Mandukya Karika Lecture 052 on 25 May 2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananem Sharadam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padmetayo Sritva Pranamami Mohor Moho Om Bhadram Kanne Vishnuyamadevaha Bhadram Pashyam Aakshabhirya Jatraha Sthirai Rangai Stushtu Vagam Sastanu Bheem Vyashemadevahi Tanyadayo Swasthina Indro Vriddha Shravaha Swasthina Pousha Vishwa Vedaha Swasthina Starksho Arishta Nimihe Swasthina Obriha Spathir Dhadhatu Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Hare Om Om O Gods, may we always hear with our ears what is auspicious. O worshipful ones, may we with our eyes always see what is auspicious. May we live our allotted life, hail and hearty, offering our praises unto Thee. May Indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness on all of us. May the all-nourishing potion be propitious to all of us. May Garuda, the destroyer of evil, be well disposed towards all of us. May Brihaspati ensure the welfare of all of us. Om Peace Peace Peace be unto all. So we are exploring Andhokya Karika. In our last class, at last, we have come to the seventh mantra which describes what is Turiya. In fact, until this mantra, and we also have explored nine karikas of the Gaudapada, it's all about what is not Turiya or Brahman and what is Turiya or Brahman. Can Brahman be really described? No, it can never really be described. It is not possible to describe Brahman at all. Now, certain points, if we want to understand this seventh mantra, this seventh mantra is giving us seventeen definitions of what is Turiya, not thirteen terms are negative, four terms are not description, but the result. If someone realises, I am that Brahman, I am that Turiya, I am what is mistakenly called Chaturthapada, the fourth pada, then what results will come? First thing is Samsara Nivrutti, Prapancha Upshamam, then tremendous amount of bliss, that is Shivam, and then the whole agitation will go, man attains true nature of the Atman where there is no agitation at all, like a lake which is absolutely calm, which is described as Chittavrutti Nirodha. And lastly, that is called Advaitam, all these things, Prapancha Upshamam, that is cessation of the world, and man attains to the highest bliss, Satchitananda, Brahmananda, and his mind becomes absolutely serene because there is no mind. Why does the mind become serene? Because there is no mind, there is no second, and that state is called Advaita where there is only not even one, there is no second, it is indescribable. And the Mahamaya comes to an end, Samsara comes to an end. This is the real purpose of every scripture, every Upanishad. So, first two mantras of this Upanishad, as a background I am telling, describe that everything is Brahman, first mantra, you are that Brahman, in the second mantra, the third mantra describes what is partial truth called Jagrat Anubhava, the waking experience, and the fourth mantra beautifully describes both individually and universally, Samasthi and Samasthi, what is called the dream state, Swapna Avastha, where Taijasa and Hiranyagarbha, waking state, Vishwa and Virat, in the deep sleep state, simply called sleep state actually, because we go to bed and first we may have any number of dreams, just to distinguish it is called deep sleep, really there is no need, only sleeping state, waking, dream, sleep, that is more than sufficient once we understand. So, sleep state, Prajna and Eshwara. What is the description for? I will come to that so that we can clearly distinguish in which state we are. From birth to death, birth after birth, all of us are going through these three experiences, nobody is completely free, and these three experiences, first thing we notice, they completely annihilate the other. When we are, for example, in the waking state, dream is unreality and sleep is also unreality. When we are in dream state, similarly, waking and sleep. When we are in the, of course, deep sleep state, there is neither waking nor dream state. Thus, each contradicts and each cancels each other. Then the question comes, if everything is unreal, what is real? No, there is something real, there is one who is experiencing, saying, I am the waker, I am the dreamer, I am the sleeper. You separate I and waker, separate I and dreamer, separate I and sleeper. These three states cannot exist, just as if you separate the rope, then there would be no snake, no garland, no bent stick. Just like that, they all are there, imagined at different states, only because of the reality of the rope. So, that rope here, as an example, indicates pure consciousness plus particular Vesha, dress is waking state, pure consciousness plus another type of dress called dream state, pure consciousness plus another completely different dress called the sleeping state. These three depend upon pure consciousness. Without pure consciousness, it is not possible. This is the point we have to keep always in the mind. The next point is, we have discussed, based upon these three experiences, Gaudapada gives us nine karikas and what is he trying to tell? What is the nature of these, each individual state? And he says clearly that it is only one being who is experiencing all the three states sequentially, not at the same time. And because of him, these states of experience are possible. Let us always remember, without the experiencer, the experience cannot be there. Simply, it cannot be there. Without the knower, object cannot be there. Without the subject, object cannot be there. Now, this is our present condition. This is the second point. Today's discussion is most important. That is why I am trying to go a bit slowly also. The next point is, why are we discussing all these things? Do we discuss about these states when we come to know that we are Brahman, another name for that, Atma, another name for that, Turiya. Do we discuss? No, absolutely no. We would not discuss it. We are only discussing it only because we are in the state of ignorance. What is ignorance? Identifying ourselves with each dress. And this is the most crucial point. Generally, our normal opinion is, the waking state alone is the real state. The other two states are not real. Nothing can be further from the truth. When we are in the dream state, we must remember, the other two states become completely negated, completely unreal. When we are in the waking state, only we feel that the other two states are unreal. But if this waking state is negated, just like we negate dream state in the waking state, we negate sleep state. Negate means what? We are not saying there is no experience. We are saying there is an experience, but it is a false experience, unreal experience, there is no reality. But same thing applies when we are in the dream state. Waking state also is unreal, but we forget about it. And that's a point Gaudapada again and again brings to our mind. So keep this in mind. All the three states are changing one after the other. Never they are experienced at the same time. But the experiencer is absolutely unchanging experiencer. That is, we have to understand. And then what is the normal experience? When I put on the waking dress, I completely identify myself with the waker's dress. I think and act and behave and believe that I am the waker. So also apply it to dream state and also sleep state. And the point is that I alone is real because whatever is changing, our definition of reality is whatever is changing is unreal and whatever is unchanging alone is real. Unchanging means, you have to understand, changing means subject to time, space and causation. Reality means beyond time, space and causation. When we go beyond time, space and causation, that means we go beyond the mind. For mind is nothing but that instrument through which time, space and causation is like a prism and through that prism consisting of time, space and causation, when we look at ourselves, then we find I am the waker, I am the dreamer, I am the sleeper minus the prism. I don't even think who am I because I know who I am. All the time we know. So this I am, that is always there. But only problem is I am the waker, I am the dreamer, I am the sleeper, one after the other, from birth to death, from birth after birth until liberation is gained is an important point to remember. What is the problem with these states? First of all, they are changing and anything changing is unreal. For example, when we say I am the waker, this consists of consciousness, awareness plus body-mind. Similarly, when we say I am the dreamer, consciousness plus the mind. When I say I am the sleeper, this is consciousness conditioned, limited by what is called Karana Avastha, the causal state. Nevertheless, it is limited. But because there is no second, so much of happiness is there. But it is not Turiya because it is changing. Because we inevitably wake up and again go through the same many times in a day, every day. So anything changing is Mithya. And another way of looking at it is anything that is born is going to die and anything that is born is going to grow into youth, middle age, old age, disease, decay and death. And that is not what we want. We want certain things. I want to be young forever. That is not possible because you were not young before. You have become young after some time. And from a changing condition, you came to this another changing condition and you want that changed condition to be unchanging. That is not going to be possible at all. And that is a point we have to distill, drum again and again and again into our stupid, ignorant brains. Please keep these points. Note these points. Very, very important to understand this seventh mantra. So this is another point that we have to understand is as I mentioned earlier, all these questions come only when we are in a state of change which is a state of bondage, a state of unfulfillment, a state of moving from one to the other. As I mentioned, what is the problem? The problem is it is wonderful to move from adolescence to youth but to move from youth to middle age, old age and death is not at all desirable. That is one change. Then from good, goodness inevitably changes into evil and evil also inevitably changes into good. We all want to be immortal but mortality is what is called changing. That means birth inevitably ends in death and we don't like it. Friendship becomes enemieship, happiness becomes unhappiness and again unhappiness becomes happiness and if we are discerning enough, discriminative enough, we see what is going on today in this world. Fortunately or unfortunately we are not in Ukraine. If we had been in that area where our houses are being flattened every day, then Mandukya Karika class can be understood in a much better way experientially together. How many people are dying every day on both sides, God alone knows. Just by way of illustration I have told you this one. Now the question comes, is there a state which is unchanging? Yes. Only Shastra Pramana can tell us. Is there a state where I will forever be completely fulfilled, completely happy, desireless? That is the meaning of happiness. Complete happiness means complete destruction of desires because desire means unhappiness. So is there a state where I am immortal, I am happy all the time and I know that I am happy, I am immortal, I am happy all the time and this knowledge cannot be obtained from any worldly experience. It is available only through Shastra Pramana, Veda Pramana, Shabda Pramana, Agama Pramana, Adhikarika Pramana and Aptavakya. All mean the same thing exactly. Any of the worldly means of knowledge, Pramanas cannot give us. Worldly Pramanas can give only changing knowledge, not unchanging knowledge at all. So is there such a state? Yes. That is what the Upanishad clearly said. Everything is Brahman, that was in the past, present and future. And then second it says, what about me? Yes, I am Atma, Brahma. Every Jeeva is Brahma. What about a tree? That is also Jeeva Atma. What is a mountain? That is also Jeeva Atma. What is a river? That is also Jeeva Atma. This world is nothing but pure Brahman. Brahma Satyam, Jagat Satyam. But what is our experience now? Everything is changing. Every living creature is going through these three states. And we want a state, unconsciously searching for a state, which will never be changing, and positively, always happy. And happiness comes, always happiness comes, only when there is no second thing, because when there are two, they limit each other, called Vastu Parichcheda, and they cause unhappiness to each other, sometimes happiness, sometimes unhappiness, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. So, in these six mantras, in nine verses, now Gaudapada outlines, in the last three shlokas, he is talking about Srishti, creation. Srishti means what? He is talking about the waking Jagrat Prapancha, Swapna Prapancha, and Karana Prapancha. He is talking about our experience, each experience of each one of us. And we are miserable all the time. Are we miserable in deep sleep? No. But we are miserable in the sense, it is a changing state. First. Secondly, we don't become wiser just by sleeping. Again, the same problems. As soon as we wake up, problems will come. What about while we are asleep? Problems will come. Problems are not absent, but we are not conscious, aware of the problems. Supposing a person is lying down, dozing under a tree, deeply asleep, and a hungry tiger spies him, comes and sits by him, and then it says, this is a sitting duck, I would say sleeping duck, and the fellow doesn't know, and what could be more marvelous, because the fellow says, I am tired, I will rest a little, then I will wake up, then I will continue my planning. So much of planning is going on, and that is what nobody wants. So there is a problem with these three states. So now we have found out, there were six reasons, six causes, that is, the glory of God, and the support of God, the desire of God, and Kala, and for the sake of one's enjoyment, for the sake of playfulness, etc., or this is the nature of this one, and last one, Aptakamasya Kaspruha, what can be a desire for the Brahman, Turiya. So these, then what are the two teleological causes? What are the causes? So it is, a man wants to know, who am I? There is only one teleological cause. Each soul is potentially divine. It wants to know, how can I know? I have faith in it, because the scripture is telling, Swamiji only voiced it, but every Upanishad is telling, you have come from Brahman, that means you are potentially Brahman, and you will go back to Brahman, because the inevitable law, inexorable, inevitable law, that is, the effect must one day, go back into its constituent cause, Karya must merge in the Karana, that is why Srishti, then for some time, continuance called Stithi, then Samhara, Laya, which means go back to its own cause. So this is the process, and again Srishti will be there, I have played enough, I don't want to play anymore. So these are the important points, only in the background of these things, but mainly it is these questions, who am I? What is Turiya? What is Samhara? What is the cause of Samhara? Why am I in Samhara? And how am I going to get the hell out of this Samhara? These questions never arise for a realized soul. I will give you a few examples. First of all, take the very familiar example of this rope and snake. So a person can perceive under different conditions of the light, different shades of light, one day he can mistake it as a snake, another day as a garland, another day as a bent stick, etc. But once light is brought, the rope is known. He will not even ask. Really speaking, we ask, why was he afraid? Oh, because the light is not sufficient. Insufficient light and my past experience, and this something that I imagined, looked like what I experienced before, this is the cause we give. But a better example would be a dream example. Supposing you are dreaming and you had both pleasant and unpleasant experiences and then you wake up. Now would you be serious enough to think, why did that rascal give me so much of unhappiness? I loved that person. I only wished well of that person and what caused him to make me so unhappy? And this other person, I never did any good to that person, but voluntarily he came and gave so much of happiness to me. Why did he give me? Will anybody, excepting a stupid fellow, ask these questions upon waking up? This is a beautiful example to understand that when a person wakes up, uttishtata, jagrata, prapyavara, nibodhata, atmanam, atma drashtavyaha. Once a person knows, drashtavyaha means not seeing, drashtavyaha means vignasitavyaha. What is it? I am Brahma. That knowledge, once he obtains, why did this jagrata avastha, sapna avastha and sushupti avastha come? He will never ask because the mind is not there. When the mind is not there, smriti will not be there. When smriti is not there, who is he going to ask and whom is he going to ask? All questions are asked only in a state of bondage, never in a state of collaboration. Please keep this point in view. Now, another example I have to give you. I have two examples. Then only I will proceed with the seventh mantra. One example. Again, swapna avastha only. You take it for granted. Why do I have this swapna? Because I have got this waking state only. I have got this swapna. Anyway, supposing I am suffering in the waking state and I dream and then there also I am suffering because the same thing that we experience in the waking state most often is recollected, remembered and made concrete in the dream state. Some people were about to torture me in a lonely place. Fortunately, I have faith in God. I have faith in Guru and I remember. I pray earnestly. They bound me. I have no way to defend myself. You alone, O Narayana, like Gajendra, accepting you, there is no saviour. And immediately Narayana will come in the form of a Guru and then He just gives you a blow. Initiation is a blow. Guru Vakya is a blow. We think that it is not a blow. It is very sweet. My Guru is wonderful, sweet. This delusion, sooner or later, it will get out. It will come true. Only on initiation day, Guru is wonderful. After that, most of the time, it is pain and pain and more pain only. And those who are ready, they are disciples. The rest of them, even if they claim, they are not disciples because they don't believe in the Guru. They have their own idea, etc. Anyway, coming back to our subject, I was a bit carried away. So here, a person is suffering. I am suffering. And I pray to God. And somebody comes and gives me a bigger blow. And I wake up. And all my problems are solved. The entire dream is destroyed. And that is the process in this waking state. Compare it to the waking state. Samsara, as if it is real, as if somebody bound me, as if I am completely helpless in the hands of time, in the hands of sattva, rajas and tamas, in the hands of past samskaras, in the hands of present circumstances, present family, present everything. I am bound. And now, I am suffering so much. So, what can I do? That question comes. And the scripture is the answer for that question. It is like a psychiatrist treating a fellow who says, I am Napoleon. This is a familiar example. The psychiatrist knows so long as the patient is there, it is real for him. But he knows that it is not real. But he helps the patient recover that this is unreal. Really, I am Ramu or Somu or whatever it is, and he has become normal. We are all abnormal. We think that we are not Brahman. We think we are XYZ and that is the Brahma. So long as that Brahma is there, the Guru also comes as a Brahma and the Guru also acts as a Guru in the Brahma. And that is why Tagore's words are so valuable. Janaka Maharaja asked Shukadeva, give me the face. And then, why are you asking me? You have not even opened your mouth. He said, when you come to know, there is no difference between you and me. You will not regard me as a Guru and you will not give me Guru Dakshina. And that is the truth. There is no Guru. There is no Guru Dakshina. It is only God. And you cannot give anything to God. You cannot also give anything to the Guru. That is the real truth. But so long as we are in the Samsara Chakra, that seems to be the absolute truth, like anything else. If Samsara is real, God is real, Guru is real, Guru Dakshina is also real, our happiness from the Guru is also real. But beyond that, it will not work at all. This is what we are going to discuss. Now, before I go, a last point I want all of us to remember here. Now, the seventh mantra is going to tell us, you are not Vishwa, you are not the Paijasa, you are not the Prajna, four states of experience, no, sorry, five states of experience, three are well-known, two states of experience, we are having, but we do not question actually. I will come very shortly to that point. But let me summarize. Three states of well-known experience, what is it? I am the waker, I am the dreamer, I am the sleeper. So, is the Turiya this one? No, no, no, Na Antah Prajnam, Na Pahish Prajnam, Na Gana Prajnah, etc. I will give. Then what is the fourth type of this thing? Fourth type is, in between the two states, there is a borderland state. That is the fourth experience, and we don't usually take notice of it, even though we have experience of it. Naturally, these are the four states, actually speaking, but when we talk about this, Turiyam is not none of these four states. Two problems will come, I will come back to that, and the third problem I will bring up here. So, if Turiyam is not the waker, Turiyam is not the dreamer, Turiyam is not the sleeper, Turiyam is not the borderland state, then it comes, is it that at the same time, there is another state called simple Prajna? What is pure consciousness, simple consciousness? What does it mean? Usually, we experience every state separately. When we are waking state, we experience waking state. When we are dreaming, we experience dream state. When we are in the deep sleep, we experience dream state. When we are in the in-between borderland, we do experience it for a short time, even though it is there, it is not well defined, but I will come back to that. If it is none of them, do you mean to say it is a consciousness, which is at the same instance, experiencing all these four states completely? No, that is also not Turiyam. Then the question comes, if none of these four states are there, there is only one state left out by the process of elimination. What is that process? Supposing there are five people, A, B, C, D, E, and then you are talking about who is E. Is this person A? No. Is B E? No. Is C E? No. Is D E? No. You don't need to ask. The conclusion is, the last person and the only person left out, he must be E. Like that, it is not waking consciousness, it is not dream consciousness, it is not sleep consciousness, it is not borderland consciousness, it is not simple consciousness. When these five are negated, only one option is left out. What is it? It must be, because if it is simple consciousness, also it is not Turiyam, then the only way is, it must be non-consciousness. And the mantra denies, no, it is not Jada, it is not non-consciousness. Why? Because if Turiyam is non-consciousness, what happens, do you know? There would be no waker, no dreamer, no sleeper, no borderland person, and a person who says, it may be, Turiyam may be, all consciousness, all these will fall by the side. I mean the question doesn't arise, because to ask the questions, one has to be conscious. Am I this? Am I this? Am I this? Am I this? Am I this? After denying, nine people, whoever remains, Dasamastvamasi, you are the tenth person. This is a background I have given you. But one more point I will give you, really speaking, I am trying to convey my level best, these deep concepts. Supposing there is a person, and he is an actor, he is acting as Rama, with Rama's dress. He is acting as Krishna, with Krishna's dress. He is acting as Hiranyakashipu, with Hiranyakashipu's dress. Supposing somebody sees that person, only at the time when he puts on Rama's dress, his impression will be, he is Rama. Similarly, he is Krishna. Similarly, he is Hiranyakashipu. Just stand outside and ask, is this person Rama? When you say, no, he is not Rama, that is not the correct answer. The correct answer is, he is Rama, he is also somebody else. He is Krishna, he is also somebody else. He is Hiranyakashipu, he is also somebody else. How can a person be three separate personalities at the same time? Actually, when you remove all the dressings, Rama's dress, Krishna's dress, Hiranyakashipu's dress, etc., who remains? Who remains? Only the Brahman remains. Brahman puts on the Vishwa dress, and the entire waking world comes into experience. When Vishwa disappears, when Turiya discards the dress called Vishwa, then the entire Jagradhavastha completely disappears. The Vishwa and Jagradprapancha disappear. When Turiya puts on the dress of the Taijasa, and when Turiya removes his Taijasa dress, not only will he not be Taijasa, the entire Swapna Prapancha also will simultaneously disappear. When Turiya puts on the Prajna dress, then not only when that Prajna dress is removed, not only Prajna will disappear, but the entire Karna Prapancha, causal world, will also disappear. And when that happens, what remains is that one being, after negating everything, the servant finds, this is my master, that is our own Self. After negating everything, when nothing is there that can be negated, then the person knows, I am. This is also human language in our things, because there is no mind at that stage. Mind is the root cause of waking, dream and dreamless sleep. When there is no mind, all the three states fall. So the knower and the knowledge, the subject and the object, they are all differing from state to state. They all fall by the Veda side. And what remains is that pure consciousness. And if you understand this last point, Turiyam is without both, not Vishwa and Jagrat Prapancha, not Taiyasa and Swapna Prapancha, not Prajna and Karna Prapancha. What remains is pure awareness. Why? Because the person, there must be a person to put on a dress and to get rid of the dress. If you think along with the dress, the person also disappears. That is the gravest mistake we are ever going to make. This is the best I can do. And slowly you will understand. You are all intelligent people and it may take time. In this background, let me now proceed without any further ado. So seventh mantra goes like this. Naanta Pragnam, Na Bahish Pragnam, Na Ubhayataha Pragnam, Na Pragnana Ghanam, Na Pragnam, Na Apragnam. Then Adrushyam, Avyavaharyam, Agrahyam, Alakshanam, Ajantyam, Avyapadesyam, Eka Atma Pratyaya Saram. Then Prapancha Upshamam, Shantam, Shivam, Advaitam, Chaturtham Manyante, Sa Atma, Sa Vignaya. Turiya is not that which is conscious of the internal subjective world, dream world. Nor that which is conscious of the external objective world, which is called Jagrat Prapancha. Nor that which is conscious of both. Nor that which is a mass of sentiency. Nor that which is simple consciousness. Nor that which is insentient. So we have seen six characteristics are there saying not this, not this, not this. And therefore it is in four, six, sorry, yes, seven. In seven characteristics is unseen Adrushyam, Avyavaharyam, that is no transactions are possible. Agrahyam, it cannot be comprehended. Yato Vachuni Vartante, Alakshanam, it cannot be indicated. Ajantyam, it is beyond the ken of the mind. Avyapadesyam, it cannot be pointed out. And Eka Atma Pratyaya Saram, it is the essence of all the background, of all the three states of experience. And what do I gain? Once I come to know I am this, Prapanchopashyamam, entire transmigratory experience ceases to be. I become Paramashanta, that is absolutely mind becomes equanimous, filled with indescribable peace that passes all understanding. Evam, that is I become imbued. Pramananda Advaitam, I remain as secondless. This is the brief description, only description possible. Sa Atma, and whatever we understand by all these seventeen characteristics, that is Atma. Savigneyah, in Brihadaranyaka it is said Atmavare Drashtavyeh, here's a Vigneyah. Very interesting, this is the word Sri Ramakrishna uses, that Vignana, Vignani is one who knows I am Brahman. A Gnani is one who knows that this world is unreal, Brahman alone is real, he knows by faith, but once this person comes to know through experience, realization, there afterwards, if he becomes a Jivanmukta for God's purpose, then he will become a Vignani. So every Jivanmukta is a Vignani. That is what we have to understand with this background. Let us briefly go through it very clearly. Now Antah Prajna, so first of all Antah Prajna, Prajna means conscious of Antah, that is inner world, subjective world. Na, that is Turiyam, is not the Prajnam, which is aware of the dream state. Turiyam is not, that means earlier we have seen in the third mantra, the description of the Jagradavastha, fourth mantra, description of the Swapna, or the Taijasa, description of the Taijasa, fifth and sixth, the description of the sleeper, first, the fifth one, is describing from the individual point of view, and the sixth one was describing from the collective viewpoint, Prajna point of view, and Ishwara point of view. So third, fourth, fifth and sixth are graphically describing the Jagradavastha, Swapnavastha and Sushupti avastha. And that is what he wants to mention here. Is Turiyam the Swapna or Taijasa? No, it is not Taijasa. Is Turiyam the Vishwa, conscious of the external world? Very important because the world will not exist without the knower. The known cannot exist without the knower. Only there must be some conscious being to say here is a tree, here is a man, here is a tiger. Let us keep that point in view all the time. So is Turiya the Taijasa experiencing the dream world? The answer should be very carefully given. Yes, but he is not only the Taijasa. That is important for us. Not only the Taijasa, he transcends and he is Hiranyagarbha also. Then what about the Vishwa? No, he is not only Vishwa, he is Virat also. And is he only Vishwa and Virat? No, no. He is also beyond both Vishwa and Virat. He is also beyond Taijasa and Hiranyagarbha. Then the fourth one, na prajnana ghanam, that is Sushupti state, deep sleep state. So is he Prajna? No, he is not only Prajna, he is also Ishwara and he is beyond both Prajna and Ishwara. Now we come to the third one. I deliberately went to the fourth. na ubhayataha prajna, prajna means consciousness, that means experiencer, it is the pure consciousness, prajna means consciousness, na ubhayataha, not both of them. What is this both of them? You see, supposing a person is standing in the doorway, the door leading to the street and the door leading to his house. So he can experience at the same time what is inside his room and what is happening outside the world. You can't say he is exclusively in the room. You can't say he is exclusively in the outside world. He is in between this world. And how many such states are there? Two times. What are the two? Remember we have got three states. So deep sleep is the middle state. Imagine there are three rooms, A, B and C. A, let us say, represents waking state and C represents dream state. In between there is a state, deep sleep state, that is called B. First of all you want to come to the waking state. So from room B you come into the room A. Then you feel, I am tired, I require rest. Then again you have to enter into, however brief a period, into the deep sleep state and then again enter into the dream state and again when you want to wake up you will have to again from the deep sleep you have to enter into from the dream state to the dreamless state into the waking state. Who is saying? The scripture is telling us. Many scriptures are telling, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad tells, Maha Matsya Eva, like a great fish, which usually lives in the middle of the river. Sometimes it comes to this bank, sometimes to the other bank. If it wants to come to this bank, bank let us say, to the western bank, then it comes from the middle part. And again if it wants to go to the eastern bank, then it has to pass through the middle of the river, then only it can go to the other state. That is the example so beautifully described in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Now this is the same thing it is telling, that supposing you are deeply asleep and then you want to come to the waking state and then what happens, you are slightly awake, still in a half asleep state, you are seeing things as if in a little bit of light and many times we experience, I experience, where am I? And then as I see, oh, first of all I also experience, many times when I am waking up, is this noon sleep or is this early morning I am waking up? This confusion many, many times I had. I am sure you also had this confusion. If you didn't have, you are much worse than me and that's all I could say. Your memory is very poor memory. So this is called two times. What is it? When a person wants to enter from the waking state into the dream state, he has to pass, in between there is a state where he is slightly aware of the waking state, at the same time sleepy state. Similarly, there is another state where he is coming out of the dream state and still dream experience is haunting him and then he is also entering into again sleeping state but vaguely he remembers his dream a little bit, enters into deep sleep state before waking up. Supposing at 3.55 you had enough rest but still you had a last dream and then you enter into a very brief period of deep sleep and then you wake up and in between those two, before entering into deep sleep and from deep sleep when we are entering into the waking state, that is called Ubhayataha Pragnam. That is to say, we are semi-conscious of both the states, not completely conscious of any state. That is called Ubhayataha Pragnam. Is Turiyam that one? Not between dream and waking. That is also not there. Na Pragnana Ghanam. Not Sushupti. What it means, again remember, not only Sushupti, not only Pragna, not only Ishwara, beyond Ishwara also. Na Pragna. And the fifth one, it means normally we experience each state as that state. But at the same time, is this person having all the four states described earlier simultaneously? No. That is also not possible. That is also not Turiyam. Then you mean to say, you have denied five states. Do you mean to say that it is pure unconsciousness? You are stupid to ask such questions because if pure consciousness is denied, it is unconscious. There would be no Samsara, there would be no Brahma Jnana. Because there is no Samsara, there is absolutely no Sadhana, no Realization. Everything falls by the wayside. And very quickly, I will go through the other and there is something deep to discuss about. Adrashyam. We have seen six negations. Another seven negations are coming. Adrashyam means, that is, no sense organ can ever have any glimpse, any idea, what pure consciousness is. Like a bulb can never know what electricity is. Avyavaharyam. And because it is beyond all the body, mind, sense organ complex, it cannot be related to anything because Samsara means relationships. Father, mother, husband, wife, officer, clerk, robber, robbed, bank, etc., etc. Avyavaharyam. Avyavahara means transactions. No, no transactions. Agrahyam. Incomprehensible. Eto varcho nivartante aprapya manasa. Because when there is no mind, mind itself is incapable, is beyond the mind. Mind can look down. What is below it, what it created, it cannot look up. Alakshanam. And therefore, who is going to point out and say, this is such and such. An object can be pointed out, no subject can be pointed out. Therefore, achyantyam. Nobody can think about it because for thinking, only an object is necessary, mind is necessary, and reflected consciousness is necessary. This is achyantyam. Avyapadesyam. That means it cannot be described. Vyapadesyam means description. It is jati, it is rudhi, it is sambandha, it is kriya, it is guna, it cannot be done. Ekatma pratyayasaram. Ekatma. One brahman, putting on the dress of vishwa, taiyasa, as well as prajna, as well as perat, hiranyagarbha, and ishwara, but only one, and the person is separate from his dress. He can be dressless. That is called one atma in spite of experiencing all these states. So, what happens when sacheturiyam is realized? Prapanchopshama. There would be no rebirth. There would be no transmigration. And shantam. We are describing, but really not true because when there is one, even to say it is shantam, shivam, advaitam, it is all. All these only work from a mind point of view, not beyond mind. Just as in deep sleep, you cannot think of all those things. So, the entire samsara will come to an end and he becomes mukta purusha, moksha, and there will be no samsara. This is called videha mukti. Shantam. And he will have indescribable equanimity, peace, that passes all understanding. Shivam. Pramananda experience. Advaitam. Even to say I am one, or I am without a second, is human language, but we are describing it, we are reading about it, we are discussing about it, we are thinking about it, we are meditating about it. From the point of bondage, bondage means body-mind, so it is something beyond subject as well as the object, nowhere known, witness or witnessed reality. This is called chaturtham. It is not really fourth state, that is the only state. The other states are slightly with dress. Same chaturtham with dress, that all the five other states we described earlier. Manyante, who wise people know, through their experience, and they describe it to us like that, and that is Atma. How many Atmas? Only Advaitam, one Atma. Savigneha. And he can be known only when one becomes one with it, and there is no way to look at it as a second one, as an object. Beautiful description, and I will go into details in my next class. I will stop here. Aum. Jananim. Sharadam. Devim. Ramakrishnam. Jagatgurum. Padapadmetayo. Sritva. Pranamami. Mohurmohu. May Sai Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda, bless us all with Bhakti. Ramakrishna.