Verse 1.13
द्वैतस्याग्रहणं तुल्यमुभयोः प्राज्ञतुर्ययोः ।
बीजनिद्रायुतः प्राज्ञः सा च तुर्ये न विद्यते ॥ १३ ॥
dvaitasyāgrahaṇaṃ tulyamubhayoḥ prājñaturyayoḥ |
bījanidrāyutaḥ prājñaḥ sā ca turye na vidyate || 13 ||
It means , “Dvaitam” a separate reality or Error is not seen by the ” prājñaḥ ” the deep sleeper and “Turiya” the pure consciousness. But, the ” prājñaḥ ” or the one who is in deep sleep is associated to Nidra (i.e Ignorance / blankness), where as, “Turiya” doesnot have ignorance (or deep sleep blankness) .
” prājñaḥ ” donot see dvaita (seperate reality) niether turiya see any seperate reality apart from it . But , ” prājñaḥ ” is covered in darnkness or blankness of deep sleep whereas , Turiya illumines everything!
Verse 1.12
नाऽऽत्मानं न परंश्चैव न सत्यं नापि चानृतम् ।
प्राज्ञः किंचन संवेत्ति तुर्यं तत्सर्वदृक्सदा ॥ १२ ॥
nā''tmānaṃ na paraṃścaiva na satyaṃ nāpi cānṛtam |
prājñaḥ kiṃcana saṃvetti turyaṃ tatsarvadṛksadā || 12 ||
The ‘prājñaḥ’ one who is in deep sleep does not know itself as an Atman..! It doesnot know the world (prapanch) also .. It doesnot know the truth that I am “Turiya”. It doesnot know the false world appearing infront of it (ānṛtam) चानृतम्.
किंचन संवेत्ति / prājñaḥ kiṃcana saṃvetti – The ‘prājñaḥ’ doesnot know anything i.e the state of deep sleeper !!.
and ,
How is Turiya different from It???the answer is – तुर्यं तत्सर्वदृक्सदा /turyaṃ tatsarvadṛksadā
i.e. It (Turiya) always illumines everything ! It is self illumined about itself and about the world . It is like the movie hall where the lights have come on with nothing on the screen …( blank screen) but the lights are on !
Verse 1.11
कार्यकारणबद्धौ ताविष्येते विश्वतैजसौ ।
प्राज्ञः कारणबद्धस्तु द्वौ तौ तुर्ये न सिध्यतः ॥ ११॥
kāryakāraṇabaddhau tāviṣyete viśvataijasau .
prājñaḥ kāraṇabaddhastu dvau tau turye na sidhyataḥ
It means “Viswa” i.e. Waker and “Taijasa” i.e. Dreamer are associated to Karanam (Cause) & Karyam (effect) where Ignorance is the cause and Error is the effect.
In deep sleep there is Ignorance but there is no error. The nature of dream may be different for You and me i.e. every individual has different types of dream and are not same .
The nature of deep sleep is same for all beings whether it is a mosquito or tiger or elephant or monkey or human being or PHD or any successful businessman or an illiterate person, it is same for all beings !!
The reason is in deep sleep there is ignorance i.e. complete darkness , nothing to illumine by Turiya the pure consciousness!
Usually we do not experience any thing in deep sleep but “Advaita Vedanta” says –
Do you experience the lack of experience in “deep sleep”?
When we wake up we always say “I had a sound sleep”.
“How do you know you had a sound sleep ? if you experienced nothing in deep sleep .. who tells you that , you had a sound sleep ?”
The ‘who’ here is ‘Turiya’ .
Since ‘Turiya’ is the witness to all of the deep sleep blankness , hence when we wakeup we say “I had a sound sleep” .
Actually Turiya is witnessing this information updating in our conscious and subconscious mind that we had sound sleep . So ,when we wake up we know we had a sound sleep . This proves that Turiya exists and we are the Pure conscious beyond this body & mind !
It means “Viswa” i.e. Waker and “Taijasa” i.e. Dreamer are associated to Karanam (Cause) & Karyam (effect) where Ignorance is the cause and Error is the effect.
“nivṛtteḥ sarvaduḥkhānām / निवृत्तेः सर्वदुःखानामी” – ‘You’ the Turiya are beyond all the dukkha’s (sadness). Right now we feel that ” I am in Pain” but one who has realized Turiya will say -” I am the witness of the pain in the body or mind”.
e.g. Same sunlight falls on the ditch , it falls on the ganga river and it falls on the Himalayas . But it is not polluted by the ditch or purified by the Ganga river, it illumines . Same way ‘Turiya’ the pure consciousness which we are illumines the sufferings of the waking world , nightmare or good dreams of dream world and nothingness of deep sleep.
īśānaḥ prabhuravyayaḥ / इशानः प्रभुरव्ययः – ‘You’ the ‘Turiya’ is God and it is Unchanging . Turiya is witness to all states
अद्वैतः सर्वभावानां देवस्तुर्यो विभुः स्मृतः– ‘You’ the Consciousness , you are the non dual (Advaita) with all the existing things . There is no second independent reality apart from Turiya (pure consciousness)
I or Ego or Knower ——————–> experiencing the “World” or “Prapanch” Prapanch came from Sanskrit term ” prapancha prakrishtrain panch ” . The idea is out of the five elements (panch) this world is constructed ,so we use this term ‘prapanch’ for the world
‘I’ is the ‘Waker’ (who is awake ) ——> experiencing the “Waking World” or “Jagrit Prapanch” in Sanskrit
‘I’ is the Dreamer ( who is dreaming ) —> experiencing the “Dream World”
‘I” is the Sleeper ( who is in deep sleep) —> experiencing sleep blankness or no dream & thought just a sound sleep.
Turiya
Mandukya Upanishad mentions that there is a Fourth state which is called ” Turiya”. From the above story Ashtavakra Muni was trying to explain King Janaka there is a “Fourth State” i.e. “Turiya” which is witnessing
King Janak as a ‘Waker’ experiencing the court room, courtiers , luxury, wealth etc.
King Janak as the ‘Dreamer’ Experiencing the battle field, sadness , hunger, misery
There is also a third state where there is no dreams and complete sound sleep , we usually experience nothing but Turiya is witness to sleep blankness .
One day King Janaka was sleeping peacefully and suddenly a commander came running to him shouting “Maharaj ji get up !! we have been attacked by an enemy!! ” .
King Janaka immediately got up and summoned all his generals, commanders and soldiers, put up his sword & armor and went off to fight the battle. And there was a fierce battle in which king Janaka was ‘Defeated‘ !! . King Janaka was wounded, captured by the enemies , dragged before the enemy king and the enemy king said to king Janaka ” Your kingdom is now mine !! . Since you’re a King , I won’t kill you, but I will Exile you!! You get out of this Kingdom!!” Poor king Janak was depressed , sad, tired & exhausted . Somehow he started walking to get some food & water and found that surprisingly! people in his own capital earlier refused to offer him food or water as they were all afraid of the new King . The new King was very cruel and anyone who would offer even food and water to King Janaka would get punished . After walking for two days he came to the border of his kingdom and across the border was the next kingdom where he found that food was getting served to poor people / beggars in a line. He joined that line and as he advanced in the queue when he came up to the place where the food was getting served by that time all food was finished !! He could not take it anymore , he was terribly exhausted ! and the person who was serving food said ‘just the starch lying at the bottom of the bowl is there , if you want it I can give you“. King Janaka said ” ok sure give me ” and the starch was served to his plate . As soon as the king Janaka lift the bowl and put the food in his mouth , a big kite bird dived and hit the bowl and knocked it out of the hands of king Janak. All the left out food which he was about to eat spilled on the floor some of it the bird ate it. Now, King Janaka was extremely exhausted and started crying & fell on the ground! Alas !! Suddenly king Janaka heard a voice ” Maharaj ji what happened , why are you crying ?? “ and … King Janaka Woke up completely wet in sweat !!He looked up and realized that it was all a DREAM!! Since the king Janaka had a very analytical mind he started thinking what is the “TRUTH” King Janaka asked his Commander ” Wo sachh …. ya ye sachh ” ? Commander was unable to understand so he called the Queen. Queen came in and asked the King what happened ?? King Janaka again said the same thing ” Wo sachh..Ya ye sachh! ” But nobody could understand him. Next day in the morning this news spread in the city and people were talking about this ! On that day ! Ashtavakra muni came into the city and he was walking in the city & he heard all the talks going on between the people about this .. so he decides to visit King Janaka! Ashtavakra muni went to meet king Janaka and as soon as he enter the court room he asked the King Janak ” How are you?? King Janaka replied the same thing he is repeating since he woke up i.e. ” Wo sachh.. Ya ye sachh“? Nobody in the court room was able to understand this question of King Janak . But, Ashtavakra muni understood and asked the King Janaka ..” When you were in the battle field experiencing the defeat, hunger depression sorrow were you there??” King Janaka said “Yes, I was there and I experienced it all even though it was a dream but I experienced it …the defeat , the sorrow, the hunger everything… “ So, Ashtavakra muni again asked King Janaka ” At that time were all these things which you see now the court room full of courtiers , all this luxury , wealth , was this present at that time ?“ King Janaka said ” No, none of this was present in the dream… only defeat , depression, sadness , hunger was there in the dream ” then again, Ashtavakra muni asked to king Janaka ” do you experience the depression , sadness , misery which you experienced in dream here Now when you are sitting in the court room with all your courtiers around with all the luxury and wealth , is it here??“ King said ” No, here the experience of dream is not here ” . Then Ashtavakra muni said ..”Neither this is the truth nor that is the truth ” King Janaka was confused and asked the Ashtavakra muni ” Then, what is the truth???” Ashtavakra muni replied ” When you were dreaming… ‘YOU’ were experiencing the bad situations , Now ‘YOU’ are experiencing the good situation .’YOU’ are the witness experiencing both situation. So only “YOU” alone is the TRUTH . Neither the dream was the truth, nor the present situation only “YOU” alone witnessing both situations is the TRUTH “
न अन्तःप्रज्ञम्। न वहिःप्रज्ञम्। न उभयतःप्रज्ञम्। न प्रज्ञानधनम्। न प्रज्ञम्। न अप्रज्ञम्। अदृष्टम् अव्यवहार्यम् अग्राह्यम् अलक्षणम् अचिन्त्यम् अव्यपदेश्यम् एकात्मप्रत्यसारं प्रपञ्चोपशमम् शान्तं शिवम् अद्वैतं चतुर्थं मन्यन्ते विवेकिनः । सः आत्मा सः विज्ञेयः ॥
Anvaya Transliteration
na antaḥprajñam | na vahiḥprajñam | na ubhayataḥprajñam| na prajñānadhanam| na prajñam| na aprajñam| adṛṣṭam avyavahāryam agrāhyam alakṣaṇam acintyam avyapadeśyam ekātmapratyasāraṁ prapañcopaśamam śāntaṁ śivam advaitaṁ caturthaṁ manyante ( vivekinaḥ )| saḥ ātmā saḥ vijñeyaḥ ||
Expanation of the Mantra
न अन्तःप्रज्ञम् / na antaḥprajñam – ‘YOU’ the ‘Turiya’ are not the dreamer
न वहिःप्रज्ञम् / na vahiḥprajñam – ‘YOU” the ‘Turiya’ are not the waker .
This means You are not the person named as Mr. SO & SO but “YOU” are the consciousness or Turiya illumining this temporary appearance of physcial body and mind in the waking state .
न उभयतःप्रज्ञम् / na ubhayataḥprajñam – ‘YOU’ the ‘TURIYA’ are not something in between waker or dreamer i.e state which is inbetween waking and dream .
न प्रज्ञानधनम् / na prajñānadhanam – ‘YOU’ the ‘TURIYA’ are not the Sleeper i.e. the person who is in a Deep Sleep or Sushupti state .
न प्रज्ञम्। न अप्रज्ञम् / na prajñam| na aprajñam – ‘YOU’ the ‘TURIYA” you are niether any kind of omniscient God ( Bhagwan or Ishwar) and niether you are Sentient ( जड़ वस्तु ) .
अदृष्टम् / adṛṣṭam – ‘YOU” the ‘TURIYA” is not an object of our five sense organs. It is not the subject of normal vision. You cannot see , smell , taste or hear the ‘TURIYA’
अव्यवहार्यम् / avyavahāryam – ‘YOU” the ‘TURIYA’ is not with in transaction. ( Transaction means usable)i.e. pure Consciousness is not an object which can be talked about , seen , felt and used . It is not transactable it is अव्यवहार्यम् . But, remember it is the ground source of all Vyavahar . Without this ‘Turiya’ none of this (touch, smell, see ,taste) can occur. In the light of Turiya everything is illumined.
अग्राह्यम् / agrāhyam – ‘YOU’ the ‘TURIYA” cannot be grasped . It is not the subject of the panch karma indriyas i.e You cannot hold ‘Turiya’ into your hands and you also cannot walk to a turiya just like you walk to pilgrimage . It is not possible to walk to Turiya.
अलक्षणम् / alakṣaṇam – ‘YOU’ the ‘TURIYA’ cannot be inferred.
For e.g if we say ‘the road is wet’ , then what do you infer that there was rain earlier thats why the road is wet . Similarly , There is fire on the hill because I could see smoke coming out of the hill . here there is a relation between smoke and fire .So, if i see smoke i can “infer” that there was fire earlier due to which there is smoke . But , it is not possible to infer TURIYA. Here ‘alakṣaṇam’ means there is no sign by which you can infer to TURIYA.
अचिन्त्यम् / acintyam – ‘YOU’ the ‘TURIYA’ cannot think about it . But, remember the opposite also holds – whatever you think about ,is illumined by the ‘TURIYA’.
अव्यपदेश्यम् / avyapadeśyam – It literally means you cannot name “TURIYA”. It cannot be named.
Shankarayacharya tried to explain this that why “TURIYA” cannot be named –
Where can we use language???there are 5 areas where language can be used but none of the 5 applies to the “TURIYA”. as mentioned below
We could use language if there is some species (जाति) .i.e if some object belongs to a class you could use language like e.g ‘COW’ as we know the characterstics of the cow we could match it with the set and say it belongs to that set . But there is NO class for “TURIYA” . it cannot be part of a class (जाति).
We could use language if there is some Quality (गुण): If you say ” Give me a Red flower ” you are distinguishing the other flowers from ‘Red Flower ‘ by the quality of its colour red. But You cannot say that ” TURIYA” is red or any other colour. “TURIYA” is beyond all quality it is supposed to be called as Nirgunam (निर्गुण).
We could use language if there is some Action (क्रिया) : For e.eg if you are saying ” Call the cook ” how did you use language , by the function of that person. But “TURIYA” has no activity , it is niShkriyaM (निष्क्रियं)
We could use language if there is some Relationship (संबंध) : e.g if you say call the teacher , that means there is a student teacher relation, here we are talking where we can address one as a student and another as teacher . But , with ‘TURIYA” there is no second apart from it , it is the only unchanging reality .
We could use language if there is Convention ( रूढि ) : e.g if you say ” this persons name is prakash”, to call somebody you have to point out to that person i.e. apart from all other objects this person is now on called as prakash . But you cannot point out “TURIYA” that way .
Hence ” LANGUAGE” cannot operate for “TURIYA”
एकात्मप्रत्यसारं / ekātmapratyasāraṁ – ‘Ek’ means one , ‘Atma’ means atma, ‘Prataya’ means congnition , ‘Saram’ means essence . The feeling of “Atmapratya” or I .
i.e. ” If you follow the essence of ‘I” ness (Conscious I in all states ) you shall reach “TURIYA”.
प्रपञ्चोपशमम् / prapañcopaśamam – “TURIYA” is completely untouched by the Jagrit Prapanch ( Waking state ), Swapna Prapanch ( dream state) and Sushupti ( deepsleep ) even though all these three states are illumined by the TURIYA.
शान्तं / śāntaṁ – TURIYA is absolutely Peaceful and ever undisturbed . There is no world to disturb the TURIYA. That is the reality of TURIYA.
शिवम् / śivam – Shivam here means TURIYA is anand swaroopam . It is full of Joy.
अद्वैतं / advaitaṁ – “Advaitam ” means non dual , because there is nothing apart from TURIYA , Just as GOLD is advaitam with respect to Bangle , necklace and Ring .
चतुर्थं मन्यन्ते विवेकिनः / caturthaṁ manyante ( vivekinaḥ ) : Foolish people think there is a 4th reality apart from remaining 3 but actually “TURIYA” is the only reality in whose light the entire game of the waking world ( Jagrit state ) , Dream world ( Swapna state ) and Deep Sleep ( Sushupti ) is illumined .
सः आत्मा सः विज्ञेयः / saḥ ātmā saḥ vijñeyaḥ :
“saḥ ātmā” means that, the answer to the question “who am i” is TURIYA .
“saḥ vijñeyaḥ” means it need to be realised . Just by listening about TURIYA wont work we need to realise it as well.
