In the single supplied attestation (Māṇḍūkyakārikā 1.15), turīya names the "fourth state/station" (turīyaṃ padam) that one attains when the two errors of dream and sleep have been exhausted. The verse characterizes dream (svapna) as apprehending otherwise (anyathā gṛhṇataḥ) and sleep (nidrā) as not knowing reality (tattvam ajānataḥ); when the mutual distortion (viparyāsa) of these two is destroyed (kṣīṇe), one reaches turīya. The term thus functions here as the goal-state defined negatively, by the cessation of the deficiencies of the other states, rather than by an independent positive description. The evidence is too thin to characterize turīya's full doctrinal content; only its relation to dream, sleep, and the removal of their error is attested.
Senses
The reading surface. A later ingestion attaches a locus to a settled sense, or proposes a new one (dashed) for human triage — it never rewrites settled prose.
1 · The fourth state or station (padam) attained when the distortion proper to dream and sleep…settledadded v1
The fourth state or station (padam) attained when the distortion proper to dream and sleep is exhausted; defined here by the cessation of "apprehending otherwise" (dream) and "not knowing reality" (sleep).
2 · Turīya as the Lord (īśāna/prabhu) over the cessation of all suffering — the self whose kno…proposedadded v2
Turīya as the Lord (īśāna/prabhu) over the cessation of all suffering — the self whose knowledge effects the removal of the sorrows belonging to prājña, taijasa, and viśva; imperishable (avyaya) and never deviating from its own nature.
Śaṅkara (bhāṣya)
Why a new sense: Introduces turīya specifically as īśāna/prabhu, master over the removal of suffering — a soteriological/lordship aspect not captured by the cessation-of-dream-and-sleep definition of s1.
mandukya.agamasastrabhasya:1.10
3 · Turīya as the ever-seeing, ever-present witness (sarvadṛk sadā) wholly free of the seed of…proposedadded v2
Turīya as the ever-seeing, ever-present witness (sarvadṛk sadā) wholly free of the seed of nescience — distinguished from prājña who, unlike turīya, remains bound by non-apprehension of reality (tattvāgrahaṇa); turīya alone is unbound because nothing other than it exists.
Śaṅkara (bhāṣya)
Why a new sense: These attestations foreground turīya as the unbound, always-cognizing reality contrasted against the seed-bound prājña, emphasizing its bondless ever-witnessing nature rather than the mere exhaustion of dream/sleep distortion.
4 · Turīya identified with the partless (amātra) Oṃkāra — ātman alone (kevala), beyond word an…proposedadded v2
Turīya identified with the partless (amātra) Oṃkāra — ātman alone (kevala), beyond word and mind, inexpressible, the auspicious non-dual (śiva advaita) cessation of all manifestation; being seedless, its knower is not reborn.
Śaṅkara (bhāṣya)
Why a new sense: These equate turīya with the amātra (measureless/partless) Oṃkāra and its non-dual, seedless, liberative aspect — a distinct phonosymbolic and śiva-advaita identification not represented in s1.
amātro mātrā yasya nāsti sa amātra oṃkāraś caturthas turīya ātmaiva kevalo 'bhidhānābhidheyarūpayor avāṅmanasayoḥ kṣīṇatvād avyavahāryaḥ / prapañca up
mandukya.agamasastrabhasya:1.29
Śaṅkara (bhāṣya)
advaita-vedānta
bhasya
amātras turīya oṃkāraḥ / mīyate 'nayeti mātrā paricchittiḥ sānantā yasya sa anantamātraḥ / naitāvatvam asya paricchettuṃ śakyata ityarthaḥ / sarvadvai
Editions & provenance
v1Māṇḍūkya mūla + Gauḍapāda kārikā — +1 loci 1 sense(s) drafted from 1 loci.
v2Śaṅkara bhāṣya — +13 loci · 8 routed to existing · 3 new sense(s) proposed Core attestations that present turīya as the fourth pāda reached by dissolution of the prior three states, identified with the underlying self (rope/snake analogy), or characterized via the waking/dream/sleep schema (viśva/taijasa/prājña, anyathāgrahaṇa/tattvāpratibodha) were routed to s1, since they directly express the cessation-of-distortion definition. The pāda-as-means/object discussion (sb:2) and the dakṣiṇa-akṣi / vibhūti passages (1.2, 1.7) are part of the same state-analysis framework and fit s1. Three groups were proposed as new: (new1) turīya as Lord/master over cessation of suffering; (new2) turīya as the unbound ever-witness contrasted with the seed-bound prājña; (new3) turīya as the partless amātra Oṃkāra / seedless non-dual śiva. These carry aspects (lordship, bondlessness vs. prājña, Oṃkāra identification) not contained in s1's narrow definition.
Caveats
The entry rests on a single attestation (Māṇḍūkyakārikā 1.15); the sense given is provisional and may not reflect the term's full usage even within this text.
The corpus supplied is from one tradition only (the Māṇḍūkyakārikā of Gauḍapāda); no cross-text or comparative senses are admissible here.
No commentary loci (e.g., Śaṅkara's bhāṣya) were supplied, so no commentarial position is attributed.
turīya is characterized in the attestation only negatively, by the removal of dream's and sleep's defects; no positive definition of its content is attested.