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This article is about consciousness. For the old chess game, see chaturanga. For the four-player game, see chaturaji.
In Hindu philosophy, turiya (or caturiya, chaturtha) is the experience of pure consciousness. It is the background that underlies and transcends the three common states of consciousness: the state of waking consciousness (jagrata), the state of dreaming (svapna), and dreamless sleep (susupti).[1] [2]Contents[hide] |
[edit] Advaita concept
The first two states are not true experiences of reality and truth because of their dualistic natures of subject and object, self and not-self, ego and non-ego. In the third state, dreamless sleep, one is not conscious of external or internal objects; however, that does not mean consciousness is not present there. It is like saying 'I see nothing.' The recognition that nothing is what I 'see'. So also in dreamless sleep, one is not conscious of anything and the very fact that this statement is true proves the existence of consciousness during deep sleep.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' but there are thoughts and awareness of thoughts. In the deep sleep state there is no awareness of thoughts or 'I'. In Turiya there is awareness of the undifferentiated 'I' but there are no thoughts. This is what makes it unique from the other 3 states.
The Mandukya Upanishad defines turiya as:
"The fourth (i.e. Turiya) is NOT a state. It is the background on which dream and wake arises and disappears. Turiya is just another term to describe pure awareness. It is also called the Nirvikalpa."
[edit] Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta concept
Turiya or Turya: The fourth state of consciousness beyond the states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep and stringing together all the states; the Metaphysical Consciousness distinct from the psychological or empirical self; the Saksi or witnessing consciousness; the transcendental Self."There is, however, a fourth state of consciousness, known as turiya. This is the consciousness of the central Self or Siva in each individual. This is a witnessing consciousness of which the individual is normally not aware. The turiya is pure cidananda-consciousness and bliss. The individual's mind is conditioned by habit energy (Vasana) of previous lives. When by yogic practices, his mind becomes deconditioned, then he attains the turiya consciousness, and becomes a jivan-mukta i.e. liberated while still alive."
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Turiya represents consciousness free from material influence. The idea is that consciousness, of which the atman is constituted, exists in our wakeful state of material experience, as it continues during sleep. In sleep we dream and experience the mental realm, whereas during our waking state the physical plane has more bearing on our lives.Upon awakening from deep dreamless sleep, one remembers existing in that condition. This is evidenced by the common expression, 'I slept well!' One cannot remember something one has no experience of.
Thus, in deep sleep when intelligence is transformed by tamo guna, the self continues to exist, as it does when intelligence is transformed by rajo guna during the dream condition and during the wakeful condition when intellect is transformed by sattva guna. The self is independent of the body and mind. If the physical and mental realms were to shut down, the self would continue to exist. This we know from our experience in deep sleep. Realizing this involves entering the turiya.
The Bhagavata Purana, verse 11.15.16[3] describes Bhagavan as turiyakhye (the fourth), defined in the Bhagavad Gita, verse 7.3 as:[4]
"Within the material world the Lord appears as the three Visnus (gunas). The original form of the Lord is another form still. He is beyond material nature and thus known as the fourth."[5]
The Gaudiya Vedantins are interested in turyatitah gopala (Lord Gopala beyond fourth dimension, Gopala Tapani Upanishad 2.96). This is the fifth dimension in which one comes face to face with Gopala Krishna in Braj (Vraja Dhama), from adhoksaja to aprakrta, or from God consciousness to Krishna consciousness. Turyatitah (also spelled turyatita, turya-titah, turiyatita, or turiya-titah) is the experience of the ultimate reality.
"The fourth dimension, turiya, is the ground of our existence and the goal of all transcendentalists. For the Vedanta philosophers it is perceived variously, either as undifferentiated consciousness or a relationship with the divine. Regarding the latter, Gaudiya Vedanta concludes that love is greater than ourselves, and it is the greatest aspect of God, one that he himself is motivated by. For them, the nondual consciousness of Vedanta philosophy is realized when we know that we do not belong to ourselves, what to speak of anything belonging to us. If there is any time at which we can accurately say that something belongs to us, it is when, having given ourselves in love to God, we can say that 'he is ours'."[6]
"This is the Krsna (Krishna) conception of Godhead, one in which God appears not as God, nor finite souls as finite souls. Both interrelate intimately as lover and beloved, Krsna and his gopis, beyond any sense of each others' ontological reality, yet beyond the material illusion as well. This dimension of love of Godhead is thus justifiably termed by the Gaudiya Vaisnavas as the fifth dimension, turiya-titah, the dimension of the soul's Soul."[6]
The turyatita state of consciousness is reflected in the Sanskrit poem, the Gita Govinda by Jayadeva, and Jiva Gosvami elaborated on this state in the Sandarbhas.[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Ramana Maharshi. States of Consciousness.
- ^ Sri Chinmoy. Summits of God-Life.
- ^ Bhagavata Purana, verse 11.15.16.
- ^ Bhagavad Gita, verse 7.3.
- ^ Swami B.V. Tripurari. Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan.
- ^ a b Swami B.V. Tripurari. Entering The Fifth Dimension.
- ^ Swami B.V. Tripurari. Jiva Goswami's Tattva-Sandarbha: Sacred India's Philosophy of Ecstasy.
