[Advaita-l] prAjna and tureeya - The difference

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

In all these discussions we have seen with the help of shruti / bhAshya that sushupti is brahma sthAnaM.  Though brahma is uniformly existing in all the three states sushupti is called saMprasAda because of absence of upAdhi-s.  But the question is the sushupti in itself is an ultimate state of jeeva what is the purpose of introduction of tureeya??  What exactly is the difference between prAja and tureeya when both are depicted   as adviteeya??  What is the purpose being served when tureeya has been explained as atyanta vilakshaNa (entirely different) from vishva, taijasa and prAjna??  It is not difficult for us to find out that vilakshaNatvaM between tureeya and vishva and taijasa because these two are sadviteeya and they will be seeing the vishaya prapancha different from them,  whereas tureeya is adviteeya.  But even prAjna also adviteeya only so what is the difference between tureeya and prAjna when both are secondless??  As we know, mAndUkya mantra 6th and 7th and  gaudapAda Agama prakaraNa makes this difference clear in 12th and 13th kArika-s.

nAtmAnaM na parAmschaiva na satyaM nApi chAnrutaM!
prAjnaH kiMchana saMvetti turyaM tat sarva druk sadA!!

And

dvaitasyAgrahaNaM tulyaM ubhayOH prAjnaturyayOH !
' beejanidrAyutaH prAjnaH' sA cha turye na vidyate !!

The above are self-explanatory to know the difference between prAjna and tureeya.  prAjna does not know himself, does not know another, does not know paramArtha satya and does not know even prapancha whereas tureeya is sarvadruk and he is sarveshwara and he is sarvaM.  And prAjna boundaries are quite limited and restricted to only sushuptAvasthA and tureeya is encompasses  all the avasthA-s and he is the essence of dvaita darshana in jAgrat and svapna hence he has been called sarva druk.  So both chetana-s in prAjna and tureeya are one and the same, tureeyAtma 'knows' that but prAjna does not know that.  The 'not knowing' that chetana is one and the same does not come in the way to abstructing the prAjna's ekatvaM in sushupti.  The beeja nidra (not knowing / jnAnAbhAva) which influences the prAjna in sushpti does not have the capacity to come in the way of ekatvaM.  Hence tureeya is 'arita chaitanya' and prAjna is 'ariyada chaitanya' Sri SSS says somewhere in Kannada : ' ariyadiruvudu ennuvudu prAjnana ekatvakke endigu addiyaagalaaradu, yaava ekatvavannu beeja nidreyinda prAjnanu ariyavaLu sAdhyavAguvudillavO, aa ekatvavanne tureeyanu aritu mUru avasthe gaLalliyu samaanavaagi prakAshisuttaane'.  Elsewhere sushuptAtma has been called as prANa and this prANa also has been explained as avyAkruta.  bhAshyakAra explains that brahma which is sat has been explained as prANa.  Here in the above kArika prAjna is beejanidrAyukta and he is also called prANa who is also avyAkruta.  Sri ChandramouLi prabhuji has explained that this avyAkruta is anAtma and jeeva merging with this avyAkruta anAtma in sushupti.  bhAshya vAkya clarifies this what is prAna / avyAkruta / beejAtmaka prAjna :  beejAtmakatvAbhyupatamAT sataH yadyapi sadbrahma prANashabda vAchayaM tatra tathApi jeevaprasava beejaatmakatvamaparityajyaiva prANa shabdatvaM sataH, here it has been accepted that sat itself beejatmaka.  By keeping the view point that the creation (origination) of jeeva in seedform (beeja rUpa)  sadrUpa brahman (sat) only called with the word prANa.  What exactly the seed form here ??  is it mithyA / anAtma avyAkruta ??  is it bhAva rUpa avidyA ??  is it brahmAshrita kAraNAvidyA?? Na, the prANa / prAjna / avyAkruta here is sat only which is the cause.  Hence Sri SSS clarifies : paramArthavaagi nodidare sushuptAtmanu aagituttaane saapekshavaagi ecchara kanasugaLalli kaaNuva jeevaru huttuvudakke avane (sushuptAtma / prAjna) kAraNanendu heLabekaagiruttade.  Addarinda evanannu praNanendu, avyAkrutanendu karedirutteve.  The subsequent clarification from bhAshyakAra would throw more light on similarity / difference between tureeya and prAjna.  tAmabeejAvasthAM tasyaiva prAjna shabda vAchasya tureeyatvena dehAdi saMbandha rahitAM pAramAthakeeM puthak vakshyati.  It is because of the simple reason that tureeya is the pAramArtika tUpa of vishva, taijasa and prAjNa.  And this tureeya is NOT restricted to any one particular avasthA.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar