The Indian scriptures describe the following four states of human awareness:

• Jagruti: The waking state of consciousness

• Swapna: The dreaming state of consciousness

• Sushupti: The state of deep sleep in which mind, ego and superego are still

• Turya: The state of thoughtless awareness which is beyond the mind

The first three states of awareness are commonly experienced in our daily lives. The fourth slate is the state of thoughtless awareness or Nirvichara Samadhi. This is the state in which (while being awake) the constant rising and falling of thoughts come to an end. It starts with a gap that appears between the thoughts and as this gap grows, thoughts diminish more and more.

In Turya, attention becomes still and a deep inner peace begins to dawn upon the awareness. Like a calm lake with no ripples that reflects the beauty of the landscape around it, a silent mind reflects the beauty of the creation and melts into the bliss and the peace of the divine.

While in thoughtless awareness, we are in control of our thoughts. We can obviously plan for the future or recall past memories if needed however, we are no longer moved unwillingly by the unending torrent of thoughts. We are in the present moment and in control of ourselves. When our attention is not polluted with meaningless mental chatter, we start to enjoy our Self, our spirit, our own inner beauty and the the beauty of creation.