Sutra 3.20

Translation Among the three, the fourth is like oil being poured continuously.

Meaning The "three" refers to the triad of knower, known, and knowing, or the three states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, which constitute the limited experience of the individual soul. The "fourth" is Turiya, the transcendent state of pure consciousness that underlies and permeates the other three. This sutra teaches that the realization of this fourth state is not a sudden break or a disjointed event, but a steady, unbroken flow that saturates the other three states just as oil saturates a wick or flows in a continuous stream.

When oil is poured, it moves as a single, cohesive thread without interruption; similarly, the awareness of the Self must become a seamless current that runs through all experiences. In the earlier stages of practice, consciousness may feel fragmented, appearing only in moments of meditation or silence. However, as one matures in Anavopaya, the distinction between the meditator and the meditation dissolves. The fourth state ceases to be a distant goal and becomes the very substance of the waking, dreaming, and sleeping states, binding them together in a unified field of awareness.

This imagery of oil suggests a quality of smoothness and pervasiveness. Oil does not fight the surface it touches; it spreads and adheres naturally. In the same way, when the fourth state is established, there is no longer a struggle to maintain awareness amidst the chaos of daily life. The divine consciousness flows effortlessly into every thought, sensation, and action, making the entire spectrum of human experience lubricated with the grace of Shiva, free from the friction of duality.

Contemplation Throughout your day, visualize your awareness as a golden stream of oil being poured from a vessel above your head. As you move from one activity to another, from speaking to listening, from working to resting, imagine this stream never breaking or thinning. When you notice a gap where you have forgotten your true nature and become lost in a thought or reaction, gently resume the visualization of the continuous flow, letting it saturate that specific moment until the sense of separation dissolves into the smoothness of the stream.