The Three States and the Fourth (Avasthātraya & Turīya)
Waking, dreaming, deep sleep — and a silent 'fourth' awake through all three.
Hindu philosophers study consciousness by examining the three everyday states everyone passes through: waking, dreaming, and deep dreamless sleep. Each reveals something about the self. Beyond them is named a 'fourth' (turīya) — not a fourth experience but the unchanging awareness present in and behind all three. This map of the states is one of the most distinctive contributions of the Upaniṣadic tradition.
Key passages(7)
'And there are two states for that person, the one here in this world, the other in the other world, and as a third an intermediate state, the state of sleep. When in that intermediate state, he sees
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Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
The wise, when he knows that that by which he perceives all objects in sleep or in waking is the great omnipresent Self, grieves no more.
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