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The Philosophy of the Upanishads c11.s3.t1: 1. The Four States

The Philosophy of the Upanishads c11.s3.t1

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1. The Four States

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As the âtman, “becoming incarnate in bodily form,”¹ in space occupies the body as the aggregate of the organs “right up to the finger-tips,”² so also in time it passes in this its individual condition through a series of states, in which its real metaphysical nature becomes gradually more and more plainly visible. These states are:—(1) waking, (2) dream sleep, (3) deep sleep (*sushupti*), *i.e.*

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¹ *sarîratvâya dehin*, Kâṭh. 5. 7.

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² Bṛih. 1. 4. 7.

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deep, dreamless sleep, in which the soul becomes temporarily one with Brahman and enjoys a corresponding unsurpassable bliss, and (4) the “fourth” state (*caturtha, turya, turīya*), usually called *turīya*, in which that disappearance of the manifold universe and the union with Brahman on which the bliss of deep sleep depends takes place not as before unconsciously, but with continued and perfect consciousness.

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The theory of these four states took shape at first by degrees.

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To begin with, it may well have been the loss of consciousness in sleep, and its return on waking which aroused attention and suggested such questions as in Bṛh. 2. 1. 16:¹—“When he fell asleep here, where was that spirit consisting of knowledge (*vijñānamayaḥ puruṣa*), and whence has it now returned (on waking)?” This marvellous phenomenon of sleep was then explained as a transient immersion of the organs (speech, eye, ear and *manas*) in the *prāṇa*. This is the case in Śatap. Br. X. 3. 3. 6, and in the passage Chānd. 4. 3. 3 which agrees with it almost verbally:—“For when a man sleeps, his speech enters into the *prāṇa*, the eye into the *prāṇa*, the ear into the *prāṇa*, the *manas* into the *prāṇa*.” Chānd. 6. 8. 2 is a mere amplification of this explanation of sleep (perhaps with a recollection of Bṛh. 4. 3. 19):—“Just as a bird tied to a string flies to this side and to that, and having found no resting-place elsewhere settles down on the spot to which it is tied, so also, my dear sir, the *manas* flies to this side and to that, and having found no resting-place elsewhere, settles down into the *prāṇa*, for the *prāṇa*, my dear sir, is the spot to which the *manas* is tied.” The immediately preceding words of Chānd. 6. 8. 1 are derived from a somewhat different conception:—“When it is said that the man is asleep, then has he, my dear sir, attained to union with the self-existent (previously described in Chând. 6. 2 f.). He has entered into himself, therefore it is said of him “he sleeps” (*svapiti*), for he has entered into himself (*svam apîta*).”

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¹ cp. Kaush. 4. 19.

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None of these passages make any distinction between the sleep of dreams and deep sleep. Such a distinction is first found in Bṛih. 4. 3. 9–18, 19–33, then in Bṛih. 2. 1. 18–19,¹ and finally Chând. 8. 6. 3, 8. 10, 11–12.² This may well be the historical order. In Bṛih. 4. 3. 9–33 the distinction is not so fully carried out as in Bṛih. 2. 1. 18–19, where the name *sushupta* for the “deep sleeper,” which is still wanting in Bṛih. 4. 3. 9–33, first makes its appearance, and from this are further developed the terms *sushuptam*³ and *sushupti*⁴ for “deep sleep.” The amplifications of Chând. 8 seem to be the latest of all, and dependent already on Bṛih. 4. 3. 9–33; for when in Chând. 8. 3. 4⁵ deep sleep is described (not as in Chând. 6. 8. 3 in connection with Chând. 6. 2. 3, 6. 8. 6 as a union with the *tejas*, but) as an entrance into the purest light, and an emergence therefrom as a necessary consequence in its own true form (*param jyotir upasampadya svena rûpeṇa abhinishpadhyate*), this peculiar conception may of course be referred back to Chând. 3. 13. 7, but it seems more natural to find in it a reminiscence of the “spirit consisting of knowledge, giving light within the heart” of Bṛih. 4. 3. 7, which, as is there further expounded, “by virtue of its own brightness, its own light, serves as a light for itself” in waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. It is surely also a proof of dependence that the word *samprasâda*, which in Bṛih. 4. 3. 15, a passage that had probably already suffered interpolation, still has the meaning of the “perfect rest” of deep sleep, is used in Chând. 8. 3. 4, 8. 12. 3 directly of "the soul in deep sleep."

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¹ cp. Kaush. 4. 20.

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² cp. Chând. 8. 3. 4.

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³ From and after Mâṇḍ. 5.

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⁴ From and after Kaivalya 13. 17.

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⁵ = 8. 12. 3.

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The brief notice of Ait. 1. 3. 12 is drawn from these older passages, and the more detailed discussions on dream sleep and deep sleep of Pras'na 4 are similarly dependent.

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By the side of waking, dreaming and deep sleep, there is found a fourth and higher condition of the âtman, viz.—the c'aturtham, turyam, turîyam (sc. sthânam), or the turîya (sc. âtmâ). It occurs first in Mânḍ. 7, as compared with which the passages Maitr. 6. 19, 7. 11, which belong to the appendix, are probably later. Here also the three first states are denoted by the mystical names Vais'vânara, Taijasa, Prâjña. The waking soul is in this instance called vais'vânara perhaps because all men in their waking hours have a world in common,¹ but in dreams each has his own; the dreaming soul taijasa, probably because then the âtman alone is its own light;² the deep-sleeping soul prâjña, because in deep sleep the âtman, according to Bṛih. 4. 3. 21, is temporarily one with the prâjña âtman, i.e. Brahman.

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¹ As Heracleitus says, on Plut. de Superstit. 3.

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² svena bhâsâ, svena jyotishâ prasvapiti, Bṛih. 4. 3. 9.

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The discussion of the four states severally may be introduced by the definition of them given in Sarvopanishatsâra 5–8:—

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"When using the fourteen organs of which manas is the first (manas, buddhi, c'ittam, ahaṅkâra, and the faculties of knowledge and action), that are developed outwards, and besides are sustained by deities such as âditya, etc., a man regards as real the external objects of sense, as sounds, etc., this is named the waking (jâgaraṇam) of the âtman."

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"When freed from waking impressions, and using only four organs (manas, buddhi, c'ittam, ahaṅkâra), apart from the actual presence of the sounds, etc., a man regards as real sounds dependent on those impressions, this is named the dreaming (*svapnam*, here neuter) of the âtman.”

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“When as a result of the quiescence of all fourteen organs and the cessation of the consciousness of particular objects, a man (is without consciousness), this is named the deep sleep (*sushuptam*) of the âtman.”

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“When the three states named have ceased, and the spiritual subsists alone by itself, contrasted like a spectator with all existing things as a substance undifferentiated, set free from all existing things, this spiritual state is called the *turîyam* (the fourth).”

Cites (11)