Dakshinamurti Strotam

[Guest guest]

Dakshinamurti-stotram

 

Sri Sankaracharya’s Dakshinamurti-stotram or Hymn to Dakshinamurti is a poetic

masterpiece. In the short compass of ten majestic stanzas, the great

world-teacher delineates the fundamental teachings of all Vedanta. The tenth

verse tells in unmistakable language what the hymn stands for and why it should

be reverentially studied: the all-pervasiveness of the Atman is clearly

expounded in this hymn. By the recital and the hearing of it, and by the

meditation on its implied meaning, the aspirant attains to that all-pervasive

nature (of the Atman) and automatically feels one with It and reaches the

plenitude of realization and spiritual joy.

 

Dakshinamurti is the Supreme Being and he had embodied Him-self in the Guru –

this is the final understanding of the aspirant as elucidated by Sri

Sankaracharya. Such a deep devotion in which Guru and God have fused into one

(of. Svetasvatara Upanishad: VI. 23) is the sine qua non of religious life.

 

The Dakshinamurti-stotram is a profound hymn, essential for all seekers of

Truth. May this delightful decade of divine wisdom deliver us fro the demon of

death and delusion devouring us day and night. May Sri Sankaracharya bless us.

 

 

Shanti Patha:-

“Om. Desirous of Moksha (complete freedom – physical, mental, and spiritual), I

seek refuge in that self-effulgent One, who projected Brahma at the beginning

of creation and revealed the meaning of the Vedas to him, and whose inspiration

(alone) turns my understanding towards Atman. May peace-physical, mental, and

spiritual – be on us for ever.”

 

“Dakshinamurti Stotram”

I

“The universe is like a city reflected in a mirror – seen inside the mirror but

really outside of it. And it is again, as in a dream, an inside phenomenon,

appearing outside but really inside. The Truth or Original is the Supreme

Brahman, the one-without-a-second. One’s Atman is Its reflection seen through

the media of senses, mind and intellect. The identity of the Supreme Brahman

and one’s Atman is understood on self-illumination. He by whose grace that

illumination comes to me – to that Dakshinamurti, the Supreme Being, who is

embodied in the auspicious and benign Guru, I offer my profound salutation.”

II

“He in whom this universe, prior to its projection, was potentially present like

a tree in a seed, and by whom it was wrought to its multiform by the magic, as

it were, of His own will or in the manner of a great Yogi out of his own power

– to that Dakshinamurti, the Supreme Being, embodied in the auspicious and

benign Guru, I offer my profound salutation.”

III

“He by whose light the universe, which is unreal, appears as almost real and who

graciously teaches the truth of Brahman (to the disciples seeking refuge in him)

and who is realized through the comprehension of the meaning of the great Vedic

statement ‘Tattva-masi’ (Thou art That) – which realization alone puts an end

to the cycle of Samsara and rebirth – to that Dakshinamurti, the supreme Being,

embodied in the auspicious and benign Guru, I offer my profound salutation.”

IV

“He whose light gleams through the senses like the eyes etc., like the light

emanating through many holes in a pot in which a brilliant lamp is kept. He

whose knowledge alone brings in the state of knowing characterized by the

awareness ‘I know’, He whose luminosity alone makes everything else shine after

Him – to that Dakshinamurti, the supreme Being, embodied in the auspicious and

benign Guru, I offer my profound salutation.”

 

V

“Vociferous pseudo-philosophers regard the body, life-breath, senses of

perception and organs of action, fleeting cognitions and total non-existence as

‘I’ (Atman). Their power of comprehension is comparable to that of women and

children, the blind and the dull witted. He destroys this stupendous delusion

caused by this inscrutable power called Maya – to that Dakshinamurti, the

supreme Being, embodied in the auspicious and benign Guru, I offer my profound

salutation.”

 

VI

“As the brilliance of the sun or the moon exists even when intercepted by ‘Rahu’

during eclipse, the power of cognition remains suspended from the senses and

mind during sleep. The Purusha or the Self exists as the pure Being

unrecognized through Maya’s veiling power. On waking he becomes aware that he

himself was asleep earlier. Similarly, the man of realization on waking to the

consciouness of the Self (which is pure Being) recognizes it (his previous

ignorance) as a past event and an apparent phenomenon. He by whose grace this

recognition of the true nature of the Atman comes to me – to that

Dakshinamurti, the supreme Being, embodied in the benign and auspicious Guru, I

offer my profound salutation.”

 

VII

 

“He whose existence and reality shine always and uniformly in various states (of

the body) like infancy etc. and (of the mind) like waking etc. and who reveals

the highest Knowledge of the Atman by the (mere) auspicious Jnana-mudra – to

that Dakshinamurti, the Supreme Being, embodied in the auspicious and benign

Guru, I offer my profound salutation.”

 

VIII

“He by whose power of Maya the world is experienced during both the waking and

dream states in all its variations in the cause-effect relations like master

and servant, teacher and disciple, father and son – to that Dakshinamurti, the

Supreme Being, embodied in the auspicious and benign Guru, I offer my profound

salutation.”

 

IX

“The moving and non-moving universe is but (the manifestation of ) His subtle

and unmanifest eightfold form, viz. earth, water, fire, air, sky, sun, moon and

Jivatman. He whose grace all these manifestations disappear with the realization

‘Nothing exists except the Supreme Brahman’ –to that Dakshinamurti, the Supreme

Being embodied in the auspicious and benign Guru, I offer my profound

salutation.”

 

X

 

“The all pervasiveness of the Atman is clearly expounded in this hymn. By its

recital, hearing and meditation on its implied meaning, the devoted disciple

attains to that all-pervasive nature (of the Atman) and fully realizes his

oneness with It, including the unhindered lordship over the whole universe,

becoming the very essence of the eightfold manifestation referred to above

(verse 9). He reaches the plenitude of realization and spiritual joy.

 

 

Epilogue

(Usually chanted at the end)

[Meaning]

 

“I bow down to Sri Dakshinamurti, Lord and Teacher of the three worlds, who

dexterously cuts asunder the painful shackles of birth and death, and who is to

be meditated upon as sitting beneath a banyan tree and bestowing His grace of

Supreme Knowledge on the sages.”

 

 

*************

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Subhashbhai

 

E-mail : bjswadia (AT) (DOT) co.uk

 

Sai Ram!

"> Messenger

NEW - crystal clear PC to PC

">calling worldwide with voicemail