61 Mandukya Upanisad Chapter 01 Mantra 07

📌 Title

Mandukya Upanishad – Seventh Mantra Explained | Turīya & the Negation of the Three States

📌 Description

In this profound lecture on the 7th mantra of the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, Swami Muktatmananda unfolds the teachings of Turīya — the fourth, which is not a state but the ever-present reality underlying waking, dream, and deep sleep.

Through clear logic, analogies, and Śaṅkarāchārya’s commentary, this talk demonstrates:

Why the Upaniṣad negates the three states while discussing the fourth

How the subject–object duality keeps shifting in waking, dream, and deep sleep

Why Turīya is not another state, but the very Self

The rope–snake and actor–role analogies to reveal the apparent nature of all states

How knowledge arises through negation, unlike rope which needs illumination

Why we wrongly identify as waker, dreamer, or deep sleeper

How Turīya alone is real, invariable, self-revealing Consciousness

A rich and masterful exposition on Advaita Vedanta’s most concise and powerful Upaniṣad.

📌 Timestamps

00:00 — Opening Invocation
00:02 — Introduction to the 7th Mantra
02:44 — Review of the three states and earlier mantras
03:07 — Negation as the method of revealing Turīya
04:16 — Subject–object duality in all three states
05:10 — Why the fourth is not literally a “fourth” state
05:45 — Actor and roles analogy: distinguishing the real from the roles
07:28 — Why “four” is only an Upaniṣadic pointer
08:18 — Reality and appearance: three unreal, one real
09:20 — Limitation of states vs the invariable Self
10:28 — Actor appearing in multiple roles; turīya as the basis
11:32 — Shift from many (three) to one (Turīya)
12:25 — Mityā nature of waking, dream, and deep sleep
13:22 — Subject–object duality negated; one Consciousness alone is
14:31 — Pūrvapakṣa: why negate the three when explaining the fourth?
16:13 — Why Turīya cannot have attributes like the other three
17:41 — Different orders of reality: mithyā vs satya
18:08 — Rope-snake analogy reintroduced
19:12 — Mistaking appearance for reality
20:34 — Necessity of negation to recognize the Self
22:15 — Two viewpoints: ignorant vs wise
23:34 — Negation + illumination in rope-snake; difference in Atma
25:09 — Atma is self-revealing; negation alone is sufficient
26:37 — Negation needed because of lifelong misidentification
27:45 — Atma is the knower of the three states
28:47 — Why the three states are variable and thus mithyā
29:31 — The invariable ‘I’ across all states
30:50 — The real ‘I’ vs the roles of waker, dreamer, sleeper
31:51 — Turīya: independent and present in all states
32:40 — Wrong identification (“I am a waker”) examined
34:20 — Invariable equated with variable—root error
35:16 — Cause, existence, and mithyā status explained
36:24 — Limitless consciousness as the only reality
36:45 — Conclusion of the seventh mantra discussion

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