YOGIC EXPERIENCE OF STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

by Mukesh

CONSCIOUSNESS AS THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF

CREATION

As countless rays emerge from the sun and ripples from the surface of the
sea, so emerge from consciousness infinite worlds including our own.
Consciousness manifests itself in two forms – the objective and the
subjective. While the objective is the result of objectification of
consciousness, the subject is the consequence of restoration of consciousness
to itself. The parallelism of the objective and the subjective gets graded into
four as manifest in the four states of human consciousness, namely, the
waking, dreaming, deep sleep and what in the Veda is called the fourth –
turiya.

Due to the parallelism of both subjectivity and objectivity and their

coincidence in consciousness, every act of perception presupposes the
corresponding sense organ while the latter’s perceiving anything has its
source in manas or Mind. Mind in its turns, is dependent on the real cogniser
lying behind it and whose nature is consciousness.

In this creation, nothing exists outside consciousness, since its activity is

universal throughout. It is the very nature of the universe consisting of both
actual objects and imagined ones, such as sky-flower, etc.

Every appearance in this cosmos owes its existence to the light of

consciousness and nothing can ever have its existence without that light.
Consciousness experiences itself in the light of consciousness because it is
identical with that light. This is expressed in Ucchusmabhairava:

Oh dear one, as long as there are no knowers, how can there be

anything known. In fact, the knower and the known are really
the same principle. Therefore, there is nothing, which is
inherently impure.1

Thus consciousness is the fundamental principle of creation and the entire

creation resides in it and it itself pervades the creation. The paradox is that it

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takes many roles and yet maintains its identity. Consciousness is the whole
of reality because all existents derive their being from It, and in the process
of knowing, the Known gets identified with it. It may be contended that if
the nature of universe is consciousness consisting of empirical selves and
inert matter, then how bondage can be explained. Bondage is nothing but
ignorance of the reality.2

When Consciousness delimits itself in knowledge and form, it gives rise to

the drama of the world. The prologue is formed by the veiling of Its essential
nature. In the prologue, it undergoes the process of involution to the extent
of assuming the form of matter. This process is called the arc of descent. At
the acme of this descent begins the process of evolution resulting eventually
in the emergence of the principles of life and mind. Having thus got evolved,
man questions about his being and gets to know himself in his true nature.
This marks the arc of ascent or evolution.

II. VEDIC DISCOVERY OF STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

States of consciousness is not the discovery of the Upanishadic period but

goes back to the Vedic Samhitas.

Consciousness as a principle makes an appearance in the Samhita in a

mantra seen by Dirghatamas who states:

Who could have seen the event when the boneless gave birth to
the bony. No doubt, the vital and the physical are born of the
earth but wherefrom the Atman. Who may approach the
knowledgeable to inquire?3

Narayana Rishi in the Atharvaveda describes that this body is the

Brahmapura and the Brahman that resides in it has divided itself into three
cords.4 These three cords represent the three lower states of consciousness
from the point of view of Brahman.

References to Turiya also occur in a hymn seen by Atri wherein it is stated

that by means of the fourth Brahman, Atri found out Surya which was kept
concealed in darkness.5 Sun, as a matter of fact, represents the Self in the
Vedas. This darkness is samudra arnava of the Vedas and susupti of later
texts.

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Another reference to the fourth state of consciousness is found in a mantra
seen by Ayasya, one of the sons of primeval seer Angirasa. The wisdom is
described here as magnificent, seven-horned and as having its origin in Rta
(universal dynamics). The mantra says:

This wisdom, seven horned and born of the universal dynamics

was found out by our father. The fourth, inexplicable, was
discovered by Ayasya out of the universality of his vision in
course of his communication with Indra.6

Universality is a pre-requisite of entry into the fourth state of

consciousness. This is evident from his oneness with Indra which could
not have possibly happened if he had not mastered the annamaya
(jagrata), pranamaya (svapna) and the manomaya (susupti).

How Angirasas reached the fourth state of consciousness is narrated in the

next mantra of the same hymn:

Meditating and having communion with the principle of

universal dynamics – Rta, the sons of the divine and heroes of
the Mighty, the Angirasas, by virtue of having attained the
position of the enlightened, could come to contemplate on the
status of the initial sacrifice of the Supreme Being.7

According to this mantra, the knowledge of principles of universal dynamics

is necessary for the entry into the fourth state of consciousness apart from
intensive meditation.

Besides Angiras and Ayasya, name of Brhaspati, the one of the sons of
Angiras, occurs in the hymn. Brhaspati is represented in the hymn, at times,
as a seer and as well as a god. If Ayasya becomes coincident to prana owing
to his meditation on the vital, Brhaspati becomes the Lord of mantras. His
expertise lies in the formulation of higher experience of mantras after going
through those experiences. This type of meditation, experience and
expression is recounted in the remaining mantras of the hymn in the form of
arduous task of entering into a cave, removing the heavy boulder, taking out
the cows that were kept concealed in the cave besides coming to know of the
dawn, the sun and light as revealed to one as if with a flash of lightning
followed by thunder.8

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 III. ANALYSIS OF EXPERIENCE OF STATES OF
CONSCIOUSNESS DESCRIBED IN THE MANDUKYA UPANISAD

The Vedic view of consciousness finds detailed exposition in Mandukya

Upanisad,9 proposing identity between Brahman, the Absolute and
consciousness of the world, and Atman, the source of all. The Upanisad
conceives of consciousness as fourfold, namely, wakefulness, dream, deep
sleep and the fourth – turiya.10

Our states of consciousness of wakefulness, dream and deep sleep are

interrupted. When one is in the waking state, dream state does not exist;
when one is in the dream state, there is no awareness in that state of our
waking state, and when one is in the state of deep sleep, there is no
awareness of waking and dreaming states.

Each state is due to certain conditions which are present in the other – in the
waking state, the body, prana, senses and manas are active while in dream
state of consciousness, the eye, ear, touch, etc., do not work, the function of
senses stops and their function is taken by the mind, by imagination, where
one sees, hears, runs, eats, etc., -- all mentally. In this state, only prana and
manas are active.

In deep sleep, the function of manas stops, only prana functions. This state
is altogether a separate one.

Now a question rises before us, whether there remains something which
remains the same in all these three states. And the answer is yes, there is, the
fourth state – turiya consciousness which although not involved in all the
three states, yet it remains ever-present as the witnessing consciousness in
all the three. Even the three states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep could
not have been experienced as three different states without a witnessing
consciousness – the knower that knows all the three. This fourth state is the
pure consciousness, immortal, deathless, ceaseless that witnesses everything
and every act. It is the changeless permanent ‘I’ that witnesses all our
changing ‘I’s’. It is called the fourth in reference to other three and is ever-
present reality and this turiya consciousness always remains as the
background of all but people ordinarily remain unaware of it in their normal
life. Therefore, yogic disciplines are required to bring this consciousness in
the forefront in all the states of consciousness.

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This turiya consciousness is not merely a non-doer witnessing consciousness
(saksi caitanya) of Sankara Vedanta or Kaivalya of Patanjali wherein the
consciousness remains in its aloneness or isolation but it is full of
turiyabhoga i.e. rapturous experience of the pure consciousness of Brahman.
Spandakarika also expresses the same idea in the following verse:

Even during the occurrence of different states of consciousness

like waking, etc., the consciousness of the fourth state continue
to be the same, one never departs from one’s natural state of
being – the knower or the experient in all the states.11

Waking State of Consciousness

Waking state of consciousness has been described in this Upanisad as

having seven limbs and nineteen mouths or modes of expression. These
limbs as recounted in Chandogya Upanisad are the heaven, the sun, air,
space, water, earth and a combination of all these put together.12 The mouth,
according to the Upanisad, is nineteen. Shankara interprets them as ten
indiryas, five pranas, manas, buddhi, ahamkara, cittam. In this state
Brahman or Consciousness is called Vaisvanara – the Universal Person and
He is the first who feels and enjoys gross objects.

Thus, consciousness in the state of wakefulness is supposed to be capable of

taking in its purview the entire physical universe on account of this serving
as the body of it. In this state, all knowledge obtained by direct contact with
the external world is included when the subject is in contact with the
objective world around him on any plane.13 Gaudapada in his Karika
describes it as Vishwa being the Lord who pervades and is conscious of the
external.14 This state is bound by space-time. In other words, waking state of
consciousness is that in which knowledge is produced in people by means of
external senses, and the objects have a common connotation for all. This is
in reference to a common man.

It is a state of that form of awareness which prevails when the knowing

subjectivity is totally absorbed in the sensations which come to it through
the senses.15 All living beings, gross elements and the words which denote
them manifest outside the subject16 and in which the objects are perceptible
by everybody.17 Since this state arises through the activity of the wakeful
body and senses, the yogis, call it established in the body -- pindastha and
for them it is the state of awareness they experience when they concentrate

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one-pointedly (dharana)18 on an object. While those who have gained
insight into reality (jnanin) express its nature in metaphysical terms as
everywhere auspicious (sarvatobhadra) because for them it represents the
state of consciousness manifest as the ubiquitous fullness of objective being
– vedyasatta.19

Malinivijaya Tantra20 and Acarya Abhinavagupta’s Tantraloka21 describes

varieties of waking state and other states of consciousness with reference to
a yogi. According to it waking state of consciousness has four stages, which
are as follows:

1. Jagrat-jagrat (Waking in waking):

It is state technically called unawakened (abuddha) in which the awareness

of the individual is entirely centred on the body and totally given over to
objectivity – prameyabhava. Here the pramata is unconscious of his own
subjective nature and never asks who he is. Whenever, he sees an object, he
immediately identifies with it and totally forgets himself as the cogniser.

2. Jagrat-svapna (Waking in Dream):

It is called awakened (buddha). This state arises when the subjective

consciousness enters into the objective consciousness and looses its
awareness of outer objectivity while continuing to perceive the mental
impressions created by it. This state can be experienced when one finds
himself staring at something absent-mindedly, carried away by his own
thoughts. In this state knowledge – pramana of the object is prominent in
consciousness.

3. Jagrat-susupti (Waking in Deep Sleep):

This is a state which one experiences when one looses consciousness of both
the outer physical and inner mental environment. There arises for a moment
complete blankness, totally absent from the present situation. This is the
experience of an ordinary individual.

But for a Yogi, it is a state in which the pramata, the knower or the subject
is prominent in consciousness, for here the yogi rests in this state of
absorption for longer periods of time, enjoying the subtle bliss of unity and

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hence is called well-awakened state – prabuddha. The cogniser is awake in
regard to the subject but asleep to the object.

4. Jagrat-turiya (Waking in Turiya):

When the Yogi is completely well-awakened, he experiences the fourth state

when awake and continues to perceive and function in the midst of diversity,
maintaining an awareness of his true conscious nature. In this state of
consciousness, there is predominance of consciousness as such – pramiti and
is known as suprabuddha or perfectly awakened state.

Dream State of Consciousness

Instead of taking it as the playground of unconscious, the Upanisadic sage

regards this state as that of consciousness itself and very much akin to its
state of wakefulness. What differentiates it from that of waking state is that
it is shorn of active participation of the outer senses in its operation but is
taken over by inner senses. In this state of consciousness, mental
modifications and discernments continue to operate as they are operative in
the waking state with certain variations in its spatio-temporal status. This is
due to the autonomy of the space and time the dreaming consciousness is
placed in. It perceives inward and has the same limbs and mouths as that of
waking state. Being distinct from the waking state, it is called Taijasa
because there is absence of sensory data; its proceedings are dominated by
the innate luminosity of consciousness.

Brhadaranyaka Upanishad gives a detailed exposition of this state of

consciousness when King Janaka places before the Sage Yajnavalkya, a
query regarding the light helping us in seeing things. The king begins his
query with the source of light in which normally we see things and finally
the query centres on that source of light, if one, put in such a situation, were
dumb and mute. Sage Yajnavalkya suggests the self as the centre of
consciousness as the ultimate light.22

With the introduction of consciousness as the ultimate light, he expatiates

the states of consciousness. He explains the self as the essence of the
personality which, while remaining itself, moves from the waking to the
beatific taking a pause in the state of dream. While staying in the state of
dream, Yajnavalkya observes that the self has the privilege of observing this
world of the waking state on the one side and the beatific one on the other.

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He further observes that in the state of dream, the self, having withdrawn
itself from its involvement in the affairs of the world, comes to itself and
starts operating in the light of its innate consciousness. This consciousness
gets concentrated well within itself and becomes highly creative, as is
evident from the fact, according to Yajnavalkya, there are neither chariots
nor horses nor even roads actually in the perspective of the dreamer lying in
his bed and yet in his dream he is prone to become aware of presence of all
these without any doubt about their reality at the moment. So is the case
with a world of other images coming to him on other occasions, which may
be familiar or unfamiliar, connected or disconnected with one another.
Yajnavalkaya explains the appearance of these images as the creativity of
the self which, having delegated the responsibility of taking care of the
physical world to the pranas, and thus made itself free of its physical
involvements, moves around in its psychic environment resulting in the
creation of these images.23

It is a state that obscures the true nature – svarupa of the individual by

constant emergence of thought constructs each of which performs its own
functions and whose contents are diversely manifest forms such as towns,
mountains, forests, etc., generated inwardly in the absence of external
objects and independently of them when the waking state ceases. The
subject is not a perceiver but one who thinks and turns on himself, reflects
(vimarsati) on the mental impressions (samskaras) previously formed in his
consciousness by outer objects and orders them into thought constructs
(vikalpa). Therefore, this state of consciousness24 occurs not only while we
are asleep, but also during the phase of perception in which the external
object25 is represented mentally. Here the impurity of Karma (karmamala)
persists only as a latent trace while the objects so perceived inwardly are
illusory creations of the consciousness generated in the individual subject’s
mind and hence not perceivable by all.

The practice of dhyana, in which the object of meditation is represented

mentally in such a way that the yogi achieves absorption, is said to take
place in the dream state. Here the yogis’s prana and all his ideas are then
drawn together into one place in which his awareness is firmly established,
Thus, they call the dream state as established in one place (padastha) and
from their point of view, it is a higher and subtler level of consciousness
than the waking state and hence it is easier to rise from it to a state of
absorption. Those who tread the path of knowledge, jnana, call this state

8
pervasion (vyapti) due to its correspondence to autonomous cognitive
awareness which is not conditioned by the object of knowledge and is free to
pervade everywhere.26

Like the four states of waking consciousness, the dream states of

consciousness also has four states:

1. Svapna-jagrat (Dreaming in Waking):

This state is experienced when one mistakenly believes that his mental
projections are actual objects appearing before him. In this state of
consciousness, such a person is caught in the flux of objective perceptions
and at other times by the waves of his own mental impressions without
being able to distinguish between them and is constantly coming and going
from one sphere to the other. It is the world of vikalpas (ideations). It also
gives the experience of clear, precise and stationary dreams. Malinivijaya
Tantra calls it gatagata or coming and going. Here the movement of prana
and apana are prominent.

2. Svapna-svapna (Dreaming in Dreaming):

In this state of consciousness, the entire dream-phenomena appear to be

hazy, vague and disorderly. The individual’s awareness is here carried hither
and thither by the mental images which arise within him without his being
aware of either their cause or purpose and he is in a world where one thing
may be transformed into another without seeming strange. The individual
has little control over what he sees, despite the fact it is a creation of his own
consciousness. It is called the state of suviksipta or well-dispersed.

3. Svapna-susupti (Dreaming in Deep Sleep):

It is a state of coherence because here subjectivity (pramatrbhava) is

intensely felt so that the dreamer establishes a clear connexion between one
dream object and another. At that time, he realises that the objects before
him are not really a part of the external world and that he must be dreaming.
The dreamer enjoys full, peaceful sleep without feeling any incongruity
among his dream objects. He, as the subject, is able to experience a subtle
touch of universal consciousness while dreaming. The jnanins call this state
as samgata or consistent.

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4. Svapna-turiya (Dreaming in the Fourth):

When the dreamer experiences the Fourth State while dreaming, in the
susamahita or attentive state, he is completely awake to himself as the
dreamer and can rise directly from the dream state to that of contemplation.
It is a state in which the dreamer does not lose his self-consciousness despite
entire phantasmagoria of his dream state and knows that he is only
dreaming. This state is called svapna turiya. It is a state in which the
dreamer is fully integrated individual.

For a common man, the dream state is just a svapna or dream state in which
he views the various vikalpas of his dream without any contact of the
external world. But a Yogi includes all these four states in one blanket term
called padastha, because he, by means of yoga, abides in the pada or state of
his own Self in all these conditions.

State of Consciousness in Deep Sleep

The third is that state of deep sleep which is distinct from the dream
inasmuch as though in a state of sleep. Here the individual concerned does
not see any dream nor does he have any desire for anything. This is a state of
perfect slumber.27 Desirelessness with the state of deep sleep bears out that
desires are fundamental cause of dreams. Unfulfilled desires of the past give
themselves expression in the form of dreams while desirelessness of the
deep sleep is due to the self returning to its subjective being without having
left any trace of its projection in objectivity. This state of the self is
recounted in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad through an analogy of an eagle or
falcon:

But just as there in the aerial space a falcon or an eagle after having
flown about, gets tired, folds together its wings and proceeds to a
squatting or crouching position, so also the self hurries to that state in
which, while asleep, it experiences no desire any more and sees no dream
images.28
…
It is the essential form of the same, in which, raised above the desires it is
free from evil and is devoid of fear because just as one, embraced by a
beloved woman, has no consciousness of that which is outside or inside,
so also the self, embraced by consciousness of the self has no

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 consciousness of what is outside or inside. That is the essential form of
the self in which it is one with all its desires appeased or fulfilled, one
desiring its own self, one without desires and free from desire.

Then the father is not the father and the mother is not the mother, the
worlds are not the worlds, the gods are not the gods, the Vedas are not
the Vedas; then the thief is not the thief, the murderer is not the murderer,
Candala is not the Candala, ….the ascetic is not an ascetic, the performer
of austerities is not the performer of austerities, because in this state,
consciousness is unaffected by good and unaffected by evil, since it
transcends all the torments of the heart.29

It shows that the state of deep sleep is not absolutely shorn of consciousness
and joy. The joy of this state is of a higher order than one normally has in
the state of waking or dream. This is why Mandukya Upanisad describes this
state as one of self-contained consciousness, blissful within, inclined to
awareness and yet completely ignorant.30

This deep state of consciousness also has four stages:

1. Susupti-jagrat (Deep sleep in the Waking):

In this state of consciousness, emptiness of deep sleep rises up to obliterate

all objective consciousness. But when the subject awakes from this state of
consciousness, he remembers nothing except that he was completely asleep
in which he had lost all sense of himself and the world. It is a state in which
the entire objective world is in a latent form. Thus, it is called udita or
emergent state.

2. Susupti-svapna (Deep sleep in dreaming):

This state is known vipula or extensive because in this state latent

impressions begin to proliferate and mature. The subject or pramata is more
aware of his nature. Subtle traces of perceptions appear within him at one
with his own nature and he rises closer to the state of universal
consciousness.

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3. Susupti-susupti (Deep sleep in Deep sleep):

It is a state in which the subject experiences a subtle, uninterrupted,

awareness of his own subjectivity at rest within itself and when he awakens,
he remembers this state as being one of spiritual bliss. Every time he regains
it, it becomes more intense, until he reaches the deep sleep in the Fourth
state. In susupti-susupti the residual traces of objective experience becomes
subdued and tranquil. Therefore, this state is called santa or peaceful.

4. Susupti-turiya (Deep sleep in Fourth State):

This state is called suprasanna or blissful wherein an individual continues to

abide in that state, fully aware of his own subjectivity and of its blissful
nature. This becomes samadhi for a yogi who on the collapse of this
consciousness, enters into the Fourth state of consciousness.

Turiya State of Consciousness

Against the background of these three states, is the fourth one called turiya.
According to Mandukya Upanisad, it concerns the Supreme Being directly
and has been clearly distinguished from these three. The Upanisad
distinguishes this state of consciousness from the waking, dream and deep
sleep. It is a state which cannot be categorised as it transcends all opposites.
It is inconceivable, it surpasses mind and expression, is sublime and
profound and no mundane comparison can give idea of this state of
consciousness. It is pure consciousness because it is the cessation of all ideas
and is the causes of bliss and beatitude. In the words of the Upanisad:

He who is neither inward-wise nor outward-wise, nor both inward and

outward-wise, nor wisdom self gathered, nor possessed of wisdom, nor
unpossessed of wisdom. He who is unseen and incommunicable,
unseizable, featureless, unthinkable, and unnameable, Whose essentiality
is awareness of the Self in its single existence, in Whom all phenomena
dissolve, Who is Calm, Who is Good, Who is the One than Whom there
is no other, Him they deem the fourth: He is the Self, He is the object of
Knowledge.31

Thus, being distinguished from the three states of consciousness, the fourth
state of consciousness is imperceptible, free of involvement in behaviour,

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incapable of being grasped by the intellect, shorn of properties of inference,
unthinkable, inexpressible and confined only to the experience of non-
duality between the individual self and the Ultimate Reality, absolutely
away from diversity or duality.

It is also distinct from the third state of consciousness. While the third state
is characterised as prajna or prajnaghana, that is consciousness in its
aloneness or lump of consciousness, the fourth is distinguished by exclusion
as neither a lump of consciousness nor consciousness in its aloneness, nor
intensively conscious or devoid of consciousness.

Like all the three lower states, turiya also has four states which include the
state of turiyatita. They are as follows:

1. Turiya-jagrat (Turiya in Waking):

In this state, the mind as we know it, retires completely and its function
ceases and the unmana or supermind becomes. It is called manonmana.

2. Turiya-svapna (Turiya in Dreaming):

It is that state in which a Yogi crosses all boundaries of limitations of

knowledge and enters into the region of unlimitedness. This state is,
therefore, called ananta or unlimited.

3. Turiya-susupti (Turiya in susupti):

The experience of this state of the Fourth is called sarvartha because in this
state everything appears as a form of divine Sakti.

The common man simply calls it turiya because it is beyond the three known
states of waking, dream and deep sleep and he has no experience of the
turiya state. The Yogis call this state as rupatita because in this state
common form of both the object and the subject is transcended. The jnanins
call it pracaya or collectivity for they experience in this state that everything
is steeped in the divine delight.

4. Turiyatita:

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It is that state which is full of uninterrupted divine rapture of Consciousness
and there is no question of phases of this state since it is a state of complete
realisation and once in this state of consciousness, Yogi no longer requires
any Yogic practice. The jnanins call this state mahapracaya. In it all
distinction between the transcendent and the immanent disappears.

It may also be mentioned that the discovery of five kosas by Bhrgu, namely,
annamaya kosa, pranamya kosa, manomaya kosa, vijnanamaya kosa and
anandamaya kosa are nothing but the fives states of consciousness – jagrat,
svapna, susupti, turiya and turyatita.

IV. ROLE OF FIVE PRANAS

IN THE DIFFERENT STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

State of deep sleep is characterised by the absence of outer physical and

inner mental activity. It is one of silence (tusnibhava) in which there is
neither object nor means of knowledge.32 According to Utpaladevacarya in
his Isvara-pratyabhijna-karika, in this state the absence of object of
knowledge characterises the sunya pramata, who is nothing more than not-
being of Buddhi, etc. and who experiences subjectivity as ‘I’, which is
related only to the vague and absolutely formless residual traces. In this
sunya resides the power which sets prana, etc., in motion and is the internal
activity of the senses (indiryas). This power is called life (jivana). Another
view of life is that it is nothing but self-consciousness, identified with the
prana which is identical with the group of eight (puryastaka). Thus, deep
sleep consists in the rest of self-consciousness in sunya or prana and is like
the state of dissolution resembling the world situation during cosmic
dissolution. Deep sleep (susupti) is of two kinds – (i) that in which the
objective consciousness persists and (ii) that in which there is no objective
consciousness. In the former, the subject has the impurity of Maya, but in
the latter, one is free from it.33

Susupti is also a state of potentiality said to be the seed of the

universe34where everything is merged within the subject in the form of latent
impressions (samskara) which give rise to the world of differentiated
perceptions when the individual wakes up. Thus, it is the microcosmic
equivalent of universal destruction (pralaya)35 where tattvas or the
categories of experience in the realm of diversity dissolve. Though the same
cognising subject that is present in the waking and dream states persists in
this state of consciousness but he appears to be absent because the object

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and the means of knowledge, with which he formerly identified, are no
longer present.36
In this state of consciousness, impurity of individuality (anavamala)
continues to operate which contracts consciousness and deprives it of its
awareness and freedom and is therefore not supported by the other
impurities, thereby leaving the subject in a state of emptiness (sunya).
Consciousness is present here as sunyapramatr or void subject which is the
source from which the powers of the senses and the prana spring when one
rises from this state.

This state of consciousness presents itself in two forms in an individual –

one is totally without object in which an individual recalls when he awakes
and thinks – I knew nothing at all. This type of experience is called
apavedyasusupti.

The second type of experience is that of impurity of maya (mayiyamala)

which continues to function in a subtle way and has some objective content.
This is known when an individual awakes from this state and thinks – I slept
well. This state is called savedyasusupti.

For Yogis this state of deep sleep is closer to the state of universal
consciousness than the waking or dreaming, for in this state of
consciousness, the subject alone exists and the yogis call it established in
form (rupastha) since, here the cogniser is the creator of forms rupayati and
is therefore in pure form.37 For the average man, it is an experience of
inconscient sleep but for the yogis, deep sleep is samadhi in which he is in a
state of transcendental aloofness, free of the awareness of distinction
between the subject and the object. But for the seeker of knowledge, this
state is the state of great pervasion (mahavyapti) because, established in
subjectivity of consciousness, they are free of the restrictions imposed by the
object.38

Utpaladevacarya is of the view that the trinity of these states of

consciousness have to be given up because of the supreme importance it
gives to prana (the animating life-force) and the secondary place it allots to
the Ultimate Nature – pure Consciousness and also because of the
occurrence of pleasure, pain, and so on, which represent precisely its rise
and fall.39 The purpose behind this is that the body, the mind, and the system
of breathing, as well as the void-like awareness, attain particular importance
for human beings in the waking, dream and deep sleep states of

15
consciousness whereby the pure Consciousness is pushed into the
background of human awareness with the result that this Consciousness is
suppressed and forgotten leading to experiences of pleasure and pain, among
others, tend to dominate. Therefore according to him, these three states of
animated awareness should be given up and the fourth state – turiya, is
worthy of being awakened since it is pure divine Consciousness and is the
supreme master of all knowing and doing in accordance with its free will.

He further adds that the principle of life, prana, manifests itself primarily as
inhaling (prana) and exhaling (apana) in the waking and the dream states of
consciousness. While in the state of deep sleep, prana is called samana
which suspends both the earlier forms of prana. Therefore, samana is called
visuvat.40 Samana is like the time, and is characterised by the equality of the
movement of prana and apana and the rest of the principle of life in the
cavity of heart i.e. neither moving to the right or to the left for a while;
exactly as the time.41

Finally, in the state of turiya, prana moves through the mid-passage

susumna and as such it is called udana. In it, the dissolution of the objective
world starts. While prana in the form of vyana is present in the state of
turiyatita state of consciousness42 which is nothing but the climax of the
turiya.

Abhinavagupta in his commentary on verse 3.2.20 of the above mentioned

karika, states that prana means the being of the principle of consciousness –
cidarupa as prana and apana, the characteristic of life and is essentially
nothing more than the universal motion (samanyaparispanda) that brings
consciousness to the inconscient body. When the freedom (svantarya), self
is imposed on it, it is apprehended as “I”. This very being of cit, manifesting
itself in the particular forms of movement such as those of prana, etc.,
assumes five different forms and shows in itself the particularity of prana
and that of apana in succession in the form of inhaling and exhaling. These
two movements are very clear in the waking state because here the prana
proceeds from the body and rests on the external object and from there
comes back to body and rests on the internal object. Therefore, prana and
apana are distinctly cognised.

In the dream state of consciousness, both are present because the cogniser
clearly sees prana and apana in the form of inhaling and exhaling of a
person who is asleep and the sleeping person also realises their existence in

16
the form of leaving and coming back to the heart. So the principle of life,
Prana, has two movements inhalation and exhalation in the waking state as
well as in dream state. But when, this state grows very strong then there is a
subject in deep sleep, susupta, and it is of two types and both the types are
characterised by the possession of the principle of life called samana. In the
savedya susupta, the movement of prana and apana is perceptible, yet in
reality, deep sleep consists primarily in the rest of the principle of life in
between the two movements in which the hrdayasadana, -- the spatial point,
which is beyond the reach of the senses.

Thus, the suspension of activity of prana and apana, for a while, is the
feature of samana whose primary function is to produce equality in the vital
fluids in the higher as well as the lower animals and is responsible for the
digestion of food, because it brings about the opening of the lotus of the
heart and is like the time called visuvat because it is equality of prana and
apana which are like day and night and rest in the cavity of the heart for a
while.

Finally, Abhinavagupta states that when the activity of the principle of life
abandons the left and right passages and follows the upward central path,
then that movement brings about melting away of all duality like that of
melted Ghrta and produces a state that is characterised by unity. In this state
of consciousness, prana is called udana. It is technically called turiya. But
when duality completely disappears, the activity of the principle of life
(pranavrtti) assumes the form of vyana inasmuch as it operates in the body,
consisting of the mass of elements and worlds, which constitute the entire
sphere of objectivity. This is known as turiyatita state. It is the Ultimate
Reality, which is essentially the cause as well as whole universe itself. Thus,
the subject is nothing more than the principle of life – pranarupa that
assumes the forms of prana, apana, udana, samana, and vyana.

Although in the states of turiya and turiyatita, the principle of life exists,
otherwise there would be no rise from them as there is destruction of duality
in these states of turiya and turiyatita and are characterised by rest on unity,
therefore, there is no variety of pleasure and pain in them. These two states
of consciousness are states of the highest bliss, characterised by perfect rest
on the Self. Hence, they are ought to be acquired.

Thus, the Ultimate Reality whose body is the whole universe appears as
prana, apana, udana, samana, and vyana.43

17
 V. ANALYSIS OF STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE
TRADITION OF ZEN

Acarya Vasubandhu in his Trimsikavijnapati-karika describes the turiya

state of consciousness as the fifth stage of attainment of final realisation –
bodhi, which means abiding in anuttarasamyaksambodhi – supreme
enlightenment. A yogi gets out of veils and attains complete enlightenment
and is capable of striving for transformation of all sentient beings until the
end. The verse states:

Such pure dhatu is unimaginable, good and eternal. It is a state

of bliss, an emancipated body, called the famous law of the
great sakyamuni.44

This is called pure dhatu (anasravadhatu) because it destroys all evils or

defilements; is not a sphere where vices and passions can attach themselves;
by nature it is immaculate (suddha) and is complete and luminous, sublime
and infinite. The Mahabuddha possessed of supreme qualities of muni
(silence) is called Mahamuni. This svabhavikakaya (pure dharmadhatu) is
absolutely real, eternal, blissful, supreme and pure. It is free from all
impurities and is the support of all that is good and is possessed of
unconditioned qualities; hence it has neither the characteristics nor the
activity of rupa, citta and caitta. It is for the personal benefit because it is
peaceful, blissful. It is also for the benefit of others because it is the
sovereign condition which causes the sentient beings to obtain well-being
and happiness.

It further adds that consciousness is exclusively internal while objects are

both internal and external. Apprehending that people may admit the reality
of the external objects, Buddha, therefore, teaches vijnaptimatrata. Since the
ordinary human being misunderstands and becomes attached to artha, and
produces klesas and karman. He is sunk in the samsara and exercises efforts
to obtain deliverance by the contemplation the mind. Therefore, Buddha
teaches vijnaptimatrata to help them to attain liberation from samsara by
contemplation of mind and it does not mean that internal objects are
absolutely non-existent like the external objects are. Therefore, it recognises
only consciousness itself. Internal objects have consciousness itself as their
essential nature. Tathata is the real nature of consciousness and therefore,
there is no dharma outside consciousness.

18
Boddhidhrma in his Lankavatara Sutra, in the dialogue between Buddha and
Mahamati, says that everything is Mind only. When Mahamati asks about
the nature of existence, Buddha says again and again to his disciple
Mahamati, “Mahamati, this is only Mind. Hell is Mind. Heaven is Mind.
The world is Mind. Enlightenment is Mind.”

Mahamati asks again and again, “Just Mind? Just Mind? Even nirvana or
enlightenment is just Mind?”

And Buddha says, “Just Mind, Mahamati.”

Here mind stands for that state of consciousness which is beyond all
opposites and is the cause of the entire manifestation. This could only be the
fourth state of consciousness. In it there is no desire and the whole world
which was seen earlier in pair of opposites is like a magical world, a city of
Gandharva. As if a magician has created it, everything appears to be there,
but it is there only because of the thought form.

Similar view is held by of Lin-Chi, founder of famous Rinzai school of Zen,

that the human being is bound by sequential cognition, a persistent tendency
of one thought to the next. Whether a particular sequence is a rambling or a
result of a vigorous logical exegesis, all these streams of discursive
consciousness hide the real man behind it. He also held that whether the
mind is involved, dabbles in an endless series of gross pleasures, or
ambition, or seeks power, or fame, or pursues sublime spiritual doctrines,
these chains of discursive thoughts veil the truth.

Wisdom, according to him, is not the product of some kind of discursive

mentation but is the sundering of the chain, the stopping of the process.
Thus, enlightenment will always appear suddenly, even though it involves
long and careful preparation before it but it will always happens suddenly.

He used to warn his students against the subtle tricks of the discursive mind
and the Ultimate Reality, according to him, is neither subjective nor
objective but chains of thoughts attempt to make it one or the other. The real
man or the universal mind, however, is beyond both. He held that Mind-
reality is universal and omnipresent and each human being is that mind-
reality in an individual locus.

19
The human nature hides the truth as much as it reveals the same. This means
that the human being is both the universal mind-reality and the concrete
person simultaneously. This is the paradox.

To realise that which witnesses everything in each individual, and that which
is seen, the nothingness of the pure seeing without “I” or the whole process
of an “I” seeing the world is to gain illumination.

For Lin-Chi, Mind-reality is not a metaphysical doctrine, or an article of

faith or a goal to be attained. It is a fact in Nature and in Man. Nothing else
is real. To understand it, is to experience it, and to experience it, is to live it.
He says that one cannot think about it, for doing so, one objectifies what is
not objective. Nor can one simply deny it for that subejctivises what is not
subjective. Rather one has to be simple.

The true Man, according to him, is the man of no rank. The mind-reality is
lost through conditionality and qualification as soon as one thinks about it
and to give this Buddha Nature a form, or to associate it with an image is to
impose conditionality, rank, etc. on the Mind-Reality. By doing so, is to
confine and limit it within the shrunken thought of discursive consciousness.

He says, “Followers of the Way, this thing called mind has no fixed form; it
penetrates all the ten directions. In the eye we call it sight; in the ear we call
it hearing; in the nose it detects odours, in the mouth it speaks discourse; in
the hand it grasps, in the feet it runs along. Basically it is a single bright
essence, but it divides itself into these six functions. And because this single
mind has no fixed form, it is everywhere in a state of emancipation… ”

To sum up in the words of Seng-ts’an, the Third Chinese Patriarch who

refers to a state of consciousness which is akin to the Fourth – turiya.
According to him it is eternal, blissful and is of the nature of prakasa and
vimarsa as well as beyond all polarities. Though it creates these polarities, it
is beyond both. He says:

The Great Way is not difficult for those not attached to

preferences. When neither love nor hate arises, all is clear and
undisguised.
…
If you wish to know the truth, hold no opinions for or against
anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the

20
 disease of the mind. When the fundamental nature of things is not
recognised, the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

The Way is perfect as vast space is perfect, where nothing is

lacking and nothing is in excess. Indeed, it is due to our
grasping and rejecting that we do not know the true nature of
things. 45

He also states that one should neither live in the entanglements of outer
things nor in ideas or feelings of emptiness but one should be serene and at
one with things and erroneous views will disappear by themselves. If one
tries to stop activity to achieve quietude, he says, the very effort fills one
with activity. Thus, one will not be able to know Oneness.

If we deny the reality of things, he says, we shall miss their reality since
their reality is dependant on that One Reality. According to him, the entire
phenomena of the world are contained in this One Reality and are
experienced when the discursive mind ceases to exist. So does the thinking
subject. The arising of the other gives rise to the self and giving rise to self
generates others. One should know these seeming two as facets of the One
Fundamental Reality. He further adds that when all things seen without
differentiation, the One Self-essence is everywhere revealed. This is realised
through non-duality, he asserts.

Finally, he says:

Each thing reveals the One,

the One manifests as all things.
To live in this Realisation,
is not to worry about perfection or non-perfection.
To put your trust in the Heart-Mind is to live without separation,
and in this non-duality you are one with your Life-Source.
Words! Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is no yesterday,
no tomorrow,
no today.46

The Heart-Mind of Hsin-hsin Ming is hrda manisa of the Veda.

21
References:

22
yaavanna vaodka eto tavaWoVa: kqaM iP`ayao.
1

vaodkM ovaoVmaokM tu t<vaM naas

%yaSauicastt:..Ucchusmabhairava as quoted by Ksemaraja in his com mentary on Siva
Sutras, p.13.
2
caOtnyamaa%maa&anaM banQa: .
3
RV.I.164.4
4
Atharvaveda X.2
5
gauLhM saUya-M tmasapv`atona turIyaoNa
ba`h\maNaaivandudi~:.RV.40.6
6
RV.X.67.1
7
RV.67.2
8
RV.67.5
9
Mandukya Upanisad, 1-12.
10
sava-M h\yaotd\ ba`h\ma, Ayamaa%maa b`ah\ma, saao|yamaa
%maa catuYPaat\..Mandukya Upanisad 2.
11
jaaga`daidivaBaodo|ip tdiBannao P`asap-it. inavat-to
inajaannaOva svaBaavaaduplabQaRt:..Spandakarika, verse 3.
12
Chandogya Upanisad 5.18.2 (Sankara)
13
&anaM jaag`at\. Siva Sutras, 8.
14
baih:P`a&ao ivaBauiva-Svaao…Mandukya Karika, Gaudpada
15
Abhinavagupta’s Tantraloka , 6/83.
16
Ibid, 10.232-233.
savaa-xagaaocar%vaona yaa tu baahyatyaa isqara. saRiYT:
17

saa saaQaarNaI sava-P`amaatRNaaM sa jaagar:.. 3.2.1,7Isvara-

pratyabhijna-karika of Utpaladevacharay,
18
Tantraloka, 10.242
19
Ibid., 10.244.
20
Malinivijayottara Tantram, chapter II.25 -46
21
Abhinavagupta’s Tantraloka, Ahinika, X.217-300.
22
Brhadaranyaka Upanisad.IV.3.1-6
23
Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, IV.3.9-13
24
Ibid., 10.247-250
manaaomaa~pqao|PyaxaivaYaya%vaona ivaB`aat.
25

SPaYTvaBaasaa BaavanaaM saRiYT: svaPnapdM matma\\..3.2.16,

Isvara-
pratyabhijna-karika of Utpaladevacarya
26
Tantraloka,10.255
ya~ sauPtao na kHcana kamaM kamayato, na kHacana
27

svaPnaM pSyait, tt\ sauYauPtma\. Mandukya Upanisad,5.

28
Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, IV.3.19
29
Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, IV.3.21-22
sauYauPtsqaana ekIBaUt: P`a&aGana evaanandmayaao
30

h\yaanandBauk\ caotaomauK: P`aa&stRtIya: pad:.. Mandukya

Upanisad,5.
naant:P`a&M na baihYP`a&M naaoBayat:P`a&M na
31

P`a&anaGanaM na P`a&M naaP`a&ma\.

 AdRYTmavyavahaya-maga`ah\yamalaxaNamaican
%yamavyapdoSyamaoka%maP`a%yasaarM P`apHcaaoSamaM
SaantM iSavamaWOtM catuq-aM manyanto sa Aa%maa
sa iva&oya:..Mandukya Upanisad, 7.
32
Tantraloka, 10.258

SaUnyao bauwtaaVBaavaa%manyahntakt-Rtapdo.
33

AsfuTaÉpsaMskamaai~iNa &oyaSaUnyata..13..
saaxaaNaamaantrI vaRi<a: P`aaNaidP`aoirka mata.
jaIvanaa#yaqavaa P`aaNao|hnta puya-Ytkai%maka..14..
tavanmaa~isqataO P`aao@tM saaOYuPtM P`alayaaopmama\.
savaoVmapvaoVM ca maayaamalayautayautma\.. 15..
3.2.13-15, Isvara-pratyabhijna-karika of Utpaladevacarya
34
Tantraloka, 10.262
35
Isvara-pratyabhijna-karika of Utapaldevacarya, 3.2.15
36
Tantraloka, 10.258.
37
Ibid., 10.261.
38
Tantraloka, 10.262.
hoyaa ~yaIyaM P`aaNaado: P`aaQaanya%kt-RtagauNao.
39

tWanaaopcayaP`ayaasauKdu:Kaidayaaogaat:..3.2.18 Isvara-
pratyabhijna-karika of Utpaladevacarya
P`aaNapanamaya: P`aaNa: P`a%yaokM sauPtjag`atao:.
40

tcCoda%maa samaanaa#ya: saaOYauPto ivaYauvai

%svava..3.2.19, Isvara-
pratyabhijna-karika of Utpaladevacarya
41
Isvara-pratyabhijna-vimarisi, Commentary of Abhinavagupta on 3.2.19.
maQyaaoQva-gaamyaudanaa#yastuya-gaao hutBau=\maya:.
42

iva&anaaklaman~aoSaao vyaanaao ivaSvaa%mak: pr:.. 3.2.20,

Isvara-
pratyabhijna-karika of Utpaladevacarya
43
See Abhinavagupta’s commentary on verse 3.2.20, pp.216-218.
sa evanas`avaao Qaaturican%ya: kuSalaao Q`auva:.
44

sauKao ivamai>kayaao|saaO Qamaa-#yaao|yaM

mahamaunao:..Trimsikavijnapti-karika of Vasubandhu, verse 30.
45
Hsin-hsin Ming: Verses on the Faith-Mind by Seng-ts’an, Third Chinese Patriarch – Translated from
Chinese by Richard B. Clarke.
46
Ibid.