Self-Enquiry vs Open Awareness confusion

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

In post 3 above, I offered the following:

Finding what comes before I
When one arises from sleep , just before awaking there is a moment ( or moments pending the aspirant) when there is no 'I' nor is there sleep. This in-between/junction (saṁdhi¹) time is the moment of pure awareness, some call 4^th turīya (caturtha²). After this junction one comes to being awake and the 1st thing to rise is 'I'. The first thing that begins is 'I' for the day, before anything else.

Now from where does this notion come? It is offered in several places. I wish to mention 2.

First reference
This is from the vijñānabhairava trantra¹. We take our lead from svāmī lakṣman-jū on this verse; my in-verse notes will be in blue:
यदा ममेच्चा नोत्पन्ना ज्ञानं व कस्तदास्मि वै ।
तत्त्वतोऽहं तथाभूतस्तल्लीनस्तन्मना भवेत् ॥९७
yadā mameccā notpannā jñānaṁ va kastadāsmi vai |
tattvato’haṁ tathābhūtastallīnastanmanā bhavet ||97

“who am I when neither my will nor my knowledge has risen ? (that is, which has not come into my frame of awareness) I am this reality! ( that lies behind these two , will and knowledge)”. Having become that one should be merged in that ( which is that steady-state, pure being, motionless ‘unassigned’ awareness) and one should identify with that ( this would be Self-referral awareness).

A bit more
When neither will or knowledge (iccha or jñāna) nor any cognition ( recognition ) of any object (this includes a thought, feeling, idea, notion, expression, body sensation, and the like ~individual being~ is not there – that is, the limited ‘me’ is not there.

• the term tathābhūta in the verse says without the 3 states ... now what is that? without wake dream or sleep. If you are without these 3 where then can you possibly be? the answer is the 4^th , turīya. This is the continuum of consciousness that is there all the time. It never takes a day off, no vacation time; no edge or end to it , no break or pause - it is there all the time. See the beauty here?

Second reference
This is called out in one interesting place that most readers would not expect. It is within pāṇinīya śikṣā ( or the lessons on pronunciation given by the grammarian pāṇinī-ji). Now how would grammatical analysis (vyākaraṇaḥ) get caught-up in this?
Let’s take a look:
ātmā buddhyā sametyārthānmanoyuṅkte vivakṣayā |
manaḥ kāyāgnimāhanti saḥ prerayati mārutam || 6||
mārustūrasicaranmandraṃ janayati svaram|
prātaḥsavanayogaṃ taṃ chandogāyatramāśritam || 7|| ­­­

The next post will offer a translation and some insight to the best of my ability.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

1. abhinavagupta-ji also refers to this vijñānabhairava as śivavijñānopaniṣad ; abhinavagupta-ji is also known as mahāmaheśvarācharya śrīmad abhinavaguptanatha by his pupil kṣemarāja and also within the lineage

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

Regarding

Second reference
This is called out in one interesting place that most readers would not expect. It is within pāṇinīya śikṣā ( or the lessons on pronunciation given by the grammarian pāṇinī-ji). Now how would grammatical analysis (vyākaraṇaḥ) get caught-up in this?
Let’s take a look:

Perhaps some readers are waiting for the 2nd part of post 11 above. After reconsidering the śloka , I will leave it for another time.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ