995, p. 300 note 140.
14. Isaeva 1993, p. 54.
15. Sarma 1996, pp. 126, 146.
16. Comans 2000, pp. 128–131, 5–8, 30–37.
17. Indich (2000), pp. 106–108.
18. Sullivan (1997), p. 59–60.
19. Gupta (1998), p. 26–30.

Sources
Printed sources

Comans, Michael (2000). "The Method of Early Advaita Vedānta: A Study of Gauḍapāda,
Śaṅkara, Sureśvara, and Padmapāda". Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Goldberg, Ellen (2002), Ardhanarishvara: The Lord who is Half Woman
 Gupta, Bina (1998). The Disinterested Witness: A Fragment of Advaita Vedānta
Phenomenology (https://books.google.com/books?id=htyDEphsTjwC&pg=PA26).
Northwestern University Press. ISBN 978-0-8101-1565-1.
Hume, Robert Ernest (1921), The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press
Indisch, William Martin (2000), Consciousness in Advaita Vedānta, Motilal Banarsidass
Publishers
Isaeva, Natalia (1993). Shankara and Indian Philosophy. Albany: State University of New
York Press (SUNY). ISBN 978-0-7914-1281-7. Some editions spell the author Isayeva.
King, Richard (1995), Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism: The Mahayana Context of the
Gaudapadiya-Karika, SUNY Press
Nakamura, Hajime (2004), A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy. Part Two, Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
Nikhilananda, Swami (1974). Mandukyopanishad with Gaudapada's Karika and Sankara's
Commentary. Mysore: Shri Ramakrishna Ashrama.
Olivelle, Patrick (1998). Upaniṣads. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-283576-5.
Olivelle, Patrick (2008). Upaniṣads. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-954025-9.
Potter, Karl. H. (1981), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies: Advaita Vedānta up to
Śaṃkara and his pupils, Volume 3, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0310-8
Raju, P.T. (1985), Structural Depths of Indian Thought, State University New York Press,
ISBN 978-0887061394
Sarma, Chandradhar (1996), The Advaita Tradition in Indian Philosophy: A Study of Advaita
in Buddhism, Vedanta and Kashmira Shaivism
Shankarananda, Swami (2006). The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism: Consciousness Is
Everything. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited.
Sharma, C. (1997). A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
ISBN 81-208-0365-5.
Sullivan, Bruce M. (1997). Historical Dictionary of Hinduism (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=cvhGP8NRx4QC&pg=PA59). Scarecrow. ISBN 978-0-8108-3327-2.
Wilber, Ken (2000), Integral Psychology, Shambhala Publications
Raina, Lakshman Joo. (1985). Kashmir Shaivism - The Secret Supreme. USA:
Lakshmanjoo Academy. ISBN 978-0-9837833-3-6.

Web-sources

1. [https://www.swamij.com/upanishad-mandukya-karika.htm Mandukya Upanishad with

Gaudapada's Karika], translated by Swami Nikhilananda
2. Arvind Sharma, Sleep as a State of Consciousness in Advaita Vedånta. State University of
New York Press (http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Sleep-as-a-State-of-Consci
ousness-in-Advaita-Vedanta.pdf)
3. advaita.org.uk, ‘Om’ – three states and one reality (An interpretation of the Mandukya
Upanishad) (http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/downloads/om.pdf)

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