Turīya, the fourth

Turīya is different from the other three: it is a state of spiritual awareness that can't be perceived by the material mind, or understood by intelligence.

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The Second Khaṇḍa

The waking and sleeping states are experienced in connection with the false ego, which connects us to the material mind and senses. In the waking state, we perform actions in the physical world, and in the dream state, we enjoy impressions stored in the mind, acting in the subtle plane. In the prājña state, we forget the false ego, and without material consciousness, the difference between us and the Lord disappears, just as in the dark everything becomes one. We enter thus in a blissful unconscious state. Turīya however is different, it is a state of spiritual awareness that can't be perceived by the material mind, or understood by intelligence.

Turīya, the fourth

The three previous aspects are connected with the material creation, and the three states of consciousnes are experienced while the soul is still in the conditioned state. Turīya is different. He is called the Fourth because He transcends the previous states. He is not connected to a material body and is not materially conscious or unconscious. He is beyond the perception of the senses, mind, or intelligence and can't be even perceived by material consciousness. In fact, Turīya is the one who breaks the connection of the soul with all these artificial layers. Ultimately, Turīya is Krsna in His personal form, and the turīya state of consciousness is the original, pure state of the soul as an eternal, blissful servant of the Lord.

Text 2.1

nāntaḥ-prajñam na bahiḥ-prajñam nobhayataḥ-prajñam na prajñāna-ghanam na prajñam nāprajñam adṛṣṭam-avyavahāryam-agrahyam-alakṣaṇam-acintyam-avyapadeśyam-ekātma-pratyaya-sāram prapañcopaśamam śāntam śivam advaitam caturtham manyante sa ātmā sa vijñeyaḥ

In the fourth state, the individual soul recovers his original state of consciousness. This consciousness is not connected with a material body in any way. It is not turned to the outside, nor the inside; it is not materially conscious or unconscious. It is also not a state of unconscious contact with the Lord. This original state of consciousness is beyond the perception of the senses, beyond the comprehension of the mind, beyond the speculations of intelligence, and the perception of material consciousness. This ultimate state consists of the spiritual awareness of the soul, beyond the material manifestation. In this state, which is beyond material duality and fully auspicious, the soul attains the association of the Supreme Lord. This Supreme Lord, called Turīya (the Fourth), who is invisible, transcendental, inconceivable by reasoning, full of eternity, knowledge, and bliss, who is the destroyer of bodily bounds and false knowledge, should be realized as the ultimate goal of knowledge.

Commentary: The first part of the śloka contains a series of negations, describing what turīya is not, and the second part, starting with ekātma-pratyaya describes positive attributes of the Lord. The śloka describes both turīya as the state of consciousness, and Turīya, the Supreme Lord.

Nāntaḥ-prajñam means Turīya is not connected with the inner-revealer, or Taijasa, indicating that Turīya is different from the dreaming state. Na bahiḥ-prajñam makes the point that it is also not connected with the revealer of the waking state, Vaiśvānara, or, in other words, that it is also different from external consciousness.

Nobhayataḥ-prajñam na prajñāna-ghanam na prajñam nāprajñam: Turīya is also not some kind of intermediate stage between the waking and dreaming stages (as in the case of somnambulism), no. It is also not some form of samādhi obtained through the practice of mechanical meditation, as performed by yogis, where one focuses his consciousness on a single object. Turīya is also not the state of deep sleep, which is characterized by unconsciousness, which is a form of nescience. Turīya is nāprajñam, which means He is the non-giver of non-knowledge. In other words, turīya is a conscious state of consciousness, where the jīva is situated in full knowledge. Although it is given as a negative description, in the form of a double-negative, the meaning is clear.

Turīya is also invisible to the material eyes (adṛṣṭam), being perceivable only to pure souls who are removed from material contamination and have received the mercy of the Lord. Avyavahāryam means that it can't be understood by mental speculation, reinforcing that it is a transcendental state, understandable only in the stage of liberation. In the Gītā (18.54), Krsna explains: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā, na śocati na kānkṣati, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, mad-bhaktim labhate parām. This ultimate stage is beyond even the stage of liberation. After one attains the state of sameness and joy of liberation, one still has a way to go until reaching this ultimate stage. Additional proof is given in the Srimad Bhagavatam (1.7.10): ātmārāmāś ca munayo, nirgranthā apy urukrame, kurvanty ahaitukīm bhaktim, ittham-bhūta-guṇo hariḥ. Different classes of atmaramas (liberated souls, established on the path of self-realization), though freed from all kinds of material bondage, desire to render devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead. This shows how this ultimate stage transcends even liberation. Krsna has transcendental qualities and can therefore attract everyone, even liberated souls.

What more? Agrahyam-alakṣaṇam-acintyam-avyapadeśyam. Turīya is not measurable by any means, which reinforces the understanding that it is a fully transcendental stage. Alakṣaṇam indicates that turīya can't be recognized by any definable attribute. The viṣva stage is characterized by external action, taijasa by dreams, and so on, but turīya has no material attributes by which it can be identified. This doesn't mean Turīya is without attributes, but that His attributes are fully transcendental and therefore beyond the reach of the senses and the speculations of the mind. Acintyam means it is inconceivable, and avyapadeśyam undefinable, reinforcing that Turīya can't be understood by material intelligence.

The words ekātmya-pratyaya-sāram mean that He is the chief (eka) and He is the ātman, the Complete Whole. This exceptional quality is explained in the Isopaniṣad, om pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idam, pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate, pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya, pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate: "The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance."

The Lord is the Supreme, the Complete Whole, the Unlimited, and because there is no other like Him, he is defined as ekātmya. Pratyaya means "He whose form is knowledge", and sara means bliss. In this way, taken as a whole, ekātmya-pratyaya-sāram means "The One who is the embodiment of eternity, knowledge, and bliss", the same meaning as sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ.

Lord Brahma was able to directly see this enchanting Supreme Personality of Godhead, and shares his realization with us in the Brahma-samhitā, starting with the famous verse īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, anādir ādir govindaḥ, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam.

"Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes." (BS 5.1)

In his philosophical discussions with Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, Lord Caitanya elaborates:

"'The Supreme Personality of Godhead is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (BS 5.1). This means that He originally has three potencies — the pleasure potency, the potency of eternality and the potency of knowledge. Together these are called the cit potency, and they are present in full in the Supreme Lord. For the living entities, who are part and parcel of the Lord, the pleasure potency in the material world is sometimes displeasing and sometimes mixed. This is not the case with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, because He is not under the influence of the material energy or its modes.'

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead in His original form is full of eternity, knowledge and bliss. The spiritual potency in these three portions [sat, cit and ānanda] assumes three different forms.

"The three portions of the spiritual potency are called hlādinī [the bliss portion], sandhinī [the eternity portion] and samvit [the knowledge portion]. We accept knowledge of these as full knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

"The spiritual potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead also appears in three phases — internal, marginal and external. These are all engaged in His devotional service in love." (CC Madhya 6.157-160)

In other words, the words ekātmya-pratyaya-sāram or sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ describe the unlimited potencies of the Supreme Lord, which are unlimited. Krsna can't be separated from His potencies, therefore, it is not possible to understand Turīya without understanding Him in the context of ekātmya-pratyaya-sāram.

Srila Madhvācārya mentions in his commentary that prapañcopaśamam (prapañca-upaśama) means that He is the all-pervading Viṣṇu whose form is the highest bliss. Prapañca means all-pervading, and upa means the highest, and śāma means blissful. He also gives another reading, with prapañca interpreted as "bodily bonds" and upa-śama as "the destroyer", meaning that Viṣṇu is the destroyer of material bonds. In this way, as Turīya, the Lord destroys all bonds and gives freedom from material entanglement. He is also called Śivam, because He is free from all sorrows, being fully blissful. That's how the word "Śiva" is used in the scriptures.

In the context of the verse, the word advaitam is used in the sense of "the destroyer of false knowledge". Madhvācārya sustains it by interpreting the word dvaitam as dvītaṃ (dvi+itaḥ=dvītaṃ), meaning "knowing twice". This repetition of the word "knowledge" gives the opposite meaning, as knowledge of a thing not as it is, but contrary to it, just like the prefix "du" (two) makes the word "duplicity" the opposite of "simplicity". Two times simplicity means the opposite, crookedness. Similarly, two times knowledge gives the word the opposite meaning, as false or mistaken knowledge. The prefix "a" adds another apposite, giving the word "advaitam" the meaning of the destroyer of such false knowledge, or in other words, the One who reveals the true knowledge of our eternal identity as transcendental souls. This is another description of Lord Turīya.

Caturtham manyante means Turīya is the Fourth. He is the chief of the four Vyūhas (Vāsudeva, Sankarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha), and also that He is situated in the fourth-dimensional stage, and the words "sa ātmā" indicate the end of the explanation that started in text 1.2 with the words so’yam-ātmā catushpat. Text 1.2 described that Brahman is the Supreme Self, ātma, and that the Supreme Lord manifests in four forms. Texts 1.3 to 1.5 described the first three of these forms, and now text 1.7 describes the last, concluding the explanation.

Taken as a single sentence, sa ātma sa vijñeya means that this Supreme Lord is the goal of knowledge and should be realized. The word Vedanta means "the end of knowledge". This end of knowledge is Krsna, the Supreme Lord. He is the ultimate goal of life, hidden in the cryptic words of the Upaniṣads. As Srila Prabhupāda explains (CC Adi 4.67), the Lord can be understood only by devotion, governed by the hlādinī potency. When one approaches Him through his limited material intelligence, He remains covered, and the result is that one reaches the impersonal conclusion.

In this way, taking all the different meanings together, the verse can be translated as previously stated:

“In the fourth state, the individual soul recovers his original state of consciousness. This consciousness is not connected with a material body in any way. It is not turned to the outside, nor the inside; it is not materially conscious or unconscious. It is also not a state of unconscious contact with the Lord. This original state of consciousness is beyond the perception of the senses, beyond the comprehension of the mind, beyond the speculations of intelligence, and the perception of material consciousness. This ultimate state consists of the spiritual awareness of the soul, beyond the material manifestation. In this state, which is beyond material duality and fully auspicious, the soul attains the association of the Supreme Lord. This Supreme Lord, called Turīya (the Fourth), who is invisible, transcendental, inconceivable by reasoning, full of eternity, knowledge, and bliss, who is the destroyer of bodily bounds and false knowledge, should be realized as the ultimate goal of knowledge.”

As Srila Prabhupada mentions: "These three puruṣas, who lie on the Kāraṇa, Garbha and Kṣīra oceans respectively, are the Supersoul of everything that be: Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the Supersoul of the collective universes, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the Supersoul of the collective living beings, and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is the Supersoul of all individual living entities. Because all of Them are somehow attracted to the affairs of the material energy, They can be said to have some affection for māyā. But the transcendental position of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself is not even slightly tinged by māyā. His transcendental state is called turīya, or the fourth-dimensional stage." (CC Adi 2.52)

All three previous stages are experienced by the soul in the conditioned stage. Even the third stage, prājña, can't be considered truly transcendental, because although in contact with the Lord, the soul remains forgetful of his transcendental identity. As Prājña, the Lord makes the soul temporarily forget his material desires and identifications and enter into a state of slumber, but as soon as the soul awakens, it immediately becomes materially active and transitions back to the dream and waking states to perform material actions. This same process happens at the beginning of each day of Brahma and also at the beginning of the process of creation, where the souls who were previously merged into the body of Mahā-Viṣnu become again active. As long as the soul does not awaken to his eternal spiritual identity, this process continues indefinitely.

Turīya is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, situated in Goloka Vṛndāvana, the highest of the spiritual planets, completely transcendental to all material contamination. Krsna living in His abode is situated at the highest level of the fourth dimension, transcendental to even the formality and reverence of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, and Turīya, the supreme status of consciousness, is ultimately unalloyed devotional service to this Supreme Lord.

At the beginning of creation, Brahma performed austerities for one thousand years of the demigods, and at the end had the opportunity of personally meeting the Lord and receiving transcendental knowledge from Him. He shares His realizations in two very important books: the Brahma-samhitā and the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad. There, he declares to the four Kumāras:

eko vaśī sarvagaḥ kṛṣṇa īḍya eko’pi san bahudhā yo vibhāti
tam pīṭhastham ye nu bhajanti dhīrās teṣām sukham śāśvatam netareṣām
nityo nityānām cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnām yo vidadhāti kāmān
tam pīṭhagam ye’nubhajanti dhīrās teṣām siddhiḥ śāśvatī netareṣām
etad viṣṇoḥ paramam padam ye nitya-yuktāḥ samyajante na kāmān
teṣām asau goparūpaḥ prayatnāt prakāśayed ātmapadam tadaiva

yo brahmāṇam vidadhāti pūrvam yo vai vidyās tasmai gopāyati sma kṛṣṇaḥ | tam ha devam ātma-buddhi-prakāśam mumukṣur vai śaraṇam anuvrajeta

"Kṛṣṇa is supreme, all-pervading, and most worthy of praise. Though he is one, he is also many. The wise who worship him in the pīṭha obtain constant happiness not available to others. The wise, who worship Kṛṣṇa in his pīṭha—Kṛṣṇa who is the principal being among many, who is the chief eternal among eternals and the chief knower among knowers, who satisfies their prema—attain eternal bliss not available to others.

For those who constantly worship Kṛṣṇa, the supreme svarūpa in the pīṭha, and who have no other desires, Kṛṣṇa in his cowherd form reveals his feet. Kṛṣṇa created Brahmā and preserved knowledge of the eighteen-syllable mantra for him. Those who desire to give up everything should surrender to Kṛṣṇa the revealer of all knowledge, who is endowed with all pastimes. (GtU 1.20-23)

In text 2.69 of the same Upaniṣad, Brahma mentions:

rohiṇītanayo rāma akārākṣara sambhavaḥ
taijasātmakaḥ pradyumna ukārākṣarasambhavaḥ
prājñātmako’niruddho vai makārākṣara-sambhava
ardhamātrātmakaḥ kṛṣṇo yasmin viśvam pratiṣṭhitam

"Balarāma, the son of Rohiṇī, arose from the syllable a. Pradyumna, the embodiment of taijasa, the dream state, arose from the syllable u. Aniruddha, the embodiment of prājña, deep sleep, arose from the syllable m. Kṛṣṇa is the nāda, and the complete sound om, in whom the universe is established."

In his commentary for this verse of the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad, Srila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa explains: "The four forms of the Lord and om manifest the object of sound and the sound itself through māyā. By mentioning the name as son of Rohiṇī, no mistake can be made about the identity of the vyūha. He manifests as the syllable a as a limb of om. It is understood that he is related to the waking state. Pradyumna and Aniruddha are related to the dream and deep sleep states. Thus, Balarāma with waking state indicates more manifestation of powers than the other two. The nāda or ardha-mātra is different from those three states of the jīva. This is Kṛsṇa. All the limbs of praṇava also indicate Kṛṣṇa by the process of ajahal-lakṣaṇa (om ultimately indicates Kṛsṇa). The last sentence indicates that Kṛṣṇa is complete, being the combination of all the four just as om is complete with all the syllables starting with a."

The four forms of the Lord who govern the four states of consciousness, discussed in the Māṇḍūkya Upanisad, are Vāsudeva, Sankarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha, the four members of the catur-vyūha. Vāsudeva is Turīya, the Lord of spiritual existence; Sankarṣaṇa is Prājña, the Lord of the state of blissful unconsciousness; Pradyumna is Taijasa, the Lord of dreams, and Aniruddha is Vaiśvānara, the Lord of the physical world.

Sankarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha manifest as the three puruṣas: Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who lie down in the three oceans: Kāraṇodaka (the causal ocean), Garbhodaka (the ocean at the bottom of the universe), and Kṣīrodaka (the milk ocean). We have then three puruṣas involved with the material creation and Krsna, or Vāsudeva as the Fourth, fully transcendental.

Vāsudeva is also the origin of material consciousness, Sankarṣaṇa of the false ego, Pradyumna of material intelligence, and Aniruddha of the material mind. The material mind and intelligence are connected to the soul through the false-ego and this allows the soul to perform actions in the material world and satisfy his desires. In the conditioned state, the consciousness is polluted in different degrees, but when we start the practice of Krsna Consciousness, we gradually purify it and bring it back to the original state of pure consciousness, which is a manifestation of Lord Vāsudeva. In this pure state of consciousness, we can see ourselves in our eternal position as eternal servants of the Lord.

In his purport to SB 3.26.21, Srila Prabhupada explains this point in detail:

"The vāsudeva manifestation, or the status of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is called pure goodness, or śuddha-sattva. In the śuddha-sattva status there is no infringement of the other qualities, namely passion and ignorance. In the Vedic literature there is mention of the Lord’s expansion as the four Personalities of Godhead—Vāsudeva, Sankarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. Here in the reappearance of the mahat-tattva the four expansions of Godhead occur. He who is seated within as Supersoul expands first as Vāsudeva. The vāsudeva stage is free from infringement by material desires and is the status in which one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or the objective which is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as adbhuta. This is another feature of the mahat-tattva. The vāsudeva expansion is also called Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for it is free from all tinges of material passion and ignorance. This clear state of understanding helps one to know the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The vāsudeva status is also explained in Bhagavad-gītā as kṣetra-jña, which refers to the knower of the field of activities as well as the Superknower. The living being who has occupied a particular type of body knows that body, but the Superknower, Vāsudeva, knows not only a particular type of body but also the field of activities in all the different varieties of bodies. In order to be situated in clear consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one must worship Vāsudeva. Vāsudeva is Kṛṣṇa alone. When Kṛṣṇa, or Viṣṇu, is alone, without the accompaniment of His internal energy, He is Vāsudeva. When He is accompanied by His internal potency, He is called Dvārakādhīśa. To have clear consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one has to worship Vāsudeva. It is also explained in Bhagavad-gītā that after many, many births one surrenders to Vāsudeva. Such a great soul is very rare."

As explained by Srila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, Vāsudeva is ultimately Krsna Himself, the ultimate form of transcendence, the fourth, while Sankarṣaṇa, or Vaiśvānara, is Balarāma, who presides over the waking state. There is a greater manifestation of consciousness in the viśva state and progressively less in the taijasa and prājña states. This shows a greater manifestation of power from Lord Balarāma.

Krsna, however, is the nāda, the origin and foundation of the other three. Because all other expansions come from Krsna, it can also be said that He is the combination of the other three. Krsna presides over the turīya, the transcendental state.

As Krsna declares in the Bhagavad-Gītā, ye yathā mām prapadyante tāms tathaiva bhajāmy aham: "As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly." In the conditioned stage, Krsna allows the soul to act in the three states of consciousness, manifested from His expansions. When the jīva becomes tired of acting materially, impersonal liberation is offered and for the souls who avoid this last snare of Maya, showing an intense desire to direct serve the Lord, Krsna reveals the transcendental state, turīya, which is manifested through the five rasas, manifested according to the natural desire of the soul. This ultimate stage of pure devotional service is granted only to the souls who are fully sincere in their desire to reciprocate with the Lord in pure love. In this way, the teachings of the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad bring us to this ultimate realization of our constitutional position.

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