The Mandukya Upanishad describes that the One Reality presents itself at four levels. It is a fourfold Reality so to say. There is the waking state whence the Reality presents itself in the outer field through the sensory experience and the mind that perceives the objective material Universe. Behind it there is the subtle truth of the same Reality presenting itself as the various subjective states and subtle forces behind life and mind arranged hierarchically as a ladder of consciousness, Hiranyagarbha, the golden womb through which creation descends from a subtle to gross material state. It thereby connects the material Universe to the inmost Self, the Self of pure Intelligence, Pragya which is the third state. Finally there is the deepest ultimate Reality which transcends the other three, Turiya.
Image this as a cosmic poet. The paper and the actual writing that is legible is the waking state, Virat. The thoughts and imaginations of the cosmic poet that has not yet manifested is the dream state, Hiranyagarbha. The intelligence of the poet is the inmost sleep state or Pragya. It is yet to manifest anything. And the poet himself is Turiya, the Transcendental. In other words the Creator and the Creation are one and yet the Creator transcends the Creation. The Creator exists even if the creation ceased to be and the creation is the objectivisation of the Creator.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
