Turiya

Sanskrit, from tū́rya, meaning "fourth" or "beyond the third." It signifies a state beyond the three commonly recognized states of consciousness: jāgrat (waking), svapna (dreaming), and suṣupti (deep sleep). The term appears in Upanishadic literature, notably the Mandukya Upanishad, which is dedicated to exploring this concept.

A state of the deepest trance — the fourth state of the Taraka Raja Yo<ra, one that corresponds witli Atma, and on this earth with (hrntnh ss sleep — a causal condition.

The concept of Turiya, as elucidated in the Upanishads and later in Advaita Vedanta, offers a profound counterpoint to our modern fixation on the ephemeral. Mircea Eliade, in his studies of comparative religion, frequently highlighted the human yearning for a state beyond the flux of temporal experience, a yearning that Turiya so eloquently addresses. It is not merely a theoretical abstraction but, as Patanjali's Yoga Sutras suggest, a state attainable through dedicated practice, a profound stillness that underpins the very possibility of knowing.

Blavatsky, in her characteristic way, links Turiya to the deepest trance states, a perspective that resonates with the yogic goal of samadhi. However, to reduce Turiya solely to a trance state risks missing its essence. It is more akin to a fundamental recognition, a shift in perspective where the illusory separation between subject and object dissolves. This is the "fourth" that transcends the apparent trinity of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, not by negating them, but by revealing the consciousness that animates all three.

The Mandukya Upanishad, a text almost entirely devoted to exploring the syllable "Om" and its relation to the four states of consciousness, presents Turiya as the silent, unmanifest aspect of the divine sound. It is the ultimate reality, Brahman, the self, Atman, that is one with Brahman. The challenge for the modern seeker, adrift in a sea of sensory input and intellectual chatter, is to find this inner silence, this awareness that is not dependent on external conditions. It is the realization that the "self" we so ardently defend is merely a transient manifestation within this vaster, eternal consciousness. As Swami Vivekananda often emphasized, the goal is not to become something new, but to realize what we already are. Turiya is the name given to that ultimate realization, the silent, luminous ground of all existence.

RELATED_TERMS: Brahman, Atman, Moksha, Samadhi, Advaita Vedanta, Om, Consciousness, Non-duality