[Advaita-l] Ishwara Turiya?

[Bhaskar YR]

The sharp difference that you draw between Nirguna Brahman and Saguna 
Brahman is unsubstantiated. 

praNAms
Hare Krishna

It is indeed explicitly insisted by shankara in sUtra bhAshya.  See for 
example pUrvapaxi & vedAntin dialogue on para and apara brahman in 4th 
adhyAya of sUtra  ( I can get you the exact reference tomorrow).  Here the 
question pUrvapaxi puts is :  which is para and which is apara brahman?? 
shankara (vedAnti) answers, where brahman is taught by means of words like 
ashtulaM, anaNu, ashareeraM etc. where shruti negates any specific 
features such as nAma & rUpa is para brahman.  Where, on the other hand, 
that same brahman is taught as qualified by some specific feature for the 
purpose of meditation, for example manOmaya, bhArUpa, prANamaya etc. is 
the apara brahman or lower brahman.  For this pUrva paxi counters, in that 
case shruti teaching non-duality will be violated is it not??  for this 
shankara's answer would put a full stop on any speculation on saguNatva of 
brahman in paramArtha.  Here shankara clarifies, No, for this has been 
obviated by stating that the form with attributes is due to the 
conditioning adjunct of name and form created by 'avidyA'. 

Please note, according to advaita, para brahman is jneya brahma and it is 
siddhAnta drushti and apra brahman is upAsya brahma meant for advaita 
sAdhana in the form of upAsana & dhyAna.  That is the reason why one and 
same brahman has been explained as both para & apara brahman. 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar