65 Mandukya Upanisad Chapter 01 Mantra 07

📌 Title

Mandukya Upanishad – Mantra 7 | Why Turīya Is Not Waker, Dreamer, or Deep Sleeper | Śaṅkara Bhāṣya

📝 Description

In this discourse on Mandukya Upanishad, Mantra 7, Śaṅkarācārya’s Bhāṣya is examined in depth to clarify the true meaning of Turīya, the fourth pāda of the Ātman.

The Upanishad negates the three states of experience—waking (Viśva), dream (Taijasa), and deep sleep (Prājña)—not to deny the Self, but to correct a fundamental self-error. Since the Self is self-revealing, it is already known to everyone, yet it is mistakenly known as the waker, dreamer, or sleeper.

Through powerful illustrations such as the rope–snake analogy, the actor and roles, and the function of Mahāvākya, this talk explains:

Why Turīya cannot be a separate fourth state of experience

Why negation (niṣedha) is essential in Vedānta

How self-knowledge is correction, not revelation

Why samādhi is not a means of Self-knowledge

How Turīya is the basis of all three states, yet distinct from them

This teaching reveals that Turīya alone is the reality, appearing as the three states due to ignorance, and that liberation lies in correcting this mistake—not in acquiring a new experience.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:01 – Invocation and context of Mantra 7
03:25 – Śaṅkara’s Bhāṣya begins: Why Turīya is negated
04:06 – Waker, dreamer, deep sleeper are not the Self
05:01 – Why reveal three states only to negate them later?
06:33 – Can Turīya be a fourth entity of equal reality?
07:37 – Actor and roles analogy: understanding “fourth”
08:47 – Self is known, but known with a mistake
09:32 – Rope–snake illustration and superimposition
11:56 – Correction through negation, not new revelation
15:17 – Role of Mahāvākya in removing self-error
17:47 – Knowerhood as an incidental status
21:09 – Consciousness and existence are one
23:58 – Name–form analysis: substance vs appearance
28:59 – Why definition through negation is necessary
33:40 – Why Turīya cannot be a separate knowable entity
37:09 – Samādhi is not a means of Self-knowledge
41:17 – Why ignorance remains even after samādhi
45:07 – Turīya as the constant “I” across all states
49:13 – Freedom, fullness, and the here-and-now Self
51:59 – Turīya is neither object nor non-existence
55:02 – Order (Īśvara) in waking and dream
58:51 – One consciousness appearing as many
60:12 – Conclusion: negation as the key Vedāntic method

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