DAKSHINAMURTHYCourtesy C.L.Ramakrishnan
Dakshinamurthy is perhaps the only Hindu deity that sits facing the southern direction. This fact is implicit in the name itself. The great seer Ramana Maharshi, has interpreted the name as "Dakshina amurty", meaning one who is capable but without form. Both names refer to Lord Siva and represent Him as the Supreme Teacher. Dakshinamurthy's uniqueness as a teacher lies in the fact that he teaches through silence, through his all-pervasive Consciouness. The traditional image that portray Him thus is described by Sankara with a poetic play of words in the seventh verse of this work as "mudraya bhadraya". None can equal Sankara when it comes to the combination of the highest philosophical truths with brevity, simplicity and beauty of Sanskrit verse. In a short compass of ten verses he leads us to understand the oneness of the individual self and Brahman, the Ultimate Reality. Deep devotion to a personal God provides the way to seeing and attaining that Reality despite the limitations and illusory perceptions of the psycho-physical organism, that cloud that reality.
Adi Sankara's Stotra On Dakshinamurthy English translation of sanskrit shlokas
I worship that south facing God, who revels in his own self the prime-preceptor, who sports the symbol of consciousness and is the very personification of bliss, surrounded by groups of sages and seers established in the Ultimate Reality, who is of tender age and expounding the concepts of philosophy by silence, so eloquent although. Seated on the floor and under the banyan tree, purveyor of the valid knowledge to all the groups of sages and seers directly, the lord of all the three worlds and the south facing god, the one who cuts asunder the cycle of births and deaths, I bow down in supplication. What a wonderful picture it is that is there under the banyan tree, where the preceptor is young and the disciples are old., the explanation of the preceptor is silence but yet the disciples have their doubts shattered. I bow down in salutation to the south-facing god, who is the repository of all knowledge, the physician for those who are struck with the disease of transmigration and the preceptor of all the worlds. I salute that south-facing god, who represents the import of the mystic syllable "OM" and represents the absolute reality, who is blemishless and of quietitude. who sees within himself, the universe which is in him, by the illusory power (maya), similar to a city that is seen in a reflecting mirror, but which is manifested outside, as though, for a perceiver at the time of waking, his own self without a second, may this adoration be to him, that Lord incarnated as the preceptor; in physical form. Out of his own will, who like a magician or a great yogi displays this universe which was undifferentiated earlier like the sprout in the seed but later is rendered differentiated under different situations like the time, space and activities, all due to the play of illusory power- maya-to him be this adoration, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor, in physical form. Whose luminosity is existence itself, entering all objects which are non-existent, as it were, shines forth; who instructs those who seek refuge in him that they are that supreme reality, as in the scriptural text; by realising whom these will occur no more entry into the ocean of transmigration of the soul, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor, in physical form, be this adoration. Who is effulgent like a lamp glowing within a pitcher with many apertures; whose knowledge goes out through the eyes and the other organs of perception; whose perception is that "I know" whom the entire universe reflects as it glows following him; to him be this adoration, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor, in physical form.
Those who think that the physical body or the vital airs within it or the sense organs or the intellect or the nothingness as Supreme Reality, are labouring under an illusion like children, women and the sightless and blabber too much. May this adoration be to him, the annihilator of the delusion caused by the expansive might of the power of illusion, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor, in physical form. He who is in the state of sleep due to dissolution of the mind caused by the veiling power of Maya- like the sun or the moon eclipsed by (ketu) or Rahu, upon waking recalls self-existence in the manner of "I have slept till now ", to him be this adoration, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor in physical form. In all states of flux like the childhood (youth and old age) and the waking (sleeping and dreaming ) state, with the consciousness within shining as "I" , at all times, that one who also reveals the real nature of the self to those who seek refuge in him as by means of the symbol that is auspicious, him as seekers of knowledge, to him be this adoration, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor in physical form. Due to the illusive power of Maya, he who sees the universe with distinctions and in a disparate state like cause and its effect, master and vassal, preceptor and seeker, father and son etc., in the states of dream and waking , to him be this adoration, who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor in physical form. Who has this universe that moves and also moves not and comprises in appearance as the earth, water, fire, air , the space, the sun, the moon and the individual soul as his manifestation in an eightfold manner, and for those who comprehensively analyse there exists nothing beyond these, to him may this adoration be , who is that Lord incarnate as the preceptor, in physical form. As it has been clarified like a crystal in this hymn, that everything has the lord as the soul, by listening to, by cogitating upon the import of what has been listened to, meditating contemplatively upon it and singing this hymn, by these practices will occur the knowledge of the universal self with all its glory and over-lordship, on its own (or therafter) and the supernatural faculties in their eight forms without let or hindrance.
Adi Sankara's Stotra On Dakshinamurthy English translation of sanskrit shlokas
I worship that south facing God, who revels in his own self the prime-preceptor, who sports the symbol of consciousness and is the very personification of bliss, surrounded by groups of sages and seers established in the Ultimate Reality, who is of tender age and expounding the concepts of philosophy by silence, so eloquent although. Seated on the floor and under the banyan tree, purveyor of the valid knowledge to all the groups of sages and seers directly, the lord of all the three worlds and the south facing god, the one who cuts asunder the cycle of births and deaths, I bow down in supplication. What a wonderful picture it is that is there under the banyan tree, where the preceptor is young and the disciples are old., the explanation of the preceptor is silence but yet the disciples have their doubts shattered. I bow down in salutation to the south-facing god, who is the repository of all knowledge, the physician for those who are struck with the disease of transmigration and the preceptor of all the worlds. I salute that south-facing god, who represents the import of the mystic syllable "OM" and represents the absolute reality, who is blemishless and of quietitude. who sees within himself, the universe which is in him, by the illusory power (maya), similar to a city that is seen in a reflecting mirror, but which is manifested outside, as though, for a perceiver at the time of waking, his own self without a second, may this adoration be to him, that Lord incarnated as the preceptor; in physical form. Out of his own will, who like a magician or a great yogi displays this universe which was undifferentiated earlier like the sprout in the seed but later is rendered differentiated under different situations like the time, space and activities, all due to the play of illusory power- maya-to him be this adoration, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor, in physical form. Whose luminosity is existence itself, entering all objects which are non-existent, as it were, shines forth; who instructs those who seek refuge in him that they are that supreme reality, as in the scriptural text; by realising whom these will occur no more entry into the ocean of transmigration of the soul, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor, in physical form, be this adoration. Who is effulgent like a lamp glowing within a pitcher with many apertures; whose knowledge goes out through the eyes and the other organs of perception; whose perception is that "I know" whom the entire universe reflects as it glows following him; to him be this adoration, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor, in physical form.
Those who think that the physical body or the vital airs within it or the sense organs or the intellect or the nothingness as Supreme Reality, are labouring under an illusion like children, women and the sightless and blabber too much. May this adoration be to him, the annihilator of the delusion caused by the expansive might of the power of illusion, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor, in physical form. He who is in the state of sleep due to dissolution of the mind caused by the veiling power of Maya- like the sun or the moon eclipsed by (ketu) or Rahu, upon waking recalls self-existence in the manner of "I have slept till now ", to him be this adoration, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor in physical form. In all states of flux like the childhood (youth and old age) and the waking (sleeping and dreaming ) state, with the consciousness within shining as "I" , at all times, that one who also reveals the real nature of the self to those who seek refuge in him as by means of the symbol that is auspicious, him as seekers of knowledge, to him be this adoration, the one who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor in physical form. Due to the illusive power of Maya, he who sees the universe with distinctions and in a disparate state like cause and its effect, master and vassal, preceptor and seeker, father and son etc., in the states of dream and waking , to him be this adoration, who is the Lord incarnate as the preceptor in physical form. Who has this universe that moves and also moves not and comprises in appearance as the earth, water, fire, air , the space, the sun, the moon and the individual soul as his manifestation in an eightfold manner, and for those who comprehensively analyse there exists nothing beyond these, to him may this adoration be , who is that Lord incarnate as the preceptor, in physical form. As it has been clarified like a crystal in this hymn, that everything has the lord as the soul, by listening to, by cogitating upon the import of what has been listened to, meditating contemplatively upon it and singing this hymn, by these practices will occur the knowledge of the universal self with all its glory and over-lordship, on its own (or therafter) and the supernatural faculties in their eight forms without let or hindrance.
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