Meaning and elaboration
Meaning: The Fourth beyond waking, dreaming, and deep sleep: the pure consciousness that underlies all existence.
Elaboration
Turiya is the Sanskrit word for "the Fourth." It names the reality that both transcends and underlies the three ordinary states of waking (Jagrat), dreaming (Svapna), and deep sleep (Sushupti). As a name of Mahakali, it reveals her as the primordial consciousness on which all experience rests.
The Transcendent State In traditions such as the Mandukya Upanishad, Turiya is not a passing condition that comes and goes. It is the underlying reality of all states: pure, stainless consciousness (Citi or Prajnanam), ever-present, silent, and self-luminous, yet beyond the reach of the ordinary intellect. When Kali is called Turiya, she is known as that unmanifest yet self-revealing ground of existence, beyond the grasp of conceptual thought.
Beyond Dualities Turiya is free from every duality: subject and object, experiencer and experienced, being and non-being. It is the non-dual (Advaita) essence in which all distinctions dissolve. To call Kali Turiya is to affirm that she is the ultimate reality (Brahman) in its most subtle and absolute form, untouched by the play of creation, preservation, and dissolution. She is the witness (Sakshi) of all phenomena, yet remains beyond them.
The Source of All States Though it transcends the other three states, Turiya is also their source and support. Waking, dream, and deep sleep arise within it like ripples on a vast, still ocean. For the devotee, to realize Kali as Turiya is spiritual illumination (Bodhi): the recognition that individual consciousness is one with the cosmic consciousness of the Divine Mother, leading toward liberation (Mukti). Her profound nature cannot be grasped by the limited mind; it must be directly realized in the highest state of meditative absorption.