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From: Anand Karalapakkam (anand_at_engr.uconn.edu)
Date: Sat Jun 05 1999 - 16:13:24 PDT
SrI:
SrI Lakshminrusimha ParabrahmaNE namaha
SrI Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrIvaNN-
SatakOpa SrI nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESikAya namaha
Dear SrI Narasimhan and SrI Harikumar,
namO nArAyaNA.
> Question from my friend L.Harikumar.:
>
> This question is from the Mandukya upanishad.It talks about four terms
> visva,taijasa ,prajna and turiya. Sripada Sankara interprets them as the
> four states of the jiva.Turiya is considered as the state of self
> realisation(in which the jiva realises its identity with the Supreme
> Brahman) and prajna as the deep sleep state,taijasa as the dream state
> and visva as the waking state in which the jiva enjoys gross
> objects.Here the turiya stage is interpreted to convey that the jiva
> realises himself as the all pervading impersonal Brahman.
> Sripada Madhvacharya interprets them as the four forms of God(Vishnu),
> with names visva,taijasa,prajna and turiya,controlling the jivas in all
> these states,by residing in four different parts of the body of the
> living entity.In the Brahmopanishad, visva(jagrata) is said to be
> located in the neck,taijasa (svapna)in the eye,prajna(sushupti) in the
> heart and turiya in the brahmarandra(topmost protion of the
> skull).Madhva quotes this as reference in his mandukyopanishad bhashya.
> In the Narasimha uttaratapani upanishad also there is description of all
> these stages and the mantras from the Mandukya upanishad are repeated
> and it is said that the Turiya which conveys the Omkara is to be
> realised.Here the four stages are respectively called as the
> jagrata,svapna,sushupti and turiya respectively. As I'm not having the
> commentary on these upanishads as per vishishtadvaitic point of view, I
> humbly request the members of this forum to enlighten me in the above
> questions regarding these four states by explaining the vishishtadvaita
> coception of these four terms.
As such, adiyEn doesn't have the mANdUkya upanishad bAshya of
a SriVaishnava AchArya. But, "abhinava dESikan" Uttamoor T.
Veeraraghavacharya swAmi's "Upanishadartha Sangraha" <as the
name suggests> contains the gist / important messages of many
upanishads. It is composed of 220 sanskrit verses, for which Uttamoor
swAmi Himself has given a translation/ <brief> commentry in sanskrit
and tamizh.Verses 37 to 45 deals with mANdUkya upanishad.
Uttamoor swAmi's "vEdAnta pushpAnjali" is a stotram composed
on thirupathi SrInivasa PerumAL. It has 216 sanskrit verses,
in which Uttamoor swAmi takes upanishad after another <as flowers>
and by mentioning the cardinal messages of each upanishad,
salutes/worships the Parabrahman SrInivAsan as the one glorified in
all these upanishads. Uttamoor swAmi Himself has provided sanskrit
notes and its tamizh translation. Verses 22 to 26 of this work is
concerned with mANdUkya upanishad.
Since Uttamoor swAmi has packed many invaluable details in these
works, its better to read the originals with His blessings. These books
can be had from adiyEn's father Sri K.G.Krishnan at 11, Hasthigiri St,
West Mambalam, Chennai 600 033. Tel: 483 4676.
------------------------
Brief notes from these works for the question in hand:
jIvAtma has four states viz.jAgrat (waking) etc ; VaisvAnara (having
visva rUpa), taijasa etc refers to paramAtma mUrthIs presiding over
these states. The connection with pranava ( its four pAdAs linked with
these four mUrthIs etc) has to be learnt from an AchArya or at the least
from the original text. Upabrahmanas like Ahirbudhnya Samhita (51st
adhyAyam) and SrImad BhAgavatham (12.11.21-23) elaborates on
the fact that the words visva-taijasa-prAj~nya- turIya refers to
SrIman nArAyaNA alias Parabrahman in various forms. Someone
can kindly post the relevant translations from the SrImad BhAgavatham.
-------------------------
Current Villivalam Azhagiyasingar, in His RahasyatrayasAra Vivarnam,
( Tattvatraya chintanA adhikAram) explains very clearly about the
four mUrthIs in connection with the four states of jIvAtma.
This has been described in Ahirbudhnya samhita , Lakshmi tantra
and SAtvata Samhita as well. In SrI VaikuNTam, SrIman nArAyaNA
has taken a special form in the shape of a huge pillar ( ofcourse filled
with suddha sattvam) called ViSAkha yoopa alias Brahma yoopa.
It has four parts ( jAgratsthAna, svapnasthAna, sushupti sthAna and
turIya sthAna) with four vyUha forms ( vAsudEva, Sankarshana,
Pradyumna, Aniruddha) in each part. The activities, form, weapons
etc of the Lord in each of these parts are comparable to the four
stages of a upAsaka ( bhakti yOgi) viz.
a. preliminary stage with less meditation and no full control of the
external senses and mind ;
b. Next advanced stage with full control of the senses, but not
of the mind ;
c. Next advanced stage with full control of the senses and the
mind; but breaths in and out ;
d. Most advanced stage in which the yOgi is not even breathing
in and out ; He is like one in a swoon.
These four stages of a upAsaka is like the four states experienced
by normal human beings viz. jAgrat (waking state) , svapna (dream),
sushupti (deep dreamless sleep), turiya ie. swoon. This is just an
analogy given from our day to day experience, to understand
about the four stages of the upAsakAs, who constantly meditate
on SrIman nArAyaNA according to a Brahma vidya.
Azhagiyasingar explins these facts using the slokam composed
by bhattar in Sri RangarAjasthavam ( UttarakhAndam, 39) , which
in turn is cited by SwAmi dESikan in His Srimad Rahasyatraya sAram :
" O Lord Ranganatha ! Of those (upAsakAs) who meditate upon You,
some are like those in the waking state, some are like those dreaming
in their sleep ; some are like those sleeping without dreams ; some
are like those in a swoon. In the same way, O Lord, you have taken
four forms <in an analogy to these four states/stages> and divided
Yourself into four vyUha mUrthIs in each such forms <reference to
ViSAkha yoopa> for the purpose of meditation (upAsana), with
appropriate attributes ( difference in color etc) and weapons, suited
to each form"
note : BAdarAyana discusses the four states of a jIvAtma in chapter
three, section two of Brahma sUtrAs.
> I've come across a term in vishnu sahasranama
> "chaturatma". Is there any connection between this name and
> the four terms mentioned above?
The name "CaturAtmA" for Lord Vishnu, occurs in two
places in the Vishnu SahasranAmam.
1. 139th name :
( _caturAtmA_ caturvyUha: caturdamStra: caturbhujaha .....) :
Lord has four forms viz. vAsudEva, Sankarshana,
Pradyumna and aniruddha.
2. 775th name :
(_caturAtmA_ caturbhAvaha caturvEdavit yEkapAt)
Lord in the four forms ( corresponding to jAgrat, etc states)
reveals Himself to upAsakAs.
Hope this helps.
adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan
ananthapadmanAbha dAsan
krishNArpaNam