Question:
How is turiya non-dual as there is still the one who confirms turiya or witness turiya?
Sri Prabhuji:
Turiya means beyond 3 states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep. Turiya is background of 3 states. Turiya is non dual awareness.
We can give analogy of a movie and screen. Turiya is the screen on which movie of waking, dreaming and deep sleep appear and disappear.
From the point of character in the movie, screen is turiya – beyond movie.
Turiya is transcendental Reality while jiva (soul) is at lower level transactional (vyavaharika) reality. Jiva tries to attain Turiya through various spiritual practices thinking that it is fourth state of samadhi which can be attained through practice. He/she may experience blissful state of samadhi. This state is called Mano laya ( absorption of mind).
However a jnani drops ignorance to attain no mind state ( mano nasha). He/she is established in non-dual turiya – pure awareness. For jnani, waking state, dream state and deep sleep are unreal appearances in turiya – pure awareness. For jnani turiya is the only Reality. In such realization, the word “turiya” is meaningless because turiya meaning beyond three (unreal states of waking, dreaming, deep sleep). He/she is called turiyatita or jivanmukta or one who lives in Sahaja samadhi (primal natural state).