Sri Dakshinamurthy Stotram
by Adi Sankara Bhagawat Pada
Translated by P.R.Ramachander
Adi Sankara has written very many great Stotras (prayers) but here is a unique prayer, which is not only a prayer but the summary of all the philosophy that he has taught. Even during his time, this stotra was difficult to comprehend and it became necessary for one of his disciples, Sureshwaracharya to write a commentary called Manasollasa to this stotra. There are large number of books and commentaries on this commentary itself.
dhyaanam
OM maunavyaakhyaa prakaTitaparabrahmatatvaMyuvaanaM
varshishhThaaMtEvasadRRishhigaNairaavRRitaM brahmanishhThaiH ।
aacaaryEMdraM karakalita chinmudramaanaMdamoortiM
svaatmaraamaM muditavadanaM dakshhiNaamoortimeeDE ॥
I praise and salute that Dakshinamrthy,
Who faces the south,
Who explains the true nature of the supreme Brahman,
Through his state of silence,
Who is young in looks,
Who is surrounded by disciples who are old Sages,
Whose minds are fixed on Brahman,
Who is the greatest of teachers,
Who shows the Chinmudhra[1] by his hand,
Who is personification of happiness,
Who is in the state of extreme joy within himself,
And who has a smiling face.
vishvaMdarpaNa dRRishyamaana nagaree tulyaM nijaaMtargataM
pashyannaatmani maayayaa bahirivOdbhootaM yathaanidrayaa ।
yassaakshhaatkurutE prabhOdhasamayE svaatmaanamE vaadvayaM
tasmai shreegurumoortayE nama idaM shree dakshhiNaamoortayE ॥ 1 ॥
Similar to the image of a town as seen in the mirror,
When one sees the image of the world within him,
The world appears as if it is outside.
It is similar to his seeing due to illusion,
During the state of sleep,
That the one real fact appears as many different truths,
And he realizes,when he wakes up and sees the reality,
That he is really the one and only one soul.
Salutation to the God facing the south,
Who is the greatest teacher.
The above stanza tells us that the world which is outside us is same as our soul but we see them as different entities due to the veil of ignorance. As soon as we wake up, we realize that the dream is false and even while seeing our image in the mirror, we know that we are not seeing us in the mirror but our image. When we get knowledge from the guru we are in the wakeful state without the veil of ignorance.
beejasyaaMtati vaaMkurO jagaditaM praannarvikalpaM punaH
maayaakalpita dEshakaalakalanaa vaichitryachitreekRRitam ।
maayaaveeva vijRRiMbhayatyapi mahaayOgeeva yaH svEchChayaa
tasmai shreegurumoortayE nama idaM shree dakshhiNaamoortayE ॥ 2 ॥
Like the germ inside the seed is its part,
But becomes different after development
The many places and time which are before us,
Are drawn by illusion in the board of life in a peculiar manner,
By a great savant or an expert Siddha,
Who can create them as per their will,
Salutation to the God facing the south,
Who is the greatest teacher.
When the net of illusion is lifted and when we reach the stage of manifestation, we would find that what we think as different is but one and the same.
yasyaiva sphuraNaM sadaatmakamasatkalpaarthakaM bhaasatE
saakshhaattatvamaseeti vEdavachasaa yO bOdhayatyaashritaan ।
yassaakshhaatkaraNaadbhavEnna puranaavRRittirbhavaaMbhOnidhau
tasmai shreegurumoortayE nama idaM shree dakshhiNaamoortayE ॥ 3 ॥
He who exists as the real light of truth,
And shines in the false world of appearance,
And He who teaches disciples the great saying,
“Thou art that”[2] after realizing its import,
Gets away from this cycle of life and death.
Salutation to the God facing the south,
Who is the greatest teacher.
naanaachChidra ghaTOdara sthita mahaadeepa prabhaabhaasvaraM
jjhNaanaM yasya tu chakshhuraadikaraNa dvaaraa bahiH spaMdatE ।
jaanaameeti tamEva bhaaMtamanubhaatyEtatsamastaM jagat
tasmai shree gurumoortayE nama idaM shree dakshhiNaamoortayE ॥ 4 ॥
Like the light emanating from a lamp,
Kept in a pot with many holes,
Goes out in all directions,
In the person in whom the wisdom goes out
Through the openings of ear, eye , mouth and thought,
And when that person realizes that ‘I know myself”,
This whole universe shines after Him alone,
Who shines in the consciousness as the knower.
Salutation to the God facing the south,
Who is the greatest teacher.
Our body prevents us from seeing the truth(the light from outside) that we are the Brahman and lets out light though the sensory organs and makes us deceive ourselves by feeling that we are happy. This simile of a pot with holes for the body occurs in many places in Indian philosophy.
dEhaM praaNamapeeMdriyaaNyapi chalaaM buddhiM cha shoonyaM viduH
stree baalaaMdha jaDOpamaastvahamiti bhraaMtaabhRRishaM vaadinaH ।
maayaashakti vilaasakalpita mahaavyaamOha saMhaariNE
tasmai shree gurumoortayE nama idaM shree dakshhiNaamoortayE ॥ 5 ॥
Those great philosophers , who think that,
The body, the soul and the fickle intellect,
The concept of emptiness and all other nothingness,
Are nothing but themselves,
Are similar to the women children , blind and the ignorant.
It is only He who can destroy, this veil of ignorance,
And wake us up from this state of deceit.
Salutation to the God facing the south,
Who is the greatest teacher.
This is a sample of the approach of negation in identifying the truth about the concept of self. Senses, the body etc cannot be the absolute truth as they are transient.
raahugrasta divaakarEMdu sadRRishO maayaa samaachChaadanaat
sanmaatraH karaNOpa saMharaNatO yO.abhootsushhuptaH pumaan ।
praagasvaapsamiti prabhOdasamayE yaH pratyabhijjhNaayatE
tasmai shree gurumoortayE nama idaM shree dakshhiNaamoortayE ॥ 6 ॥
Similar to the Sun when being masked by the serpent Rahu,
Knows that it was existing, once the eclipse is over
That man whose senses are suppressed
When he is asleep,
Because of the veil of illusion,
Realizes that he was in the state of sleep,
When he wakes up.
Salutation to the God facing the south,
Who is the greatest teacher.
Similar the sun existing even when there is eclipse, we exist when we are sleeping. This is denial of the Buddhist theory that, when we are asleep there is nothingness.
baalyaadishhvapi jaagradaadishhu tathaa sarvaasvavasthaasvapi
vyaavRRittaa svanu vartamaana mahamityaMtaH sphuraMtaM sadaa ।
svaatmaanaM prakaTeekarOti bhajataaM yO mudrayaa bhadrayaa
tasmai shree gurumoortayE nama idaM shree dakshhiNaamoortayE ॥ 7 ॥
Salutations to him who shines and exhibits,
Himself by the beatific Chinmudhra of the hand,
That he exists within the humans as self,
Forever and non changing,
Even during the changing states of childhood, youth and old age
And even during the states of sleep, dream and wakefulness.
Salutation to the God facing the south,
Who is the greatest teacher.
The truth as represented by the concept of Brahman, exists always.
vishvaM pashyati kaaryakaaraNatayaa svasvaamisaMbaMdhataH
shishhyachaaryatayaa tathaiva pitRRi putraadyaatmanaa bhEdataH ।
svapnE jaagrati vaa ya Eshha purushhO maayaa paribhraamitaH
tasmai shree gurumoortayE nama idaM shree dakshhiNaamoortayE ॥ 8 ॥
The world sees as cause and effect,
The differences between us and our lord,
The distinction between teacher and the taught,
The distinction between father and son,
And so the man is confused by illusion,
And believes in these differences,
During the times of dream and wakefulness.
Salutation to the God facing the south,
Who is the greatest teacher.
The ignorance of the truth because of the veil of ignorance Maya is reemphasized.
bhooraMbhaaMsyanalO.anilOMbara maharnaathO himaaMshuH pumaan
ityaabhaati charaacharaatmakamidaM yasyaiva moortyashhTakam ।
naanyatkiMchana vidyatE vimRRishataaM yasmaatparasmaadvibhO
tasmai gurumoortayE nama idaM shree dakshhiNaamoortayE ॥ 9 ॥
To the sake of which supreme Brahman,
The universe is shining as self,
Which is Movable and immovable, with its aspects?
Of water, fire, air, space,
The sun, moon and the individual soul,
And also to those who examine the truth behind,
The meaning of this universe and find,
That it Consists of nothing but,
The God who is every where.
Salutation to the God facing the south,
Who is the greatest teacher.
sarvaatmatvamiti sphuTeekRRitamidaM yasmaadamushhmin stavE
tEnaasva shravaNaattadartha mananaaddhyaanaaccha saMkeertanaat ।
sarvaatmatvamahaavibhooti sahitaM syaadeeshvaratvaM svataH
siddhyEttatpunarashhTadhaa pariNataM chaishvarya mavyaahatam ॥ 10 ॥
The concept of the Athma,
Which is explained in this poem of praise,
Hearing which, understanding which,
Meditating which and singing which,
One would attain the state of the godliness,
And the great state of self realization,
And also you would get the eight powers of occult,
Without any problems in between.
Appendix
The following three stanzas as well as the first stanza are chanted after the main stotra:-
citraM vaTatarOrmoolE vRRiddhaaH shishhyaaH gururyuvaa ।
gurOstu maunavyaakhyaanaM shishhyaastucChinnasaMshayaaH ॥
It is strange to see,
The very old disciples,
And the very young teacher,
Who sit under a banyan tree,
With the teacher always observing silence,
And the students getting all the doubts cleared.
OM namaH praNavaarthaaya shuddhajjhNaanaikamoortayE ।
nirmalaaya prashaaMtaaya dakshhiNaamoortayE namaH ॥
Salutations to that Dakshinamurthy,
Who is the meaning of the pranava, “om”,
Who is the personification of unalloyed wisdom,
Who is crystal clear in his thought,
And who is the epitome of peace.
nidhayE sarvavidyaanaaM bhishhajE bhavarOgiNaam ।
guravE sarvalOkaanaaM dakshhiNaamoortayE namaH ॥
Salutations to that Dakshinamurthy,
Who is the teacher of the entire world,
Who is the doctor to those,
Afflicted by the disease of birth and death,
And who is the treasure hose of all knowledge.
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