Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.1166

c7.1166

4) Turīyam. In the state of Turīya the Jīvātmā alone is active. The individual souls which abide in creatures are another aspect of Brahman. Everything said about Brahman can be said about the jīvātmā in the state of profound sleep. But the bliss that we enjoy in sleep is not remembered in the state of activity. The same bliss that we enjoy in profound sleep could be enjoyed in the state of samādhi (contemplation) of yoga or union with the universal soul. When it came to be known that this supernal bliss could be enjoyed even after one had awakened from contemplation, a fourth state of the jīvātmā (individual soul) was recognized. But in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka only three states of the jīvātmā are mentioned.