In Hindu philosophy, turiya (Sanskrit: तुरीय, meaning "the fourth"), also referred to as chaturiya or chaturtha, is the true self ( atman) beyond the three common states of consciousness (waking, 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 principal Upanishads. 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:
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. 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 "I 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.
The phrase "turiya" also appears in Maitri Upanishad (late 1st millennium BCE) in sections 6.19 (in the context of yoga) and 7.11:
Verse 7 of the Mandukya Upanishad (1st-2nd century CE) refers to "the fourth" ( caturtha), or "the fourth quarter", the first, second and third quarter being situated in the waking, dreaming and dreamless state:
Michael Comans disagrees with Nakamura's suggestion that "the concept of the fourth realm ( caturtha) was perhaps influenced by the Sunyata of Mahayana Buddhism", stating that "There 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."
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 Samadhi in Yoga terminology.
Advaita Vedanta
Gaudapada
Gaudapada (ca. 7th century), an early
guru in
Advaita Vedanta, was the author or compiler of the
Mandukya Karika, a commentary on the Māṇḍukya Upanishad, also known as the and as the . Gaudapada was influenced by Buddhism, though he was a Vedantin and not a Buddhist. In the , Gaudapada deals with
perception,
idealism,
causality,
truth, and
reality. Gaudapada's commentary on verse 7 of the Mandukya Upanishad:
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). For Gaudapada, turiya is the "true 'state' of experience," in which the infinite ( ananta) and non-different ( advaita/abheda) are apprehended.
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."
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara described, on the basis of the ideas propounded in the Mandukya Upanishad, the three states of consciousness, namely
vaishvanara, dreaming (
svapna), and deep sleep (
susupti):
[ Arvind Sharma, Sleep as a State of Consciousness in Advaita Vedånta. State University of New York Press][ advaita.org.uk, ''‘Om’ – three states and one reality (An interpretation of the Mandukya Upanishad)]
-
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)".
-
The second state is that of the dream. "It is described as inward-knowing ( antah-prajnya), subtle ( pravivikta), and burning (taijasa)".
-
The third state is the state of deep sleep. In this state, the underlying ground of consciousness is undistracted. "The 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)".
Turiya is liberation, the autonomous realization of the non-causal Brahman beyond and underlying these three states.
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
jivanmukta or
moksha.
Based on the Tantraloka an extended model of seven consecutive stages of turiya is presented by Lakshman Joo. These stages are called:
-
Nijānanda
-
Nirānanda
-
Parānanda
-
Brahmānanda
-
Mahānanda
-
Chidānanda
-
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
- Buddhism
- Cross-over
- Therapy
Notes
Sources
- Printed sources
-
Some editions spell the author Isayeva.
- Web-sources
