*POINTS TO PONDER* Observe the phenomenal world 'without name and form'; Seek the observer through 'self-inquiry'; and Enter the pathless realm of 'self-realization' and 'sahaja-samadhi'~ Swaathmaaraaman

 Life is not possible without the substratum of Turiya, which is the Reality pervading the universe.

 
Though the word Turiya means, literally, "fourth," yet it has no numerical significance. It is the Absolute. It is called the Fourth in relation to the three states of consciousness, namely, waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep, which belong to maya and are absent in Brahman. Turiya is the unrelated Witness of the three states.
As waves and bubbles, associated with names and forms, are seen to float on the immeasurable, serene, and homogeneous waters of the ocean, so, likewise, the experiences of the three states are seen to subsist in Turiya. As, when the illusory names and forms are discarded, the mirage is realized as the desert, the snake as the rope, and the waves and bubbles as the ocean, so, likewise, when the names and forms are discarded, every experience is regarded as Turiya, or Pure Consciousness. Turiya alone is the Reality behind all experiences, the Reality behind the universe. It is the universe in its true essence. As the unmoving and unrelated screen gives connection and continuity to the dis-joined pictures in a cinema, so the attribute less, changeless, and witness-like Turiya gives connection and continuity to the dis joined experiences of the ego, in what we call our phenomenal life. Life is not possible without the substratum of Turiya, which is the Reality pervading the universe.

NIKHILANANDA