Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.28.20

vijñānam etat triy-avastham ańga

guṇa-trayaḿ kāraṇa-karya-kartṛ

samanvayena vyatirekataś ca

yenaiva turyeṇa tad eva satyam

SYNONYMS

vijñānam — (the mind, whose symptom is) full knowledge; etat — this; tri-avastham — existing in three conditions (wakeful consciousness, sleep and deep sleep); ańga — My dear Uddhava; guṇa-trayam — manifesting through the three modes of nature; kāraṇa — as the subtle cause (adhyātma); kārya — the gross product (adhibhūta); kartṛ — and the producer (adhidaiva); samanvayena — in each of them, one after another; vyatirekataḥ — as separate; ca — and; yena — by which; eva — indeed; turyeṇa — fourth factor; tat — that; eva — alone; satyam — is the Absolute Truth.

TRANSLATION

The material mind manifests in three phases of consciousness — wakefulness, sleep and deep sleep — which are products of the three modes of nature. The mind further appears in three different roles — the perceiver, the perceived and the regulator of perception. Thus the mind is manifested variously throughout these threefold designations. But it is the fourth factor, existing separately from all this, that alone constitutes the Absolute Truth.

PURPORT

As stated in Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.2.15), tam eva bhāntam anubhāti sarvaḿ/ tasya bhāsā sarvam idaḿ vibhāti: "Everything radiates its illumination in pursuance of His original illumination; His light illuminates everything in this universe." As thus described, the entire range of perception, cognition and sensitivity is an insignificant expansion of the perception, cognition and sensitivity of the Personality of Godhead.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari