I r8 Light on Yoga
all desires and freed from the vexations of spirit .... The soul is divine
in origin, though clogged with the flesh. In sleep it is said to be
released from the shackles of the body and to regain its own nature ....
But this (that is, the eternal dreamless sleep) is likely to be confused
with sheer unconsciousness .... The highest is not this dreamless sleep,
but another, a fourth state of the soul, a pure intuitional consciousness
where there is no knowledge of objects internal or external. In deep sleep
the spirit dwells in a region far above the changeful life of sense in absolute
union with Brahman. The turlya condition brings out the positive aspect
of the negative emphasised in the condition of deep sleep.'-Radha
krishnan in Philosophy of the Upanishads. This fourth condition has been
thus described in the Mat:t<;liikya Upanishad as follows: 'The fourrh,
say the wise, is not subjective experience, nor objective experience, nor
experience intermediate between the two, nor is it a negative condition
which is neither consciousness nor unconsciousness. It is not the know
ledge of the senses, nor is it relative knowledge, nor yet inferential
knowledge. Beyond the senses, beyond understanding, beyond all ex
pression, is the fourth. It is pure unitary consciousness, wherein all
awareness of the world and of multiplicity is completely obliterated. It
is the supreme good. It is One without a second. It is the Self. Know
it alone!'
'Raja-Yoga, Samadhi, U nmanl, Manomanl, Immortality, Concentra
tion, Siinyasiinya (void and yet non-void), Parama Pada (the Supreme
State), Amanaska (suspended operation of the mind), Advaita (non
duality), Niralamba (without support), Nirailjana (pure), Jlvanmukti
(emancipated state), Sahajavastha (natural state) and Turlya (literally
the Fourth), all mean the same thing. As a grain of salt thrown into
water unites and becomes one with it, a like union between the Mind
and the Atman is Samadhi. When Pra�a and Manas (mind) are
annihilated (absorbed), the state of harmony then arising is called
Samadhi.'-lf afha Yoga Prad'fpikii, chapter IV, verses 3 to 6.
There is no asana like Siddha, no kumbhaka like Kevala, no mudra
like Khecharl, and no laya (absorption of the mind) like Nada.
(Khecharl Mudra, literally roaming through space, is described in the
Gheranda Sainhita as follows in verses 25 to 28 of the third chapter:
'Cut the lower tendon of the tongue and move the tongue constantly;
rub it with fresh butter, and draw it out (to lengthen it) with an iron
instrument. By practising this always, the tongue becomes long and
when it reaches the space between the eyebrows, then Khecharl is
accomplished. Then (the tongue being lengthened) practise turning it
up and back so as to touch the palate, till at length it reaches the holes
of the nostrils opening into the mouth. Close those holes with the tongue
(thus stopping inspiration), and gaze on the space between the eyebrows.