RE: SBOI - Post Dakshinamurti Strotam

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Om Sai Ram,

Very wonderful.

Sai Ram,

dobby>Bhalchandra Swadia <bjswadia (AT) (DOT) co.uk>>

>>SBOI

- Post Dakshinamurti Strotam>Tue, 31 May 2005 16:45:24 +0100

(BST)>>>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!>>>>>

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