अवस्त्वनुपलम्भं च लोकोत्तरमिति स्मृतम् ।
ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं च विज्ञेयं सदा बुद्धैः प्रकीर्तितम् ॥ ८८ ॥avastvanupalambhaṃ ca lokottaramiti smṛtam |
jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ ca vijñeyaṃ sadā buddhaiḥ prakīrtitam || 88 ||88. There is another state (admitted by the wise) which is free from contact with (external) objects ana altogether free from the idea of coining in contact with objects. This state is beyond all empirical experiences. The wise always describe the three, Viz., Knowledge, Knowledge of objects and the knowable as the Supreme Reality (which is ultimately knowable).
Shankara Bhashya (commentary)
The state in which one neither perceives any object1 nor possesses the idea2 of coming in contact with such object—a state free from the relationship of subject and object—is called the highest state, which is beyond all empirical experiences. All empirical experiences consist of the subject-object relationship. This state is free from all such relationship and is the seed of future experiences. This3 is known as the state of deep sleep. That alone is called knowledge? which is the realisation of essence, i.e., the Supreme Reality, as well as the means to do so, viz., the analysis of the states of gross experience, subtle experience and the condition beyond all experiences. The4 three states, mentioned above, are the objects of knowledge; for, there cannot be anything knowable besides these three states. All entities falsely imagined by the different schools of the disputants are included in these three states. That which is to be ultimately known is the truth regarding the Supreme Reality, known as Turīya, i.e., the knowledge of Self, non-dual and Unborn. The illumined ones, i.e., those who have seen the Supreme Reality have described these features (topics) ranging from the, objects of gross experience to the Supremely Knowable Self.
Anandagiri Tika (glossary)
1 Object, That is to say, the waking state.
2 The idea, etc.—i.e the dream state in which one, in the absene of external objects, seems perceive such objects,
3 This is etc.—in deep sleep one does not perceive any object, gross or subtle. There is no experience in deep sleep which when judged from the causal standpoint, consists of mental modification—as in the dream,—due to the perception of external objects in the waking state. Deep sleep is further characterised by the total absence of the subject-object relationship. In deep sleep there exists one’s real self. It has been characterised as containing the seeds of the two other states, only from the causal standpoint. Again it is from the relative standpoint that Turīya, the witness of the three states, is mentioned as the state of the Ultimate Knowledge.
4 The three, etc.—All experiences are limited to the three states. Therefore the Truth discovered by the study of the three states is the Supreme Reality.
Therefore the Vedāntic method of arriving at Reality is the co-ordinated study of the three states. All experiences are confined to the limits of the three states.