Mandukya Upanishad – 4

 

Mantra 7

Mantra 7

nantahprajnaṃ na bahisprajnaṃ nobhayatahprajnaṃ

na prajnanaghanam na prajnaṃ naprajnaṃ ।

adrstam avyavaharyam agrahyam alaksanam

acintyam avyapadesyam ekatmapratyayasaram

prapancopasamam santam sivam advaitaṃ chaturtham manyante

sa Athma sa vijneyaḥ ॥ 7॥

Turiyam is not that which is conscious of the internal (subjective) world, nor that which is conscious of the external (objective) world, nor that which is conscious of both, nor that which is a mass of all consciousness, nor that which is simple consciousness, nor that which is unconscious. It is unseen (by sense organs), not related to anything, incomprehensible by the mind, uninferable, unthinkable, indescribable, essentially of the nature of Consciousness constituting the Self alone, negation of all phenomena, the peaceful, all-bliss and the Non-dual. This is what is known as the fourth (Turiyam). This is the Athma and it has to be realized.

Mantra 7 is the definition of Turiyam, the fourth pada, called chathurtham,the fourth, in the Mantra.  Turiyam is the foundation of the other three padas and is also different from them but It is not away from them.  It is in and through Viswa, Taijasa and Prajna.  It is avilable in all the three as it co-exists with Viswa, Taijasa and Prajna like gold in chain, bangle and ring.  It is the Athma, the witness Consciousness principle, and is called the waker, dreamer, or deep-sleeper when associated with waking, dream or deep sleep states.  In fact, it is disassociated from the three states and the things obtaining there, namely the three bodies and the three universes.  Swami Paramarthananda calls this Mantra “the essence of the entire Mandukya Upanishad as well as the entire Maṇdukyakarika.” Athma is Brahman, we have seen in Mantra 2.  Brahman is not an object of knowledge and is not available for Jnana or karma transaction.  So the Upanishad is adopting the ‘Neti, Neti’ logic i.e. trying to explain the unexplainable indirectly by denying the known entities as ‘Not this, Not this’.  Using this method of negation, Upanishad explains Athma as below:

1. naantah-prajnam – The Athma is not that which is conscious of the internal subjective world i.e. it is not the dream state or Taijasa.

2. na bahishprajnam - It is not that which is conscious of the external object-world i.e.

it is not the waking-state or Viswa.

3. na ubhayatah-prajnam – It is also not that state which is a combination of both waking and dreaming.

4. na prajnanaghanam – It is also not the deep sleep state where a person experiences undifferentiated consciousness and is not conscious of anything including oneself.

5. na prajnam na aprajnam– It is not conscious or unconscious. This rules out the possibility of all the three states happening together, i.e. waking, dream and deep sleep.

6. adrishtam – It cannot be seen i.e. it cannot be experienced by means of any sense organ.

7. avyavaharyam – It is not capable of being interacted by any of the sense organs.

8. agraahyam – It cannot be grasped.

9. alakshanam – It is beyond inference as there is no indicator for inference.

10. achintyam - It is beyond thought. One cannot even think of it.

11. avyapadeshyam – One cannot describe it.

Then what is the Self?

12. ekatma-pratyaya-saram - It is only this ‘I’ consciousness, one’s Self-consciousness which everybody has. This common ‘I’ consciousness is Brahman. It is the Athma, the substratum, the common base, the Cosmic Self. The Upanishad has thus very cleverly led us from 'not this, not this' to the conclusion that we are Brahman. In the end there is only one thing that exists ekam atma-pratyaya – only the “I’ consciousness that is the support of the whole universe and the essence of our being.

When do we realize this?

13. prapancha upasamam - Free from the three types of prapanchas.  The object world is nothing but names and forms – nama and rupa and mithya.

When these are eliminated what is left?

14. shantam, shivam, advaitam - That is peace, happiness and non-duality. There is peace because there is no diversity, no plurality, and no competition with each other.  When there is unity there cannot be anything but peace and happiness.

This is called the fourth pada i.e. chaturtham. That is Turiyam. That is our real Self and that is Brahman - sa Athma.  This Turiyaṃ alone is the real Self and the other three are roles that Self plays in life.  The essential message of this significant Mantra is that Turiyaṃ is the name of Athma, the Self, the consciousness or witness principle and it is Turiyam that is called the waker, dreamer, or sleeper when Self is associated with waking, dream or sleep. Self itself is called Turiyaṃ, the fourth, when Self is dissociated from waking, dream and deep sleep, through knowledge.

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