SrI
The Turiya State
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There is an Upanishad on Nrisimha-tattva. It has two sections:
Nrisimha-purva-tApanIya-upanishad and Nrisimha-uttara-tApanIya-upanishad. The
Nrisimha-purva-tapaniya-upanishad mentions that SrI Nrisimha has a third eye,
which is normally attributed to Lord Siva. Persons who identify Lord Siva as
their livesâ goal may think that this is just an attempt to deny the
uniqueness of their God.
There is a background to this attribution of a third eye to Nrisimha.
It is mentioned in the Kanchi Maahaatmiya in a sloka:
Nrisimho yagnasaalayaa madhye sailasyapaschime /
Tatraivaaseen makham rakshannasurebhyassamantatah //
Meaning: When Brahma started to perform a yagna in Kanchipura, in order to
safeguard the yagna Sri Nrisimha appeared. At that time, Lord Siva came to the
site of the yagna along with several demons to create trouble. Noting this, Sri
Mahavishnu took upon Himself the signs that are exclusive to Lord Siva to
create confusion in their minds. These signs included the third eye which is
normally identified with Lord Siva.
The third eye on Nrisimhaâs forehead is âAgniâ, the other two
being the sun and the moon. This Nrisimha incarnation was much before His
appearance to save Prahlada.
Now, we come to the second part of the Nrisimha-uttara-tApanIya-
Upanishad, which deals with âturiyaâ, the fourth state of consciousness,
attained by the jivatma. It is preceded by the waking state (jagrata), the
dream state (svapna) and the state of deep sleep (sushupti). All these are also
mentioned in the Mandukhya Upanishad.
This turiya state is a point of discussion between Nirvisesha Advaitis
and other schools of Vedanta. This was discussed by Sri Gaudapada, the Guru of
Sri Adisankaraâs Acharya, Sri Govindapada. His only available work is his
commentary on the Mandukhya Upanishad in which he has discussed in detail the
four states of jivatma which he identifies itself as Brahman in the turiya
state. That is the state of liberation or moksha, where nothing exists but
Brahman alone. That incidentally happens to be the vital aspect of the Advaita
philosophy.
These four states have also been discussed in VedAnta Sootra of
BhAdarAyaNa.
We may consider these states one by one. The first one, the waking
state at the gross level, is known to everyone. In this state we experience our
contact with the external objects through our sense organs which are five in
number. This sensual contact with external objects produces reaction in our
mind. We experience either pleasure or pain by a particular sense-object
contact. It is natural that we seek the contact with those objects that
produces pleasure in us and avoid those that are painful. This pleasure and
pain are to us. That means we are totally selfish in this respect.
In the second state of consciousness also, it is not a totally
different case. When we experience dreams, it is nothing but our subtle state
where our sense organs, which are too in a subtle state, establish contacts
with objects which are also subtle. In dreams too we experience pleasure and
pain from the subtle objects. It is also self-centred. In both the waking and
the dream states, we remain selfish, with the only difference being either of
physical and mental experience.
In fact, Sribhashyakara (Sri Ramanujacharya) recognizes both these
states as true and not mithya as claimed by nirvisesha advaitis. According to
our Acharya, they are created by Bhagavan for us to get the results of our
previous karma.
The third state, namely, deep sleep (sushupti), requires a deeper
attention to determine the nature of our experience. In this state, we have
neither physical contact nor the subtle mental contact with pleasure or pain.
At that particular time, we are not even aware of our existence even though we
exist actually. Otherwise, we will not get up after the sleep. At this state
there is breathing only which is too automatic but there is no consciousness.
After getting up we feel we had a very enjoyable sleep. This means
there was enjoyment only bereft of any painful experience. In this deep sleep
state, our own atma enjoys without the aid of our sense organs and our mind. We
are not aware of what is happening outside our gross physical body and also in
the subtle physical body. Only our jivatma was enjoying itself. It can also be
termed as a form of selfishness. The vedantic acharyas put this state also in
the same category of the previous three states!
Now, coming to the fourth state, âturiyaâ, we have to go deeper to
understand its nature. Turiya means âfourthâ or âfinalâ or âthe
highestâ. Beyond that there is nothing.
Here, the nirvisesha Advaitis, believers in attributeless Brahman, say
that the jiva realizes it is Brahman itself. Nothing else exists. No world, no
life, except the Brahman.
In the deep sleep state, the person has only the breathing which can be
noted by others. But in the tuirya state, it just like swooning where even the
breathing is difficult to be known by others but the body is alive.
What is this turiya state actually? No one can know it exactly, as the
person who is in this state will not be able to describe his experience later
after the turiya state, that is, after he regains consciousness.
However, we are blessed with hundreds of verses of Azhvars who have
poured their own experience for us to gain knowledge about Sriman Narayanaâs
grace. We have already noted that in the turiya state, the individual goes
beyond consciousness. But Azhvars have recorded their experience going beyond
this state also. That is called âturiyat-turiyamâ mentioned in Nrisimha
Upanishad. In this ultimate state, the blessed muktatma has a vision of the
Lord and experience His company. There also exist two levels â self-centred
and selfless. At the self-centred level, the individual muktatma derives
pleasure from its being with the Lord and its kainkarya to Him. Here, there is
self-centredness in that there is self-enjoyment for the mukta along with the
Lord.
The final step is self-less level. In that level, the muktatma does not
bother about his own pleasure, but he is totally dedicated to the Lordâs
pleasure alone. He does not care whether he derives pleasure or pain. His only,
exclusive aim is to ensure that there is no pain for the Lord, or to put it
properly, there is no reduction in the Lordâs enjoyment. For that purpose,
the individual atma is prepared to undergo any suffering, for that matter, even
to live in the worst of hells. This can be known from the Srisukthis of Sri
Nammazhvar.
To understand this, let us take up the popular verse from Sri Andalâs
Tiruppavai, which we are daily reciting with total dedication in our homes and
in temples. We keep the last two pasurams for sathumurai. That is, after the
Lord is offered bhoga prasadam. Of these two pasurams, the first one, sung by
Sri Andal, contains two lines which happen to be the final lines and they are:
âUndrannodu utromeyaavom unakke naam Aatcheivom
Matrainam kaamangal maatruâ
The general meaning is known to everyone. Here, Sri Andal has left us a
great message. In the words, âUnakke naam aatcheivomâ, the âkeâ
following the word âunakkuâ conveys the ultimate secret. It emphasizes not
only that to the Lord alone we will do service, but also, âwe will do service
only for His pleasure and not for ours. We are not concerned about the so
called âthe blissâ for us, not even a bit. Your bliss alone is our
concern.â
Sri Andal, in the last line seeks from the Lord the removal of any
other desires (kaam-s), if we have (matrai nam kaaamangal maatru).
This is the state beyond the turiya state.
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