Verse 1.10: We are Pure Consciousness – Turiya

Verse 1.10

निवृत्तेः सर्वदुःखानामीशानः प्रभुरव्ययः ।
अद्वैतः सर्वभावानां देवस्तुर्यो विभुः स्मृतः ॥ १० ॥

nivṛtteḥ sarvaduḥkhānāmīśānaḥ prabhuravyayaḥ |
advaitaḥ sarvabhāvānāṃ devasturyo vibhuḥ smṛtaḥ || 10 ||

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 / शानः 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)

Story of Ashtavakra & King Janaka!!

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 “