Hindu philosophy, turiya (Sanskrit: तुरीय, meaning "the fourth") or caturiya, chaturtha, is pure consciousness. Scientists described it as a hypo-metabolic state of "restful alertness." [1] Turiya is the background that underlies and transcends the three common states of consciousness. The states of consciousness are: waking consciousness, dreaming, and dreamless sleep.[web 1][web 2]
Contents
1 Mandukya Upanishad 2 Understanding of Turiya
2.1 Advaita Vedanta
2.1.1 Gaudapada 2.1.2 Adi Shankara
2.2 Kashmir Shaivism
3 See also 4 Notes 5 References
5.1 Published references 5.2 Web-references
6 Sources 7 External links
Mandukya Upanishad[edit]
Main article: Mandukya Upanishad
Turiya is discussed in Verse 7 of the Mandukya Upanishad; however, the
idea is found in the oldest Upanishads. For example, Chapters 8.7
through 8.12 of
Chandogya Upanishad
Chandogya Upanishad discuss the "four states of
consciousness" as awake, dream-filled sleep, deep sleep, and beyond
deep sleep.[1][2] Similarly, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, in chapter 5.14
discusses
Turiya state, as does Maitri Upanishad in sections 6.19 and
7.11.[3]
Verse VII of the
Mandukya Upanishad
Mandukya Upanishad describes Turiya:[4]
Not inwardly cognitive, nor outwardly cognitive, not both-wise cognitive, not a cognition-mass, not cognitive, not non-cognitive, unseen, with which there can be no dealing, ungraspable, having no distinctive mark, non-thinkable, that cannot be designated, the essence of assurance, of which is the state of being one with the Self the cessation of development, tranquil, benign, without a second, such they think is the fourth. He is the Self (Atman). He should be discerned.
—
Mandukya Upanishad
Mandukya Upanishad 7, [4]
The insight during meditation of Turiya is known as amātra, the 'immeasurable' or 'measureless' in the Mandukya Upanishad, being synonymous to samādhi in Yoga terminology.[5] Understanding of Turiya[edit] Advaita Vedanta[edit] Main article: Advaita Vedanta Advaita posits three states of consciousness, namely waking (jagrat), dreaming (svapna), deep sleep (suṣupti), which are empirically experienced by human beings,[6][7] and correspond to the Three Bodies Doctrine:[8]
The first state is the waking state, in which we are aware of our daily world.[9] This is the gross body. The second state is the dreaming mind. This is the subtle body.[9] The third state is the state of deep sleep. This is the causal body.[9]
Advaita also posits the fourth state of Turiya, which some describe as
pure consciousness, the background that underlies and transcends these
three common states of consciousness.[web 1][web 2]
Turiya is the
state of liberation, where states Advaita school, one experiences the
infinite (ananta) and non-different (advaita/abheda), that is free
from the dualistic experience, the state in which ajativada,
non-origination, is apprehended.[10] According to Candradhara Sarma,
Turiya state is where the foundational Self is realized, it is
measureless, neither cause nor effect, all prevading, without
suffering, blissful, changeless, self-luminous, real, immanent in all
things and transcendent.[11] Those who have experienced the Turiya
stage of self-consciousness have reached the pure awareness of their
own non-dual Self as one with everyone and everything, for them the
knowledge, the knower, the known becomes one, they are the
Jivanmukta.[12][13][14]
Advaita traces the foundation of this ontological theory in more
ancient Sanskrit texts.[15] For example, chapters 8.7 through 8.12 of
Chandogya Upanishad
Chandogya Upanishad discuss the "four states of consciousness" as
awake, dream-filled sleep, deep sleep, and beyond deep sleep.[15][2]
One of the earliest mentions of Turiya, in the
Hindu
Hindu scriptures,
occurs in verse 5.14.3 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.[16] The idea
is also discussed in other early Upanishads.[17]
Gaudapada[edit]
Main article: Gaudapada
Gaudapada
Gaudapada (ca. 7th century) was an early guru in the Advaita Vedanta.
Gaudapada
Gaudapada is traditionally said to have been the grand-guru of the
great teacher, Adi Shankara,[18] one of the most important figures in
Hindu
Hindu philosophy.
Gaudapada
Gaudapada is believed to be the founder of Shri
Gaudapadacharya Math, and the author or compiler[19] of the
Māṇḍukya Kārikā.
Gaudapada
Gaudapada wrote or compiled[19] the Māṇḍukya Kārikā, also known
as the Gauḍapāda Kārikā and as the Āgama Śāstra.[note 1] In
this work,
Gaudapada
Gaudapada deals with perception, idealism, causality,
truth, and reality. 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).[20]
Michael Comans disagrees with Nakamura's thesis that "the fourth realm
(caturtha) was perhaps influenced by the
Sunyata
Sunyata of Mahayana
Buddhism."[note 2] 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.[21]
Comans further refers to Nakamura himself, who notes that later
Mahayana sutras such as the
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the concept of
Buddha-nature, were influenced by Vedantic thought.[21] Comans
concludes 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.[21]
Isaeva states that there are differences in the teachings in the texts
of Buddhism and the
Mandukya Upanishad
Mandukya Upanishad of Hinduism, because the latter
asserts that citta "consciousness" is identical with the eternal and
immutable atman "soul, self" of the Upanishads.[22] In other words,
Mandukya Upanishad
Mandukya Upanishad and
Gaudapada
Gaudapada affirm the soul exists, while
Buddhist schools affirm that there is no soul or self.[4][23][24]
Adi Shankara[edit]
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 3][web 4]
which correspond to the three bodies:[8]
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 4] 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 4] 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 4] This is the causal body.
In the waking consciousness there is a sense of 'I' (self identity)
and awareness of thoughts. In the sleep/dream state there is no or
little sense of 'I'; however, there are thoughts and the awareness of
thoughts. Waking and dreaming are not true experiences of Absolute
Reality
Reality and metaphysical truth, because of their dualistic natures of
subject and object, self and not-self, ego, and non-ego.
Kashmir Shaivism[edit]
Main article: Kashmir Shaivism
Kashmir Shaivism
Kashmir Shaivism holds the existence of a fifth state called
turyātīta meaning beyond the fourth.
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta mentions this
state in the Tantrāloka (śloka 223b).[25] This state is seen as an
integration of the other four states.
See also[edit]
Hinduism
Achintya Bheda Abheda 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[edit]
^ Nakamura notes that there are contradictions in doctrine between the four chapters.[19] ^ Nakamura, as cited in Comans 2000 p.98.[21]
References[edit] Published references[edit]
^ PT Raju (1985), Structural Depths of Indian Thought, State
University New York Press, ISBN 978-0887061394, pages 32-33;
Quote: "We can see that this story [in Chandogya Upanishad] is an
anticipation of the Mandukya doctrine, (...)"
^ a b Robert Hume,
Chandogya Upanishad
Chandogya Upanishad - Eighth Prathapaka, Seventh
through Twelfth Khanda, Oxford University Press, pages 268-273
^ Hume, Robert Ernest (1921), The Thirteen Principal Upanishads,
Oxford University Press, p. 392 footnote 11
^ a b c Hume, Robert Ernest (1921), The Thirteen Principal Upanishads,
Oxford University Press, pp. 391–393 External link in
title= (help)
^ Goldberg, Ellen (2002). Ardhanarishvara: The Lord who is Half Woman,
p. 85
^ Arvind Sharma (2004), Sleep as a State of
Consciousness
Consciousness in Advaita
Vedånta, State University of New York Press, page 3
^ William Indich (2000),
Consciousness
Consciousness in Advaita Vedanta, Motilal
Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120812512, pages 57-60
^ a b Wilber 2000, p. 132.
^ a b c Arvind Sharma (2004), Sleep as a State of
Consciousness
Consciousness in
Advaita Vedånta, State University of New York Press, pages 15-40,
49-72
^ King 1995, p. 300 note 140.
^ Sarma 1996, pp. 122, 137.
^ Sarma 1996, pp. 126, 146.
^ Comans 2000, pp. 128-131, 5-8, 30-37.
^ Indich 2000, pp. 106–108;
Bruce M. Sullivan (1997). Historical Dictionary of Hinduism.
Scarecrow. pp. 59–60. ISBN 978-0-8108-3327-2. ;
Bina Gupta (1998). The Disinterested Witness: A Fragment of Advaita
Vedānta Phenomenology. Northwestern University Press.
pp. 26–30. ISBN 978-0-8101-1565-1.
^ a b PT Raju (1985), Structural Depths of Indian Thought, State
University New York Press, ISBN 978-0887061394, pages 32-33
^
Patrick Olivelle (1998). Upaniṣads. Oxford University Press.
p. 77. ISBN 978-0-19-283576-5. ;
Sanskrit (Wikisource): 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 ॥
^ Indich 2000, pp. 58-67, 106-108.
^ Potter 1981, p. 103.
^ a b c Nakamura 2004, p. 308.
^ Nakamura 2004, p. 285.
^ a b c d Comans 2000, p. 98.
^ Isaeva 1993, p. 54.
^ KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge,
ISBN 978-8120806191, pages 246-249, from note 385 onwards;
Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank
Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press,
ISBN 978-0791422175, page 64; Quote: "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.";
Edward Roer (Translator), Shankara's Introduction, p. 2, at Google
Books, pages 2-4
Katie Javanaud (2013), Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible
With Pursuing Nirvana?,
Philosophy
Philosophy Now
^ John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial
Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120801585, page 63,
Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have
already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction
between Hinduism and Buddhism".
^ Dupuche, John R. "The Kula Ritual as Elaborated in Chapter 29 of the
Tantrāloka". p.486
Web-references[edit]
^ a b http://bhagavan-ramana.org/ramana_maharshi/books/tw/tw617.html
Ramana Maharshi. States of Consciousness.
^ a b Sri Chinmoy. Summits of God-Life.
^ Arvind Sharma, Sleep as a State of
Consciousness
Consciousness in Advaita
Vedånta. State University of New York Press
^ a b c d advaita.org.uk, ‘Om’ – three states and one reality
(An interpretation of the Mandukya Upanishad)
Sources[edit]
Comans, Michael (2000). "The Method of Early Advaita Vedānta: A Study
of Gauḍapāda, Śaṅkara, Sureśvara, and Padmapāda". Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass.
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.
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.
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
Shankarananda, Swami (2006). The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism:
Consciousness
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.
Wilber, Ken (2000), Integral Psychology, Shambhala Publications
External links[edit]
Consciousness, cognition and the cognitive apparatus in the Vedānta tradition Pure C