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DakshiNAmUrti Stotram of Adi SankaraPart 2. Stotram & Interpretation

S. YegnasubramanianVerse 1

viSvam darpaNa-driSyamAna nagarI-tulyam nijAntar-gatam

paSyannAtmani mAyayA bahirivod -bhUtam yathA nidrayA |

ya: sAkshAt-kurute prabodha-samayesvAtmAnam-eva-advayam

tasmai SrI guru-mUrtaye nama idam SrI dakshiNAmUrtaye ||

(The one who experiences at the time ofrealization one’s own immutable Self in which the Self alone plays as the universe of names andforms, like a city seen in a mirror, due to thepower of mAyA as though produced outside, as in a dream, to such a person, the divine teacher, SrI dakshiNAmUrti, is this salutation.)As was mentioned in the introduction, SrI Adi Sankara condenses the entire upanishadicliterature in these ten verses. From this pointof view, one could consider this as a refresher for assimilation – nididhyAsanam, of thevedAntic learning. Hence, the author takesseveral ideas for granted as the student issupposed to be familiar with them already.(The reader may refer to the series of articleson tattvabodha published earlier in ParamArtha tattvam – available in our website

www.svbf.org, for some of the preliminaryvedAntic concepts).In addition to giving the essence of theUpanishads, SrI Sankara is offering salutations to Lord dakshiNAmUrti also, thus serving atwo fold purpose of teaching and prayer.

The fourth line of every verse – except the last verse – is the same:

to Him; the divine guru;SrI dakshiNAmUrti; thissalutation.“(I offer) this prostration to LorddakshiNAmUrti (who is available to me in the visible form as ), the guru. (SrI GovindabhagavadpAdAcArya)”.

SrI Sankara gives the essence of theUpanishads in the first three lines of this verse,which is AtmajnAna – or one’s true nature.That means, whatever knowledge one has of oneself presently is not one’s true nature andby knowing the true nature one is liberated. In all these verses, SrI Sankara reveals that theAtmA is of the nature of caitanyam –Consciousness – which makes one’s bodysentient. One misses this real nature because it is an invisible principle. The analogy can begiven of a fan rotating and giving out breeze; the fan by itself cannot rotate, but behind the fan, the invisible electricity is responsible for

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the fan to rotate. That means, even though I look at only one visible factor, namely the fan, there is an invisible factor – electricity – which is not visible to me. Similarly, the invisibleConsciousness only makes the body sentient. Just to refresh ourselves of the teachings of tattvabodha, there are five points to beremembered about Consciousness (AtmA,one’s real nature), and they are:1. Consciousness is not a part, product or

property of the body, just as the electricityis not a part, product or property of the fan;

2. Consciousness is a separate entity whichpervades and enlivens the body, just as the electricity is separate which pervades and enlivens the fan;

3. This invisible Consciousness is not limited by the boundaries of the body, just as the electricity is not limited by the boundaries of the fan - but is beyond the fan also -throughout the wire, etc.

4. That invisible Consciousness survives even after the destruction of the body, just as the electricity survives even when the fanbecomes defective;

5. The invisible Consciousness is notrecognizable when the medium of the body is absent, not because Consciousness isabsent, but the medium of manifestation is absent.To recognize this Consciousness as AtmA,

the scriptures give us a methodology, known as drig-driSya-viveka: - which states that , “ I am different from whatever I experience” – a very fundamental law of vedAnata. This means that

I am different from all objects of myexperience (which are inert, anAtmA) – theworld, the body, and mind. And I am theConsciousness principle, since the experiencer (subject) cannot be inert! The teacher assumes the reader to have this much knowledge tostart with, namely, a. I am AtmA, the Consciousness (the subject), andb. this entire world-body-mind is anAtmA –inert matter (the object of experience).

The subject matter of the first verse is the relationship between the AtmA, I, and anAtmA,the entire universe.

The teacher tries to explain thisrelationship through two examples. They are:

1. (example of areflected city in a mirror).

2. (example of a cityin a dream)

1. (example of a reflectedcity in a mirror). In this example, weimagine a huge mirror kept in front of acity (or any object). We have two things:

a) a huge mirror and b) the reflected city (not original)

obtained in the mirror –.Upon analysis, we make the followingobservations:

1. the mirror is the support – adhishThAna- of the entire (reflected) city. Hence the relationship between the mirror and the (reflected) city is supporter-supported or

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adhishThAna-Adheya sambandha:. Thatmeans, no part of the (reflected) citycan exist without the mirror. SoadhishThAnatvam of the mirror is thefirst aspect.

2. the reflected city (pratibimbha nagarI)does not have an existence of its own,even though it is experienced by theobserver. That means the reflected city has borrowed existence, while themirror has its own existence. So thesecond aspect is, mirror is satyam and the (reflected) city is mithyA.

3. Whatever happens to the (reflected)city, the observer can see andexperience, but they do not affect themirror at all. So the third aspect is the unaffectedness – asangatvam – of themirror.

4. Since the reflected object or mithyA,does not have an existence of its own, it is as good as non-existent – that means, there is no real entity other than themirror, even if we see and experience 100s of reflections in the mirror. So, the fourth aspect is advayatvam – without a second entity or non-dualtiy – of themirror.

To summarize, the four features of themirror from this example are,adhishThAnatvam, satyatvam, asangatvam andadviteeyatvam.

With a view to emphasize this relatioship, SrI Sankara gives another example of thedream world. The entire dream world is

resting or residing in the mind of the waker or the waker (since the mind is an integral part of the waker). Therefore, the mirror of the first example is comparable to the waker and the reflected city is comparable to the dreamworld. One can easily see that the relationship between the waker and the dream is similar to the previous example, with the waker (like the mirror) having the same four features, namely, adhishThAnatvam, satyatvam, asangatvam andadviteeyatvam.

In the same way, SrI Sankara says that “I”, the Consciousness am the mirror and thewaker, and the entire universe that Iexperience – the jAgrat-prapanca – includingmy own body-mind complex, is the reflected city (darpaNa-nagarI) or dream world (svapna-nagarI). That means, we can apply the same four features discussed earlier to theConsciousness also. They are:1. I, the Consciousness, am the adhishThAnam

whole universe; no part of the universeexists out side of Me, the Consciousness(not body-mind).

2. Just as the dream world does not have an existence of its own, the entire universe(anAtmA) also does not have an existence of its own, where as, I, the Consciousness(AtmA) is independently existent, revealing the satyatvam of AtmA.

3. Just as the mirror, the Consciousness, - the AtmA – is asanga:. This means, any event in the form of interaction between themithyA world, mithyA body, and mithyAmind, cannot affect Me, the satya-caitanyam.

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4. Since the entire world is like the dream city – mithyA, not having its own existence, it is as good as non-existent. That means thereis no second entity apart fromConsciousness, I, thus revealing theadviteeyatvam of AtmA.In addition, even though the dream world

is inside me, it appears as if it is outside and the sleep – nidrA – makes the inside, unreal dream world as an outside, real world. Thatmeans, in nidrA one is not aware of the waker nature and so nidrA can be interpreted aswaker-ignorance! Since waker is adhishThAna(as seen earlier), nidrA can be called asadhishThAna-ajnAnam. Because of this, during sleep, the inside dream world appears real and outside. Also, when nidrA ends – as onebecomes aware of the waker status - prabodhasamaye – when one gains the adhishThAna-jnanam, the outside dream is no more outside and is falsified. Because of the ignorance of the AtmA – Atma-adhishThAna-ajnAnam – thisignorance can be called as vedAntic sleep(compared to nidrA – the worldly sleep). When one is under the influence of this avidyA-nidrA,this universe appears as though it is outside of Me, the Consciousness, and real (correlate with dream universe). And, as long as the avidyA-nidrA continues, the universe will appear as real and outside. The moment one wakes up from this avidyA-nidrA – when one becomes a jnAnI – the person realizes that the universe is no more outside of Me, the caitanyam, and in fact ‘I am’ the very support of this universe. SrI Sankara says that such an awakened person is the guru, and every guru-murti is srIdakshiNAmUrti. With this background, let us

look at the verse 1, splitting the first two lines in to five sentences ( we will add certain words to the sentences to understand the impliedmeaning)1. ()this universe of names and forms; isequivalent to; a city; which isseen (experienced); in a mirror.2. ()()

This universe is like the dream universe which is really within Me (the Consciousness).3. ()(Note that the word paSyan of the verse istaken as paSyati for our discussion). One (the jnAnI) sees the jAgrat-viSwam; withinoneself.4. ()()The dream universe which is really existing within, appears as though produced outside, due to sleep. due to sleep;the dream universe within() appears as though produced outside.- In the same way, as ()5. ()()This universe – jAgrat-prapanca -which is really within Me, appears as though producedoutside due to mayA.This universe, the jAgrat-prapanca -which is really within Me due to mAyA (avidyA-nidrayA)

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() appears as though produced outside.Moving on to the 3rd line of the verse, at the time of waking up ( the outside dream universe is resolved in to oneself, and so )

(the waker) recognizes himself as the non-dualSelf one’s own selfalonenon-dualexperiences directly.To him, the divine guru, SrI dakshiNAmUrti, isthis salutation.Thus, through the first verse, SrI Sankara has revealed the adhishThAnatva, satyatva,asangatva, adviteeyatva svarUpa of AtmA.The first 3 verses of this stotram are supposed to be the essence of the mahA-vAkya, tat-tvam-asi. Since the first verse dealt with the Atma-svarUpam, through the analysis of the sleeping jeevAtmA and the waking jeevAtmA, this verse is taken as the tvam-padArtha-vicAra-sloka: -dealing with the individual. In vedAnticcontext, the meaning of the word tvam (you)does not imply the body-mind complex (which is the empirical or general meaning -vAcyArtha) but the caitanyam – AtmA –Consciousness - the implied meaning(lakshyArtha).

Verse 2

bIjasyAntarivAnkuro jagadidamprAngnirvikalpam puna:

mAyAkalpitadeSakAlakalanAvaicitryacitrIkritam |

mAyAvIva vijrumbhayatyapimahAyogIva ya: svecchayA

tasmai S rIgurumUrtaye nama idamSrI dakshiNAmUrtaye ||(The one who is a magician or a great yogi,creates this universe just out of his own free-will –the universe, which before creation remained un-manifest like the tree in a seed, and has laterprojected himself out to be the universe ofdiversities, due to the play of time and space, the products of mAyA, to Him, the divine teacher, SrI dakshiNAmUrti, this salutation)

In this verse, SrI Sankara deals with the meaning of the word ‘tat’ of the mahA-vAkya,which implies paramAtmA.

All the SAstras define Brahman as thecause of the universe. Or, the universe is a product born out of Brahman. In vedAnticlanguage, Brahman is the cause – kAraNam –and the universe is the effect – kAryam. The cause can be two-fold:

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• intelligent cause or nimitta-kAraNam, which executes producing the effect, like acarpenter creating the furniture, and

• material cause or upAdAna-kAraNam.Generally these two causes are distinct.

However there are some exceptions, wherethese two causes are identical – for example, the spider. The spider makes the web and the raw material for the web also comes from the spider itself. In the same way, the Upanishads point out that Brahman, the paramAtmA is the intelligent and material cause of this universe.Therefore, before creation there was only the non-dual Brahman, which served both as theintelligent and raw material cause to produce the universe.

The topic of creation itself has beenanalyzed by different systems of philosophy. SrI Sankara, in his commentary onbrihadAraNyaka Upanishad discusses the topic of creation very elaborately through a clay-potanalysis. In this analysis, the question is:before the emergence of the pot, did the pot –the kArya ghaTa: - exist in the clay – kAraNamrud or not? In other words, is an existent pot created or is a non-existent port created, by the potter? An analysis of the question wouldreveal that both are not possible, because: a) an existent pot cannot arrive because it is already existent; b) to say a non-existent pot is born is illogical and not grammatical too (to have a verb (is born) but with a non-existent pot assubject!) That means, an existent thing cannot be created and a non-existent thing also cannot be created. In short, according to vedAnta,there is no creation! The word creation is a

mis-nomer, and is used for some otherphenomenon. When a thing is existent in an un-manifest, potential form, it can come tomanifestation through some transformation –for example, the butter that exists in milk in an un-manifest, un-differentiated, potential form, which is really not available for use, manifests itself as butter through a process of churning the milk. This transformation of an un-manifest, potential entity to a manifest, useful condition is called creation. This theory iscalled sat-kArya-vAda.

Similarly, if ‘creation’ is not creationbut only a transformation, then ‘destruction’also is not destruction. In vedAnta sAstracreation is known as janma-vikAra: death iscalled maraNa-vikAra:, the common wordbeing vikAra (modification, change). SrISankara establishes this sat-kArya-vAdathrough the second verse. Therefore, the two points that are brought out in this verse are a) Brahman is jagat-kAraNam and b) sat-kArya-vAda – any product (kAryam) exists in its cause (kAraNam) in a potential form. The authorwants to convey these through an example –the example of a seed and tree.

In the seed-tree example, the authorpoints out that the tree is already existent in the seed before its origination, in a dormant,potential, – nirvikalpaka rUpeNa – un-differentiated form. Within the seed, the tree exists un-differentiated form.- Similarly,

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this universe wasexistent in an un-manifest, potential form inBrahman. It was not created, but was existent in potential, un-manifest form. Then, that un-manifest universe got manifestand the un-differentiated universe, gotdifferentiated. Just as, from the un-differentiated seed, gradually differentiationarises in the form of sprout, branches, leaves, flowers etc. So, the term creation could beviewed as manifestation, or differentiation or a form of multiplication.

The next question will be, how this division arises? SrI Sankara gives the answer in a very technical way. For example, if two individuals sit in a room in different places, they aredivided horizontally by space ( in this Sloka),the time being same. That means, twoindividuals cannot be in the ‘same’ spot at the ‘same’ time. However, two individuals can be at the ‘same’ spot at ‘different’ times, and so are vertically divided by time (in thisSloka ). The vertical division caused by time is known as past, present and future. Similarly, the horizontal division caused by space isknown as, here, there and elsewhere. Hence, space and time are responsible for theperception of plurality, and once the space-time is removed, plurality disappears. Spaceand time are themselves caused by the power of mAyA. In short, the mAyA Sakti in Brahman,creates time and space and causes theperception of advaitam as dvaitam and ekambrahma as anekam jagat.

created by mAyA multiplied; variety, diversity; influence or sambhandha: (of)space and timeThe mAyA-Sakti is in Brahman. Brahmancontinues to be non-dual; when mayA-Sakti isactivated – known as vikshepa Sakti – the time and space come to existence. They are likegoggles and when one looks through the time-space goggles, the non-dual Brahman appears as the pluralistic universe. During sleep, this time-space goggles is removed as it were, there is no variety and only the non-dual caitanyamexists.

From these two lines, one infers theBrahman to be the material cause of theuniverse and in the next line SrI Sankarapoints out that the Brahman is the intelligent cause also. the very same Brahmancreates also (as the intelligent cause) using ‘Himself’ as theinstrument – by His own free-will, by mere samkalpa , effortlesslyThe author gives two examples to explain this aspect, namely:• Like a magician – creates the universe from ‘nothing’ – in fact from ‘nothing else’, except Himself .

• Like a great siddha-purusha: (forexample, Sage Viswamitra materialized awhole world called triSanku svarga)

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Like a magician or a great siddha-purusha, by His own will, parmAtmA creates this universe, and so is the intelligent cause also.

The next logical question would be,why should paramAtmA create this universe? Sastras say that the universe has to be created because the beings have lot of puNya-pApakarma’s to be exhausted, and the exhaustion can happen only through the experience ofpleasure and pain. One accumulated thepuNya-pApa’s in the previous birth, and so on and on to innumerable number of cycles of birth and death. If this argument is extended linearly, the ultimate question would be, how the first creation came about, since there could be no karma to lead to the first creation. SrI Sankara gives the answer though the wordin the first line, which means, repeatedly, indicating the cyclic nature of creation. It is the karma-creation-karma cycle which is anAdi-ananta-cakra. If we look at the creation aslinear, then it can have a beginning and anend. But when we think of creation as a total process, one should give up linear thinking.Any segment of creation is linear – has abeginning and an end; but total creation iscyclical. For example, a tree has birth anddeath; a seed has birth and death; but the seed-tree cycle does not have birth and death,because it is a cyclical, eternal process.

Thus one can imagine Brahman as anentity who expands and contracts eternally.This process can never be stopped. But one can stop the suffering by the understanding thatthe universe is like the darpaNa nagarI orsvapna nagarI, and I am the Consciousness, the

adhishThAnam, who is never affected by thisprocess.

To that paramAtma brahma – the jagat-kAraNam brahma – who is in the form of SrIdakshiNAmUrti, who is none other than thegurumUrti, idam nama: is this namaskAra:Thus the tat padArtha of the mahAvAkya isestablished in the 2nd verse.Verse 3

yasyaiva sphuraNam sadAtmakam

asat-kalpArthakam bhAsatesAkshAt-tat-tvam-asIti veda-vacasA

yo bodhayaty-ASritAn |yat-sAkshAt-karaNAd-bhaven-napunar-Avrittir-bhavAm-bho-nidhautasmai SrI gurumUrtaye nama idam

SrI dakshiNAmUrtaye ||(The one whose manifestations – which arethemselves nothing but the Reality – appear as the objects of the world; who imparts to those whohave surrendered to Him, direct enlightenment,through the vedic commandment ‘that you are’,and after the direct experience of which there is no more any return to the ‘ocean’ of worldlyexistence.., to Him, the divine teacher, SrIdakshiNAMurti, is is this salutation.)This verse gives the asi padArtha of themahAvAkya - tat tvam asi. Let us analyze the way SrI Sankara approaches this.

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A fundamental fact is, an existentobject is experienced and non-existent object is not experienced. We come to know that there is a world which exists in front of us because we experience the world of objects. Any object that is non-existent cannot be experienced by me.The next question would be, what is the nature of this Existence? Like Consciousness, vedAntagives a five-fold description of Existence also (Refer to Verse 1), as follows:1. Existence is not a part, product or property

of the world of objects – For example,when we say any object is, the is-ness is not a property, part or even a product of theobject, but is something experienced by us.

2. Existence is an independent entity – not an adjective – but a noun, denoted by E.

3. Existence (the is-ness of the object) is notlimited by the boundaries of the object –goes beyond the object – all pervading –sarvagata:.

4. Existence continues to exist even after the destruction of the object which it enlivens. (the is-ness of the object continues to existeven after the object is destroyed) –Existence is eternal – nitya :

5. Even when the whole world is destroyed, the Existence – sat – survives. In otherwords, sat was, sat is, and sat will be,lending Existence to the arriving-departingworld. And vedAnta says that this sat isparamAtmA.Out of the body, when one separates the

‘body’ part, squeezes out the pure

Consciousness -C-, it is called the jeevAtmA.And the paramAtmA is pure Existence. Thepure Existence and Consciousness are one and the same as indicated by tat-tvam-asi, and it is this Existence-Consciousness that makes theworld sentient. This recognition of the one-ness of the jeevAtmA and paramAtmA is theessence of this verse.

According to our definitions of Existenceand Consciousness, pure Existence andConsciousness should survive even after theuniverse goes away. Then the question will be, how can one appreciate the pure E-C without association with any object? According toSastra’s, one can never appreciate the E-C once the world and body are removed, because, one is himself or herself is that pure E-C; that being the very subject itself, it is never available for objectification, and is meant for understanding only. The ‘tat’- the pure E-C, is ‘tvam’- you –thevery subject itself, thus revealing the identity tat-tvam-asi.

With this back-ground, let us look at theverse 3. that paramAtmA’smanifestation (in this world) in the form of Existence in all(The form-less, all-pervading paramAtmA’smanifestation is in the form of is-ness in every thing.)mithyA – unreal - object(An unreal thing is as good as non-existent). appearsIt is like the reflected sunlight – the manifest sunlight – as experienced on every object.

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Similarly, according to vedAnta, when we say chair is, what we experience is the formedchair which is soaked in the formlessExistence.How to experience the Existence in pure form without being adulterated by an object? The author says, pure E is none other than‘Yourself’. So, one can experience only the‘adulterated’ E and pureE cannot be experienced since it is the subject itself – the formless Consciousness principle. As the teacher teaches tat-tvam-asi, the student will say aham-brahma-asmi – the pure E-Cwithout any nAma-rUpa. If one wants to think of some examples of pure E-C , i.e, saccidAtmA– space can be considered as one nearestexample and the deep sleep state is another,without name and form. Hence the first line of the verse and up to can be considered as within quotes, and this teaching, the teacher directly teaches –

().Unlike other types of knowledge, where onereceives an instructional or book knowledge to be converted to real experiential knowledgelater, here, as the teacher reveals, the student directly realizes, as indicated by the word. The teacher teaches to: thosewho have surrendered unto him.with the great vedic statement. What is the benefit of this Knowledge? The authorsays:

By this direct Knowledge – i.e a) I am not the body with C but I am C temporarilyfunctioning through the body , lendingsentience or ‘cit’ to the body and b) I am the E lending Existence – sat – to the world ofobjects, enabling all transactions (It is like a dream where the dreamer alone lends C and E to the dream world) after the direct experience of which ( - the paramAtmA)one shall never return (born again) to; the ocean of worldly existence.

To Him, the divine teacher, SrIdakshiNAmUrti, this salutation.With the first three verses, the author revealed themahAvAkya – tattvamasi.Verse 4

nAnAcchidra-ghaTodara-sthita-mahA-dIpa-prabhA bhAsvaram

jnAnam yasya tu cakshurAdikaraNa-dvArA bahi: spandate |

jAnAmIti tameva bhAnta-manubhAtietat-samastam jagat

tasmai SrIgurumUrtaye nama idam

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SrI dakshiNAmUrtaye ||( This world shines after Him alone shining in the Consciousness “I know”- after Him alone whose Consciousness, luminous like the light of a mightylamp standing in the bosom of a many-holed pot, moves outwards through the sense organs such as the eye. To Him, the divine teacher, SrI dakshiNAmUrti, is this salutation)

Having revealed the mahAvAkyatattvamasi- implying the oneness of jIvAtmAand paramAtmA, which we can call assaccidAtmA, the author wants to say in thisverse that this saccidAtmA is ever evident and one does not require a special experience of It. That means, in and through all experiences the Consciousness is evident. In other words,every time one uses the word ‘I” (aham),effortlessly the conscious individual experience is self-evidently available, known as thesvayam-prakASatvam of AtmA. This self-evidentnature of AtmA is described in this verse by comparing Consciousness to the light principle.

As we know, luminous objects (likeSun) illumine non-luminous objects (including our bodies). By ‘illumine’ we mean that, inwhose presence, another object is madeknown. From this angle, one can say thatevery sense organ is like light, because ofwhich one can know sound, touch, form, taste and smell; and extending this principle, the‘ultimate light’ is Consciousness, because, only in the presence of Consciousness, everythingelse is known. In summary, knowledge of any object in creation is possible only in thepresence of the ‘light’ of Consciousness.

If one can imagine a dark room with lot of objects, none of these objects are knownbecause of lack of light. However, if one can place a mirror outside and direct the reflected light of the sun through a window of the dark room, one will be able to see the objects. One can tilt the mirror in different directions and illumine different objects. However, we caneasily understand that neither the mirror nor the sunlight can illumine the objects in this dark room independently, and only thecombination of sun and mirror can illuminethem. Since both are involved, one canemphasize the role of either of them. Forinstance, if one wants to emphasize the mirror, one can use the expression, ‘the mirrorillumines the room, backed by the sun’,retaining mirror as the subject of theexpression. There is nothing wrong with this expression, since, if the mirror is removed, the sunlight cannot illumine the room. On theother hand, if one wants to emphasize the sun, one can use the expression, ‘the sun illumines the room through the mirror’. We also know that the perception of the objects in this dark room is through the glory of the mirror, which in turn is due to the glory of the sun.

Similarly, AtmA is comparable to thesun. (self-luminous etc.), the mind of everyindividual is comparable to the mirror, and the entire universe of objects is like the dark room. The whole universe is seen because of twofactors, namely, the mirror-like mind and the sun-like AtmA. When the mind-mirror isactive, the universe is perceived; when it is not active (during sleep), the universe goes dark (is not perceived). when the mind-mirror is not

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active also, the AtmA continues to be self-evident, but the world goes dark. Everyknowledge that we have, presupposes(indirectly reveals) the presence of AtmA, andone does not need a separate proof for theexistence of AtmA. If there is nothing present in that room, and when we use the expression, ‘nothing is known’, that expression itself isknown because of the presence ofConsciousness.

The author says that whenever we say there are two factors which are evident : 1) aham jAnAmi – I know, and 2) the object that is known . The AtmA is not evidentbecause of the object, but because of the ever self-evident aham. All the objects are evidentbecause of Me, the AtmA. In other words, in very perception, I, the AtmA am independently evident (like the sun) and the anAtmA (object) is dependently evident (as the objects in thedark room). To illustrate this point, the author considers the body as a pot with five holes and the AtmA as a bright lamp placed inside this body-pot. Each of these holes is a sense organ and is backed by the mind (mirror). Through the five holes, five beams of light will comeout from the pot and will illumine all those objects which fall within the beam of light in the dark room (world). That means, when one says, (I know the sound), ‘I’ amindependently evident and ‘the sound’ isdependently evident. The same analysis isextrapolated to the other sense organs. Nowlooking at the verse:whose; Knowledge; is brilliant (as)

the brilliance of a great lampkept inside a pot (literally, -stomach); (with) many (five) holes.One should note that the self-luminous lamp is not able to directly illumine the dark room(world) because it is inside a pot. Therefore, cooperation of the pot is required through the five holes. That means, the lamp without thefive holes cannot illuminate; similarly, the five holes without the lamp cannot illuminate.Also, only those objects which fall within the range of the beam of light are illumined. (That bright light of Consciousness)

flashes outside; ---through the eyes and other sense organs. Extrapolating the sun light example, when one says ‘I know’ anobject, the subject ‘I’ reveals self-evidence and the object reveals dependent evidence –depending on the AtmA – Me. In other words, every cognition reveals the congnizer (‘I’)which itself does not require the process of cognition, and the cognized object, through the process of cognition. The self-evident cognizer is denoted by the term and the cognizedobject through the term

- I know thusà the AtmA

only illuminingthis whole universe (of objects) shining. This approach is known as svayam-prakASa-vicAra: - the enquiry in to the self-evidentnature of AtmA.

31

To Him, the divine teacher, SrIdakshiNAmUrti, is this salutation.

(to be continued)Source Material:1. “Sri Dakshinamurti Stotram”, D.S.

Subbarmaiya, Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri, 1988 (two volumes)

2. “Hymn to Sri Dakshinamurty”,Commentary by Swami Chinmayananda.

Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, Bombay. 1994.

3. “Dakshinamurti Stotra of SriSankaracharya”, Alladi Mahadeva Sasty,Samata Books, Chennai, 2001.

4. “Sri Dakshinamurti Stotram”, SriSubramania Sastri, Sri KamakotKosasthanam, Chennai, 1957.

5. Lectures of Swami Paramarthananda 6. Lectures of Swami Dayananda.