Upaniṣads · Bhāvanā p41
॥
Devanāgarī
तुर्यावस्था नमस्कारः
Transliteración (IAST)
turyāvasthā namaskāraḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
तुर्य-अवस्था नमस्कारःturya-avasthā namaskāraḥthe fourth state — prostration
Traducción
The fourth state — prostration.
Versión
f6f0d6f2fa1e · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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Namaskāra, "prostration," is equated to turya, "the fourth state" — the one beyond waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. This correspondence, to my mind, is the finest in the whole book, and it is worth explaining why. A prostration is the one movement in which a person makes himself lower. Everything else he does leaves him at his former height or raises him; but in bowing, he descends — and descends voluntarily.
And this voluntary self-diminishment is named the fourth state, that is, the highest of all these books know. The word namas was discussed when reading the Kāṭharudra (88): it is interpreted as na mama, "not mine." A bow, then, is a renunciation of claim, expressed by the body; and hence it is understood without language and made everywhere the same way.
The Vaiṣṇava side holds the bow in very high regard and distinguishes its kinds: aṣṭāṅga, "eight-limbed," when eight parts of the body touch the ground, and pañcāṅga, "five-limbed." This distinction looks trivial but is true in substance: the fuller the bow, the less support of one's own remains in it, and in the eight-limbed one a person lies prostrate. It is worth noting too that in this rite the bow comes last — after the guest has been received, fed, and circled. That is, one bows not upon entering, but in taking leave; and this too is truly observed: one gives thanks upon departing.