vijnanam -- (the mind, whose symptom is) full knowledge; etat -- this; tri-avastham -- existing in three conditions (wakeful consciousness, sleep and deep sleep); anga -- My dear Uddhava; guna-trayam -- manifesting through the three modes of nature; karana -- as the subtle cause (adhyatma); karya -- the gross product (adhibhuta); kartri -- and the producer (adhidaiva); samanvayena -- in each of them, one after another; vyatirekatah -- as separate; ca -- and; yena -- by which; eva -- indeed; turyena -- fourth factor; tat -- that; eva -- alone; satyam -- is the Absolute Truth.

The material mind manifests in three phases of consciousness -- wakefulness, sleep and deep sleep -- which are products of the three modes of nature. The mind further appears in three different roles -- the perceiver, the perceived and the regulator of perception. Thus the mind is manifested variously throughout these threefold designations. But it is the fourth factor, existing separately from all this, that alone constitutes the Absolute Truth.