Where there is vital awareness there is a shining forth; where there is no vital awareness there is no shining forth;
So this is known by affirmation and negation.
Commentary
Vital awareness is known by affirmation like when we say 'I am happy,' or 'this is a pot,' and by negation which is experienced when nothing shines forth and one is in the pure non-dual state which is beyond the Fourth, where light and darkness, awareness and non-awareness, and even duality and non-duality are no longer present. What remains is the Self-Absolute, as a wonder, beyond all perceptual and conceptual determinations. In the words of the Kena Upanishad (II. 3), "That in the lightning flashing forth, making one blink, and say, 'AH!,' that AH pertains to the numinous.
Bhaskararaya in his commentary on verse 263 of the Srilalitasahasranamam where Sakti is described as "abandoning all states of consciousness," declares: "There is a fifth state for the living being, without having a specific designation, and it is beyond the Fourth state, being called 'beyond the Fourth'; this designation points at the Fifth state... Now when someone goes beyond the Fourth state, he must go beyond the other three... The Fifth state arises from steadiness in the Fourth. So it is declared, "The supreme state beyond the Fourth is only attained through a firm hold on the Fourth.'"
What Bhaskararaya says is also declared in the Mandalabrahmana Upanishad (II. 4): "The yogi becomes the Absolute, completely full of the totality, in the state beyond the Fourth."
In Chapter Ten verse eight of this work, Narayana Guru describes the man who is beyond the Fourth. The shining forth of vital awareness conditions to the extent that a duality is still present in what the sage calls the generic and the specific. Beyond this duality is the Absolute, where vital awareness has its ground, and is fully attained in the state beyond the Fourth. At this point the Self-Absolute is beyond description and classification. The Tripadvibhutimahanarayana Upanishad (I. 3) declares, "The Absolute is not within the range of mind and speech." When mind and speech are put away what remains is the Absolute which is beyond the Fourth.