Some "Three-Plus-Something-Beyond" Quartets

in the Brahmanical traditions

sacred syllable   a u m   OM
language   articulate mental witnessing   "beyond"
states of consciousness   waking dreaming deep sleep   "fourth"
steps toward self-knowledge   hearing thinking meditating   seeing
grammatical persons   third: it second: you first: I   nonrelational
sacred utterances   bhur bhuvah svah   OM
regions   earth atmosphere heaven   transcendent
strands of matter   black (tamas) red (rajas) white (sattva)   unmanifest
stages of life   student householder retiree   renunciant
Vedic priests   invoker manipulator cantor   [overseer]
Vedas   Rig Yajur Sama   [Atharva]
occupational classes   trades/business military/government scholarship/priesthood   [labor]


For more on these quartets and their treatment in the Upanisads, see my page on the
Vedic utterances.

Return to class notes page.
Return to topic page.


Class notes for Religion W4620 (Nonduality in Indian and Tibetan Thought), Fall 2002.
Last updated: Fri Aug 30 20:52:18 EDT 2002 by Gary Tubb, email [email protected]