Turiya
The Sanskrit term Turiya describes the experience of pure consciousness in the philosophy of Hinduism , which forms the background for the three usual states of consciousness waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep and which transcends these .
etymology
Turiya - तुरीय - (turīya) is the abbreviation of चतुरीय - caturīya (also chaturtha ) with the meaning of the, the, the fourth ( catur = four).
The three common states of consciousness
Based on the ideas outlined in the Mandukya Upanishad , Adi Shankara describes the three states of consciousness, namely waking (jagrata), dreams (svapna) and deep sleep (susupti), which correspond to the three bodies of the sarira as follows:
The first state is that of wakefulness, with the help of which we become aware of our daily (environmental) world. The waking consciousness corresponds to the gross body. Its perception is outward (bahish-prajna), gross nature (sthula) and universal (vaishvanara).
The second state is that of the dream . It corresponds to the subtle energy body . His perception goes inwards (antah-prajna), is of a subtle (pravivikta) and burning nature ( taijasa ).
The third state is that of deep sleep . It corresponds to the causal body . In this state the underlying consciousness is completely undisturbed. Shankara describes this state as
"Lord of everything (sarv'-eshvara), knower of everything (sarva-jnya), controller within (antar-yami), source of all things (yonih sarvasya), origin and dissolution of all created things (prabhav'-apyayau hi bhutanam) . "
In the waking state there is Ahamkara , a sense of self of one's own identity, as well as an awareness of thoughts. In the sleep / dream state, there is hardly any or no sense of self, but there are still thoughts that are also conscious. Because of their dualities of subject / object, self / not-self and I / not-I, waking and dreaming cannot ultimately be a true experience of reality and truth.
In dreamless sleep there is no consciousness about objects of the outside or inside world and there is also no consciousness about thoughts or the self. But that does not mean that in this state there is no longer any consciousness at all. That would be like saying I don't see anything alike. This indirectly admitted that nothing is exactly what I see. This analogy also applies to the state of dreamless sleep, during which one is unaware of anything. This statement alone proves the existence of consciousness in deep sleep.
Turiya in the Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad is the shortest of the Upanishads . Her prose-held 12 verses describe the mystical syllable Om , the three psychological states of waking, dreaming and sleeping as well as the transcendental fourth state of enlightenment.
In verse 7 of the Mandukya Upanishad, Turiya is characterized as follows:
“Turiya is neither awareness of the subjective inner world nor the objective outer world; It is neither a matter of the consciousness of these two worlds united, nor is it simply an accumulation of consciousness; it is neither simply consciousness nor unconsciousness. Rather, Turiya is imperceptible, unfathomable, incomprehensible, unthinkable and indescribable. It is CONSCIOUSNESS that manifests itself in the three states of self. In it all phenomena come to an end. It is absolute peace, pure bliss and no duality. This is what is called the fourth (turiya). This is the Atman that is to be recognized. "
Turiya is not a state of being. Rather, it forms the background on which dreams and waking appear and disappear again. In other words, it represents pure awareness, which is also known as nirvikalpa . This insight that arises during meditation on Turiya is called Amatra in the Mandukya Upanishad - the immeasurable, the immeasurable. It is synonymous with samadhi in yoga .
Turiya in Advaita
Gaudapada
Gaudapada , who lived in the 7th century , was an early guru of Advaita Vedanta . His spiritual grandson was Adi Shankara , one of the most important philosophers of Hinduism. Gaudapada allegedly founded the Shri Gaudapadacharya Math and was the author or editor of the Māṇḍukya Kārikā , a verse commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad, also known as Gauḍapāda Kārikā and Āgama Śāstra .
The Māṇḍukya Kārikā is the oldest known, systematic treatise on Advaita Vedanta, but there are still older writings of the Advaita standpoint and other textbooks with the same content appeared before Shankara's time.
Gaudapada deals with perception , idealism , causality , truth and reality . According to Gaudapada, the fourth state of being (turīya avasthā) corresponds to stillness and the other three to AUM. It forms the substratum for the other three states of being and is called atyanta-shunyata (complete emptiness).
In the fourth state of consciousness of the Turiya, the mind has not only withdrawn from the objective world, but rather has united with the Brahman . Strictly speaking, in deep sleep and in transcendental consciousness there is no longer any object-oriented consciousness; however, objective consciousness is still in the form of unmanifest "seeds" in deep sleep, whereas in the Turiya state it is completely transcended. When equating the wordless state with Turiya, the true nature of the self is meditatively recognized, after which there can be no return to the sphere of empirical life. To explain the fourth state, Buddhist terms such as B. Śūnyatā (emptiness) used. This suggests that the commentary was edited at a time when the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā school of Mahayana was influential and famous.
Vishishtadvaita Vedanta
The Vishishtadvaita Vedanta forms its own philosophical school in Vedanta , which believes in a single unity that underlies all diversity (Vishishtadvaita literally means unique or qualified advaita ). Its main exponent was Ramanuja , who insisted that the scriptures of Prasthana Traya (i.e. Upanishads , Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutra ) should be interpreted in such a way that this unity emerged in diversity. Any other kind of interpretation would violate the cohesion of these works.
According to the Vishistadvaita Vedanta, Turiya is consciousness that is free from material influence. The Atman, our self, consists of consciousness, which is present both during the waking state with all its material experiences and in sleep. In sleep we dream and live through our mental realm, whereas in the waking state the physical level of our existence comes into play.
When awakening from a deep, dreamless sleep, there is a memory of this state. This connection is also confirmed by the common phrase I slept well , because there can be no memory of something that has not been experienced.
Even in deep sleep, during which the intelligence is transformed by tamo guna , our selves continue to exist - and so also in dreams, in which the intelligence is impaired by rajo guna and in the waking state, in which the intellect comes under the influence of sattva guna . The self is independent of body and mind. Even when the physique and menses stop their activities, the self lives on, as we know from our deep sleep experience. Whoever becomes aware of this enters the realm of Turiyas.
Kashmiri Shaivism
The Kashmiri Shivaism forms a school within the Shivaism represented by the veneration of Trika (triad consisting of the goddesses Para Parāparā and apara) is characterized. His philosophy is expressed in the Pratyabhijña , a branch of Kashmiri Shaivism. Abhinavagupta classifies Kashmiri Shaivism as "paradvaita", ie the purest, absolute non-dualism.
In relation to Shankara's Advaita, Kashmiri Shaivism takes contrasting views. Thus the Advaita sees Brahman as non-acting (niṣkriya) and the world of appearances as illusory (māyā), in contrast to Kashmiri Shaivism, for which everything is a manifestation of the universal consciousness Chit or Brahman. For Kashmiri Shaivism, the phenomenal world (Śakti) is absolutely real, it exists and its essence is based on Chit.
The Kashmiri Shaivism aims at absorption in Shiva or in the universal consciousness. The already existing unity of being with Shiva can finally be recognized through wisdom, yoga and higher providence.
Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta
Vasugupta (860 to 925) is the author of the famous Shivasutras , a collection of 77 aphorisms that form the basis of Kashmiri Shaivism. The Shivasutras and the resulting school of Kashmiri Shaivism are in the tradition of Tantra or Agama . Compared to the schools and common practices of Veda , the followers of Tantra saw themselves as independent and outside their norms.
According to the Shivasutras, Turiya is the fourth state of consciousness which is beyond waking, dreaming and deep sleep. Turiya, in a sense, holds the three ordinary states of consciousness together. It is metaphysical consciousness and as such can be clearly separated from the psychological or empirical self. This all-observing and witnessing consciousness is called Saksi and is the transcendental self.
For Swami Shankarananda means Shaivism
"To find Turiya and thus the divine in the midst of everyday life."
Siddha
In Kashmiri Shaivism ( Hindu Tantra ), the term Siddha means a Siddha Guru who introduces his students to yoga by means of Shaktipat .
In Tamil , Siddham means perfect - it means perfected teachers who have left the Ahamkara (ego, literally maker of the ego ) behind and whose mind has come to rest to such an extent that it is no longer an obstacle to their awareness. Furthermore, her body, once ruled by the dense Gunas (Rajotamas), has been transformed into a light sattva body through constant meditation .
In the Siddha the four states of consciousness are described as follows:
- Nenavu or the waking state
- Kanavu or the dream state
- Sudhubdi or unconscious sleep
- Thoongamal Thoongi Sukam pookuvathu or sleepless sleep state of bliss. This conscious sleep state is the highest of the four primary states of consciousness. It can be achieved through meditation, such as the much sought-after Siddha Turiya meditation. The sleepless state of sleep, which is mainly achieved through sadhana , is also referred to as the zero point , at which polarities collapse, dualities vanish and the self opens up in infinity. The zero point makes it possible for us to drop our self-centeredness, trust our soul and experience the ultimate truth.
Turiya in Vishnuism
In addition to Shaivism, Smarta tradition and Shaktism , Vishnuism is one of the main branches of Hinduism, the worship of which is directed towards the god Vishnu . Vaishnava, the followers of the Supreme Lord Vishnu, advocate differentiated monotheism , the main focus of which is on Vishnu and his ten incarnations .
In verse 11.15 , 16 of the Bhagavata Purana , Bhagavan is described as turiyakhye (the fourth).
The Bhagavad Gita defines Turiya in verse 7. 13 as follows:
“In the material world, the Lord appears as the three Vishnus (or gunas). However, the original form of the Lord is quite different. He is outside of material nature and is known as The Fourth . "
Gaudiya Vaishnava (also Chaitanya-Vaishnava and Hare Krishna ) is a spiritual movement with a Vishnuit orientation that was founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486 to 1534) in the 16th century in India. Gaudiya refers to the present-day Bengal and in Bangladesh located Gauda region . This Vishnuism sees its task in the worship of the monotheistic deity or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is usually referred to as Krishna , Narayana or Vishnu . The Bhagavad Gita, the Bhagavata Purana and other Puranic scriptures , but also Upanishads such as the Isha-Upanishad , the Gopala-Tapani-Upanishad and the Kali-Santarana-Upanishad , function as the philosophical foundation .
The Gaudiya followers of Vedanta focus on turyatitah gopala , the fifth dimension. The believer now meets Gopala Krishna in Braj (Vraja Dhama) face to face and thus changes from adhoksaja to aprakrta or from God consciousness to Krishna consciousness. Turyatitah (also turyatita, turya-titah or turiya-titah) is thus the experience of the Supreme Reality:
“The fourth dimension, Turiya, is the basis of our existence and the goal of all transcendentalists. It is interpreted by Vedanta philosophers either as undifferentiated consciousness or as a relationship to the divine. The Gaudiya Vedanta concludes that love is much wider than our selves and is the greatest aspect of God that motivates him. Nondual consciousness is realized when we realize that we own nothing and not even ourselves. The only exception is the moment when we can offer our love to God and say that he is now ours. "
God and the conditioned souls are related to each other:
“This is the Krishna conception of God, in which God does not appear as God and the conditioned souls do not appear as conditioned souls separately from one another. Rather, both relate to each other like lovers and lovers, like Krishna and his Gopis, outside of any ontological reality , but also outside of any material illusion. This love of God is rightly seen by the Gaudiya-Vaishnava as the fifth dimension, turiya-titah, the dimension of the soul of our soul . "
The state of consciousness of Turyatita is reflected in the Sanskrit poem Gitagovinda by Jayadeva . Also Jiva Goswami goes into Sandarbhas some length with this condition.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ken Wilber : Integral Psychology . Shambhala Publications, 2000, pp. 132 .
- ↑ Ellen Goldberg: Ardhanarishvara: The Lord who is Half Woman . 2002, p. 85 .
- ↑ Nakamura, Hajime: A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy. Part Two . Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi 2004.
- ↑ Nikhilananda, Swami: Mandukyopanishad with Gaudapada's Karika and Sankara's Commentary . Mysore: Shri Ramakrishna Ashrama 1974.
- ↑ Flood, Gavin. D .: The Tantric Body . 2006.
- ↑ a b Swami Shankarananda: Consciousness is Everything, The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism . S. 56-59 .
- ↑ Ksemaraja, translated by Jaidev Singh, and Spanda Karikas: The Divine Creative Pulsation . Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, p. 119 .
- ↑ Mishra, K .: Kashmir Saivism, The Central Philosophy of Tantrism . S. 330-334 .
- ↑ Swami BV Tripurari: Entering the Fifth Dimension .
- ↑ Swami BV Tripurari: Jiva Goswami's Tattva-Sandarbha: Sacred India's Philosophy of Ecstasy .