This verse articulates a core principle of turiya consciousness, a concept deeply rooted in the Upaniṣadic tradition and subsequently elaborated upon by Yājñavalkya. The phrase “in the states of waking, dream and deep sleep I do not abide” signifies a radical detachment from the phenomenal world, a recognition that the self – the jagrat, svapna, and sushupti – is fundamentally unreal, a transient construction. This is not a mere intellectual understanding, but a lived experience, a consistent negation of identification with the fluctuations of ordinary consciousness. The wise one, by firmly declaring, “I am only the turiya,” immediately achieves liberation, not through complex practices of prāṇāyāma or āsana, but through the simple act of recognizing their true nature. The turiya, often translated as “the third,” represents pure awareness, the silent witness beyond all thought and sensation, and it is within this state of unconditioned being that true freedom resides – a concept paralleled in the later formulations of the ātman as Brahman.